Thread: Bush to campaign for troubled lawmakers

Bush to campaign for troubled lawmakers

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

Fri Oct 13, 4:20 PM ET

A congressman who admitted to having an affair and a senator accused of using racial slurs will get some political help from President Bush next week.

Bush will make campaign stops Thursday in Pennsylvania and Virginia to help the two troubled Republicans as the GOP struggles to maintain its endangered grip on the House and Senate.

"The President has made a commitment, and he's going to fulfill the commitment," White House press secretary Tony Snow said Friday.

Bush's appearances are intended to give a boost to four-term Rep. Don Sherwood (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., and Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record), R-Va.

Sherwood had one of the safest seats in Congress as his conservatism played well in his heavily Republican, rural district in northeastern Pennsylvania. Democrats didn't even bother fielding a candidate in the last two elections.

Then last year Sherwood admitted to a five-year extramarital affair with a woman 35 years his junior. He settled a lawsuit claiming he had choked her.

"Mr. Sherwood has certainly admitted to what has gone on, and the president also believes that we're all sinners, we all seek forgiveness, and in this particular case, he's supporting Don Sherwood's candidacy," Snow said.

Allen has spent weeks rebutting accusations he used racist language and liked Confederate symbols. The furor began Aug. 11, when the senator called a volunteer for his opponent "macaca," considered by some to be a racial slur, during a political rally.

"George Allen is not a bigot. Period," Snow said. "And you've had a number of black leaders who've come forward to make the point.

"So the president, absolutely, supports his candidacy," Snow said.

Snow suggested that Allen's opponent, Democrat Jim Webb, was vulnerable for things he has said. Webb, a former Navy secretary under President Reagan, argued in a 1979 magazine article that women are not fit to command men in battle and criticized their admission to the U.S. Naval Academy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061013/ap_ ... YsV8W30luA

Sherwood had one of the safest seats in Congress as his conservatism played well in his heavily Republican, rural district in northeastern Pennsylvania. Democrats didn't even bother fielding a candidate in the last two elections.

Then last year Sherwood admitted to a five-year extramarital affair with a woman 35 years his junior. He settled a lawsuit claiming he had choked her.

I wonder what Sherwood's campaign slogan is?

How about "I did not strangle that woman, Miss Whatshername".

If I was a candidate, I would avoid George Bush like the plague.

I guess he could help if your approval was beneath his 33%!

W

Didnt BUSH just sink a Republican campaign for Governor of Virginia by showing up last year?

W

Bush will put the nail in Sherwood's coffin. Problem is that his opponent (Democrat) is a supporter of the Kennedy-McCain Bill. Maybe that's why Bush is showing up to make sure he has a supporter from the other side. Sherwood has voted against amenesty and open border as a Member of the House.

Bush appearance in Colorado actually Bob Boprei votes for gov

Originally Posted by CountFloyd

nd Senate.
The furor began Aug. 11, when the senator called a volunteer for his opponent "macaca," considered by some to be a racial slur, during a political rally.

What the heck does macaca mean? I have never heard that word before.

Originally Posted by TimBinh

Originally Posted by CountFloyd

nd Senate.
The furor began Aug. 11, when the senator called a volunteer for his opponent "macaca," considered by some to be a racial slur, during a political rally.

What the heck does macaca mean? I have never heard that word before.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 89_pf.html

part of the article:
RICHMOND, Aug. 14 -- Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) apologized Monday for what his opponent's campaign said were demeaning and insensitive comments the senator made to a 20-year-old volunteer of Indian descent.

At a campaign rally in southwest Virginia on Friday, Allen repeatedly called a volunteer for Democrat James Webb "macaca." During the speech in Breaks, near the Kentucky border, Allen began by saying that he was "going to run this campaign on positive, constructive ideas" and then pointed at S.R. Sidarth in the crowd.

"This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere. And it's just great," Allen said, as his supporters began to laugh. After saying that Webb was raising money in California with a "bunch of Hollywood movie moguls," Allen said, "Let's give a welcome to macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia." Allen then began talking about the "war on terror."

Depending on how it is spelled, the word macaca could mean either a monkey that inhabits the Eastern Hemisphere or a town in South Africa. In some European cultures, macaca is also considered a racial slur against African immigrants, according to several Web sites that track ethnic slurs.

If Republicans refuse to distance themselves from this clown then they deserve to lose their seats. At this point Bush has about as much political capital as I do (that would be zero).