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LIBERAL CONFRONTED AT CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE FOR ATTACKING BROWN ON CONSTITUENT SERVICE, MARRIAGE
During the first in a series of televised South Carolina Congressional debates last night, Rep. Henry Brown took his Democratic opponent Linda Ketner to task for a YouTube video in which she mocks the Hanahan Republican.
“But don’t vote for anybody from city council on up that doesn’t get that we live in a complex world,” Ketner says in the clip. “We live in a very complex world. There is no more, ‘oh, I’m good at constituent services and I’ve been married 48 years.’ Those days are over folks. And if you keep electing people in South Carolina to represent you that tout themselves that way, then when it falls down, look at yourself in the mirror and say, ‘I had a part in this too.’”
Ketner responded to Brown by saying, “Are you sure it’s coming from my campaign? If it is, then there’s going to be some firing going on.”
But by Thursday morning, the video — titled “Economy Speech” — had been removed from Ketner’s YouTube page (screen grab here). Fortunately, the State Republican Party had already posted the above clip.
That wasn’t Ketner’s only problem at the debate, however. During two particular moments, she was caught flat-out lying.
First, Ketner claimed that she would be “pretty independent” if elected to congress. However, as I wrote in February, Ketner’s political contributions from the Federal Election Commission tell a different story.
Since 1998, Ketner has contributed $561,898 to the Democrat Party, Democrat candidates for office and liberal special interest groups, including the radical pro-abortion group EMILY’s List.
Second, Ketner said she can reduce government waste in Washington if elected to Congress.
The problem there is, her own campaign website pledges to send more tax dollars to the National Endowment for the Arts. That program, which already receives $144.7 million in annual federal funding, has been called “welfare for artists” and has come under heavy fire for funding pornography.
At least she knows not to burn forests on red flag days or to try to get legislation past that would benefit rich homebuilders/owners on barrier islands.
Ketner’s a fiscal conservative who desires to rid us of waste and to more tightly control spending. Her years advising businesses focused on goals and getting things done. My votes with her.
Shame on you for bringing up the early 1990s and the culture wars that totally transformed the NEA. Its a different agency, funding community based projects. Six SC agencies received funding this year. The remaining five organizations, their locations, and grant categories and amounts are:
- Arts in Basic Curriculum Project, York County, Learning in the Arts, $20,000
- Charleston Academy of Music, Charleston County, Access to Artistic Excellence, $20,000
- City of Charleston, Charleston County, Access to Artistic Excellence, $25,000
- Greenville Symphony Association, Greenville County, Access to Artistic Excellence, $10,000
- SC ETV, Spartanburg County, Access to Artistic Excellence, $65,000
http://www.sc.gov/NewsCenter/Arts+Commission/Six+SC+Organizations+Receive+National+Arts+Grants.htm
She wasn’t caught “flat out lying”. You can doubt her claim that she’ll be independent, or that she’ll reduce government waste (and supporting funding for the arts isn’t a very, very weak argument against it), but since she’s talking about things that haven’t happened yet, no one knows the truth of her statement.
Would you like examples of flat-out lies? McCain saying that Obama wants to teach comprehensive sex ed to kindergarteners. Palin saying that Alaska produces 20% of the US energy supply or US petroleum and natural gas supply. Obama saying that McCain is against loans for car manufacturers. These are flat-out lies; we could talk about a lot more, and visiting Factcheck.org will give you a rundown. But when someone with very little record says they want to legislate a certain way in the future, you can’t rationally call that person a liar. I think a simple “I doubt it” would have sufficed.
As for the clip, in my opinion Ketner’s point is valid: we should be making our voting decisions based on the competence and character of the candidates. As you’ve mentioned, Congress has had to make some extraordinary decisions that will have a huge effect on our lives; I’d hope that the people making those decisions have more behind them than a good marriage and good local offices.
Why are you going out of the way to write silly attacks on Ketner anyway? Earlier in the week you said you’d rather vote for Micky Mouse than Brown.
Ditto what Rob W. said. It’s posts like these that completely destroy your credibility.
Re-instate the ad. Ketner is exactly right. Brown is a dodo, and extinct animal. Way to call it Linda!
NVB – It’s comments like that which completely remind everyone that you’re an obnoxious troll.
haha. wheels, you’re such a douche. you could at least respond to Rob.
Let me see, I could, using Miss Ketner’s own yardstick, “It was printed in the newspapers”, and compose, “cherry picking” in the same out of context manner, a commercial that lays Adam’s assertions at her feet and probably a bit more.
Now to the “flat out lying” Adam, I don have to take you slightly to task. Miss Ketner claims that she would be pretty independant. Taking the parsing of politician’s speech, in her own mind she would be “pretty independant” though once her pecking order spot becomes obvious, how independant party discipline would allow her to be is ironically underscored in Mr. Brown’s subtext in the debate.
PS, were we voting based on “we should be making our voting decisions based on the competence and character of the candidates.” I daresay Miss Ketner wouldn’t be the Democratic’s candidate…
What I want to know is this – if Linda Ketner is supposed to be soooo “independent”, then why did she file as a petition candidate? If she’s such a fiscal conservative … again, why is she running as a Democratic candidate?
Why right in her backyard is a petition candidate for the State Senate, Bill Collins, who chose not to run as a candidate of either major party, and has lots of support from known Republicans.
The people I see defending Ketner on this blog who identify themselves are people like NVB and Charlie Smith who are well-known as Democrats. While I don’t see a lot of vocal, active support for Henry Brown by Republicans, I don’t know the first person who is active in GOP politics endorsing Ketner.
Show me some Republican legislators … county officials … precinct officers … dogcatchers … who support Ketner. We haven’t seen them, and I doubt we ever will.
Where is the “independence” in a candidate who has filed with one of the two major parties? Where is Ketner’s legion of highly-visible and well-known Republican supporters?
She’s got as much right to run for office under whatever banner she wants to as any other American citizen, but it doesn’t do any good to call yourself something that you aren’t.
Mister Ed used to sing “a horse is a horse, of course, of course”. Likewise, Ketner is a Democrat, of course, of course.
If that video is enough to get his panties in a bunch he needs to man up and stop whining.
Speaking of lying, the forest fire is a matter of public record. If she’s lying, than so is the Post and Courier. But, I’m sure he won’t ask anyone at the paper to act like a Southern lady.
You can say whatever you want to about Linda Ketner, but at least she didn’t cost the taxpayers $100,000 by fighting a fine for a forest fire. And, she isn’t making me pay for those silly newsletters he sends out that cost taxpayers almost $200,000.
Brown is good for working for special interests and big money (think Kiawah Development Partners), but he certainly isn’t working for me or the people in coastal carolina.
Kettner is overly dramatic and moves her eyes too much when reading the cue cards in her “heartfelt thanks” speech to donors. Uhm, Rob W., Over $500,000 to Democrats and she is an independent? Whay didn’t she just give that toward the national debt instead to prove she is a “fiscal conservative?” And do your homework. The Illinois bill Obama supported would allow sex education starting in kindergarten. The law changed the previous strating grade from 6th grade to Kindergarten. Read the bill yourself by first going to http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NzI3ZDUzOTE0ZThlMTU3MTY0MDI4ZTY0MTZhY2I2MGY and then hitting the link to the bill. Ketner shows the moments are all about her and she tries to reflect it back to the people watching her as if its all about them. It’s neither. Its about representation in Congress by voting on laws, proposing legisaltion and providing constituent service. And morals/values count too. Anyone who gave that much money to Emily’s List does not understand the value of all human life, just values some subjectively chosen few. Brown made a mistake by burning when he did. Ketner has a pattern of wanting big government to lead as long as she is part of it. No thanks. We can think too.
Jim/Earl: Ketner didn’t claim to be running as an independent, or to be anything other than a Democrat. Of course she’s gotten contributions from the Democratic establishment; Brown is such a bad candidate that Dems realize they have a real chance to pick up this seat. You’ve got a right to doubt that she’ll be “pretty independent” in her voting (which isn’t really saying much to being with), but asking her not to take contributions from Democrats, make contributions to Democrats, or run as a Democrat is silly, particularly when the GOP has utterly failed in it’s “fiscal conservative” mission. I would say that the self-described “Maverick” John McCain will probably vote more on party lines than Ketner, but again, we’ll have to see.
Are you actually proposing that all avowed fiscal conservatives should contribute their campaign cash to pay down the national debt? Have you demanded this from all the GOP candidates who have raised cash then stood by while our national debt skyrocketed under their control?
Jim: You do your homework. Scrolling down to Sec. 27-9.2 on the bill, page 5 line 16, clearly states that the sex ed must be “age appropriate”. What does that mean? It’s a vague term; to me, age appropriate means we don’t give full education (or maybe any) about STD’s to the younger kids, and instead focus on making sure kids aren’t taken advantage of. You (or your article) seem to think Obama meant “give them full comprehensive sex ed in elementary school”, but you don’t give any reason why this should be so. What we do have is a bill that mandates age-appropriate sex ed (sounds good to me) and a bunch of people who say, without any evidence, that Obama has a different, secret definition of “age appropriate” from everyone else.