Bradley, Stephen says they can beat Shea-Porter
By Brian Lawson, PolitickerNH.com ReporterMANCHESTER-Former U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro) and former Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen (R-Manchester) each used their closing statements to argue why they are the better candidate to face incumbent U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-Rochester).
Bradley said he is ready to face Shea-Porter, while Stephen said it was time for someone else to face the freshman congresswoman.
"There's only two Republicans right now in the country who are polling ahead of a Democratic incumbent. I'm one of them," Bradley said at the Derryfield Country Club. "I'm ready to beat Carol Shea-Porter starting on September 10th."
"You know Jeb you had your opportunity, you had your opportunity and I'm the only one here who hasn't lost to Carol Shea-Porter," Stephen said. "Polls maybe one thing but at this time the last time you had to run against Carol Shea-Porter you had more money, you were running higher than her in the polls than you are today that's the problem."
As in previous debates, the tensest part of the debate came when the two started discussing congressional earmarks.
Stephen said he would support funding programs through an emergency appropriation bill and not an earmark.
"No, you're more concerned commissioner about the political process than you are about the lives of the men and women who serve our country," Bradley said, which resulted in "boos" from the audience.
Before the debate, the Stephen campaign distributed a flyer called "The Bradley Record" which included titles such as "A Liberal Social Agenda," and "Raising Energy Costs."
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No Commissioner you're not
No Commissioner you're not the only one, Geoff Micheal has never lost to Carol Shea Porter, and neither has Peter Bearse - at least be honest.
Come on Stephen
You really think it was a fair match-up in '06 for Bradley? Look at the election results nationwide for '06 and you will see it had nothing to do with Bradley himself, it had to do with the "R" next to his name...you would have lost as well in '06 John Stephen.
Jeb Bradley has the right plan, and the numbers prove that the voters are actually listening this time around, and it is Bradley who should take on Shea-Porter come general election time.
Bradley is a failure
He failed as a congressman, he failed as a candidate in 2006, committing political malpractice in the process by not spending around $350,000 he had in campaign funds, then bonusing the imbeciles who worked for him over $50K. He is continually lying about John Stephen's record while flip-flopping and running from his own. Your voting record, Jeb, stands and is easy to see.
Jeb voted against parental notification of abortion, he voted against a ban on partial birth abortions, something even many democrats called as close to infanticide as one can get. He voted against ANWR drilling 5 times. While in the statehouse in NH, he voted against the death penalty for murderers 3 times. He voted FOR wasteful spending. He walked in lock-step with the neo-con "leadership" of a fool like John Boehner 88% of the time. He was wrong on taxes, voting against the Bush tax cuts. He was wrong on illegal immigration, voting for the amnesty plan. He lost to an imbecile, a political neophyte by ignoring her gathering strength. CSP was partly right when she called him, in response to his calling her a "tax and spend liberal", a "borrow and spend conservative". He is a spending machine, but he is the farthest thing from a conservative.
At the end of the day, he was an abysmal failure and does not deserve anything more than to be relegated to the scrap-heap of political hacks where he belongs.
Who is John Stephens?
Who is John Stephens?
Impressions
I am a member of the Manchester GOP, I attended the debate. What I didn't get is that when Bradley attacked Stephen, Stephen called Bradley a liar, but when Stephen attacked Bradley, Bradley let the charges go unanswered. Not being someone who has time to check the facts, I have to assume that Stephen's attacks are credible. Why didn't Bradley try to defend himself?
BTW, Bradley did not look healthy. I don't know his medical condition, but he looked a lot worse than what I remember seeing him before. I was with two others who thought the same thing. Hopefully, he just has the flu or something.
The Party of Personal Responsibility
The GOP loves to present itself as the Party of Personal Responsibility, yet to read RedNH is to learn that it's not Jeb Bradley's fault that he lost in 2006. That he ran a terrible campaign had nothing to do with it - that he was terrible in the debates, that he was completely out of touch with his constituents priorities, or that he refused to take a stand on protecting Social Security - none of that made any difference. RedNH would have us believe that poor Jeb lost because he was a Republican.
Next he'll be telling us that Republicans are a persecuted minority.
Manch Republican, you nailed it...
When you ask that question. Here's why Bradley cannot refute John's charges-they are true. Jeb and Shea-Porter are cut from the same cloth...
• Jeb Bradley voted for over $100 billion in Wasteful spending, according the Citizens Against Government Waste. –Citizens Against Government Waste, Pig Book, 2003-07
• Jeb Bradley voted four times against Republican plans that would have balanced the budget and made the tax cuts permanent. -RC #79, 2003; RC #90, 2004; RC #83, 2005; RC #156, 2006
• In Congress, Jeb Bradley supported over $1.3 trillion in deficit spending in four years- over $4,000 in debt for every man, woman and child in America.
-Congressional Budget Office, Historical Budget review, 2003-2006
• Jeb Bradley repeatedly voted against even 1% cuts in Interior, Commerce-Justice-Science, Transportation and Labor-HHS appropriations bills.
-Int., RC #378, 2003; #197, 2005; C-S-J, RC #260, 2005; Trans., RC #481, 2003; #352, 2005; Labor, RC #313, 2005
• Jeb Bradley sponsored the Real ID Act that will increase the cost of a drivers’ license by $8. -Real ID Act of 2005, H.R. 418
• Jeb Bradley voted for such wasteful spending as:
o $500,000 for the Sparta Teapot Museum in Sparta, N.C. -RC #605, 2005
o $13,500,000 for the International Fund for Ireland, which helped finance the World Toilet Summit -RC #569, 2005
o $70,000 for the Paper Industry Hall of Fame -RC #542, 2004
o $1,000,000 for Brown Tree Snakes program in Guam -RC #418, 2004
o $50 million for an indoor rainforest in Coralville, Iowa -RC #631, 2003
o $500,000 for the Arctic Winter Games in Alaska -RC #669, 2005
o $50,000 for the Capitol Hill Baseball and Softball League -RC #605, 2005
o $25,000 to study mariachi music -RC #542, 2004
• Jeb Bradley voted to increase the death tax in New Hampshire, taking the top rate from 15% to 18%. -HB 40, 1991
• Jeb Bradley voted to create the statewide property tax and increase the business enterprise, business profits and real estate transfer taxes. -HB 117, 1999
• Jeb Bradley voted to double the state’s communications tax. -HB 40, 1991
• Jeb Bradley voted to increase gun licensing fees in the Granite State by 650%.
-HB 110, 1991
• Jeb Bradley voted against reducing the rooms and meals tax. -HB 1570, 1994
• Jeb Bradley voted twice against requiring supermajorities to raise taxes.
-HB 1245, 1996; HB 112, 1997
• Jeb Bradley voted for a constitutional amendment that said that funds from a new STATE INCOME TAX should be used for education. -CACR 23, 2000
A HOUSE OF HORRORS- THE BRADLEY RECORD
JEB BRADLEY- RAISING ENERGY COSTS
• Jeb Bradley voted three times against drilling in ANWR.
-RC #135, 2003; RC #122, 2005; RC #209, 2006
• Jeb Bradley voted two times against offshore drilling. -RC #192, 2005; RC #356, 2006
• Jeb Bradley voted against streamlining new oil refinery construction. –RC #519, 2005
• Jeb Bradley voted against a measure to reduce the number of fuel blends by allowing waivers to states. -RC #247, 2004
• Jeb Bradley voted twice to abolish the death penalty for convicted cop killers and murderers for hire. -HB 1548, 2000; HB 171, 2001
• Jeb Bradley voted twice to give taxpayer-funded needles to drug addicts.
-HB 472 1995; HB 225, 1997
• Jeb Bradley voted to fund international abortions with taxpayer funding through the United Nations Population Fund. -RC #266, 2005
• Jeb Bradley voted allow taxpayer-funded abortions on military facilities.
-RC #215, 2003; RC #197, 2005
• Jeb Bradley twice voted in favor of legislation to allow human cloning.
-HB 1464, 2002; RC #37, 2003
• Jeb Bradley voted against the Online Freedom of Speech Act, allowing the federal government to regulate the political content on the Internet. –RC #559, 2005
• Jeb Bradley voted to restrict grass-roots political groups’ free speech by subjecting them to onerous campaign finance laws. -RC #88, 2006
• Jeb Bradley voted against legislation to force environmental regulators to consider the property rights of land owners and reimburse them for takings. –RC #506, 2005
• Jeb Bradley voted to have the federal government regulate the sale of fuel and criminalize increases in price. -RC #115, 2006
Republican's Drill Selves Out of This Vote
The Manchester debate was revealing because it showed the length a person would go to get elected.
Several years ago, Jeb Bradley was one of the heroes in the US House when he courageously stood up against Tom DeLay and the oil lobby and said, the hell you are going to drill in the Arctic. He was right on that issue.
But last night, Jeb Bradley caved in and announced that “things have changed” and now he’s going to vote FOR drilling in the Arctic.
First of all, anyone with half a brain knows that drilling in the Arctic and opening up new coastal drilling is going to do absolutely NOTHING to lower gas prices. But the gullible public, the same ones who reelected George Bush, apparently are still easily led by catchy slogans and easy solutions. So the Republican pollsters have come up with “new drilling” as a great campaign gimmick and Bradley, unfortunately, bought in.
As a result, my Bradley support is over. I would never vote for Stephen who is nothing more than an easily manipulated sock puppet for his handlers.
Therefore, I am going to go with Carol Shea-Porter. I don’t agree with a lot of her positions, but she had demonstrated a strong commitment to principles. And that is the acid test of any person who we entrust with our vote.
Sorry Jeb – but you’re caught up in the whirlpool leading to the Republican sewer.
Jeb Bradley has got to go.
Jeb Bradley has got to go. His is one two-bit hack that should have gracefully followed the lead of Charlie Bass in the 2nd district and retired from the political scene. The voters said no to you once Jeb, take a vacation.
John Stephen seems like a young and vibrant conservative voice, the kind that could help revive the Republican brand.
Uh, it's called being realistic
Pinko, maybe you aren't a student of politics, but any freshman in college, or high school for that fact, could tell you '06 had everything to do with the country getting caught up in the "anybody-but-republican's" fever...use some discipline and look at the numbers, instead of coming in here and being a Stephen-bot.
And is Mark Poirier Stephen's campaign manager? Talk.ing.Points.
Jeb Bradley has the experience and knowledge to get things done in Washington, while John Stephen is an inexperienced public servant who likes to add to the tax burden - good congressman? No way.
NH conservatives must be
NH conservatives must be confused if they are looking at John Stephens as a viable candidate. Stephens is a career beauracrat who is already collecting a state pension, has he ever run a small business? actually, has he ever received a paycheck that wasn't from the state tax trough? And let's not forget that he WORKED for Mike Dukakis! You can't be a Reagan republican when you are stumping for Dukakis!!
reading comprehension
RedNH - you have serious reading comprehension problems if you interpreted my post as coming from a Stephen-bot . Perhaps instead of condescending to me about school, you should go back there.
What did Jeb do during Vietnam?
Jeb is the age where he was available for the draft during Vietnam. He talks to no end about giving handouts to vets, so my question is, did he serve himself? What did you do during the war Jeb?
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