Philadelphians: Read This Page

I have a new column on the Pennsylvania Republican candidates available at: http://stevemaloneygop.blogspot.com/. A revised version will appear here on Monday.


NOTE 2: ANY CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE OR SUPPORTER WHO WOULD LIKE TO USE ALL OR PART OF THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE IS WELCOME TO DO SO. JUST GIVE A LINK TO THE SITE:(HTTP:PENNSYLVANIAFORJOHNMCCAIN.BLOGSPOT.COM).




Rep. Chaka Fattah (born "Arthur Davenport"). Yes, now that you mention it, he does look a little like Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Voted the Congressman "Most Likely to Be Led Off in Leg-Irons" -- okay, I made that part up.


If you've never heard of Chaka Fattah (Shock-uh Fuh-tah), congressman from Pennsylvania's 2d district (city of Philadelphia west of Broad St.) you're like 99.9% of the American people. Lucky you. Lucky them.

In the minds of many people, including yours truly, Fattah represents everything that's wrong with America's big-city politics. He's ideologically hostile to just about every governmental or private action that would help the people of his district.


Fattah is a Democrat version of "Dr. No." If there's ever a good piece of legislation proposed -- say, repealing the death tax or curbing federal spending or extending the Patriot Act -- he votes against it.


The Sunday and Monday column will deal with the congressional race between Democrat Fattah and Republican challenger Michael Livingston.


Fattah is known as the congressman who wouldn't release his tax returns. Livingston, coincidentally, is a law professor at Rutgers-Camden and an expert on taxes. Perhaps Michael could volunteer to help Chaka with those pesky returns?


Governor Ed Rendell used to be Mayor of Philadelphia, and he ran for the state's highest office on the basis of what he called "The Philadelphia Miracle." Unfortunately, the "miracle" turned out to be Philly's role as a national leader in crime, unemployment, poverty, and general misery.


Like Rendell, Fattah, now in his seventh-term and apparently electable unto eternity, is no miracle worker. Philly's troubles continue -- and multiply.


In a district that's more than 60% Black and almost monolithically Democrat, it would be a true miracle if Michael won this year's election. It also would be the best thing that's happened in Philly since the Eagles drafted Donovan McNabb.

Congressman Fattah has been one of the cheerleaders for Mumia Abu-Jamal, who murdered Philadelphia policeman Daniel Faulkner. In a city with a murder rate that sometimes approaches that of Baghdad, Philadelphia really doesn't need politicians doing "huggy-bunny" with killers.

If you have an interest in Mumia Abu-Jamal and, especially, Daniel Faulkner, go to the "Justice for Police Officer Daniel Faulkner" web site. As you'll discover, Fattah didn't exactly cover himself with glory by jumping on Mumia Abu-Jamal's unsavory bandwagon.

(In his murder of Faulkner, Abu-Jamal and his brother, one William Cook, were found at the scene with an emptied gun. They insisted they didn't see who committed the murder -- hint, hint -- or see who did.)

But isn't Fattah extremely popular with his voters in his district, where he generally gets 88% of the vote? Not really. He's just a name on the Democrat ticket. The votes for him are more Pavlovian than reflective.

When Fattah decided to run for Mayor in the Democratic primary, he didn't win. In fact, he got only 15% of the vote, essentially in a tie for last place with Bob Brady, who happens to be the congressman from the other side of Philadelphia. Thus, few people like Fattah. They just vote for him out of habit.

Misery abounds. The poverty rate in the 2d district approaches 30%. It was approximately 30% when Fattah came into office, and it will be about 30% when he leaves. The occasional government handouts Fattah periodically doles out to his constituents don't do anything to deal with the district's fundamental problems.

Chaka Fattah has been on the government payroll for 30 years -- and counting. He has built up one heckuva pension, and he's married to a beautiful local TV anchor. What a country!

Republican Mike Livingston? Oh, he's just a guy who knows about taxes (and the need to keep them low) and economics. He's a person who believes strongly in economic development and personal freedom, both of them great medicine for what ails the district. He doesn't have any sympathy for "celebrity cop-killers" such as Abu-Jamal.


Does Mike Livingston have a chance of winning? To him, I'd say what I recently told another candidate: save any thoughts about winning or losing for, say, November 1. Get your message out the best you can, and then -- win or lose -- you'll have nothing to be ashamed about. Livingston and Philadelphia both have a chance to make a positive statement.

(This will be Sunday's column here. On my national blog on Sunday, I'll have another column.)

Massive Voter Fraud in Pennsylvania

On the subject of [community organization] ACORN, there has been massive voter fraud in Philadelphia in the 21st century. Looking at The Almanac of American Politics, I see the following: [Democrat Governor] Rendell spent $740,000 on Election Day activities, including $450,000 cash to be handed out in the city's [Philadelphia's] 66 wards." That is "walking around money" or 'street money' distributed for various unsavory activities, including outright vote buying. A relative of mine, a young lawyer, found 38 homeless people registered in one building, which was vacant. Interesting enough, two doors away was the local ACORN headquarters. I believe that right now massive voter fraud is taking place in Philadelphia. The voter registration numbers keep going up in a city that is hemorrhaging population.

A few years ago in Allegheny County (mainly Pittsburgh) registration officials "culled" 160,000 voters who shouldn't have been on the rolls (either because they'd moved or died or been led off in leg irons). If you read the story on the front page of today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, you'll find that many of the 160,000 have magically reappeared (many of them returning from the graveyard). How many voters are legally and honestly registered in Allegheny County? I assure you that nobody knows.

My impression is that Barack Obama is distributing a lot more walking-around money than Hillary Clinton -- mainly because he has a lot more cash on hand.

Pennsylvania:Vote-Buying & Chihuahas

Go to http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com/ to see why this PA Democrat would like to bite Mitt Romney.

Today (Thursday) on my main blog the title of today's column is: "Are Hillary, Barack Really Chihuahuas?" I hope you'll visit that blog -- frequently. On my DailyKostKutter blog on Friday, I'll be writing about why you should move to Ambridge, PA -- and do so as soon as possible. Obviously, that column will be light-hearted -- but not outrageous. On my PennsylvaniaforJohnMcCain column (you're here now) I'll have a column about why, if you're a stanch Democrat, you should vote for Hillary Clinton in the primary. All politics is relative, and -- relatively speaking -- Senator Clinton is the best of the two candidates. Of course, the best of all possible presidential candidates is American hero John McCain. Thanks so much for visiting; your comments are always welcome. God bless!

In recent weeks, I've had visitors not only from Wasilla, Alaska (hometown of Governor Sarah Heath Palin), but also from many locations in Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Pittsburgh, of course, but also more exotic locations like: Gwynedd Valley, Palmyra, Pottstown (hometown of novelist John O'Hara), Annville, Morton, Essington, Phoenixville, Fairbank, Southhampton, Canonsburg (near the home of my friend Diana Lynn Irey), Haverford, King of Prussia, and Shicksenny. I'm glad you came, and I hope you'll return often.

I'll be writing much more about Pennsylvania politics in the days -- and months -- ahead. In my other blog today (and tomorrow) I'll be writing about the Obama-Clinton campaign and the behavior of some of their "surrogates" (including Samantha Power, who called Hillary a "monster" and Geraldine Ferraro, who committed the "sin" of criticizing Barack Obama). You can find it at: http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com.

A big question raised today is: why does the obviously distraught Mrs. Spitzer (Sibala) stand by her man? The answer to that is not clear yet (to ordinary mortals). I firmly believe I do know why Hillary Clinton stood by her man, philanderer Bill Clinton. She did so because it was in her political interest to do so. She wanted to be President, and divorcing Bill probably would have made that impossible. Cynical? Maybe. True? Absolutely.

This morning (Wednesday), I'm watching TV, transfixed by the decline and fall of Eliot Spitzer, the lawman who obviously believed he was above the law. In regard to my home state of Pennsylvania, I will be writing later today about the central importance of the state in the Democratic Primary and, especially, in the general election. If John McCain can win this state, he probably will be the next President of the U.S. What happens in this Commonwealth will play a major role in determining the future of our country.

One thing that's almost certainly going on in PA right now is the passage of a great deal of money. I mentioned earlier that Gov. Ed Rendell dispensed $700,000 in cash money on the last election day in 2006. Those dollars, most of which went to political "fixers" in the Black communities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, is known as "street money" or "walking around money."

It's really a form of bribery -- vote-buying. I'm sure the realities of PA politics are being conveyed to Hillary Clinton (backed by Gov. Rendell) and Barack Obama. They are fully aware that, in Pennsylvania, money talks. Be aware that you won't read much about his in the national media, which will follow its usual approach of "see no evil" when it comes to Democratic politics. The cynics who give, receive, and pass around the street money are not exactly apostles of the "politics of hope."

More to come later today . . .