Kamikaze Pilots and waldenbush

Congressional Quarterly nicely took note of the 2nd CD Democratic Primary and how 4 (gasp!) candidates were running. They did start out by noting that waldenbush had breezed through his previous elections. I don't suppose any of us would've been surprised to read that. OSU poly-sci Bill Lunch, however, did get my attention by noting that, "there were no shortage of kamikaze pilots in Japan at the end of WWII, either...some people are drawn to lost causes."

Hmmm...

First of all, I have no intention of crashing myself into waldenbush and dying, maybe that's not what he meant. Maybe he figures I'm a martyr. Well, I am a carpenter...but nah. I've got it, he's doing the math from the last elections. I see now, he's a pro and he's looked at...what? I haven't talked to him, I'd remember. I haven't gotten any emails and I don't think I distributed any brochures at OSU, a different district and all. Maybe he's really an anthropologist who's been secretly studying the wild tribes of the 2nd. Oh, heck, if I were completely ignorant of the 2nd CD and a candidate and looked at the numbers I'd come up with something similar, but then I don't claim to be a poly-sci or from OSU, so I can't be ignorant. I really don't mind all that much when people who've watched a do-it-yourself TV program tell me how to frame a house, either...ok, but I do smile and nod my head.

Look, I'll say it again, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity, I'm not the same thing and I'm not doing the same thing. Waldenbush finds money and influence sufficiently important to put together a bunch of radio stations, one would do for "love of radio," I find what I do and who I do it for more important than money and I certainly have no desire to have a crew of hundreds and lose touch completely. I certainly want to be paid for my work, it's not a hobby, but there are places and ways to make more of it and I don't care enough about it to do that. That means there is an essential difference in our outlook on life and therefore our politics and what we'd do as politicians.

Sure, if you're reading this you're interested but you don't know me or hang with me so how do you know if this isn't just a political ............... lie. (posture is a nicer word for the same thing) I guess you read this stuff and see if it all hangs together as a unit and a personal statement. This is a Blog because I want you to be able to have at me in public. You'll find stuff in here that might be better for me politically if it weren't said, so what? I want you to vote for me, not some figment. Not some posture. I want you to tell your friends, "No really, you gotta check this Chuck guy out," because I trust you to see. I don't believe the American voters are idiots and I won't treat them like they are. The more I tell you about me, the more honestly I can ask for your vote. I don't expect you'll agree with everything.

I cannot for the life of me figure out why homosexual marriage would make me want to leave my wife for a man, that'll lose me some votes and it won't gain me any as a Democrat. Illegal immigrants flooding the low-mid bluecollar labor market is having a horrid effect on legal blue collar workers, that's wrong, no matter all the excuses and name calling, it's wrong. Abortion stinks, I won't interfere with it, being rich is a nice thing, I don't want to interfere with it, but I'm sure not going to help it along at the expense of the little guy. Business makes jobs but when did it become the be-all-end-all of politics? War is a horrid thing, it's the last worst option, but by gawd, don't play at it and don't pretend that it's bloodless or that you can do it without shredding civilians. You will get our troops killed and maimed and drag a conflict out in the name of sparing ... bad press. Having money and power entails a tremendous responsibility toward the workers who get you there, they're not numbers on paper, if you screw them I'm inclined to return the favor. Don't even begin to think I'd trade a civil liberty for security, if you don't feel safe, that's too bad, but probably realistic. I own a fair number of firearms, shoot them, hunt with them, I build cars and race them, sounds pretty odd for a Democrat, nope. I like people, I tend to trust them, carefully, but I cannot abide liars and cheats. I was a drunk, I'm 18 years clean and sober, I don't know if that's a recommendation or not, but it's me. I have no formal religion, maybe I'm a Deist, sort of. If you think a freshman Rep has any power, you're mistaken, but the Democrat that takes out waldenbush will certainly have a voice. (c'mon it'd be the news story of the year) I'm no public speaker, I look out at these forums and decide it's my friends and neighbors I'm talking to and I'm ok, because it's true it works. I won't give you the answer you want, I'll give you the answer I have, you may not like it, but it'll be true. I'll tweak Rep Greg Walden with the nickname "waldenbush" because it's true, but I have no interest in trying to make scandal for him, he has a public record, that'll do. There's pretty much not spit's difference in policy between myself and my fellow Democratic candidates but I'm different. They might be better candidates to vote for than myself in a different district, we're not in a different one. I can't get very worked up about trying to beat these folks, I like them and I respect them. If the voters tell me to go home to Baker City and bang nails, I really won't mind, I like doing it. Will I like having an office job in DC? No. But I can do it and I can do it better for 2nd CD than waldenbush does and I owe something back. My campaign needs contributions, I get them by little dribs and dabs, which is a good thing, but it takes lots of dribs and dabs. More important is people telling their friends about me, people trust that, TV spots and other ads are just ads. By the way, the comment buttons on here are for use.