Saint Mikey’s Mistake

Dubya is going to be in our area tomorrow (bleaugh!) to support (?) fellow Repugs Mike Fitzpatrick and Jim Gerlach as they try to retain their seats in the U.S. House (maybe Curt Weldon isn't so crazy after all).

With that in mind, let’s read about something that will truly make a difference instead.

CALL TO ACTION

Dear Friends,

Exciting things are happening at Patrick Murphy For Congress headquarters!

President Bush is coming to town on Wednesday to do a fundraiser for Mike Fitzpatrick and Jim Gerlach (PA-6; he's being challenged by Lois Murphy). In response, our terrific corps of volunteers will hold a Day of Action in which they will participate in community service projects throughout the 8th District. The 2006 budget, which Mike Fitzpatrick voted for, drastically cut funding to a number of programs affecting people and organizations throughout the 8th District.

Murphy Corps volunteers will work to reverse the damage, doing what they can at the local level. Don't have time to volunteer? Donate to our book, food, or toiletry drives, listed below.

Here's what we're up to. Give us a call at (215) 547-5211 and ask for Emily. We'll get you set up with a project.

Thanks for helping us change the world.

PROJECTS:

-Sorting donations at the Deja Vu thrift shop in Langhorne for the Family Service Association of Bucks County (10:00am)
-Clearing drains and picking up litter at Tyler State Parkin Newtown (11:00am to 3:00pm)
-Assisting senior citizens at Twining Village in Holland (10:00am-11:30am and 2:00pm-3:30pm)
-Helping kids with homework at the after school program at Foxwood Manor Apartments in Levittown (3:15pm)

We are also collecting donations of canned food for the Bucks County Housing Group in Penndel; books for the community library at Foxwood Manor Apartments in Levittown; and toilet articles(tooth brushes, soap, etc) for residents at the Delaware Valley Veterans Home in Northeast Philadelphia.

Please drop off donations at one of the following locations:

Patrick Murphy for Congress Headquarters
1631 Edgely Rd
Levittown, PA 19057
(215) 547-5211

-or-

Bucks County Democratic Committee Headquarters
17 W Court St
Doylestown, PA 18901
(215) 348-2140

SEE YOU THERE!

Sincerely,
Emily Savin
Volunteer Coordinator
Patrick Murphy for Congress

Speaking of the election between Fitzpatrick and Patrick Murphy, I should point out that the Bucks County Courier Times, in an effort to crawl its way back to something approaching respectability for the Andy Warren endorsement, ran an editorial last Thursday encouraging both Mikey and Patrick to take something like an “honesty pledge” and sign a form stating that they would conduct a clean campaign. Fitzpatrick signed first (too funny…) and wrote a letter that the paper published (of course, in the letter, Fitzpatrick kept up the best Repug tradition of snarling that Murphy looked at issues “through the prism of his liberal ideology”).

I guess the paper was trying to be cute with this lead paragraph to its editorial.

Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick is lean and appropriately fit. Still, the 42-year-old father of six is 10 years older than his opponent, Democrat Patrick Murphy, who not so long ago was pulling war duty in Iraq. Which makes it all the more impressive that Fitzpatrick won the race for accountability. Easily.

Before this election is over, anyone reading this newspaper is going to hear A THOUSAND TIMES that Fitzpatrick is “a 42-year-old father of six” and Patrick Murphy “was in Iraq” with very little mention of his service beyond that (I’ve already heard it a hundred times, or so it seems). Someone should tell the paper’s editorial board that we’re on to this “negating perceptions” game of theirs.

To be fair, though, I should point out later on in the editorial, the paper notes that Patrick definitely favors taking “the pledge” and would have done so sooner if he hadn’t been ill last Friday.

Of course, we should give Fitzpatrick the benefit of the doubt, even though I DEFINITELY think he’s going to regret this. I mean, he’s so trustworthy, isn’t he? Why, there are examples of his “trustworthiness” all over this site (the movie accessible from the “Support Stem Cell Research” link under Patrick’s photo, the links from the “Read About The Eighth District” box in the right column, and “The Tom and Mikey Show” box. And, as Chris Bowers pointed out, Fitzpatrick is particularly trustworthy on the environment (sure he is…).

Mikey will try to get off the hook by letting the Repug “527s” who are busy concocting their garbage as I write this (no doubt trying to “Swift Boat” Patrick on his military service, doing a more highly polished and despicable job as opposed to Andy Warren’s organization) do his dirty work for him, and when people start calling him on it, he’ll just say, “Hey, that may have come from the Repug national committee, but I’m not sure. All I know is that my campaign didn’t have anything to do with it" (let’s see now…Ginny Schrader and Hezbollah? Any of this ringing a bell, Mikey? I thought not – sure…).

Hell, Mikey was ALREADY trying to bail on his promise by adding this little caveat near the end of his letter saying he’d tell the truth (again, the paper called him on it, to its credit).

On the other hand, we’re not quite in agreement with the congressman, who in his letter today says that “in politics, truth is often a hotly debated matter of interpretation, even given the most sincere commitment to honesty…”

From our perspective, a commitment to honesty means that truth is not a matter of interpretation; that is in the hands of an honest candidate. Information is not clay to be molded and shaped to resemble something it is not.”

At times like this, I wish I knew how to use Adobe Photoshop(TM). If by any chance, someone who may be reading this knows how to use the application, PLEASE send me a photo of Fitzpatrick’s nose growing if you can when he gets caught in a lie from now until November, and I will display it PROMINENTLY on this page. I would be forever in your debt.

Actually, I don’t think there will be enough space on the page to make room, but we can try anyway.

Update: Yep, I'd say that Mikey's honesty pledge is in serious jeopardy (sorry for some redundancy).