Background Infromation: Melissa Bean is the Democratic Congresswoman representing Illinois’ 8th District. What makes IL-8 so special is that it’s actually a district where the Democratic Congresswoman is vulnerable. Expressing their confidence they can win back the district, the RNC last year gave Bean the “Lame Duck Congressman Award.” Republican Phil Crane previously held Bean’s seat for 32 years, before being unseated by a mere two percent. IL-8 is considered one of the most conservative districts in Illinois- that has led to the RNC dumping millions into this races to ensure Bean’s 2006 opponent’s victory. Here is my response:
I am amazed at how desperate the National Republican Party has become. In Illinois’ 8th Congressional District (my home district), Democratic Congresswoman Melissa Bean is facing investment banker, Republican David McSweeney. The McSweeney campaign is spewing nothing more than negative attacks against Bean in a last ditch effort to win. McSweeney and the Republicans ought to be ashamed since it’s their brand of campaign scum that makes politics in this country so corrupt- and disillusions so many American voters.
Consider the early stages of McSweeney’s campaign. When he was in a crowded field of candidates in the Republican primary, he was the only one who refused to sign a campaign pledge against negative campaigning…. and he won. Winning by campaigning negatively is like punching someone in the dark; McSweeney is man without morals, ethics and common decency. He does not exemplify the qualities needed to represent Illinois’ 8th Congressional District.
Furthermore, he can’t even tout the endorsements of major newspapers or organizations. His failure to secure major conservative endorsements (such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) testifies to the fact that he is nothing more than a conservative ideologue with a close-minded agenda. Allow me to elaborate on “close-minded.”
If you go McSweeney’s campaign website, you will find that his positions on the issues are based on a “common sense conservative platform.” It’s amazing how willing he is to so openly demonstrate his bias by labeling his platform as “common sense conservative.” It’s contradictory that he claims that he’ll represent 8th district voters when he acknowledges that his positions on the issues are strictly conservative. Would this be your voice in Washington?
Melissa Bean is the alternative. She is a centrist, independent voice in Congress who doesn’t follow any ideology and listens to the concerns of her constituents. A vote for David McSweeney is a vote for a conservative ideology, and politicians who follow any ideology verbatim only contribute to the scum of our system. Mr. McSweeney is scum.
So if McSweeney embodies the far right and Bean is the center, McSweeney’s only defense is to reach out to moderate voters by painting Bean as a liberal ideologue. In these last few weeks of campaigning, he is launching yet another negative campaign (as he did in the primary) by painting Bean as a “wannabe Nancy Pelosi” and in one mailer, a hippie liberal with a peace pipe. 8th district voters are smarter to know that Bean’s votes for CAFTA (the Central American Free Trade Agreement) and for lower taxes make her among the most moderate Congresswomen in the House.
If he thinks that labeling Bean in this light will be effective, than we must conclude that David McSweeney thinks were stupid. We all know different. We have a congresswoman who exemplifies the characteristics of a statesmen, and who listens to her constituents and not her party nor ideology. I am proud to be represented by Melissa Bean.
