Archive for the ‘Baron Hill’ Category

Assuming, of course, that he can get reelected.

After all, he needs them to do volunteer work for his reelection campaign.

It would be too much for them to ask for Baron to do anything about the environment until after they have gotten him reelected (at which point, he won’t be able to do it then either because he’ll need to be reelected in another two years; catch-22).

They must do Baron’s bidding first; then he’ll figure out how to avoid doing what they elected him to do.

It’s his usual modus operandi.

From the News & Tribune:

Hill sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which he said has plans to move forward with environmental issues after the November election.

“We’re probably not going to do anything this year on global warming. After the next Congress is elected, starting in January, we’re going to work on a bill addressing the issue of global warming,” Hill said.

Yet Sitko feels each day that passes is a loss that impacts the environment, therefore the organization went ahead with the three billboards, two of which are along Interstate 65.

One is located between Jeffersonville and Clarksville near Interstate 265 and the other between Seymour and Columbus on I-65. There is also a billboard along Ind. 50 near North Vernon.

“We need to protect Hoosier farmers and families right now,” Sitko said. “Indiana is already effected by global warming with longer and more intense heat waves and droughts that are causing Hoosier farmers millions in expensive irrigation.”

And you can’t help but wonder about this particular bit:

“The time has come for Southern Indiana to take a strong look at Rep. Hill’s record,” Sitko said. “While the public is calling for action on global warming, Hill is bucking his party’s leadership and siding with those in Congress that are intent on denying the inevitable.”

Hill said he finds Greenpeace’s stance “puzzling,” saying it was his understanding the organization was satisfied with the final passage of the fuel economy target bill last year.

Hill added he is on the cusp of securing endorsements from several economic organizations in his bid to return to Congress in November, including the League of Conservation and the Sierra Club.

That sort of feigned ignorance on the part of Baron sounds an awful lot like his denial of ever having promised his own party’s county chairmen that he wouldn’t make a superdelegate endorsement until after the primary.

You know the one; the time when he called the Democratic county chairman of his own county a liar for merely quoting Baron’s promise.

That’s the thing about telling lies and breaking promises.

Sooner or later, they catch up with you.

It looks like this is another set of lies and broken promises that is catching up with Baron Hill.

Also, I think it’s a bit of a stretch to call the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club “economic organizations,” but it is the News & Tribune.
(more…)

Baron Hill carried less than 70% of the votes cast in the 9th District Democratic primary, a record low for him. He carried only 60% of the vote in Bloomington.

These figures exclude undervotes, where people left the ballot blank rather than vote for Baron or any of his challengers. In Harrison County, there over a thousand Democrat undervotes in the Congressional race.

In all, more than one Democratic primary voter in three voted against Baron Hill, or at least declined via undervote to vote for him (in terms of undervotes). The bedrock of the Democratic Party in the 9th District has been betrayed. Baron’s base may be in Bloomington now, but the rest of the district has gone in a different direction from him.

Hillary Clinton carried the 9th District by better than 63%. The only county in the district that Obama carried was Monroe. Most counties in the 9th (including my own, Harrison) gave Hillary Clinton margins upward of 70%.

(Read more after the leap) (more…)

…and miss some votes in the House while busy endorsing (complete with footage) the Obamassiah:

House Roll #233
Apr 30, 2008 6:56 PM
No Vote
H.R. 5522: Combustible Dust Explosion and Fire Prevention Act of 2008 (On Passage)
Passed 247-165, 19 not voting

House Roll #232
Apr 30, 2008 6:48 PM
No Vote
On Motion to Recommit with Instructions: H R 5522 Combustible Dust Explosion and Fire Prevention Act
Failed 187-225, 19 not voting

House Roll #231
Apr 30, 2008 6:15 PM
No Vote
Amendment 2 to H.R. 5522: Combustible Dust Explosion and Fire Prevention Act of 2008 (On Agreeing to the Amendment)
Failed 178-237, 21 not voting

(So many more after the leap) (more…)

Posted in Baron Hill, Congress, Elections, Ethics, Indiana Politics, Presidential Politics, Uncategorized | No Comments » | Read more..

It came as no surprise to any reader of this blog, but Baron Hill has endorsed the Obamassiah in the Democrat civil war, err, presidential primary contest.

It was a long time in coming.

First, Baron’s wife wore an Obamassiah t-shirt on a taxpayer-funded junket to the Pacific Rim.

After that, Baron fawned about the Obamassiah in many a 9th District media interview, comparing the excitement around him to Robert Kennedy.

As I noted (also here and here), Baron took $12,500 from the Obamassiah in the 2006 cycle, but only $2,500 from Hillary Clinton; yet more proof that Baron goes where the money is.

Then Baron introduced the Obamassiah at a campaign rally in Columbus, and the real footsie began.

The Baron-Obamassiah tour continued with Hill appearing with Obama at Nick’s in Bloomington (in a YouTube video that gave away, about 3 minutes in, his intent to endorse Obama, no less).

In New Albany, last week, Baron spoke at an Obamassiah town hall event with Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois.

And now, on Wednesday, has come news that Baron Hill will indeed endorse Barack Obama for president.

(Read more after the leap) (more…)

We’ve all heard of the Blue Dog Democrats, they’re the Democratic candidates that ran on relatively conservative platforms in 2006 and unseated Republican members of Congress. In a large part they’re responsible for the current Democratic control of Congress. Although they gave the Democrats the majority, they sure haven’t been very excited about forcing their party to recognize the fact that they come from conservative districts were San Francisco style policy proposals are not welcomed.

With conventional wisdom saying that 2008 would be a year for the Democrats, it was to be expected that if the Blue Dogs did a fairly good job, most of them would win re-election. Fortunately for conservatives, the Blue Dog’s have not done anywhere near a good job holding to their campaign promises. This means that instead of facing a weak Republican opposition, they may have a really tough battle on their hands this fall.

Read more below the fold. (more…)

Hat tip to Hot Air for this interesting article in the Los Angeles Times.

Barack Obama: transcending politics by descending to new levels of spin and untruthiness.

As gas prices reach record levels in Indiana, I wonder if Baron Hill will denounce the Obamassiah’s ties to the oil companies as he did with much more flimsy evidence with regard to Mike Sodrel in 2006.

Sen. Barack Obama continued accepting donations from oil company executives and employees last month even as he aired ads in which he stated he took no oil company money, his campaign finance reports show.

Obama has taken at least $263,000 from oil company executives, family members and employees since entering the presidential race last year, including $46,000 last month. At least $140,000 has come in chunks of between $1,000 and $2,300, the maximum permitted under federal law.

Texas oil executive Robert L. Cavnar of Milagro Exploration and his wife, Gracie, have helped the Illinois Democrat raise at least another $50,000 by helping host a fundraiser earlier in the campaign.

(Read more of this stunning move by the LA Times to report the truth below the fold) (more…)

Posted in Baron Hill, Congress, Elections, Presidential Politics | 1 Comment » | Read more..

From WIBC comes a look at the impact in Indiana, post-primary, of the presidential race (particularly looking at the contentious 9th District race):

The Democratic nominee could have the biggest Indiana influence in the hotly contested 9th Congressional District - where Democrat Baron Hill and Republican Mike Sodrel are likely to face each other for the fourth consecutive election.

Sodrel won the seat in 2004 as President Bush carried the district in a landslide but lost it during the 2006 Bush backlash. Sodrel says, though, that he doesn’t agree with those who believe a Clinton nomination would bring out conservatives in droves to vote against her.

“I tend to believe that there’s not much difference,” Sodrel said. “I know a lot of people would argue that position, but I just don’t think there’s a lot of difference in which candidate is nominated on the Democratic side.”

(Read more after the leap) (more…)

Posted in Baron Hill, Congress, Elections, Mike Sodrel, Presidential Politics | 1 Comment » | Read more..

My illustrious congressman was in New Albany Friday with Senator Dick Durban for a town meeting, according to the blog of LEO (Louisville’s alternative newspaper, owned by their illustrious Congressman John Yarmuth)

Baron Hill, Dick Durbin town hall in New Albany Friday

U.S. Rep. Baron Hill (D-Indiana 9) and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) will be at Barack Obama’s New Albany headquarters for a town hall meeting on Friday. Doors open at 11:30 and the event is set for 11:50. Obama won’t be there.

New Albany is in Indiana, y’all, which finally gets to have a say in a presidential primary. In fact, Indiana could be the last primary that matters. Or maybe Kentucky’s will fill that role.

To get there, take the Sherman Minton Bridge (Interstate 64 west) and exit like you’re going to Caesars. But turn right on Main Street instead of left, and you’ll see the HQ on the left, a few blocks past Pearl Street.

The event is open to the public. (CS)

Eric Schansberg was there, and found the contrast between Durbin’s effusive praise of the Obamassiah’s opposition to the war from the start and attacks on Hillary’s vote for it to be ironic and amusing.

Like Hillary Clinton, Baron, too you see, voted for the war.

(Read more after the leap) (more…)

From the Seymour Tribune comes this prime example of how the media in the 9th District merely repeats what Baron Hill says without ever investigating the facts.

The article goes on at length about how Baron Hill is a centrist.

It even quotes him talking about examples of how he is so moderate.

The problem, of course, is that the things that Baron is citing as examples of his centrism are anything but, and (in the case of his abortion example) they are manifestly untrue.

“I’m a centrist,” Hill said over the weekend, returning home to the district. “I’m not an ideologue. Centrists are problem solvers, and you don’t solve problems by working at one extreme or the other. The only way you can do that is by reaching out.”

To this, I merely give two topical and pithy quotations:

(One of them is from Alexander Hamilton. I bet you can’t guess who the second one is from. Check it out after the leap) (more…)