A newly-released poll shows Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C) has seriously endangered his re-election prospects by shouting out “you lie!” during President Obama’s speech to Congress this week.
The poll, commissioned by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, shows that Wilson trails his Democratic opponent Rob Miller, 44 to 43 percent. A sizable 62 percent majority of voters said they disapproved of Wilson’s actions, with only 29 percent approving.
The electorate was closely split on whether President Obama was telling the truth when he said his health care plan would not cover illegal immigrants – 46 percent said he was telling the truth, while 42 percent said they thought the president was lying.
“In a matter of seconds Joe Wilson turned himself from a safe incumbent into one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the country for 2010,” PPP pollster Dean Debnam wrote.
It’s a bit premature to be writing Wilson’s political obituary yet. The congressman won the district with 54 percent of the vote last year, a number depressed by the record level of African-American turnout in a presidential election. And it would be useful to see additional polling in the district before drawing any firm conclusions.
But one thing’s for sure, Miller has raised close to $800,000 since Wilson’s outburst and he’ll have plenty of cash to spend against him during crunch time. That fact alone makes it likely the race will be competitive, and guarantees we’ll be hearing more about Joe Wilson in the months to come. Link to the Original Politico Story
The Republicans lost another house seat by a narrow margin. New York’s 20th District goes to a Democrat after a special election for a vacated seat. 4 years ago this was a Republican stronghold. This is just another sign that the Republican Party is out of touch with mainstream Americans. While the Democrats have been offering solutions, the Republicans have been offering nothing but divisive and hateful commentary. They’re staunch support of corporations and jobs being sent overseas does not ring well with everyday America. With the gap between rich and poor widening, the Republicans are clearly out of step with the working family. They oppose every plan that might help the downtrodden and support every corporate welfare plan that comes down the pike. When you have leaders like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Rielly you get what you pay for. You make your bed, you sleep in it.
Drudgereport, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News get it all wrong again by jumping to conclusions without looking at the extremists in their out party and the lengths they will go too, to cause hate and division between the races. A backstory is a 20 year old girl claims she gets robbed, the robber sees a McCain bumper sticker on her car, brutally beats her for it and carves a “B” in her face. Come to find out she scratched a “B” in her face and was never robbed and made it all up. Of course her assailant was a mean BLACK Barack supporter. She is being charged with filing a false police report. She should be charged with committing a hate crime.
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A McCain campaign volunteer made up a story of being robbed, pinned to the ground and having the letter “B” scratched on her face in a politically inspired attack, police said Friday.
Ashley Todd, 20-year-old college student from College Station, Texas, admitted Friday that the story was false and was being charged with making a false report to police, said Maurita Bryant, the assistant chief of the police department’s investigations division. Police doubted her story from the start, Bryant said.
Todd, who is white, told police she was attacked by a 6-foot-4 black man Wednesday night.
She now can’t explain why she invented the story, Bryant said. Todd also told police she believes she cut the backward “B” onto her own cheek, but did not provide an explanation of how or why, Bryant said.
Todd initially told investigators she was attempting to use a bank branch ATM when the man approached her from behind, put a knife with a 4- to 5-inch blade to her throat and demanded money. She told police she handed the assailant $60 and walked away.
Todd told investigators that she suspected the man then noticed a John McCain sticker on her car, became angry and punched her in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground and telling her “you are going to be a Barack supporter,” police said.
She said he continued to punch and kick her while threatening “to teach her a lesson for being a McCain supporter,” police said. She said he then sat on her chest, pinned her hands down with his knees and scratched a backward letter “B” into her face with a dull knife.
Todd told police she didn’t seek medical attention, but instead went to a friend’s apartment nearby and called police about 45 minutes later.
The Associated Press could not immediately locate Todd’s family.
Bryant said somebody charged with making a false report would typically be cited and sent a summons. But because police have concerns about Todd’s mental health, they are consulting with the Allegheny County District Attorney. She remained in custody and was awaiting arraignment.
Todd worked in New York for the College Republican National Committee before moving two weeks ago to Pennsylvania, where her duties included recruiting college students, the committee’s executive director, Ethan Eilon, has said.
Eilon declined to comment on the investigation Friday or to help The Associated Press contact Todd.
Earlier Friday, police said they had found inconsistencies in Todd’s story. They gave her a lie-detector test, but wouldn’t release the polygraph results. Investigators also said bank surveillance photos did not back up the woman’s initial story of being attacked at an ATM.
Police interviewed Todd after she contacted police Wednesday night and again on Thursday, Bryant said. They asked her to come back Friday, ostensibly to help police put together a sketch of the man. Instead, detectives began interviewing her.
“They just started talking to her and she just opened up and said she wanted to tell the truth,” Bryant said.
Bryant said it doesn’t appear that anyone else put the woman up to the false report.
Police suspected all along that Todd might not be telling the truth, starting with the fact that the “B” was backward, Bryant said.
“We have robbers here in Pittsburgh, but they don’t generally mutilate someone’s face like that,” Bryant said. “They just take the money and run.”
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