This page was last updated on August 8, 2013.
Hanger: Opponent’s favorite status is “nonsense”; J.D. Prose; Beaver County Times; July 28, 2013.
In the print edition, this column appeared in the op-ed section labeled “ON THE LEFT.” Given Mr. Prose’s body of work and the BCT’s left-leaning positions, did the BCT really think readers didn’t know he’s a “Surly progressive?”
According to his Twitter page, Mr. Prose is a self-described “Surly progressive.” As you read this opinion column and his Twitter “tweets,” keep in mind Mr. Prose wears at least one other hat for the BCT. In addition to being an entertainer/pundit, Mr. Prose is a part-time reporter covering political stories. Ask yourself this. When a pundit gives his political opinions in one part of the paper, can he be trusted to report politics objectively elsewhere in the paper? After all, would a person whose opinion is 1+1 equals 3 report 1+1 really equals 2? Does he have a “Chinese wall” in his head to keep his opinions from bleeding into his reporting? (You may recall NPR claimed it fired Juan Williams for doing exactly what Mr. Prose does.) If it can get worse than that, Mr. Prose has made name-calling and personal attacks a foundation of his columns. If pushed, I’d be willing to bet Mr. Prose would try to excuse his writing by claiming he’s paid to be controversial and stir debate. The problem is, you don’t need to get into name-calling and personal attacks to accomplish those goals.
You can find the archive of my Prose column critiques here.
Below is a critique of portions of this column.
“We might be wrong about the crowd, but we’re positive Hanger was there because we talked to him for a while. He’s a 56-year-old former secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection and a former member of the state Public Utility Commission, where, he noted, he voted to cap electric rates for western Pennsylvanians.”
[RWC] Mr. Prose forgot to mention Mr. Hanger is Special Counsel for Eckert Seamans, a law firm and an evil lobbying organization. What’s odd is Mr. Seamans’ campaign website also doesn’t mention his employment by Eckert Seamans. Hmm.
Rick Santorum also worked for Eckert Seamans after losing his Senate seat to Bob Casey, Jr., in 2006.
“[John] Hanger got into some policy talk, which we’ll skip here because, hey, the primary’s 10 months away. Go to hangerfor governor.com if you want the particulars. We will note that he’s probably the only candidate who vows to build electric and natural gas vehicle fueling stations within five miles of every Pennsylvanian. Take that, Big Oil!”
[RWC] If Mr. Hanger is going to spend his own money, fine. The problem is, Mr. Hanger wants to spend taxpayer paychecks “to build electric and natural gas vehicle fueling stations within five miles of every Pennsylvanian.” Coal accounts for about 40% of U.S. electricity production. Therefore, “electric … vehicle fueling stations” are like partially fueling a vehicle with coal. Oops, was I not to mention that inconvenient truth?
As for “Take that, Big Oil!,” does Mr. Prose not know “Big Oil” is heavily invested in natural gas?
“We did quiz him on four cultural issues, though. Hanger is pro-choice and supports same-sex marriage, but says churches should not be forced to marry gay/lesbian couples.”
[RWC] “Pro-choice” is leftyspeak for supporting abortion for convenience. As for Mr. Hanger saying “churches should not be forced to marry [same-sex] couples,” that’s real generous given Article 1, Section 3 of the Pennsylvania Constitution and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
“On gun control, Hanger said he backs the Second Amendment, but also wants ‘common sense’ legislation to keep guns from the mentally ill and ‘the criminally violent.’”
[RWC] Anything is possible, but we don’t know how Mr. Hanger defines “common sense,” “mentally ill,” and “criminally violent.”
“Possession of a small amount of weed should be a summary offense akin to a traffic ticket, he said. Depriving sick Pennsylvanians of medical marijuana is ‘cruel,’ Hanger said, and the state should study marijuana law changes in Colorado and Washington while exploring the regulation and taxation of pot.”
“Stop, John. You had us at summary offense.”
[RWC] You can pretty much throw out the “Depriving sick Pennsylvanians of medical marijuana is ‘cruel’” comment. The real reason is “the regulation and taxation of pot,” just like alcohol-containing beverages, gambling, and tobacco.
As I’ve noted previously, I have no problem with making marijuana (and probably some other drugs) legal. No, I’m not a user.
“NEW STILES
“Another candidate came into town last week and that was Larry Stiles, the Johnstown Republican mounting a primary challenge to U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus.”
[RWC] Mr. Prose also talked up Mr. Stiles in “Christiana says it’s time to expand the WATCH list.” In that piece, Mr. Prose wrote, “Turns out Stiles left the GOP in 2007 and returned in 2012, which has prompted rumors that he’s a Democratic plant. He backed the late Democratic U.S. Rep. John Murtha, a Marine veteran, and Murtha’s replacement, Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Critz, who lost to Rothfus last year.” You’ll find Mr. Stiles also doesn’t like Gov. Tom Corbett (R) and attacks Messrs. Corbett and Rothfus from the left, not the right. Mr. Stiles is registered in the wrong party if he’s really a registered Republican.
You’ll also conclude Messrs. Prose and Stiles have a “bromance” going on. In addition to Mr. Prose blowing kisses to Mr. Stiles, Mr. Stiles is returning the kisses. On the Stiles campaign website you’ll find a piece entitled “Congressional Challenger Larry Stiles Agrees with the Noted Columnist JD Prose That Do-Nothing Congressman Rothfus Is Highly Vulnerable! Governor Tom Corbett In 2012 stated that Rothfus Was One of His ‘Two Highest Priorities’!” Yep, Mr. Stiles referred to Mr. Prose as a “Noted Columnist.” It reminds me of the following line from “To Be or Not to Be” (a Mel Brooks film): “He’s world-famous in Poland!”
Take a look at the Stiles campaign website and you’ll it’s mostly dedicated to smearing Mr. Rothfus, and Mr. Corbett to a lesser extent. I found nothing critical of any Democrat or any Democrat policy/program.
Mr. Stiles is the owner of Coastal Asset Recovery, a debt collection company. Debt collection companies are those businesses that call looking for someone you never heard of and keep calling until you sic the PA Attorney General’s office on them. According to his campaign website, “Larry attended Penn State University and the University of Maryland - University Campus where he studied Political Science. And he attended LaSalle Extension University School of Law.” It’s not clear Mr. Stiles received a degree, however. For example, the Penn State alumni database does not list Mr. Stiles. In fairness, though, the website bio does not claim Mr. Stiles actually graduated from any of these schools.
Mr. Stiles’ style reminds me of Stevan Drobac, Jr., Democrat candidate for the 4th (now 12th) district seat in 2002 and 2004. Mr. Drobac was such a poor candidate the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette actually “endorsed” the Republican candidate (Melissa Hart) in 2002, though the PG refused to endorse either candidate in 2004. Further, Mr. Drobac received almost no support from the Democrat party.
“Stiles, a Marine Corps veteran battling cancer that, he says, was caused by exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam, is big on veterans issues. BIG. In fact, he says veterans issues is the center piece of his campaign.
“Rothfus, Stiles said, has failed to address issues such as health care, a claims backlog and problems at VA hospitals. Stiles, who describes himself as a moderate Republican, also dogged Rothfus for voting against Hurricane Sandy relief and the Violence Against Women Act.”
[RWC] How many “true” Republicans would describe themselves as “moderate Republican[s]?”
I covered the Hurricane Sandy issue in my critique of “Pennsylvania not proud.”
I covered the VAWA issue in my critique of “Voting for anti-violence bill before voting against it.”
“‘He’s out of touch with the district, but he’s in touch with Wall Street,’ Stiles quipped. Zing! That ‘Wall Street lawyer’ refrain is borrowed straight from former Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Critz’s losing campaign against Rothfus.”
[RWC] I covered this in my critique of “No hurricane, but Tampa’s buried by blizzard of lies.”
“Stiles derided the hyper-partisanship in Congress and Rothfus’ ties to the Tea Party, and said he’s hooked up with the No Labels group that lobbies for solutions regardless of party affiliations. ‘That’s the way we need to go,’ Stiles said.”
[RWC] No Labels, “a 501(c)(4) social welfare advocacy organization,” was a 2010 development in the “Don’t call me a ________ (fill in with a leftism variant)” effort. The “social welfare advocacy” portion of the description is a giveaway. Though the group’s slogan is “Not left. Not right. Forward.” (You may recall “Forward” was the slogan for the 2012 Obama campaign.), this group appears to consist primarily of leftists with some RINOs (Republicans in name only) thrown in for the illusion of bipartisanship. No Labels conveniently popped up in December 2010 after leftists were routed in the federal and state elections.
“And, Stiles latched onto the National Republican Congressional Committee recently putting Rothfus on its own list of potentially vulnerable candidates targeted for fundraising help. ‘His soft spots are his extremism,’ Stiles said. ‘He’s an elite, Washington Republican.’”
[RWC] Mr. Stiles didn’t describe Rep. Rothfus’ “extremism” or Mr. Prose didn’t include it.
“But, Keith’s a regular guy, Larry. He even grills. ‘There’s not many regular people in Sewickley or Edgeworth,’ Stiles said. ‘I’m a middle-class guy. I live in Kernville, Johnstown.’
“Hey, Sewickley and Edgeworth are towns where Rothfus lives and lived. Oh. We see what you did there, Larry. Bravo.”
[RWC] “There’s not many regular people in Sewickley or Edgeworth?” Perhaps Mr. Stiles would like to tell us why he looks down on people he wants to represent in the House of Representatives. Does Mr. Stiles think he’s better than the other classes he sees because he’s allegedly “a middle-class guy” who “live[s] in Kernville, Johnstown?” Who cares where someone lives? The word “snob” comes to mind. Note, real Republicans don’t see people as members of classes and grievance/victim groups.
In case you missed it, Mr. Stiles is getting the McCain treatment from Mr. Prose. That is, as long as Mr. Stiles keeps bashing Republicans, the bromance will continue. The bromance will end, however, if Mr. Stiles remains a “Republican” and ends up in an election running against a Democrat or some other leftist.
© 2004-2013 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.