Frank LaGrotta – 7/27/17

 


This page was last updated on October 24, 2017.


McCain could have been the hero; he caved; Frank LaGrotta (FL); Beaver County Times; July 27, 2017.

FL posted a profanity-laden version on Facebook (link and text follows the critique) and shared it with “Esquire Politics.”  After Sen. McCain (JM) ultimately voted the way FL wanted, FL replaced his original post on his Facebook page with one praising JM.

Previous FL letters I reviewed are here, here, here, and here.  Reviews of other FL writings are here (2005) and here (2004).  All date from FL’s time as Pennsylvania state representative for the then 10th district.

FL also had some legal problems.  First, according to Wikipedia, “On February 3, 2008, LaGrotta pleaded guilty to two felony counts of conflict of interest for having ghost workers on his payroll.  He was sentenced to six months of house arrest, along with probation and fines.”  Second, “On April 7, 2011, LaGrotta pleaded guilty to altering prescriptions he had submitted to three different pharmacies, in two Pennsylvania counties, to obtain more of the anti-anxiety medication Xanax.”  FL was sentenced to between three and 12 months in the Lawrence County jail.

My first direct contact with FL was an e-mail note about a letter he wrote to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette entitled “Disgraceful tactics” (March 21, 2004).  FL’s response was a poor attempt at intimidation.  Another local lefty tried the intimidation tactic with equal success.

“Mr Cox,

“One thing you do NOT want to do is engage me in a debate about George Bush, Dick Cheney the lies they have foisted upon, as well as the danger they present, to the United States of America, as well at the world.

“Mr. Cox….again: You do not want to do that - unless you are prepared, as I am, to document every claim you make.

“I am completely prepared to do that.

“Should you decide you would like to do that, you can name the time, place and forum and I will be there, fully prepared …”

Cutting to the chase, “you can name the time, place and forum” really meant FL could “name the time, place and forum,” not I.

FL didn’t want “real people who can be educated by the truth.”  FL wanted an environment conducive to name-calling and poor fact-checking.  FL knew he could say anything he wanted “in a public venue” because fact-checking wouldn’t happen until the debate concluded.  That would have given FL a huge advantage.  Unless I happened to have the relevant info at my fingertips, I would be unable to counter or validate FL’s claims.  This would have turned the “debate” into a useless “he said/he said” event.

Below is a detailed review of the subject letter.


“I want to remember you, John McCain, as the man I thought I might vote for if you defeated Bush for the 200 [sic] GOP nomination.”

[RWC] FL was so consumed with the desire to bash Sen. McCain (JM; R-AZ), you’ll find FL never mentioned why he bashed JM.  The sin?  JM voted to allow floor debate of the bill to repeal Obamacare.  I suspect FL was one of those who whined about the bill being a secret only to oppose public debate of the bill’s contents.

The day after the BCT published this letter, JM - along with two other “Republicans” - voted to kill the “skinny” repeal of Obamacare.  Did this vote get JM back into FL’s good graces? <g>

Nothing in his writings and our e-mail exchanges would lead me to believe FL “might” have voted for JM under any circumstances.  In fairness to FL, he’s not alone.  Democrat apparatchiks like FL love JM when he’s a “maverick” (agrees with the Democrat position on an issue) but otherwise treat him as they would any other Republican.  For example, during the 2008 campaign, Obama supporters made fun of the way JM holds his arms and that he didn’t use computers very much.  Both of these problems are the result of injuries JM acquired after his plane was shot down during the Vietnam War and no/poor medical treatment from the North Vietnamese.

“Your speech Tuesday reminded me of why I considered it.

“Your vote just seconds before, made me glad I didn’t.

“Tuesday, you had a chance to be the hero America so desperately craves.  The job was yours for the taking.”

[RWC] JM voted to repeal Obamacare in 2015 when he knew then-President Obama (BHO) would veto the bill.  Two other Republican senators – Susan Collins (SC; R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (LM; R-AK) – voted with JM this time.  As JM, LM voted to repeal Obamacare in 2015 while SC opposed repeal in 2015.

JM’s 2016 campaign claimed he was “leading the fight to stop Obamacare.”

Fast-forward to July 28, 2017, and JM voted against repealing Obamacare when he knew his vote actually meant something.  JM’s next reelection campaign would be in 2022.  Given JM turns 81 this August and has recently been diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer, it’s unlikely he will run for reelection.  Translation: JM can vote however he wants because he no longer needs his voters.

In a post-vote statement, JM asserted, “While the amendment would have repealed some of Obamacare’s most burdensome regulations, it offered no replacement to actually reform our health care system and deliver affordable, quality health care to our citizens.”  Translation: Despite his reelection position that Obamacare should be repealed, JM really believes it’s the government’s job to “deliver affordable, quality health care to our citizens.”

In a press release, LM said, “I voted no on the healthcare proposal last night because both sides must do better on process and substance. The Affordable Care Act remains a flawed law that I am committed to reforming with a structure that works better for all Americans.  But to do that, the Senate must fully devote itself to an effort to improve the healthcare system in this country, reduce costs, increase access, and deliver the quality of care that our families want and deserve.”  Translation: Despite her reelection position that Obamacare should be repealed, LM wants to keep Obamacare “with a structure that works better for all Americans.”

As LM, SC says she wants to keep Obamacare with tweaks.  SC also said, “These problems require a bipartisan solution.  The Democrats made a big mistake when they passed the ACA without a single Republican vote.  I don’t want to see Republicans make the same mistake.”  Seriously?  SC would vote against any Republican-sponsored legislation if it wasn’t bipartisan enough?

Finally, no matter how small a tweak Republicans make, Obamacare from then on will be called Republicare, Trumpcare, and so on.

“The morbid mix of sympathy and respect gave you the once-in-the-end-of-a-lifetime chance to make a difference; to take people where they are and lead them to where they ought to be.”

[RWC] What about JM’s Friday vote against the repeal of Obamacare?  Did that vote make JM “the hero America so desperately craves?”

“Sure, for most, including our own Pat Toomey, it would have been but a momentary glimpse at compassion.”

[RWC] FL believes it’s government’s responsibility to provide us with healthcare, though I couldn’t find it mentioned in either the Pennsylvania or U.S. constitutions.  This belief flows from a worldview in which we hapless individuals can’t be trusted to make the right choices and thus need the government to be our nanny.

Need evidence?  About his own parents, FL told InformationWeek (March 15, 2004), “If my parents didn’t have Social Security around to take their money and invest it for them, and if they’d have had to make their own investment decisions, they would have lost it all.”  I don’t know FL or his parents, but I think it’s sad he has so little confidence in them.

“Compassion?”  There is nothing compassionate about the government taking from one family’s paycheck to give to someone who didn’t earn it.  There is nothing altruistic or charitable about telling government to rob from Peter to pay Paul.  Compassion is when a person freely chooses to use his own paycheck to help someone in need.  Should people in need get help?  Of course, but from private charities funded by voluntary contributions, not by confiscated earnings.

What’s compassionate about the unaffordable Affordable Care Act?  Even though I monkeyed with co-pays, deductibles, and so on to cut benefits, and hopefully my premium, my medical insurance premium increased 283% since Obamacare was signed into law in 2010.

“Still, the scar above your eye, the diagnosis of your doctors, and the impact you made just coming to the floor may have shamed them into not ignoring you just this once.  You could have shamed them into realizing it would be wrong not to do something right.

“You could have stopped have stopped [sic] greed in its tracks.”

[RWC] Whose greed?  Are families greedy because they don’t like the huge premium increases?

Given “LaGrotta pleaded guilty to two felony counts of conflict of interest for having ghost workers on his payroll” when he was a state representative, he’s not really in a position to throw rocks.

“And what a message you would have sent to the red-faced clown with five deferments at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue who said you weren’t really a hero because you were captured.  (Yeah, like that braggadocios con man knows the meaning of ‘hero.’)”

[RWC] Assuming President Trump (DT) is FL’s “red-faced clown” and “braggadocios con man,” DT had four student deferments, not five.  Former VP Joe Biden had five student deferments.  Ultimately, both men were disqualified for physical reasons.  Bill Clinton was an honest-to-gosh draft evader.

DT’s comments about JM’s service were indeed disrespectful, just like those of Obama’s supporters.

“But John, you didn’t do it.

“You caved.”

[RWC] JM “caved” alright, but in FL’s direction.

While researching for another review about three months after this critique, I ran across two other versions of this letter.

The first was a profanity-containing version on Facebook (text below) FL shared with “Esquire Politics.” 

The second came after JM ultimately voted the way FL wanted.  FL replaced the original post (text below) on his Facebook page with one praising JM.  FL either forgot or could not remove his original post on “Esquire Politics.”  In this version, FL said JM’s vote would “elevate him to the status of ‘Lion of the Senate.’”  Admirers referred to the late-Sen. Edward “Chappaquiddick” Kennedy (ECK; D-MA) as “Lion of the Senate.”  I don’t know about JM, but I’d be insulted to hear myself compared to ECK.

The praising version on his personal Facebook page says, “Several days ago, when McCain voted for the Motion to Proceed to the bill, I accused him of ‘caving’ to the pressure from leadership and the Ku Klux Klown in the White House.  I was wrong.  I apologize.”  As you can see, however, FL did a little more than simply “accuse him of ‘caving’ to the pressure from leadership and the Ku Klux Klown in the White House.”  FL did not correct the record on “Esquire Politics” and no apology appeared in the BCT.


Here’s the Facebook version, posted by FL on July 26, 2017, @ 10:44am.

“I want to remember you, John McCain, as the man I thought I might vote for had you defeated Bush II for the GOP nomination in 2000.

“Your speech yesterday reminded me of why I considered such an idea.

“Your vote, however, just seconds before, convinced me I probably would not have.

“You had a chance John; a chance to be - yes, to BE - the hero America so desperately craves.

“That job, vacant for too many years, was yours for the taking.

“You possess the morbidly unique mix of sympathy and respect that gave you the once-in-the-end-of-a-lifetime chance to take people where they are and lead them to where they ought to be.

“Hey, I’m not naive. It would have been but a momentary glimpse at compassion for most of them. Lobbyists and think tanks would make sure they did not morph permanently into better men and women.

“Still, the scar above your eye, the diagnosis of your doctors, and the example you set by just coming to the floor, would have, I dunno, SHAMED them into an instant in which they could not ignore you.

“A moment where it would be wrong NOT to do something right.

“You could have been the hero, John. You could have had your Senate ID card stamped ‘Lion,’ like your old pal Teddy.

“Think of the image. It’s a Hollywood movie looking for a star.

“He flies in, like the fighter pilot he once was, stares down Mitch McConnell like he was just another Vietcong torture master, and says, ‘NO! And by the way, f**k you!’

“You would have stopped those sonsabitches in their greedy, hateful tracks.

“And what a message you would have sent message to the Ku Klux Klown with the five deferments at the other end of the avenue who said you weren’t really a hero because you were captured.

“(Like that braggadocios bastard would know a hero if it grabbed him in the p**sy!)

“‘Who’s the f**kin’ hero now, trump?’

“Damn it, though, John, you didn’t do it.

“You caved.

“In the gloaming of a life well-lived, you caved.”


Here’s the Facebook version after JM voted the way FL wanted, posted by FL on July 28, 2017, @ 1:45pm.

“And so it is that John McCain’s service to his country ended how it began:

“Sacrificing himself for others.

“As a prisoner of war, he was offered early check-out from the Hanoi Hilton because his dad was a Navy big-wig.

“It would have meant leaving comrades - many captured before McCain - behind.

“Most of us (All of us?) would have jumped at the chance to ditch that hell hole.

“McCain, however, said no. We leave no man behind.

“He remained in the Vietcong prison for five years, during which time he was beaten, tortured and degraded.

“Asked years later if he regretted his decision, he answered without thinking:

“‘No. Never once.’

“Well over half-a-century later, in the wee hours of this morning, with health insurance for tens of millions of Americans at stake, McCain had another chance to take the easy way out.

“Again, he said no.

“In what surely will be his legacy vote - the one that will dominate his biography and elevate him to the status of ‘Lion of the Senate’ - McCain single-handedly stopped millions of people - real people - from having their safety net yanked from under them.

“You can be sure that McCain’s ‘thumbs down’ sign to the Senate clerk, which signified his ‘no’ vote and finally ended the asinine idea of repealing the Affordable Care Act, will be interpreted as giving the ‘middle finger’ to the Ku Klux Klown in the White House.

“The guy with five deferments, who bragged to Howard Stern that ‘avoiding STDs’ was his ‘personal Vietnam,’ said McCain was only a hero because he was captured?

“Remember?

“Was this McCain’s revenge?

“I don’t think so.

“With his last election behind him, I think McCain simply was giving his colleagues, who must face the voters again, an escape.

“His best friend in the Senate, Lindsey Graham, who answers to right-wing-nut voters in South Carolina next year, called the bill a ‘fraud,’ and a ‘disaster.’

“He was able to vote yes, however, because of McCain’s courage.

“See, McCain knew Graham could not vote against it without buying himself a right-wing-nut opponent, and a full-tweeted barrage from the Ku Klux Klown in the White House.

“Down in South Carolina, lots a fellers and gals still believe the Ku Klux Klown was God’s choice for ‘prez-ee-dent.’

“(Which ranks somewhere below ‘the Earth is flat,’ on the ‘Dumb Stuff People Actually Believe’ scale.)

“McCain’s vote also bailed out Dean Heller, and Bill Cassidy and maybe even McCain’s junior senator from Arizona, Jeff Flake.

“So, despite endless pleas from ‘Last Ditch’ Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, and a 30-plus-minute ‘Take-him-to-the-cloakroom-and-come-on-John-I’m-begging-you-here!’ plea from Mike ‘tie-breaker’ Pence, McCain did what he KNEW someone HAD to do.

“He called shenanigans on his GOP colleagues, said enough is enough and fell on his sword, not only for his colleagues but also for millions of Americans who were afraid they might wake up without health insurance this morning.

“Several days ago, when McCain voted for the Motion to Proceed to the bill, I accused him of ‘caving’ to the pressure from leadership and the Ku Klux Klown in the White House.

“I was wrong. I apologize.

“McCain had no intention of letting McConnell and Ryan and the Ku Klux Klown Twitter away health care for tens of millions of Americans.

“He came to Washington with a loaded gun.

“He was just waiting for the right time to pull the trigger.” 


© 2004-2017 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.