Well, she's not in North Carolina. In recent years, she has only spent a few weeks in the state. All the while, she's voting with President Bush 92% of the time. This has resulted in a very low effectiveness ranking.
Elizabeth Dole has been busy in Washington DC representing the failed policies of the Bush administration. We need someone to represent North Carolina.
After 6 years on the Senate banking committee she managed to not ask a single question, about anything!
And now, our economy is in trouble, banks are failing, and the stock market is dropping.
Elizabeth Dole's lack of action on the committee is an appalling level of oversight. Adding to that, she voted against legislation to help people stay in their homes, and has been labeled as ineffective by North Carolina newspapers.
While Dole sat in silence, she did manage to collect donations from Wall Street to the tune of $850,000. Was it all just "hush-money?"
It's time for Dole to leave the Senate, and clear the way for someone who will speak up for North Carolina.
North Carolina should be an exporter of many things, but should it be exporting jobs to China? Elizabeth Dole thinks so. She voted to give tax breaks to companies that move jobs overseas. Meanwhile, her own state suffers the loss of 100,000 jobs disappearing.
That's the equivalent of an entire medium size city just up and evaporating.
North Carolina needs representation in the Senate that looks out for its interests, not the interests of China. Let China take care of China, and at the same time, lets have someone representing the interest of North Carolina in the Senate.
I have spent much of this week lobbying my representatives in Congress to vote against the proposed bailout legislation. If this issue is of importance to you, then please call your Congressional representative this morning and weigh in.
The blogosphere is game-changing medium for our democracy and its impact will only grow. However, on the eve of an unprecedented Congressional vote on a $700 billion bailout bill, our Congressional representatives were not reading blogs. A day after the Senate loaded a revised bill with $150 billion of enticements to change the votes of House members, our Congressional representatives were not reading blogs. And regardless of whether one blogged about a sky which is falling or a ground which is shaking, our Congressional representatives were not reading blogs.
They are counting however. In the cloakroom, votes; in their offices, phone calls. So call. They work for you. Tell them what you want, not what you think you can get.
I watched the VP debate earlier and was put off by the sense of alarm expressed by Governor Palin and Senator Biden as they bandied their respective ticket's budgetary excesses back-and-forth: "$10 billion per month.." or "$1.5 billion on.." or "a $1 trillion increase over four years.." Put off by their avoiding any debate on the merits of the Senate's record-breaking passage a $700 billion bailout to shareholders of private sector corporations and a $150 billion bribe to swing votes in the House today.
To hell with talk of a pig with lipstick; there was an 850 billion dollar pink elephant in that auditorium in St. Louis which neither Gov. Palin nor Sen. Biden had any interest in discussing before the American public. An 850 billion dollar pink elephant which was crafted over the span of eight days. In just eight days Senators Biden, McCain and Obama have voted to spend more on a bailout than has been spent on the "war" in Iraq over the past seven years. Anyone remember the certainty and resolve with which the Congress rushed to judgment about Iraq? Over eight days, Congress has made a risk assessment which necessitates a $700 billion subsidy plus a $150 billion tip. In the context of what happened in the Senate, I'm not particularly fired up by fist-pounding over, what, a trifling $40 billion in tax break to oil companies over the past eight years?
I have called and emailed my Representative in NC, David Price, twice (Monday and Thursday.) He voted in favor of the bill last Monday. I called and emailed NC's US Senators, Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr on Wednesday. Senator Dole voted against the bailout; Senator Burr voted for its passage. Wednesday evening, Sen. Dole's challenger, Democrat State Senator Kay Hagan (who defeated me in the May primary)announced that she would have voted against passage.
At the end of the day, however, what really matters is how you feel, what do you want? Your voice counts as much as anyone's. "The highest office in America", said Harry Truman, "is that of citizen."
Call your Representative and tell them. Trust me: they're counting those calls.
Below is the email which I sent to Representative Price echoing my opposition to the bailout bill.
About 50 years ago, Sugar Ray Robinson learned the fine art of boxing extra hard the last minute of each round. Sugar Ray impressed the judges mightily and improved his record. Guess he didn't have to get you down to win. Well, Republican Senators, except for the most troglodyte, are using that lesson to appear moderate and avoid some embarrassing votes.
Progressive Punch, as Paul noted recently, has added a "current session" rating to go with the career rating. The numbers for GOPer Senators up for election next year shows either a mass conversion or a political trick of the first order.
The 16 Republican Senators with the most moderate records in the class all showed a more liberal voting record in 2007 than for their career. None of the bottom six were as liberal in 2007 as for their career with the exception of the newly appointed Barrasso of Wyoming who has no previous record. Barraso's current record is bad enough. On average, the top 16 cast liberal votes in 2007 19.50% of the time; their career numbers waveraged 10.62%. Without further ado, here are the numbers (2007 first followed by career).
STATE BLOGS
