Wolf Votes Against Tax Relief for Struggling Homeowners, Protects Us Against Italian Rail Cars!

From the Winchester Star:

On Wednesday, Mr. Wolf voted against H.R. 3221 (The American Housing Rescue & Foreclosure Prevention Act), which, among other things, included a a real property tax deduction for homeowners who do not itemize their federal income taxes.

By the way, this bill passed overwhelmingly (272-152) and was promptly signed into law by President Bush. Wonderful, the one time Wolf disagrees with George W. Bush, it's to go to Bush's political "right" - opposing tax relief to struggling homeowners. That's just great.

So, WHY did Frank Wolf vote against this bill? Check out THIS crazy explanation!

Dan Scandling, Mr. Wolf’s campaign chief, was quick to respond. Of that tax relief provision, Mr. Scandling said that if such a deduction had appeared as “stand-alone” legislation, Mr. Wolf would have voted for it in a heartbeat. But, as the measure in which it was embedded was essentially a “bailout bill” putting the taxpayer on the hook for $25 billion, the veteran congressman could not support it, Mr. Scandling said. What’s more, he added, the bill also contained a subsidy for foreign companies to build rail cars outside the United States, another provision Mr. Wolf could not favor.

What?!? Is this a joke? But no, it's serious. Believe it or not, Frank Wolf actually voted against crucial tax relief for struggling American homeowners because it had a provision for a Canadian rail car company to build a facility in Alabama. True, that's MUCH more important than helping homeowners in trouble. (ha)

By the way, since when did this free trader, Frank Wolf, become a protectionist? Hasn't he argued for years that free trade is good for our economy? And haven't we been buying Metrorail cars from other countries for years? So....since when did THIS become a big issue for Frank Wolf? Only when he wants to use it as an excuse to vote against tax relief for homeowners stuck in the middle of one of the worst housing crises this country's seen in decades (not to mention an economy teetering on the edge of recession)? What a hypocrite.

Yeah, you've got to hand it to Frank Wolf, he's sure got his priorities straight -- keep those foreign Metrorail cars, the ones we've been buying for decades now, out of the country, even if it means Americans losing their homes. Obviously, the Metro car represent a threat to all we hold dear (like our homes, perhaps?). Or something.

Here's a suggestion: call Frank Wolf at (202) 225-5136 and ask him why he voted against a bill that was supported overwhelmingly, even by President Bush who signed it into law. While you're on the phone, you might also want to ask him why he won't tell his constitutents - who have been deluging his office with faxes and phone calls - what his position is on a timetable for getting out of Iraq. Who know, maybe they'll tell you it has something to do with foreign Metrorail cars? Ha. :)

Paul Begala: July Deadline Coming Up!

From Paul Begala - who spoke strongly for Judy Feder the other day in McLean - let's help the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee elect great Democrats like Judy!

Hard as it is to believe, there's less than 100 days until Election Day. And, in a political campaign as intense as this one, 100 days will disappear faster than Karl Rove did when he was subpoenaed to testify before Congress.

But before we even start the 100-day countdown, there's another big deadline charging at us even faster than that - in just 48 hours.

July 31st marks the final FEC filing deadline before Barack Obama accepts the Presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. It is so important to show our strength to the media before this deadline passes.

Oh, and speaking of the Democratic National Convention, if you give in the next 48 hours, you'll have one more chance to be there and see it all happen in person.

Contribute $15, $25, or more to the DCCC's 100-Day Voter Action Fund in the next 48 hours and win a chance to attend the Democratic National Convention. The more times you contribute, the more times you'll be entered to win.

In the last 100 days, mobilizing voters is the name of the game. That means putting boots on the ground, dialing phones, whatever it takes to get every voter to the polls.

With less than 100 days to go, the DCCC has kicked their mobilization plans into overdrive. They need make sure that all of our great House candidates can take their messages of change to every voter in their districts. But they need your help to make it all happen in the final 100 days.

Contribute $15, $25, or more to the DCCC's 100-Day Voter Action Fund in the next 48 hours and win a chance to attend the Democratic National Convention (August 25-29). The more times you contribute, the more times you'll be entered to win.

The critical July 31st deadline will pass in just 48 hours and we're still $99,000 away from our goal. Put us over the top and win a chance to be in Denver to watch Barack Obama give an acceptance speech for the ages live in front of 75,000 people in one of the greatest moments in time.

We're down to the wire.



Paul Begala

P.S. Every dime you send will help Democratic House candidates reach more voters with their messages of change in the final 100 days. Help us raise the final $99,000 before the July 31st FEC deadline passes at midnight this Thursday and win a front-row seat to history. Contribute to the DCCC's 100-Day Voter Action Fund today.

More Evidence That 2008 Is Not a Republican Year

Even before today's latest new, the national GOP was facing an extremely difficult political climate this year, with surveys showing people favoring the Democratic Party by wide margins. In that context, this certainly doesn't help matters for our Republican friends:

US SEN TED STEVENS INDICTED ON 7 CRIMINAL COUNTS RELATED TO HIS HOLDING OF PUBLIC OFFICE - SOURCE

It's news like this that makes a lot of us Democrats optimistic about November. With any luck, and a lot of hard work over the next 98 days, we will take back the White House and gain a bunch of seats in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The plan here in the 10th CD is for one of those gains to be a superb woman (and nationally recognized expert on health care) named Judy Feder. Go Judy! :)

99 Days Until We All Say "Farewell Frank!"

We only have 99 days left to change our country.

This past weekend we marked 100 days from November 4th with grassroots canvasses across the district. From Herndon to McLean and Ashburn to Winchester, volunteers took the Obama-Warner-Feder message of change to thousands of doors.

We’re receiving an overwhelmingly positive response. With tens of thousands of doors knocked, canvass results show Judy running ahead of Wolf in both Fairfax and Loudoun counties!

Maybe that’s why the Wolf campaign has decided to go on the attack. In 2006, they ignored us until the very end. This year, they know change is on the way and they’re doing everything they can to hold back the tide.

Contribute today to help us fight back.

Just last week the Wolf campaign attacked Judy twice. First, for supporting a bi-partisan effort to provide tax relief for middle income homeowners. Then, they trotted out the tired GOP strategy of trying to link Democratic candidates to Speaker Pelosi.

That strategy was tried and failed, in special elections across the country over the past year. It didn’t even work in Denny Hastert’s old seat and with your help it’s not going to work in VA-10 either.

Make a contribution today.

Unable to go toe-to-toe on the issues, they’ve resorted to the politics of the past. Tired, old attacks that just aren’t going to work in 2008.

Last week, they had to turn off their fax machine after being overwhelmed with questions on whether Rep. Wolf stood with the Iraqi government, Senator Obama and the American people in favor of a timeline for withdrawal or if he instead favored Senator McCain's open ended commitment.

With the local press saying, "the 10th Congressional District rematch between former Democrat Judy Feder and Republican Rep. Frank Wolf could well be a nip-and-tuck affair,” it’s no wonder they’re scared.

Please make your contribution today to help us keep the momentum going.

Thank you for your support. With your help we’re going to change the direction of our country on November 4th.

Luke McFarland
Campaign Manager

$490 Billion Deficit, Brought to You By...The Republicans!

This just in from the Washington Post:

The federal budget deficit will surge to nearly $490 billion next fiscal year, a record dollar amount, driven by continuing war costs and an economic slowdown that is not likely to turn around fast, the White House will announce today.

After three successive years of decline, this year's deficit will jump dramatically as well, to over $410 billion, according to figures from the Office of Management and Budget. That is likely to scramble the plans of the next president, regardless of which candidate prevails. Either Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama will enter the White House in a tide of red ink.

Heckvua job, Bush Administration! But not to worry, according to John McSame's campaign:

McCain economic advisers this morning shrugged off the new deficit figures. Harvard University economist Martin Feldstein said the surge of red ink is tied to cyclical developments -- the economic stimulus checks and the slowing economy -- not permanent changes.

So, what does Frank Wolf have to do with all this? Well, the fact is that Frank Wolf has voted in lockstep for the Bush administration’s irresponsible budget polices that have turned a budget surplus into massive federal deficits and mountains of debt that our children and grandchildren will be forced to pay for.

Over the past 7 1/2 years, Frank Wolf has repeatedly voted for Republican budgets that have created the largest budget deficits in history and increased the federal debt from $5.8 trillion to more than $9 trillion!

During this period of unprecedented fiscal irresponsibility, Frank Wolf has been George W. Bush’s willing accomplice in creating more debt in the past six years than every single president in history… combined. Wolf has opposed responsible proposals to require increases in spending to be offset, and instead has voted to raid Social Security and Medicare.

If you want 2 more years of this, vote for Frank Wolf in November. If you think it's time for a change, vote for Judy Feder. Yes, it's that simple.

CQ Politics Moves VA-10 Out of "Safe Republican" Category

CQ Politics moves VA-10 out of "Safe Republican" category.

Virginia’s 10th (New Rating: Republican Favored. Previous Rating: Safe Republican). As she did in 2006, Democrat Judy Feder is raising large sums of money for her campaign against Republican Rep. Frank R. Wolf , who is the dean of the state’s U.S. House delegation. Because she lost that first race by 16 percentage points, CQ Politics resisted moving Virginia 10 out of safe Republican territory. Rematch campaigns rarely are successful, and many rematch-minded candidates do worse the second time around. But the likelihood of a strong Democratic year statewide — Mark Warner is a strong favorite to win a Senate seat and Obama is polling competitively against McCain — could create an environment in which Feder could run a more competitive campaign.

There's still a long way to go and lot of hard work to do, but this race is moving in the right direction. Go Judy!

P.S. For all of CQ's ratings, see here.

Wolf Tells People to Fax Him Their Questions, Then Turns Off Machines

Ha, first Frank Wolf's tells people to fax their questions (email would be a lot easier, why are they trying to make this so hard?) about Iraq to him. Reportedly, Wolf's offices then proceeded to turn off their fax machines everywhere but at their Capitol Hill office. Great stuff, eh? :)

From the Feder for Congress campaign:

Congressman Wolf's Office Flooded with Faxes from Constituents

Staff Refuses to Answer Questions on Iraq

McLean, VA—Yesterday Judy Feder, Democratic Nominee for Congress in Virginia's 10th District, called on Representative Frank Wolf to clarify his position on a timeline for withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

The Feder campaign was alerted yesterday that Congressman Wolf's office was refusing to answer questions about his position on the Iraq War, and demanding instead that constituents fax their request for information to his Washington, DC office.

"I just think it's outrageous that the Congressman's staff couldn't be bothered to answer questions about where he stands on the issues important to his district," said Feder. "The voters of the 10th District ought to be able to pick up a phone and get answers from their Congressman — especially a Congressman who is known for constituent services."

In a letter addressed to the Congressman and faxed to his office, Feder requested that Congressman Wolf answer the following questions:

1. Prime Minister Al-Maliki and the Iraqi government have expressed a desire for American troops to withdraw for Iraq by the end of 2010. Do you support a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. More specifically, do you support the 2010 timeline for withdrawal?

2. Do you support Senator McCain's open-ended commitment to the War in Iraq?

The Feder campaign also reached out to supporters in the 10th District to send faxes and emails to the Congressman's office asking that he clarify his position. As of early this afternoon, Congressman Wolf's office had received more than 100 faxes and emails from around the 10th district from voters requesting that he clarify his position on a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.

"There's nothing on either the campaign website or his congressional website about where he stands on this issue," said Luke McFarland, Feder campaign manager. "If you look at his record over the last couple of years, it's almost impossible to figure out what his position is on a timetable for withdrawal. The voters deserve to know his position on Iraq. And they should be able to call his office and get an answer from his staff without having to jump through hoops."

The full text of the letter sent to Congressman Wolf's office is below:

The Honorable Frank Wolf

241 Cannon Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Congressman Wolf:

As I am sure you are aware, over the weekend Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Maliki spoke out in favor of Senator Obama's plan for a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. Yesterday, senior Iraqi government officials again re-stated their support for troop withdrawal by the end of 2010:

The comments by spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh mark the second time in recent days that a senior Iraqi has endorsed a timetable for U.S. withdrawal that is roughly similar to the one advocated by Obama. Dabbagh suggested that a combat force pullout could be completed by the end of 2010, which would be about seven months longer than Obama's 16-month formulation. [Washington Post, Iraq Points to Pullout in 2010, July 22, 2008]

I am writing to you today because I have been unable to determine your position with respect to setting a timetable for withdrawal of American troops, or whether you support the position of your party's presidential nominee, Senator John McCain, who has called for an open-ended commitment in Iraq.

Early today we received word from several 10th district voters that they too have been unable to get an answer from your office with respect to your position on Iraq. Apparently your office requested that constituents fax their specific questions to your office on Capitol Hill. Based on the information we have received from your office, we are faxing a request for answers to the following questions:

1. Prime Minister Al-Maliki and the Iraqi government have expressed a desire for American troops to withdraw for Iraq by the end of 2010. Do you support a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. More specifically, do you support the 2010 timeline for withdrawal?

2. Do you support Senator McCain's open-ended commitment to the War in Iraq?

I am sure you agree that the voters of Virginia's 10th district deserve to know exactly where their elected officials and candidates for office stand with respect to the Iraq War. I look forward to your timely response.


Respectfully,

Judy Feder

So True. So Pathetic.

Courtesy of the Northern Virginia Republican blog Too Conservative, check out this comment by "NoVA Scout" in a diary by "Loudoun Insider" entitled, "Will RPV Give Up on NoVA?":

The folks who hijacked Republicanism in Virginia can’t deal with Northern Virginia because they have no ethic of providing the best possible governance product to all the citizens. Their ethic is to have a little society where they babble the same old platitudes to each other. To actually address the problems of the Commonwealth is simply too challenging, and not nearly as entertaining as having a little echo chamber that is of increasingly diminishing relevance to the real world up here. I don’t think they particularly mind losing at the polls so long as they can get together and control who the voters have to vote against.

This wouldn’t be a big problem if it weren’t so corrosive of democracy. Republicans discourage and drive away competent candidates. The public officials who are willing to take the time to actually solve real world issues are pilloried on ephemeral ideological grounds.

If it is true that RPV is collapsing into a ROVA-only strategy, it’s because the real world is too hard for them.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it all up right there. What more is there to say?

Feder Statement on the Iraqi Government's Support for a Timetable for Withdrawal

A strong statement by Judy Feder.

McLean, VA — The following is a statement from Judy Feder in response to the Iraq Government's support of a timetable for withdrawal:

"In the wake of statements from Prime Minister Al-Maliki it has become increasingly clear that Americans are uniting behind the Democratic plan to set a responsible timeline for redeploying our troops.

"Over the weekend, Prime Minister Al-Maliki spoke in favor of the Obama plan. Yesterday, Iraqi government officials reiterated their support for a timetable for withdrawal. A majority of Iraqis are eager for the war to draw to a close so that they can take responsibility for their own future.

"The American people understand that it is time to bring the troops home and allow the Iraqi people to move forward with a vision for a new sovereign Iraq. Those of us who are looking for a responsible end to the war should embrace the opportunity that has been created by the Iraqi government call for a timetable.

"While it is becoming increasingly clear that the American people and Iraqi leaders strongly support the Democratic plan to bring our troops home, the Republicans have refused to support a timetable for withdrawal.

"The choice is clear: the Republican position on Iraq is no longer acceptable, and Americans are uniting behind a responsible timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. It is time for the Republican Party and its leaders to listen to the American people."

So, Frank Wolf, are you still sticking with Johnny McSame and his 100-year plan for Iraq? In answering this question, you might want to keep in mind that your fearless leader, Dubya, has said about the Iraqis, "If they were to say, leave, we would leave." Uh, oh... :)

Paul Begala: Frank Wolf Called him a Soviet Spy!

Last night, Del. Margi Vanderhye hosted a fundraiser for Judy Feder. The special guest was legendary political strategist Paul Begala, who blasted Frank Wolf. Here are my notes from what Begala said last night:

According to Begala, Frank Wolf's "master narrative" is that he's a "moderate," but that's complete nonsense. Incredibly, back in the 1990s, Wolf suggested that Begala was a spy for the Soviet Union. Of course, there wasn't a Soviet Union anymore at that point (it collapsed in 1991, before Bill Clinton and Paul Begala appeared on Frank Wolf's wacky radar screen), and Begala wasn't a spy, but whatever...

Begala said that it's great Wolf's concerned with religious freedom in China, but here in America he gets a 100% rating from the "extremist," "divisive," "homophobic," "mysogynistic" Family Research Council. In short, Frank Wolf is no moderate ("It just ain't so"), and it's "preposterous" how he is viewed that way. To the contrary, Begala noted that Wolf votes close to 100% of the time with Bush, and that he certainly does NOT reflect the values of the 10th CD. In contrast, Judy Feder will reflect those values when she's sworn in next January!