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  • Another clueless Liberal

    Stark Raving Mad
    By Joel Mowbray
    FrontPageMagazine.com | May 10, 2004

    When Daniel Dow returned home Thursday evening, he noticed he had a voice mail message. To his great surprise, it was left by his Congressman, Pete Stark (D-CA), in response to a fax he had sent in an hour earlier.

    But to Dow’s even greater surprise, the message was a smarmy smear, one in which Congressman Stark essentially called him stupid and implied that the enlisted man, who had just returned from Kosovo, did not care about enlisted men and women.

    And now compounding the Congressman’s callousness, he has released an “apology” distinctly lacking anything resembling an apology.

    Here’s a brief recap of the events:

    - Thursday evening, the House voted on one of its typical resolutions supporting the troops in Iraq, but also condemning the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and calling for a full investigation.

    - 16-term San Francisco liberal Pete “Fortney” Stark was one of 50 Congressmen to oppose the non-controversial resolution.

    - Daniel Dow wrote an intelligent, though strongly worded letter expressing his outrage and faxed it to Rep. Stark’s office at 4:30pm PST.

    - Dow stepped out for some errands, and upon returning home, he listened to his voice mail.

    Thankfully, Dow thought on his feet and provided the recording to San Francisco-based talk radio station KSFO. The story caught fire, and by midday Friday, even Rush Limbaugh was talking about it.

    Listening to the choice language Stark used, it’s easy to see why. He started out his 53-second message telling Dow, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Stark then informs the enlisted man, “So if you care about enlisted people, you wouldn’t have voted for that thing, either.”

    Perhaps such “stark” language might be acceptable responding to a blowhard or an ad hominem attack, but then again, no Congressman would ever waste his time calling such a constituent. (As a practical matter, calls from Congressmen are extremely rare, and Stark is Exhibit A as to why.)

    But Dow’s letter, though unequivocal in its criticism, was eloquent, passionate, and intelligent. It might have savaged Stark’s nutty “no” vote on the resolution, but there was not a single personal attack.

    If only the Congressman could say the same.

    Stark stooped to name-calling, chastising his constituent as an idiot: “Probably somebody put you up to this, and I’m not sure who it was, but I doubt if you could spell half the words in the letter and somebody wrote it for you. So I don’t pay too much attention to it.”

    Near the middle of his rambling message, the Congressman promised Dow, “But I’ll call you back later.” Why? Stark explained, “[To] let you tell me why you think you’re such a great, god-damned hero.” (Stark did not call back.)

    Maybe a case could be made that Dow, like any American who commits to serving his or her country, is a hero. But Dow didn’t. The letter was as free of self-aggrandizement as it was personal invective against the Congressman.

    Dow’s letter, in other words, was also the exact opposite of Stark’s “apology” issued Friday.

    When this columnist talked to Stark’s press secretary, there was no chance to get background information or talk off-the-record, never mind a chance to interview the Congressman. No, the only thing available to the media was a carefully-drafted prepared statement.

    Stark’s remarks were a collection of digs at both President Bush and Dow, a hearty pat on the back for himself, and a lamenting of the “obscenity” of the response to the Abu Ghraib scandal.

    Proving that class is beyond his reach even with the benefit of a cooling-off period and staffers who presumably possess common sense, Stark started his statement with a subtle poke at Dow, referring to the original letter as a “personal letter.”

    The implication, of course, is that Dow was somehow wrong to release to the media “personal” correspondence. The two men, however, have never met, and there was nothing “personal” about Dow’s note. It was a letter from constituent to Congressman, period.

    And what would a statement from a rabidly partisan Democrat be without a slap at Bush? Stark accomplishes that obligatory goal and touts himself at the same time by announcing in the “apology” that he is “a veteran who honorably served in our military – with no unexplained absences from duty.”

    His only regret? “I wish I’d used less heated language in my message.” Heated language, though, wasn’t the problem. His condescending insults of a man who had just returned from serving his country in Kosovo were. Rhetorically spitting in the face of a constituent cannot be dismissed as “heated language.”

    Even that worthless stab at an “apology” was robbed of any meaning, though, as it was immediately followed with a cheap diversionary tactic: “the real obscenity is this Administration’s continued failure to respond to these acts of torture and abuse.”

    This is not the first time that Rep. Stark’s big mouth and short temper and gotten him in trouble. Last summer, even the famously liberal San Francisco Chronicle all but called on Stark to leave public life for his well-documented “legend of buffoonery.”

    Stark should spare his constituents further embarrassment and simply apologize—for real. His “legend” doesn’t need yet another chapter.

    Joel Mowbray ([email protected]) is author of “Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Threatens America’s Security.”

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles...e.asp?ID=13320

  • #2
    Dear God we need term limits.
    No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
    I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
    even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
    He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Confed999
      Dear God we need term limits.
      I could not possibly agree more. Public service should not a career.

      Comment


      • #4
        He's back, and crazier than ever. Okay, all you proud Democrats: defend THIS.

        YouTube - Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) Outrageous Remarks on House Floor

        This guy is as mad as a rat in a coffee can.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Bluesman View Post
          He's back, and crazier than ever. Okay, all you proud Democrats: defend THIS.

          YouTube - Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) Outrageous Remarks on House Floor

          This guy is as mad as a rat in a coffee can.
          Oh oh oh...allow me:

          George W. Bush invaded a sovereign nation based on a false pretense to steal oil and enrich his business buddies. 9-11 was an inside job. Bush hates black people. This is the worst economy since Herbert Hoover. He stole the election of 2000 from the inventer of the internet and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Albert Gore. Bush is as evil as he is stupid.

          Did I miss anything? :))
          "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by gunnut View Post
            Oh oh oh...allow me:

            George W. Bush invaded a sovereign nation based on a false pretense to steal oil and enrich his business buddies. 9-11 was an inside job. Bush hates black people. This is the worst economy since Herbert Hoover. He stole the election of 2000 from the inventer of the internet and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Albert Gore. Bush is as evil as he is stupid.

            Did I miss anything? :))
            Uhhh....he smells funny;) .
            "Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories." Thomas Jefferson

            Comment


            • #7
              The rat in the coffee can obviously has rabies. Wow, he's still in office after all that? Geez.

              Comment


              • #8
                Stark should take the needle his state wants to give to the junkies and push it straight into his head and inject. Hes an ******* for making that remark and the other concerning getting their heads blow off for Bush's amusement and I certainy wouldnt blame anybody for giving him a smack down.
                Last edited by Dreadnought; 19 Oct 07,, 17:46.
                Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Julie View Post
                  The rat in the coffee can obviously has rabies. Wow, he's still in office after all that? Geez.
                  Well, why would the Democrats get rid of HIM? He's a perfect fit, as far as your party is concerned.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    .....And Sen Craig is a perfect fit for the republicans. Nice try bud, but the facts are that there are good and bad people in all political parties. Untill the people regain control of the goverment, the bad apples are not going anywhere.
                    Removing a single turd from the cesspool doesn't make any difference.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by bonehead View Post
                      .....And Sen Craig is a perfect fit for the republicans. Nice try bud, but the facts are that there are good and bad people in all political parties. Untill the people regain control of the goverment, the bad apples are not going anywhere.
                      Mmm, Sen. Craig is a buffoon.

                      Stark is a seditious a-hole.

                      Just a leeetle bit different.

                      -dale

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Bluesman View Post
                        Well, why would the Democrats get rid of HIM? He's a perfect fit, as far as your party is concerned.
                        I resent that remark. You know I am a Georgia resident, NOT California. I think that crosses the line accusing me of being any part responsible for such an insane person.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Julie View Post
                          I resent that remark. You know I am a Georgia resident, NOT California. I think that crosses the line accusing me of being any part responsible for such an insane person.
                          I gives a good goddam' WHAT you resent. You've aligned yourself with that pack of baying dogs, and I'll continue to point out that you have fleas.

                          You may have noticed I'm a bit edgy, as far as Democratic behavior lately. Well, I'm at war with all Democrats, and those are the same people that want members of my family - my REAL, ACTUAL FAMILY - to be KILLED if they go to Iraq. You think I won't resent THAT?

                          As you self-identify as a Democrat, you own 'em ALL.

                          Listen, you've earned every ounce of my disdain, so whatever respect you think you're entitled to because HEY!, YOU would never vote for THIS whacko, is more than used up by attempting to defend the indefensible. You love to quote crap from Daily Kos, and even after it's pointed out to you that it's FALSE, you won't acknowledge it.

                          I am absolutely standing by this: NObody can simultaneously be 1) well-informed AND 2) a loyal American AND 3) a Democrat. Your party is too disgusting for words, and if you're still with 'em, GUESS WHAT?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by bonehead View Post
                            .....And Sen Craig is a perfect fit for the republicans. Nice try bud, but the facts are that there are good and bad people in all political parties. Untill the people regain control of the goverment, the bad apples are not going anywhere.
                            And here comes the most aptly-named poster on the WAB, right on time.

                            I'm not a Republican, I'm a Libertarian, that VOTES Republican. Nice try, bud.

                            Wait, no it really wasn't.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              bluesman,

                              wow, you either woke up on the wrong side of the bed today or received pretty good training in the art of the sardonic! glad i'm not really in your line of fire today.
                              There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

                              Comment

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