I'm aghast! ... Lakeland Ledger endorses John Russell over Brown-Waite

[lpbk2713]

I thought I would drop my coffee cup this morning when I read the headline. One of the reddest newsrags
in the state (they recommended Smirky both times he ran) went for a newbie Dem over an incumbent rethug.

Link: http://www.theledger.com/article/20081030/NEWS/810300342/1036/EDIT?Title=U_S__Representative__Dist__5__John_Russell


(Brown-Waite) has been a strong supporter of the war in Iraq. Drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - and even off the coast of Florida - is fine by her. She has opposed mandatory funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Indeed, she has turned cantankerous. Consider her tone-deaf positions on social issues: Lower-level sexual offenders (such as one convicted as an older teenager of having sex with a younger teen) deserve no consideration in housing access; it's a local matter. There is no difference in rights between homosexual couples and gay couples (unsaid is that gay couples often have to hire attorneys to assert their rights).


He also faults Brown-Waite for being asleep at the switch because she sits on the House Financial Services Committee with subcommittees in Capital Markets, and on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit.

Russell also is well-grounded on health-care issues and, doesn't buy the argument (as Brown-Waite does; remember the Kathleen-to-Bartow trip) that increasing federal funding for health-care centers will provide better access to health care.

Russell offers a thoughtful alternative: "Worst-case scenario," he says, "you can vote me out in two years." The Ledger recommends John Russell, representative in Congress, District 5.


Withe the usually conservative Ledger having endorsed Russell over incumbent Brown-Waite I am now even
more confident of a Dem landslide nationwide in this election. The times they are a'changing.

Now excuse me while I go check to see if hell is freezing over.

[MissPuddy]

1. John Russell is clearly the better alternative

It is about time a newspaper in Florida endorses a challenger! They are protecting the incumbents. John Russell appears to have a good head on his shoulder and a spine. We need more candidates like this!

[fla nocount]

2. Change must be in the wind if this rag can smell it.

I'm interested in working for someone in the primaries that wants to take Nelson's senate seat. Is Russell the one?

Brown-Waite is stupid, stupid, stupid to screw with the state's beaches, even Jebbie the Hut was smarter than that.