"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
by Smitty
Sean continues to rock MA-4, with this new TV spot:
and also with this debate with Joe Kennedy III in two installments:
finally:
Even the Boston Globe figures Joe Kennedy III is phoning it in just a tad too much.
Sorry, Joe: BHO used up this century’s No-Talent Hack quota in full.
by Smitty
Via Not Another Kennedy:
Sean Bielat, despite his impressive 2010 showing that drove the odious Barney Frank into retirement, faces an uphill battle this November to represent MA-4. Lesser Americans might melt; Marines thrive on the challenge.
In stark contrast to Sean’s leadership and managerial skills, Little Joe brings. . .name recognition. Also, an equestrian distaste for being asked questions by his subjectsconstituents.
Boston.com, reviewing the first of three debates to which Kennedy has condescended:
Bielat, 37, said his experience in private business and the military qualified him for the seat.
Kennedy, 31, strongly defended his qualifications, pointing to his record as a prosecutor in the Middlesex and Cape & Islands district attorney’s offices and before that as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic.
Peace Corps. Really. Read the whole thing.
It’s not true that the Peace Corps is filled with dope smoking Commies. But why chance letting one into Congress, MA-4?
by Smitty
Sean Bielat is running for the Republican nomination for Congress for the 4th District in Massachusetts and will be running against Joe Kennedy III, who, other than looking like he fell out of an LL Bean catalog, has precious little to recommend him.
Bielat ran an insurgent campaign in 2010 against the risible Barney Frank, who, faced with a serious challenge, had his stuff packed, and retired.
Sean campaigns on three major points:
He backs up his arguments with significant private sector and academic credentials. In other words, he’s not running on his last name, as though from some ersatz noble family with a hereditary claim to public office. JoeK has exhibited reclusive tendencies thus far, communicating at scripted media events, or though his communications director. Perhaps this is because he has an enviable war chest.
Bielat’s latest campaign video:
Highlights from a 23 August blogger conference call:
Thoughts on the Paul Ryan plan:
It is a fantastic tool for focusing debate. It triggered a firestorm of criticism, followed by a vacuum. Oddly, there has been no opposing plan. The plan is in its third iteration. Overall, Sean likes the thrust of Ryan’s effort, overall.
The prospect of debates, after the GOP primary on 06 September:
Joe Kennedy doesn’t appear eager to engage. One student-led debate has apparently been accepted by the Kennedy campaign. But Joe is no fan of unscripted appearances.
With respect to the 2010 gerrymandering, how did the newly-formed MA-4 district break for McCain in 2008?
The district did really well against the Mass. average for John McCain.
Elizabeth Warren has tried to tie Scott Brown to Todd Akin. Has there been any tricke-down?
Social issues are a largely a distraction from economic issues. Maybe 3 towns in the district raise social issue questions, and those are in the north end. The Scott Brown campaign will not be doing endorsements until later, post primary.
What drives you, Sean?
Sean got into politics in 2010. He looked around, and saw no on running against Barney Frank. He thought he could do better. He thought he could focus on core economic issues, a Constitutional view of government restraint. He wants a better future for his two children. He does not want to see the U.S. become Greece. He’s not a careerist, and is willing to take the tough votes and the consequences.
Mass. needs another Kennedy victory about as badly as a lift from Joe.
Update: Ace of Spades had Slublog on the call, as well.
Update II: I guess Soopermexican didn’t buy off on my LL Bean gag.
Update III: Linked at Da Tech Guy’s place. When’s the interview, Pete?
by Smitty
It’s not over until it’s over, but the fact that the Boston Herald is even floating this kind of question would seem to indicate that Sean Beilat is putting the polling hurt on Joe Kennedy:
The marquee name isn’t doing much better for Joe K. than the faux Native American heritage is for Elizabeth W.
via Breitbart
by Smitty
Stacy forwarded this tidbit about Tea Party favorite Sean Bielat:
Another important milestone was reached on April 11th, when the campaign officially collected enough petition signatures to qualify Sean for the ballot. Sean personally submitted the signatures to the Elections Division at the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s offices in Boston yesterday, almost two months ahead of the deadline.
This blog has no idea if he’s 1/32nd Iroquois or not, but that wouldn’t matter anyway, because he’s 100% American!
by Smitty
How do you not support a candidate with a battleship on his masthead, I ask you? I took notes, and kibitzed way too much for somebody not even in Massachusetts. The following is an unofficial, qualitative account of the call. I took the liberty of re-arranging the Q&A sequence for better flow.
Sean Bielat conducted a blogger conference call on April 5, 2012.
Sarah Rumpf, Sean Bielat’s communications director, initiated the call. She stated that first quarter fundraising for the campaign was great, several times better than 2010, something like 1,900 donors, totaling something like $175,000.
Sean came on, and covered his bio, touching on his Marine Corps service, college education, and business exposure, before focusing on the campaign proper.
This year’s campaign is still about jobs, the economy, the deficit, and the role of the Federal government in all three.
The stimulus, and whether it added any jobs to the economy is a big concern. Sean thinks the focus should be on letting businesses & families retain their money.
Also, regulation, and its economic impact. Estimates run to 2.5 million jobs prevented during this administration. Sean mentioned meeting a painter, who employed two others. There is apparently sufficient business to consider hiring, but regulatory uncertainty precludes hiring two more workers.
Deficit reduction was Sean’s third point. Entitlement spending and discretionary spending are the two categories in the Federal budget.
Finally, the role of the Federal government. It is vastly different from what was envisioned by the Founders. The Commerce Clause is used as justification for actions that are not within the intent of the Constitution.
Federalism should be used to devolve the Federal tasks to the States, and closer to the voters. Federal bureaucrats are un-elected, and are also not answerable to those voters.
Redistricting following the 2010 census favors Bielat’s campaign. Less ‘snaky’ gerrymandering is at work this time around. The district is more cohesive, adding communities outside of Boston that may provide more Republican voters.
Question and answer:
Da Tech Guy was also on the call.
Sean Bielat and Sarah Rumpf are currently planning to attend BlogCon in Charlotte, with all the bloggers who are nearly cool enough to be read live by Mark Levin!
by Smitty
So says Joe Kennedy III in a campaign video, opting to run for the seat vacated by the unlamented Barney Frank.
It may be that the Kennedy brand has recovered from the passing of Ted. According to the Boston Herald:
The UMass Lowell/Herald poll — the first to test the younger Kennedy’s appeal in the newly configured 4th Congressional District — shows no evidence of “Kennedy fatigue.” More than two years after the death of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, nearly three quarters of voters in the district have a favorable opinion of the Kennedy family — including 42 percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents.
The survey of 408 registered voters in the district was conducted from Feb. 2-4 and Feb. 6-8 and has margin of error of 6.4 percent.
Or not. The resemblance between Joe Kennedy and Lance Burri cannot be denied:
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We’ll wait for those closer to the problem, like Da Tech Guy and Bob Belvedere, to weigh in.
But for now, supporting Sean Bielat is a must-do.
via Michelle Malkin
Update: linked at The Camp of the Saints
A derogatory comment by Rep. Barney Frank has been turned against him in a fund-raising e-mail from Republican Sean Bielat, who is running for the seat vacated by the Massachusetts Democrat’s retirement.
Frank used a Facebook posting to accuse Bielat, a Marine veteran and businessman, of moving to Massachusetts specifically to seek his 4th District seat, comparing Bielat — whose wife’s family lives in Pennsylvania — to “Punxsutawny Phil,” the nationally famous star of Groundhog Day.
Bielat, whose hard-fought 2010 challenge to Frank was credited with pushing the Democrat into retirement, replied to his erstwhile opponent with a fund-raising e-mail to supporters, pushing back at what he calls a “petty and juvenile” attack.
“Today is Ground Hog Day, and for the next six weeks, I’m asking my supporters to send ‘Barney and Friends’ a message by donating to my campaign,” Bielate wrote in the e-mail (full text below). “The movie Groundhog Day tells the story of a reporter who learns important lessons as he repeats certain mistakes over and over again. We as a nation also need to learn to stop repeating the same mistakes over and over again. It may be funny in the movie but it’s anything but funny in real life.”
Given that Punxsutawny Phil has forecast six more weeks of winter, Bielat anounced a goal of $100,000 in six weeks ending March 15. He is expected to face Democrat Joseph Kennedy III in the 4th District race.
* * * TEXT OF SEAN BIELAT E-MAIL * * *
Message to “Barney and Friends”:
Internet “Trolling” Has Consequences!
Although Barney Frank has (thankfully) announced his retirement, he still appears to be campaigning…not for himself, but for Joe Kennedy III. Recently, Barney took to Facebook to lob a metaphorical grenade at me and my campaign. Never one to let facts get in the way of a good argument, Barney added a strange egotistical twist in his petty and juvenile post, much to the amusement of his progressive “fans”. (Fortunately, my fans took over his Facebook page and let him know what they thought about his shameful remarks.) Read it for yourself here:
Shortly thereafter, John Walsh, the Chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party was quoted in The Hill using similarly outrageous talking points.
First, let’s set the record straight. My wife and I moved back to Massachusetts in 2007, a few years after graduate school at Harvard, because I was working for a Boston technology company and Hope was earning a PhD at Boston University. Unlike certain career politicians, we made our decisions based on my career in business and Hope’s career in education. Period. (Besides, how much sense would it make for a Republican to move to one of the most liberal towns in Massachusetts just to run for office? Barney sure must think a lot of himself if he thinks we would shape our life decisions around him!)
After the election, Hope and I did indeed move temporarily to Pennsylvania. That’s about all Barney got right in his post. (Of course, we made it easier for him to get his facts correct by publicly telling all our supporters about our move via Facebook and our campaign home page, so it wasn’t exactly a major secret!) Why did we move out of Massachusetts for a few months? Our son, Theo, had some medical complications at birth in 2010. We simply wanted to be closer to family when our second child was born, should similar health issues arise again. I am pleased to announce that Hope is doing great and Theo now has a happy, healthy baby sister named Seraphina who we all love dearly!
Barney’s post retirement announcement attack was irrelevant and his post was simply untrue. While Hope and I wish him all the best in his retirement and upcoming wedding, we’d hate to think that his complete lack of political integrity would translate over to his personal life. (Oh, and by the way, we promise not to “wedding crash” for the purpose of heckling, just as his partner Jim did at this 2010 campaign event.)
With all this said, I’d like to thank Barney for his ridiculous post because it gave me an idea. Today is Ground Hog Day, and for the next six weeks, I’m asking my supporters to send “Barney and Friends” a message by donating to my campaign. The movie Groundhog Day tells the story of a reporter who learns important lessons as he repeats certain mistakes over and over again. We as a nation also need to learn to stop repeating the same mistakes over and over again. It may be funny in the movie but it’s anything but funny in real life.
Barney Frank’s ideas were bad for Massachusetts and bad for the country. All signs indicate that young Joe Kennedy III, (who, ironically, just moved into MA-4 from another district and is the grandson of Robert Kennedy, who moved to New York to run for the US Senate) will parrot those ideas…and he’ll have the entire progressive Democratic Party apparatus behind him.
Do we want more of the same or do we want some “change” that actually makes sense? If you believe the latter, please donate today.
Our goal is to raise $100,000 by March 15th. I will be updating our progress toward that goal via Facebook and Twitter posts and my team will soon post a “meter” on our donation landing page that you can share with your friends across various online networks. Visit our Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.
Einstein said that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and our own Elizabeth Warren, and all their progressive minions have cast a shadow over our liberty, security and prosperity for far too long. Electing another liberal to replace Barney Frank will do nothing but continue our national decline and make the American Dream even less attainable for our kids and grandkids.
Let’s change how this movie has played out for the last 30 years. Let’s stop the endless spending. Let’s rein in big government. Let’s end “nanny state” policies that stifle individual freedom and economic growth. Let’s put America back to work and restore the American Dream for Massachusetts residents and all citizens of this great nation!
Thank you for taking the time to read this note and please donate today!
Sincerely, Sean Bielat
Let’s do this together. Please donate what you can and, even if you can’t, please share this email with your friends. Please donate today.
