NY-20: Gibson rallies the tea party

Guest post: was taken from DailyKos where it originally appeared. It is posted here with the permission of the author, blogger devtob.

For a career Army officer, Republican Chris Gibson, who easily won NY-20 in 2010, has become a pretty good politician.

Though he was recruited for NY-20 by the GOP establishment, Gibson knows he has to keep the tea party radicals happy, even if he occasionally upsets them on sideshow issues like NPR funding.

So Wednesday evening, Gibson did a tele-town hall with tea party types, and it was a love fest.


There is a podcast-like recording of the conference call , though it apparently has been edited to remove the first few questions and a probable Gibson colloquoy with Bircher/tea party leader Spyder (the weird cut happens around 17:05, just after the thing really starts).

I wonder what that's about.

After the cut, Gibson is asked about Ron Paul's bill to audit the Federal Reserve.

Gibson said he was a cosponsor, adding:

"Ron Paul's becoming a friend, he's had me over for dinner, I go to his office to chat."

Gibson is not a Bircher, but he knows his small audience here, which generally supports the Bircher candidate for the GOP presidential nomination -- Ron Paul.

There was no explicit discussion of how Gibson voted to end Medicare, after saying he opposed vouchers during the campaign. Presumably none of the Bircher/tea partiers cared that Gibson lied, because they think Medicare is unconstitutional.

But Medicare did come up implicitly in a brief discussion of the NY-26 debacle for the House GOP.

Gibson offered banal talking points, rallying the troops, and never mentioning Medicare (at 27 to 28):

"Let me just say this, don't lose heart about what happened in NY-26.

Do not take counsel of your fears, there's a myriad of explanations. But at the end of the day, we go forward.

We've got the right plan, the only plan out there that meets the vision, we've got the only plan that is pro-growth and fiscally responsible, that's gonna put America back to work and begin to move us back towards a balanced budget, that pays down the debt over time.

Join me at the barricade, and this country will go forward."

When Gibson said "pro-growth and fiscally responsible," he slowed down and almost whispered.

Like a pro.

The dog whistle in that word salad is that Gibson wholeheartedly supports the radical Ryan Republican budget, which would eliminate Medicare, decimate Medicaid, cut taxes even more for the wealthy and corporations, and do little to reduce the deficit, let alone pay back the debt, for 10 years.

Bircher/tea partiers on the call surely heard the dog whistle, and presumably lapped it up.

In his farewell, Gibson said he would remain true to working for "job creation, deficit reduction and protection of freedoms."

Of course, no one asked what he had done for job creation, other than what Republicans always do, to little real effect -- cut taxes for the rich even more, while decrying the deficit and the debt largely caused by tax cuts.

And, in this instance, Gibson's vote to help needy billionaires had ZERO effect, since the radical Ryan Republican budget will not be enacted in this Congress.

Naturally, Gibson told his far-right base that he looks "forward to interacting" with them "as we go forward."

IMHO, Gibson will be tough to beat next year, in whatever district he gets after redistricting.

Sure, he's lying about Medicare, and speaking in inoffensive GOP cliches that mask the real Republican platform -- lower taxes for the rich and fewer services/programs for the non-rich.

But he's become an accomplished political liar, repeating Boehner talking points with Boy Scout conviction, and I fear that act will convince too many voters.

Alan Grayson: Republicans Show True Colors About Medicare

Another Gibson lie about Medicare

Rookie Rep.Chris Gibson voted to kill Medicare, and substitute a voucher program that will impoverish future seniors.

Gibson has dutifully lied that he voted to "preserve and protect" Medicare by killing it, and he has also lied, at every opportunity, that the Ryan/Boehner Republican plan to kill Medicare would have no impact on current (and some future) Medicare beneficiaries.

Gibson knows next to nothing about Medicare, and is only repeating Boehner/Ryan talking points on how to lie to his constituents.

Unlike Gibson, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.does know quite a bit about Medicare.

Also unlike Gibson, Sebelius is not a serial liar.

Sebelius noted today that the Ryan/Boehner Republican plan to kill Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act, will indeed affect current beneficiaries:

"The Affordable Care Act takes a huge step in closing the donut hole, 50 percent this year of the cost of drugs purchased in the coverage gap would disappear, and over time the whole coverage gap would disappear. Seniors now qualify for screenings -- cancer screenings, mammograms, a variety of preventive care without copays out of pocket. That would disappear."

So, current Medicare beneficiaries would pay a lot more for drugs and preventive care under the Ryan/Boehner Republican plan to kill Medicare.

But, naturally, seniors of limited means who rely on Medicaid and Medicare will suffer more -- that's the Republican way.

The Medicaid cuts in the Ryan/Boehner budget would affect poor seniors immediately, according to Sebelius:

"Medicaid cuts would start right away, so those seniors would be the first to be impacted. The voucher plan doesn't hit for 10 years, but not only do the new benefits for every senior go away, but the dually-qualified seniors -- the poorest, oldest, sickest seniors, who are often in nursing homes, would have their benefits cut immediately."

The Ryan/Boehner Republican budget that Gibson supports and lies 24/7 about will not become law, because there is a Democratic Senate and President, for now.

But Gibson's constituents must be reminded that he voted to kill Medicare via a voucher system he said he opposed during the campaign.

And that, coupled with his vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Gibson supports today's seniors paying a lot more for their health care.

Gibson will surely lie a lot more about his plan to kill Medicare, cripple Medicaid, and screw current and future seniors from now until Nov. 6, 2012.

He should be called on it every time.

Gibson's fake jobs vote ~ a Guest Post by Mark Berger, Nassau Democratic Chairman

Last week my wife received a mailer, sent at taxpayer’s expense, from Congressman Chris Gibson. I guess he doesn’t consider male Democrats as part of his constituency.

Since jobs are issue number one in our country, Gibson leads off by saying he voted for “creating jobs by removing impediments to growth.” Did he vote for a jobs bill? No, he did not. After 4 months control of the House of Representatives, the Republicans have yet to put forth a single jobs bill.

The phrase “impediments to growth” is Republican code for regulation. In this case, the Republicans want to require a job impact study before the EPA adopts any environmental regulation. Their goal is to stifle the EPA by pitting employment against environmental protection. This is not a jobs bill, because it will not have any impact on the level of unemployment we are experiencing.

Gibson’s vote has nothing really to do with jobs, and, from my perspective, it has everything to do with making the Koch Brothers and Carl Rove happy. Rove and the Koch’s are absolutely opposed to the EPA. Remember, they poured over $600,000 into campaign ads that attacked Scott Murphy, which helped Gibson win. Might he owe them one?

If the Republicans were interested in keeping America competitive in the world economy they would be supporting the president’s green economy and education initiatives. But they are not.

Gibson and his fellow Republicans keep marching out their bogus claim that regulation is what’s hurting American businesses. The truth is some regulations work and others don’t. But one thing is certain: without regulation, we get toxic waste sites, unsafe work places, and unsavory financial products. Think Dewey Loeffel, think black lung disease, think climate change, think the financial meltdown of 2008, the savings and loan collapse of the 80’s, and the Great Depression.

After the worldwide financial collapse in 2008, free market guru and Bush’s fed chair, Alan Greenspan admitted he was wrong to believe that the directors and managers of the large banks and investment houses would honor their fiduciary responsibilities and, thus, would never back worthless securities nor push marginal mortgages. His philosophical position of free trade did not work in the real world where organized greed and a hands-off policy on regulation nearly brought on the second great depression. Did the real world conform to Greenspan’s philosophical viewpoint, no, it did not and we are still picking up the pieces of this misguided political philosophy.

Back to Gibson. In his mailing, he points to his vote against the use of “un-elected” agency czars as if that is something that matters. As he knows and so do we, we do not elect agency heads, we elect the president and he makes appointments with the advice and consent of congress. Bush appointed so-call czars for homeland security and drug enforcement and so has Obama. With all the serious problems that confront our country why waste time on this?

Ironically, the one place where Mr. Gibson can control federal spending is in the running of his office. Here I expected big cuts, just like the Republicans are calling for all over the place. Yet all Gibson was able to cut was 5% of his office budget. Is Congressman Gibson realizing that running an efficient and responsive government office costs money? Does he realize that making across the board cuts often creates more problems than it solves?

I hope Chris Gibson takes the time to learn history’s lessons rather than becoming a victim of a philosophy which fails in the world in which we live

NY-26: What you can do

The special election in NY-26 is two weeks from today, and is shaping up to be another national race in New York state.

As with NY-20 and NY-23, Republicans have held this western NY seat for decades. In the wake of Chris Lee's disgraceful resignation, the race among Republican Jane Corwin, Democrat Kathy Hochul and tea party self-funder Jack Davis is too close to call.

John Boehner knows this race is close, that's why he visited the district yesterday.

Karl Rove knows this race is close, that's why his shady PAC is spending $650K to try to save the lackluster Corwin.

You can help win this race, and send a message to the radical Republicans to stop their attacks on Medicare and Social Security.

You can give money here.

You can drive out to the Rochester suburbs for some canvassing.

You can phone bank from the comfort of your home, email Blake@KathyHochul.com for info.

This is a winnable race, but turnout will be key. And turnout depends on voter contacts.

Please do something to help Hochul contact voters.

Gibson lies again – this time about restricting access to abortion services

It is the same theme over and over: “Gibson lies.” For a “man of honor,” he does a lot of lying in order to toe the Tea Party Line and also try to convince his moderate constituents that he is not such a radical guy.

This time, in trying to tamp down a flurry of dissent on this Facebook page over H.R. 3 re-defining rape, Gibson chided those who disagree with him and insisted there are no restrictions beyond the Hyde Amendment in H.R. 3. This is his post, written by him, not a staff member. When posts are written by his staff member, they are always signed by that staff member according to information on Gobson's page: "Both I and my spokeswoman Stephanie Valle will post on this page. Posts that come from my spokeswoman will be designated at the end as such."

Congressman Chris Gibson

Re H.R. 3, there's misinformation on this page that the bill redefined the word rape. That's incorrect. While a previous version of the bill contained different language, what we voted on contained the same language as the Hyde Amendment. This bill is about making sure taxpayer funds aren't used to pay for abortions but doesn't affect the use of private funds -- we're codifying the Hyde Amendment in the tax code.

One individual, Leo Geoffrion took Gibson to task with this post:

The Republican party has billed H.R.3 as making the Hyde amendment permanent but if you compare the Hyde Amendment to H.R.3, it is clear that they've moved the line considerably further. Where the Hyde Amendment explicitly exempted private insurance plans H.R.3 explicitly bans abortion from any tax-exempt health plan. Since it's crazy to purchase a health insurance plan that is not tax-exempt, this effectively bans abortion from ALL health insurance plans -- even those with no Federal funding. So, why mess up the long-standing compromise between the pro-life and pro-choice advocates? Let's deal with the deficit and not re-fight the social battles of the 90's.

So far, Congressman Gibson has not responded to Geoffrion’s statement. Nor do we expect him to. He does not know how to respond when he is caught in a lie. 

Which seems to happen with incredible frequency.

Guest Post - Gibson lies about the EPA

We snagged this post from DailyKos and got permission for the author to post it here. 
 

NY-20: Gibson lies about his lie, 'That's a fact' 

(click to see post at DailyKos.)

by devtob

Tea party Republican Chris Gibson has a wholesome image -- clean-cut, well-spoken, church-going Catholic, veteran, Ph.D., hometown hero, family guy, etc. -- but he has become quite the shameless liar in his first few months in Congress.

Like every Republican, Gibson repeats the Boehner talking-points Big Lie that the Ryan Republican budget does not propose a voucher plan in place of Medicare and will not affect current Medicare recipients.

And Gibson lies about federal spending -- when challenged at a recent town hall to explain why the only federal budget surplus in decades occurred when income tax rates for billionaires were higher in the Clinton administration, he ignored the question and told a whopper about the EPA budget.
 
Here's the video, courtesy of the GibsonWatch website of Democracy for the Greater Glens Falls Area, an active DFA outfit:

The video catches Gibson in another BIG LIE:

"This level of spending is something we can't sustain.I'll just give you just one example, the Environmental Protection Agency, that budget went up, from 2008, it went up 131 percent. That's a fact."

Well, no, it's not.
Not. Even. Close.
 
The EPA budget was $7.2 billion in FY 2008, it went up to $10.3 billion in FY 2010, then down to $10 billion in FY 2011. The Obama EPA budget for 2012, which Gibson and other tea party radicals in the House will surely slash away at, proposes $9 billion.

Let's give a liar a break, and take the EPA's high budget watermark, the $10.3 billion in FY 2010. That's 43 percent more than FY 2008, not Gibson's weirdly precise 131 percent.

And it's less than 43 percent now, and will be even less in FY 2012.

Gibson is not just a liar about EPA, he's also a hypocrite.

While Gibson votes with the radical Republicans to cut EPA even more, he "applauds" the EPA spending federal money to investigate (and hopefully clean up) the notorious Dewey Loeffel chemical waste landfill in his district (Nassau, Rensselaer County).

The EPA budget under Obama has gone up substantially, which makes sense to those who care about the environment and recognize that EPA had been handcuffed under the Bush/Cheney administration.

Gibson could use a truthful number -- 43 percent from 2008 to 2010 -- to make his point, but he decided that telling a lie about a bigger number would impress his low-information constituents about the allegedly awful federal spending problem.

But his choosing to lie about EPA, as an example of "outrageous" federal spending, is essentially absurd, given that the EPA's share of total federal spending is well less than 1 percent. Gibson is a rookie, and gets his budget lies from Randroid Ryan, who is more experienced in Congress, and at lying with numbers.

Indeed, Ryan has been claiming that EPA spending has more than doubled by including stimulus money, about $7 billion over two years.

All of that money, save $20 million for administration and oversight, went to jobs-producing water and sewer projects, cleaning up hazardous waste sites, and reducing diesel pollution. 

So, EPA's basic budget is really up some 30 percent or so from 2008, not the 131 percent Gibson parrots from Ryan.

In repeating House Republican lies, Gibson has become just another Republican who lies on behalf of billionaires to bamboozle his constituents.

And there is nothing wholesome about that.