Upcoming Elections

I signed up to work the polls Tuesday. However, since I had not informed myself about either of the 8th District Congressional candidates--incumbent John Hostettler (R) and challenger Brian Hartke (D)--I signed up to work for an apolitical School Board candidate. However, after a little research, I've come across a few things.

First, the Evansville Courier and Press printed a story accusing Hostettler of telling breast cancer survivors that abortions cause breast cancer. However, what really happened was that one of Hostettler's constituents asked for a meeting with Hostettler to discuss studies that had shown a correlation between abortion and breast cancer. Hostettler agreed to a meeting. But that constituent didn't show, and a breast cancer survivors group attended the meeting instead. A direct quote from Hostettler's website:

Two important things to note: First, neither Ms. Slatter nor the Congressman asserted or believed that only women who have abortions contract breast cancer, nor did anyone in the Congressman's office imply that if a woman has an abortion she is sure to contract breast cancer.

Further aggravating the situation, the Evansville Courier and Press interviewed the breast cancer survivors to run this story THREE AND A HALF MONTHS after the actual meeting. Smells like a political move to me. Oh, and the breast cancer survivors were coached by a Hartke official prior to being interviewed by the Courier and Press.

Hostettler cut off relations with the Courier and Press after that story. I don't blame him for being aggravated at the media, since according to the Hoosier Review:

Eight years ago, there was an incident in which Hostettler was speaking before a class of school children, and was asked if the Second Amendment allowed private ownership of nuclear weapons. The bell rang before Hostettler had a chance to answer, so the McCloskey campaign seized on it, suggesting that Hostettler's non-answer shows he supports private ownership of nuclear weapons.

And then the Bloomington Herald-Times ran a story about how Hostettler couldn't bring himself to say that the 2nd Amendment doesn't allow private ownership of nuclear weapons.

Well, just because Hostettler has been the victim of a biased media, does he get my vote (if I were old enough)? No. But I do have to admire his courage in voting against the authorization of military force in Iraq, unlike most of the rest of the Republican Party. Point for Hostettler.

Since Hartke is challenger, he doesn't have a voting record to scrutinize. But I have to discredit his credibility for linking to the obviously inaccurate Evansville CAP stories on his website: Hartke in the House! -- no, I am not kidding, that is the actual title of the site.

Furthermore, one of his press releases slams Hostettler for "not supporting educational values". Hartke supports more funding for the Department of Education. Hostettler advocates abolishing it (simply re-delegating its powers to the state and local governments, keep in mind). It's really sick when a Democrat tries to say they support education but the Republican doesn't support it. EVERYONE SUPPORTS EDUCATION. Stop trying to skew your stories Hartke, because you are overdoing it and your stories are overly biased, even in an effort to knock off an incumbent Representative.

Although I am not perfectly informed about all issues, if I were eighteen, my vote would go to Hostettler. He stood up for his belief on Iraq, and his opponent has been unscrupulous in his attacks on Hostettler.

I'd like to end this post with the logo from Hartke's campaign site (I am not making this up!):