Sunday, August 20, 2006

Billionaire's for Bush speak out on Drake--guest blog by K. Gore

Although it was only 10 a.m. on a hot Friday morning, Congresswoman Thelma Drake’s most grateful local supporters, Billionaires for Bush, were decked out in evening finery toasting their candidate with fluted champagne glasses in the parking lot of the Princess Anne Area Library in Virginia Beach as they awaited her arrival.

“Thelma has been the best return on any investment that I have ever made,” noted tux-attired Rob Da’Pour II, who claimed to be the CEO of a small family oil company. “Why for the $151 million that I and the 50 biggest corporations, such as AT&T and Exxon Mobile, have made in campaign contributions to legislators, we have been granted tax breaks worth over $55 billion. That’s 55 BILLION dollars!” Da’Pour chuckled while rubbing his hands together. “Why that’s better than a 36,323% return on investment!”

Nodding her head in agreement, Mrs. Iona Cenator noted, “Thelma Drake has fought hard for the repeal of the Death Tax which affects 8,000 of the wealthiest Americans. Without Thelma’s hard work, how could I be assured that my great, great, great, great grandchildren would live as well as I and my husband do without having to work hard?!” Mrs. Cenator smiled approvingly, “I owe so much to Rep. Drake for working so hard for her wealthiest constituents.”

Representing Virginia’s second congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congresswoman Thelma Drake, is running for re-election against a member of a prominent Virginia Beach (VA) political family member and commissioner of revenue, Democrat Phil Kellam.

A virtual rubber stamp of the Bush policies, Drake has a record of voting with Bush 97% of the time, breaking rank only on such locally hot topics as beach sand replenishment.

Despite representing an area with a significant military presence, Drake has consistently voted against bills that would hold military contractors accountable, provide benefits and research for veterans, and adequately equip our men and woman to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan while Drake takes campaign contributions from defense industry lobbyists.

Deemed vulnerable for her voting record and funding from special interest groups, Drake has been the target of MoveOn.org T.V. ads emphasizing that the congresswoman has been caught red-handed accepting money from special interest groups and then voting favorably on their issues at the expense of her constituents.

To get out her message, Drake has been holding open meetings, “Coffee with Your Congresswoman,” across her district during her summer recess from Congress. At each of these, Drake has been challenged by MoveOn members waving large red foam hands with “Caught Red-Handed”; holding signs with such slogans as “Support Our Troops, not Halliburton” and “Caught Red-Handed; and distributing information.

The emphasis changed this past Friday at the Drake coffee being held at the Princess Anne Area Library in Virginia Beach. Rather than encountering unhappy constituents waving red foam hands outside, Drake found herself the object of a street theater satire as the local Billionaires for Bush attended to show their “support” for Drake.

Holding signs that read, “No Billionaire Left Behind,” “Government of, by, and for the corporations,” and “Survival of the Richest,” the Billionaires for Bush group cheered Rep Drake whenever she mentioned legislation she supports, such as drilling for oil off the Virginia Coast or preventing insurance plans offered under Part D of the Drug Prescription Plan of Medicare to bargain for a reduced rate on drugs as the Veterans Administration does.

The group also cheered wildly when Drake called the democratically elected President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, a communist and enemy of the United States for nationalizing the country’s oil company in an attempt to build a viable middle class in the country.

Rep. Drake was deft in framing her answers that often were characterized by misdirection, side-stepping the issue, or claiming that she had no answer as she had only been a congresswoman for a year and a half. Another favorite response to questions whose answers might reflect unfavorably with those constituents who attended was to claim that she was not aware of the data that the person asking the question offered and would look into it.

Celebrating once again outside the library at the conclusion of the Coffee, the Billionaires expressed their pleasure at the congresswoman’s answers and their sense that they could count on her the next two years to significantly increase their profits and reduce their taxes if she were elected to another term.

“Yes,” Da’Pour’s wife, the beautiful Robin exclaimed, “Thelma is one of the best investments at any billionaire in Virginia can make!”

Guest Blogger--K. Gore
Mosquito is posting this with permission from the author....We had to wait for our "go-between" to get the finaly copy proofed. We understand that one of the copy editors may have posted it on another blog somewhere...so if you see it twice...oh well...that's the breaks....

2 comments:

Karen Duncan said...

Great post, Mosquito. I enjoyed the irony. Keep up the good work and definitely, keep buzzing around.

Mosquito said...

Thanks so much...Credit for this post goes to K. Gore....