Monday, April 09, 2007

Jack Lessenberry on Mark Schauer



I really like state Senator Mark Schauer (D-Battle Creek). If he ran for Congress, he'd definitely shoot to the top of my personal preference list. It's not just that he reaches out to bloggers, or that I'm a partisan Democrat. I like Schauer because he comes across as a genuinely hard-working, decent person that's doing the best job he can for his district and Michigan.

But as Senate Minority Leader, Schauer is not running for Congress. I really don't have any reason to write about him on this blog-- I'm not urging a "Draft Schauer" effort at all, I'm happy with the potential candidates I see-- but for as much as he's mentioned in connection to this district, I thought I'd mention this.

Jack Lessenberry interviewed him today for Michigan Radio, and then did his essay commentary afterwards. As is often the case, Lessenberry's thoughts are interesting to listen to, and I'd encourage everyone to check it out.

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Comments:
http://noise.typepad.com/election_countdown/2007/04/questions_for_t.html

Derek Wallbank of the Lansing State Journal is spending the day with Crazy Timmy. He is asking for questions to ask Walberg, lets give him some good ones!!
 
It might be more interesting to check this out(from the Southern Poverty Law Center):

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Larry Pratt, a gun rights absolutist whose Gun Owners of America (GOA) has been described as "eight lanes to the right" of the National Rifle Association, may well be the person who brought the concept of citizen militias to the radical right.

In 1990, Pratt wrote a book, Armed People Victorious, based on his study of "citizen defense patrols" used in Guatemala and the Philippines against Communist rebels — patrols that came to be known as death squads for their murderous brutality.

Picturing these groups in rosy terms, Pratt advocated similar militias in the United States — an idea that finally caught on when he was invited for a meeting of 160 extremists, including many famous white supremacists, in 1992.

It was at that meeting, hosted in Colorado by white supremacist minister Pete Peters, that the contours of the militia movement were laid out.

Pratt, whose GOA has grown since its 1975 founding to some 150,000 members today, hit the headlines in a big way when his associations with Peters and other professional racists were revealed, convincing arch-conservative Pat Buchanan to eject him as a national co-chair of Buchanan's 1996 presidential campaign.

The same year, it emerged that Pratt was a contributing editor to a periodical of the anti-Semitic United Sovereigns of America, and that his GOA had donated money to a white supremacist attorney's group.

Pratt is today close to the extremist Constitution Party and its radical theology.
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And, to close the loop, here is what his orgnaization had to say about our recent congressional election:

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There were several bright spotsfor gun owners this election. The210th(sic) Congress will include the fol-lowing “A rated” members who hadthe support of Gun Owners ofAmerica’s Political Action Commit-tee: Doug Lamborn (CO), Bill Sali(ID), Vern Buchanan (FL) PeterRoskam (IL), Tim Walberg (MI),Michele Bachmann (MN), AdrianSmith (NE), and Jim Jordan (OH).
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Mr. Walberg, denouce this organization and your association with these people. Your friend Pat Robertson was right to do so. In light of your recent comments claiming not to be racist, we think an explanation is in order.
 
Fitzy, nice call on the Lessenberry piece. He is really one of the best kept secrets in Michigan right now. I liked the Schauer piece (he is my State Senator) and really enjoyed the piece today about racism and anti-immigration. Then I came back and read the comment about the Pratt guy. It got me thinking about other groups which backed Walberg, especially the Minutemen.

I am really embarassed that my Congressman is associated with these types of people. I am thinking about taking a day off work this week so I can ask him these questions at one of his public meetings, but it does not look good. Is there anyone out there who can ask him about these people?
 
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