Not exactly shaking hands and kissing babies
The Walsh Watch catches Jim Walsh displaying some of his famous charm. From the Post-Standard:
“I was very disappointed in the people of the city,” Walsh said. “I’ve worked harder in the city of Syracuse than I have in any other part of the district. I have given my heart and soul to that city. And I’ll continue to do that, but I’ve got a little hole in my heart.”
Always a good idea to insult the people who control your political fate.
Columnist Sean Kirk calls him out on it:
The intensity of the race has clouded his eyes. He didn’t lose the city because its voters are insincere or unpredictable, or because people don’t appreciate the work he did, or because of the Democratic landslide led by Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer. He lost the city for the same reason that he almost found himself unemployed:
Thousands upon thousands of Central New Yorkers, like millions of Americans, are worried sick if not furious about the war in Iraq.
I think there’s even more to it than that: voters hate George Bush as they’ve hated no other president since Nixon. And Jim Walsh is George Bush’s puppet.
That first Walsh quote is amazing. Both Kuhl and Walsh seemed to take the existence of a strong opponent and a tight race as almost an affront - as if the voters had the temerity to think about pulling the lever for somebody other than them. Both view their seats as a sinecure. In the debate in Bath, Kuhl explained the thinking about his run for Congress by saying that he wanted to let others in the organization who served their time move up, so he had to move up also.
I think there’s more than the Iraq issue. The Republican congress has not been fiscally conservative. The last party that balanced the budget and presided over an economic boom was the Democrats.
Walsh is much worse about this than the Kuhl. Kuhl, for all his faults, was generally respectful towards Massa during the debates. He occassionally called Massa a carpetbagger, but Walsh spent entire debates calling Maffei a carpetbagger. And Maffei grew up in Syracuse.
Let’s hope that Walsh really believes this and continues on the way he has been, clueless. Let’s hope that in 2008 his heart totally disappears as returns come in totally trouncing him.
[...] The Post Standard received 45 letters (44 negative, one positive) about Jim Walsh’s now infamous complaint about Syracuse voters. You can see a selection of the letters here. [...]
[...] Talk about sore winner. Oh wait, Exile already did, a couple times. Bowers adds that: Walsh only defeated Dan Maffei in this district by about 1,000 votes, even though Maffei received virtually no support from either the national party or, for that matter, from the netroots. This is one we alllet slip through our fingers. However, after the November 7th slaughter of the Republican moderates, the NY-25 is now the fifth most Democratic district in the nation held by a Republican, with a partisan voting index of Democratic +3.4. Combine this with Walsh’s condescending, aristocratic attitude toward the voters, and the NY-25 has the makings of one of our best pickups opportunities in 2008. If Walsh can only squeeze out a 1,000 vote victory without being targeted either by the netroots or by the DCCC, then he is in a lot of trouble in 2008. [...]
[...] Great job Jim! You really are a moderate (16% of the time… and only when you have to cave in the hopes that you might actually get reelected). [...]
[...] sure Jim Walsh will be disappointed to hear [...]
[...] * Walsh extended his vacation and missed a lot of votes. It’s fair to say that voters should be disappointed. [...]
[...] Jim Walsh issued a fluffy, wimpy, pointless press release yesterday honoring the efforts of 76 Irondequoit Young People for their work at the Foundation for Youth.ÂÂ Thank God Jim Walsh is around to tackle hard positions which everyone supports, such as our local youth.ÂÂ I think I know why he’s in favor of our young… they are too young to vote, and thus don’t deserve his distain (unlike the rest of us). [...]
[...] ourselves with high hopes for Louise. We were upset that Walsh won. Seems he was upset as well as he insults the people of Syracuse and people call him on [...]