“Oh what a great guy… Gee, I’ll think I’ll vote for him…”
Everyone in public office is a great guy… Human beings who wear their assholes on their sleeves, don’t win public contests and therefore, by default, don’t move up to the next step. If a person has been elected to an office, then he obviously can come across as a great guy… not only that, he has to…
Because of this necessary trait, everyone who is running for office this political season…is a great guy…. . the ‘great guy’ characterization on both sides, balances each other and equals each other out… Therefore, it is important to guess what a candidate will do once he is elected into office, based on what they did way back when they weren’t in office…
So when Mike Matthews says Atkins is going to win… and bases it on two reports he received from one meeting that took place near Millsboro… since the subject is none other than Atkins, it gets our attention.
This poster gushes that Atkins is a good ole boy and Hastings seems stiff in comparison…
he *Atkins) seems like a genuinely likable guy. he’s got the personal “magic” that’s critical to campaigning – that ability to joke around and connect with people on an informal level. i don’t know if Hastings has it. seems pretty stiff.
Flashback… where have we heard that before?
Bush and Gore 2000, that’s where… Two weeks of “Which Candidate Would You Rather Have A Beer With?” and a two weeks of discussing why Gore is stiff ( How do you tell Al Gore from the Secret Service agents protecting him… He’s the stiff one…)… and one week talking about his convention smooch (with tongue), mouth to mouth with Tipper…and throughout the first debate: all issues pertinent to our nation, were swept under the rug, in order to discuss the problem with sighing…
I guess then American’s deserve what they got… The lesson which should be learned, is that which candidates stand for and who they profess to support, really does matter…. It impacts what happens to you. It makes a world of difference in your next four years…
So Atkins versus Hastings… Some are already taking a page from Bush/ Gore and trying to frame that contest as about being the friendlier person…?
Here, in that cone of silence, are some of the topics that are not being discussed?
Who of the two, is the more moral person?
Who of the two, is the strongest against the cancer clusterfuck NRG?
Who of the two, is an advocate for Bluewater Wind?
Who of the two, is an advocate for better schools?
Who of the two, is an advocate for smarter, not stupider growth?
Who of the two, makes good decisions when required?
Who of the two, is guided by a moral compass, and not by what is best for him?
Who of the two, even cares that mercury lies on NRG’s property?
Who of the two, even cares whether NRG kills tons of fish, each time it discharges?
Who of the two, even cares whether women have needs of their own?
Who of the two, believes in open government, and who of the two, has Seacrets to hide?
Ladies and Gentlemen of the 41st… Let’s not repeat the same mistake this nation made in 2000 when it elected Bush? We knew what he was going to do… he told us! But we elected him anyway?
Ladies and Gentlemen of the 41st…. Don’t do it twice to yourself? Take a moment to think for once… Take a moment to look closely and remember just what went on before…..
When John Atkins was a legislator, he used his position to oppose statewide recycling.
He used his position on the House Natural Resources & Environmental Management committee to oppose environmental progress.
Atkins helped delay the control of emissions from “lightering” operations in the Delaware Bay (Senate Joint Resolution 6).
Atkins helped block “pollution control strategies” for the Inland Bays (Senate Concurrent Resolution 21).
Atkins helped block limits on unwise rebuilding of beach front houses destroyed in storms (Senate Bill 377).
Atkins presented himself to us as the loyal servant of NRG, owners of the mega-polluting Indian River Power Plant, and he is campaigning in support of another coal-burning power plant at the same location.
Even though Atkins chaired the House Corrections Committee he felt that the Department of Corrections should provide only the most basic health care services to inmates. As the crises within the prison health-care system blew wide open, Atkins wanted to keep it under his rug….“I do not favor federal intervention or investigations.
On October 29, 2006, Atkins was arrested for the “terroristic threatening” of his wife after an argument “became physical.” ( He contends he was drunk)
Atkins chaired a “Delaware Poultry Issues Task Force” that recommended rolling back Delaware’s anti-incineration laws. “Mommy… why does it smell like poop burning outside?”
And one citizen lobbyist, while visiting Legislative Hall, looked into Atkins Office and saw a life size cutout of George W. Bush on display! If there were ever birds of a feather?…..
Will Sussex County go the same way as did the United States in 2008? South?
Not if they elect Greg Hastings, Sunday School teacher and current legislator representing the 41st District, to his second term….
kavips 
4 comments
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September 27, 2008 at 3:09 pm
whisper
kavips,
i’m the poster you quoted above from dwa, and with respect, i believe you took my quotes out of context. analysis should not be confused with advocacy. as i indicated in my follow-up comment, i’m not an atkins fan by any stretch of the imagination. i was simply trying to explain to the vehemently anti-atkins forces why he remains incredibly popular, because they just don’t seem to get it, casting voters in the 41st as stupid or ignorant. i really admire your insight on other issues – you don’t engage in the kind of stupid games that other bloggers do – but i think here you’ve gone off the rails slightly with little understanding of the dynamics of the race.
sussex county’s political dynamics are really strange, and folks from above the canal just don’t get it. party affiliation isn’t a good indicator of how folks will vote. there are a lot of conservative republicans here – the anti-tax, free-market, anti-abortion, pro-church, keep-your-hands-off-our-guns-and-our-land crowd. atkins will keep most of those folks. there are an even greater number of conservative democrats – more in the dixiecrat mold, folks who should really be republicans, but because of geography, tradition and family ties, are registered with the wrong party. the aforementioned charlie west is an example. ditto bob venables in laurel. they should be republicans. now atkins is picking up those votes easily.
the true liberal democrats will go with hastings, but there aren’t very much of those in the 41st. liberalism is mainly an eastern sussex phenomenon, centered in lewes and rehoboth.
add to that that hastings hasn’t done a whole lot to distinguish himself in the legislature, and atkins is the favorite by far. i think hastings thought he’d face another weak democratic candidate, and wasn’t counting on someone with atkins’ name recognition and machine. (it helps when you’re able to re-use old campaign signs and don’t have to shell out money for new ones – and you campaign like an incumbent, using the slogan “Re-elect John Atkins.”) that underestimation of how low the democrats would stoop may be his undoing.
if y’all don’t want to hear it and continue your slams of us sussex hicks, that’s fine. but remember – we weren’t the ones who elected al plant, norman oliver, tom sharp and tom gordon! (OK, we did give the state richard cordrey and charlie west, i admit that. sorry.)
and it’s not “george hastings.” His name is greg. if you’re going to continue to pontificate, please at least get the name of your favorite candidate right!! 🙂
September 27, 2008 at 3:11 pm
whisper
(sorry, I switched some paragraphs around just before submitting, and the “aforementioned charlie west” is no longer aforementioned. just pretend like he is.)
September 28, 2008 at 2:06 am
kavips
Thanks for your insightful look into the 41st District.. You are fairly close in your analysis, complete with your interpretation of Hastings…
I think is is obvious to most, that you’re are not an Atkins supporter by your words. But you explain the case well enough to have put it on the front burner…
As I look back to your terminology and at what I wrote, I realized I selected the adjective “gusher” because it appropriately fit those words I was to quote below that line…. call it artistic license if you prefer a stricter definition…
(I hope that you were not unmercifully teased by your friends, neighbors, and acquaintances on my account.)
Sometimes Sussex Countians fear that they are being made fun of, when actually one is just calling out the way they appear, doing what they do, from this distant perspective…
Your post on DWA was appropriately to the point and because of that,… it elicited a clear, direct response in order to give voters pause…
I believe my post is there to define just who this guy is, and just what this guy stands for; hard facts so that those voters so intent on putting him into office, can actually understand exactly what they are doing to themselves, beforehand……
October 2, 2008 at 7:26 am
Patricia Gearity, Citizens for Clean Power, Lewes DE
September 23, 2006
Although it has not been the normal practice of Citizens for Clean Power to
endorse political candidates, the Executive Board of the organization met
recently to endorse Greg A. Hastings as the Representative of the 41st
District.
We did so in recognition of Mr. Hastings’ past cooperation to assist in our
efforts to clean up the Indian River plant and to provide a clean alternative
source of electric power, offshore wind turbines, the contract for which was
awarded to Bluewater Wind after a year-long legislative battle.
During that trying legislative year, Mr. Hastings was willing to meet with us, hear our concerns, and support some of the legislation that was so important for
this initiative. Added to that, it was very heartening to see Mr. Hastings show
up and observe many of the numerous public hearings that have since been held
relative to air and water pollution of the area.
We believe that he deserves our support and the support of all citizens who are
so concerned with the environmental clean-up of our lovely state.
Yours truly,
Nancy Feichtl, Board Member
Citizens for Clean Power