Should We Welcome Cathy Clouthier As A Democrat?

Yes.  

She is in tune with her constituents.  It is her party who isn’t.

I was saddened to hear her Good Samaritan Bill was caught up in the maelstrom of Republican bills that must be shut out due to there just not being enough time to consider it.  Had she been of the Democratic caucus, her bill could have been heard with majority of social legislation pieces that were vetted last month.

Her constituents deserve having a Democrat in power, and they deserve Cathy Clouthier.  If she switches parties, they can indeed have both.

Switching parties is no big deal.  Ronald Reagan did it.

 

Understanding Christmas

To really understand Christmas, you need to be in the Third World, hot climate, where Christianity doesn’t exist. Life is just a normal day. Their religion’s calling out prayer, markets bustling as always, and you are working too…. Somewhere during that day, if you are an American, it hits you. Wow, its the 25th.. This is Christmas.

And so it was. No one knew who Jesus was. The Bible says that in his own way, God announced it. But if you were living in Bethlehem roughly 2000 years ago, it would be like what you see here before you today. Life as normal. Just like every other day…

And that is the beauty of Christmas. In your town, today, the child of the second coming could be born. You would never know. And that offers a clue to how God works… He works things in his own way….

And somehow, it works out…. Against all odds of the dice being thrown in multiple odds, it always lands the right way when it is needed…

After all your calls home, you report for duty in the hospital where you work, and from a room a newborn cries out. The question hits you. What if in two thousand years, everyone shall know his name? At first you scoff, he’s just another mid-eastern baby. But then, so was Jesus…..

It happened just like this… THAT is the mystery of Christmas…

Taking The 5th: The Fifth Senate of Delaware That Is…

Hi, I’m Cathy Cloutier and I approve this message.

Hi, I’m Chris Counihan, and I approve this message.

One nice thing about the 5th District:  no matter who wins or who loses, the initials on the 5th district desk in the Senate will not have to change.

The most interesting aspect of the race is the position being taken on abortion and gay rights by the incumbent, Cathy Cloutier…. Cathy Cloutier plays both sides, being endorsed by Planned Parenthood as being pro-abortion, and by Rose and A Prayer, as being anti-abortion….  How can that be?   I am for life, before I was against it?  I am for a woman’s right to choose, before I was against it? Does it sound like someone filled out questionnaires two different ways to get two opposite endorsements, hoping one side would never see the other?

If so, is that the kind of tough leadership, the 5th district needs? “Hi, Cathy, I’m voting for you because you are for planned parenthood”…  6 months later… “What are you doing… I voted for you because you “were” pro choice!…..   or…

“Hi, Cathy, I’m voting for you because you are against abortion.  I’m Catholic you know.  …. 6 months later…”What are you doing!… I voted for you because you “were” pro life….

Is that fair?   I mean…  would it be fair if you went to SuperFresh, and bought a box of Ritz Crackers, and opened them to find orange cream filled Oreos?   How would you deal with a manager when you took it back who said….  sorry, we couldn’t sell those the way they were, so we repackaged them in Ritz Cracker boxes… Buyer (voter) beware!  You bought them, you own them!  They’re really not bad if you dip them in chocolate first…”  And when you get irate with him, he wags his finger in your face and goes… “ah, ah, ah, I know Tom Carper.”…

And then there was the story on trying to make all marriage equal…. Cathy Cloutier was courted for her vote… “Oh, yes, I’m for gay marriage, all the way, count me in…. I like gays and I think gays are just as normal as people who aren’t gay… I will be glad to support gay marriage”….

When the vote came…  “Has anyone seen Cathy?  Let’s check the hall… Cathy, you out here?  Someone go in the rest room… Cathy… Cathy… are you in here?  Quick.  Go check her parking spot…   That’s her car, it’s backing out… Call her… she’s making the turn onto King….  Call her…   Did you get her?…  No! …voice mail!…..”

Question is… does the 5th District deserve this type of leadership?  Or, does it deserve better? Seriously there are two types of people serving their districts.  One is everything to everybody, and no one to nobody…  Like social gadflies they touch on every subject, but never let on who they are or what they feel…  Basically you elect them because of other reasons, besides their convictions…  You could have had a drink with them.  You could have spoken with them on the phone.  You could have once been friends with her husband… Whatever the reason, you couldn’t care one iota what she thinks or what she believes…  We all know someone like that…..

The other side, of course, is the competent one.  He learns, creates, moves forward, and causes his district to prosper, instead of just wither on the vine… This person has convictions and is not afraid to tell you about them.   In this case, Chris is pro women ( actually more than the woman running), and is pro equality to marriage, not letting arbitrary items like gender stand in the way of two human beings who love each other and want to spend life together as a couple….  Seriously, what kind of ogre could be against marriage.

It appears the Cathy Cloutier kind.

Cathy has been a Senator since “Gore got more”, and “we got Bushed whacked”… 2000.  She has been a Senator for twelve years… What’s happened over those twelve years?  9/11 for one, two wars for two, a giant recession for three,  the acceptance of gay marriage, now even by Chik Fil A, … quite a few things…   How many of your cars were built before 2000?  My guess 1%… How many of you still work off laptops from the year 2000… probably less than 1%… How many of you still use the same phone as you did in 2000, you know the one where you pull the antennae out to talk or receive calls?   How many of you have the same computer you did in 2000?

Point is, keeping the old around hurts us sometimes.  There comes a time to upgrade. To put new blood in.  To give the energy levels a boost…  The longer you keep someone in the same office, the less and less they become effective….

How will someone who runs from accountability be able to handle the challenges we face the next four years?  If Romney gets elected, Federal funds to Delaware will stop instantly in order to cut back on the Federal Deficit.  If Romney gets elected,  the stock market takes a nose dive, as confidence in a campaign run only on lies, dissipates.  If Romney gets elected, Obamacare is instantly gone, and we have to rework the entire medical process all over again..  If Romney gets elected, Federal taxes get sliced, which means our taxes now appear higher by percentage in comparison.  We will have to have backbone to raise taxes, since Romney is sending us most of what used to be run by the Federal Government, down to the states, with more responsibility, we will have no choice but to raise state taxes sky high to cover the new services thrust upon us…

Is Cathy Cloutier up to the challenge?  Chris Counihan certainly is…  With insurance, government, political science, entrepreneurship, experience, Chris Counihan has the ability to accept very challenging situations.  Indeed, we know they will be very challenging during the  next four years.  As we try to wrap our state around Obamacare if Obama wins,  someone well versed in the insurance trade inside the legislature, can balance the weakness  existing  in our state insurance department.  As we try to insource new funding, having someone who has direct experience in trying to woo jobs to Delaware,  is exactly what we need as we banter over how to make that happen.

Is Cathy Cloutier still up for the challenge?   The voters of the 5th, can choose between two types.  One, is the person who waits for others to do the leg work, asks their opinion, and then votes without knowing any of the details, and the other type, is one who does the leg work…

There are two completely different styles… One old, set, and hard to change.  The other, new, full of ideas and energy, competent, aggressive in tackling problems, and just happens to be in the same party that controls the state….

Cathy Cloutier states that she gets along with both parties.  (Obviously now we know why…)  But she has to.  There are only 7 Republicans in the state Senate. There are 14 Democrats as well as a Democratic governor.  Doesn’t it make more sense to elect someone who doesn’t have to fight every minute just to bring some crumbs back to her district?  Doesn’t it make more sense, if the Democrat is far more qualified, to put him in so the 5th District can once again thrive, and be proud of its own when it picks up the News Journal in the morning?

You will have to decide… but a wise man once said… “never do business with your friends… they won’t take you seriously, and you won’t take them seriously”…   Many people are friends with Cathy…  They will have to choose between friendship and everyone-else-in- their-district’s, … well being….  It will be a tough four years for this state’s government….   so choose wisely….