First Phone Call for 2008
By RHarrison | 20 November 2007 | US Congress | 18 Comments
I got a robo-call this afternoon. A group called American Family Voices wanted me to know that Congressman Frank Wolf is responsible for allowing poisonous toys into the country, threatening the lives of all American children. I didn’t even know Congressman Wolf was a health inspector.
American Family Voices is a liberal advocacy group whose primary mission seems to be electing Democrats to Congress. They don’t seem to have much of an ideology or agenda. They just attack Republicans. The group’s president is Mike Lux, a former appointee to the Clinton White House and major Democratic fundraiser. He is (or at least was) an advisor to Hillary Clinton.
A couple of points here. First, are you kidding me? You are annoying people with robo-calls 11 months before the election and just a couple of weeks after the last election? And why do anything right before Thanksgiving? Nobody, not even political nuts like me, want to think about politics around the holidays. I know you are going to have to drive up Congressman Wolf’s negatives to have any chance of beating him, but this is just going to annoy people.
Second, why do the Democrats keep wasting money on candidates like Feder? It isn’t the local Democrats. They seem to know better. But both Rishell and Feder raised huge amounts of money from national Democratic groups, yet both are terrible candidates. Rishell got beat last year and destroyed this year. Feder lost in 2006 by 8 points in a great Democratic year. What do the Democrats see in these people?
(I’m not complaining. I strongly support the Democrats’ decision to spend vast sums of money on losers. I’m just wondering if there is some sort of strategy here that I don’t see.)
Third, this is one of the reasons I so strongly dislike the McCain-Feingold Act. It encouraged the creation of these mystery groups that can attack politicians with impunity. Nobody knows what “American Family Voices” is. Nobody knows what they represent. They have no reputation to protect. So, they can lob bombs consisting of false or frivolous accusations into an election and then disappear. In this case, I doubt the calls will do any harm to Congressman Wolf. It is too early and the message was too weak. But closer to the election false claims made by shadow groups can do real damage.
Had Judy Feder run these ads, Congressman Wolf could respond by asking what Ms. Feder would have done differently. Would she have insisted that every tube of toothpaste from China be inspected before it was sold? Perhaps Ms. Feder would propose ending all trade with China. And what about toothpaste from other countries? China isn’t the only place where toothpaste has been tainted. In fact, toothpaste made in the U.S. has, at times, been found to have harmful things in it. Does Ms. Feder propose laws to inspect every single tube sold in the U.S.? Does she want anyone to use toothpaste again?
Silly questions, but then again, the complaints made in the call were silly. Congressman Wolf has done what he can to pass consumer protection laws. In fact, laws on the books prohibited the sale of the tainted toys from China, which is why they were recalled. But members of Congress can’t prevent mistakes from being made, nor can they personally assume responsibility for the safety of everything sold in the U.S.
But it doesn’t matter that the claims are silly. If a few people listen to them, the Democrats get a few votes. If most people are annoyed by the calls, Ms. Feder can honestly say she had nothing to do with them. Next year American Family Voices will be gone and the calls will be made by a new group, which you also haven’t heard of.
Shadow money, caused by McCain-Feingold, leads to shadow groups sending out stupid attack calls almost a year before an election. Thanks Sen. McCain.
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Can’t blame Wolf for the toy issue, but he has done nothing on immigration. You going to go after him for his inaction? Hold him accountable. Beat the the drum on him like everyone else. It is a federal issue.
Glad I have caller ID. Any unknown number that shows up gets answered for about 1 second and then immediately hung up on!
It’s pretty ironic that they would attack Frank Wolf on China, as he is one of the true champions exposing human rights abuses there.
Feder is an absolute clown with no chance whatsoever of being Congressman Wolf. She had her big shot in 06 and blew it big time. All the money in the world could not buy her this seat.
I got the exact same call, except it was against Tom Davis.
Anonymous said on 20 Nov 2007 at 10:09 pm:
It is a federal issue.
Unfortunately, even the “federals” distance themselves from the issue. I have sent a number of requests to Mr. Wolf to join the growing number of congressmen signing onto Congressman Schuler’s SAVE ACT. There are more than 100 congressmen from both partys that have co-sponsored this proposed legislation. Frank Wolf is nowhere to be found (just like his stand on anchor babys — non existent.)
Shame on this unheard of group for swift-boating Republicans or Democrats, if they were included in the calls.
While reading this thread introduction, however, the thought did come to mind about how we, as a nation, are going to demand quality assurance from those products manufactured overseas. We don’t need terrorists. We can just buy foreign-made consumer products. Pet food, make up, human food, toys for our children—–where does it end and how are we going to fix it. Whose responsibility-the government? Corporations? Any ideas?
This is about the most ignorant thing I have ever heard.
Wolf has led the fight against free trade with Communist China for years.
These people are idiots, period.
Dolph: More trial attorneys. That’s the answer.
Anonymous: Let me know how that works out for you.
Dolph - Independent watchdogs that work in concert with corporations makes the best sense. Underwriter Labratories (UL) is highly sought after for quality and safety in consumer products, and it’s completely voluntary. It would be good for these corporations to make safety and suitability decisions by bringing in non-partisan NGOs (like UL) to test and evaluate their goods, vice expanding another bloated section of the federal government like the FDA or the CPSC that handles such situations either ineffectively or inefficiently. The free market will handle the shiftier corporations by stifling their sales.
Rob,
Interesting. How many companies do you think would comply? And would there be product labeling indicating that the product had been tested?
I have no answers, but something does need to be done. I know food products are supposed to be labeled. I think the problem comes in when food supplements that are ingredients are used in American produced products, like glutens in bread, for example. We just need to know more about our products so we can make informed choices.
Dolph,
UL has a logo that vendors can place on their product, packaging or documentation that confers UL’s safety/quality standard to their product. It’s plain triangle with an offset “UL” inside, and I’d seen it all my life on all sorts of products before I ever knew what it was.
I think any company that would want to be competitive in that market would seriously consider an NGO evaluating their products. If not that, they would be very eager to show just what level of quality control they perform in house before their product is distributed. Of course, consumers that don’t scrutinize before they purchase would likely be impacted, but if you want to bring it back to personal responsibility, that’s a good way to get the ball rolling.
Country of origin labeling for meat products was passed by Congress five (5) years ago. To this day, it still hasn’t been implemented because the meat producers in this country have been fighting it. The law is on the books — where is the federal government on this issue and why isn’t the law being inforced……never mind, it’s just like illegal immigration.
Rob,
I find it difficult to find country of origin on products for children, on any purchases made online, and on food products. I don’t know where all those ingredients are from that are in say, a loaf of bread, a can of soup, a bag of dog food, cosmetics, etc.
There seem to be so many layers to these problems. I am not disregarding your suggestion. I think it is a good one. But I think it addresses the tip of the iceberg. For years people were screaming ‘buy American!’ What ever happened to that notion? At least if our own companies try to poison us, we have some recourse.
As vast and resourceful as our nation is, I cannot think of many valid reasons to be bringing in all these products and ’sub-products’ other than corporate greed and cheapness on the part of the American public.
These attacks on Wolf are absolutely ridiculous. And are coming from the same people who cried about the “swift boating” of John Kerry.
Remember the $25.00 shirt made in the USA? Cheaper imported shirts, say at $10.00 took over the market and put the US manufacturers out of business or they “offshored” the company. How many ARROW shirts do you see MADE IN THE USA? The textile industry is virtually gone from this country as well as a multitude of other manufacturers (shoes, elecronics.) The consumer has created the desire for cheap goods and we are beginning to “pay now or pay later” with regard to the quality and safety of overseas manufactured products.
Vigilant1
I totally agree.