Ellsworth fights Coats' 'false' accusations

[IndianaGreen]

Ellsworth fights Coats' 'false' accusations

GOP Senate campaign stands by content.

By KEVIN ALLEN
Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Brad Ellsworth is fighting back against a campaign advertisement his Republican opponent, Dan Coats, released last week.

Ellsworth held news conferences in Indianapolis, Crown Point and South Bend on Thursday to counter Coats' ad, which says Ellsworth voted to close the federal detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and transfer suspected terrorists to prisons in the United States.

"The claim in the ad is blatantly false. I never voted to close Gitmo," the Evansville congressman said in an interview at the St. Joseph County Democratic Party Headquarters. "I said I will look at the plan when it comes in and make a determination then if that's something I think makes Americans secure."

Coats' campaign stands by the content of its ad, which cites two votes Ellsworth cast against Republican amendments that would have barred the use of federal funds for closing Guantanamo and transferring detainees to the U.S. for trial. Ellsworth said Congress already has the power to approve or deny federal funding if the president presents a plan for transferring detainees to U.S. soil.

Ellsworth added members of both parties are "pretty notorious" for using such procedural votes to create campaign fodder.

"Those are very common Washington, D.C., tactics — what we refer to as 'gotcha votes' for things just like this, where you can refer to them and infer something happened that didn't," he said.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20100903/News01/9030313/1052/News01

In the ad being run here, Dan Coats invokes 9-11 by saying that he became US ambassador to Germany the day before the WTC attack. Coats then refers to the terrorists as being from a cell based in Germany.

This begs the question, why did Coats support the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and not the invasion of Germany since it was the country from which the terrorist plot was hatched? Second question is why didn't Coats call for the invasion of Saudi Arabia for financing the global network of Wahhabi schools that trains terrorists such as the 9-11 hijackers?

[LiberalFighter]

1. Time to bring out all of his votes in the House and the Senate.

He spent 10 years in the Senate and I don't know how many in the House. Should be plenty of votes that should embarrass him.

[IndianaGreen]

2. Don't forget all the negative shit Coats said about Indiana not very long ago

He was not even an Indiana resident!

[LiberalFighter]

3. I've got some of it on our website. Video of his speech to NC delegates.

3rd District

Check out what he did with his congressional papers in 1999.

If you find anything useful to add let me know.

[IndianaGreen]

4. I got to run to work, but I will check it out later tonight or early tomorrow morning

I do recall Coats saying a lot of bad things about Indiana before he decided to ride back to our state as the new Messiah.

[indypaul]

5. Check out Coats' vote

as a member of Indpls Power & Light's Board of Directors
when they sold out to AES and what did he do with his shares
of stock?