The smear Bingaman attack is underway & here is my LTTE

[mmendoza01]

A local newspaper's columnist found it cute to say that because Bingaman did not vote to confirm Miguel Estrada or Alberto Gonzales he was unsupportive of Hispanics and we (Hispanics) should remember this when he runs in 06. I did not want to let him get away with it so I wrote a reply which was published in full. Thought I would share it with you guys b/c it is not available online and you guys can take bits of it and send it somewhere in the future if they try the same smear campaign on Senator Bingaman....

John Dendahl’s column of February 18th, 2005 criticizes Senator Jeff Bingaman and other Senate Democrats for what he calls “loving Latinos…so long as they remain Democrat…and show up as Republican nominess for influential positions”. Bingaman has consistently supported the Latino community and opposed nominating Alberto Gonzales and Miguel Estrada due to questionable segments in their career.

Mr. Dendahl maintains a right wing, unsupported argument addressing one perspective. He cites the failure of Senator Bingaman’s vote to approve Miguel Estrada and Alberto Gonzales to important judicial nominations as his reasoning that Senator Bingaman does not support Latino political upward mobility. Estrada and Gonzales are intelligent Latino’s with great personal stories of immigration, cultural barriers, and professional success. When Democratic President Bill Clinton appointed judicial nominees Jorge Rangel, Christine Arguello and Enrique Moreno and their confirmations were supported by Bingaman but stonewalled by Senate Republicans where was this in Mr. Dendahl’s letter?

Mr. Dendahl’s lacks research, characteristic of a right winger. Estrada was only 41 when he withdrew his nomination for the important United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, after a Democratic filibuster. Estrada previously served as a Supreme Court Clerk and in the solicitor general’s office. Upon hearings for his confirmation, Estrada refused to answer tough questions that Senators asked because he had no judicial decisions for them to review. With a lifetime appointment, it is essential for Senators to ask tough questions and not appoint an ideological judge. Bingaman voted him down because he refused to answer any questions on his positions.



Mr. Dendahl must have a short memory that undermines critical aspects of Gonzalez’s career. Last year the horrible Abu Ghraib scandal showed American soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners in various fashions. Amongst them with dogs threatening bound prisoners, prisoners stacked nude in a pyramid, and bound prisoners beaten while US soldiers gave one big smile. As White House counsel, Mr. Gonzalez was a chief advocate for an argument of the Geneva Conventions treatment of prisoners did not apply to the current situation in Iraq. Amazingly, Gonzales refused to answer what constituted torture in his Senate hearings. As Attorney General of the United States, we deserve better than people who advocate torture. That is why Senator Bingaman opposed his nomination, not because he was Latino and conservative.

My Name

[Gloria]

1. Which paper was this in???

Excellent letter, we'll need the info in this .....

[PROGRESSIVE1]

How much danger in Bingaman in?

[PROGRESSIVE1]

2. How much danger in Bingaman in?

[duhneece]

7. Dodson has place Bingaman on his 'Top 6' Dems to get rid of

...or something like that. He voted AGAINST the Iraq War Resolution, votes FOR the people...one can understand why the right-wing hates him. I expect there to be lots of attempts to swift-boat this good man. We need to be ready to defend him, imho.

[Bounce]

12. he voted IN FAVOR of cloture!

Are you just going to ignore that??????

[Bounce]

10. no danger at all - unfortunately

Bingaman is in no danger at all!

That's why I don't understand his vote IN FAVOR OF cloture and AGAINST elite-ho.

What in the hell is up with that crap?

[Warpy]

3. Dendahl is an old hack who hasn't been able to get himself

elected so he sits around at GOP party headquarters and figures out how to fling feces at his betters.

I can't believe any Hispano I know would buy this garbage for a second.

Bingaman is not terribly flashy as elected officials go, but his votes are reasonably sound, even if he did make the mistake of voting to confirm the incompetent Rice as SOS. I sincerely doubt anybody who pays any sort of attention is going to buy the fact that he's a racist. His voting record says otherwise.

After all, voting FOR someone based solely upon race is every bit as stupid as voting against them for the same reason.

[mmendoza01]

4. This was in the Las Cruces Bulletin...

Which is a weekly newspaper here in Las Cruces. I do not think Bingaman is in serious trouble but I can guarantee that the gop now has this ammo and will try and weaken his base by it. Honestly, I can't really blame them; they will do anything to get elected, just look at what they did to Max Cleland and that should speak for itself.

He has done a lot of things for NM and we are really lucky to have someone like him, the small thought of Heather Wilson coming close to the seat makes me shiver.

[all.of.me]

5. great letter!

thanks for sending it and warding off evil.

[Cybergata]

6. Jeff Bingaman is one of the Best Senators in the Senate

As a Hispanic, I salute Jeff for refusing to vote for Gonzalez. Gonzalez does not represent the majority of Hispanics. Gonzalez is what we older Chicanos/as call a coconut. He hasn't done anything for Hispanics, just morphed into another self-sever conservative creep looking out for the rich idiots who just get richer.

My niece worked as a lobbyist for PIRG for a couple of years. She saw a lot of what was going on in Congress at the time. She was very impressed with just how hard Senator Bingaman works for the people of New Mexico. He makes sure to research everything that is being considered in Congress. He never votes on issues without knowing all sides of the question.

Senator Bingaman is one of the rare Congresspersons who doesn't seek the limelight. Instead he does his job, and he does it well. He is not only an assets to the state of New Mexico, he is an asset to the entire United States.

Mr. Dendahl, on the other hand, is a rich, conservative, power hungry man who will smear any good man or woman in order to gain power. I use to love his fabric store in Santa Fe when I was a kid and sewing teen-ager in the 60s, but now I regret any penny I spend there. Dendahl is one of the “evil ones.” Bingman is one of the very BEST of men.

[TygrBright]

8. Thank you!!

Excellent letter.

When we knew we'd be moving to New Mexico, I did some investigating on our public officials. Domenici is pretty well-known nationally as a squirelly loose cannon/part-time corporate shill, but Bingaman is relatively new and has kept a low profile, so I didn't know much about him.

Was I ever impressed! We're lucky to have him, he's smart and cares about the issues that really affect New Mexicans.

supportively,
Bright

[demgoddess]

9. Sadly, he's one of the cloture traitors

I am very disappointed. I have called his office multiple times in the last 5 days or so. I asked for him to abstain, if he couldn't filibuster. I am just stunned that he voted "yes."

[Bounce]

11. Exactly!

Me too! Same, same!

IDIOT!