Do these sound like epithets you've heard applied to John Garamendi in the race for CA-10?
"He's just a career politician looking for his next job."
"Ten political campaigns, 26 years in the Capitol."
"He has run for Assembly, Senate, State Controller, Governor, and Lt. Governor. Now he's running for Congress"
"He's a carpetbagger."
"He doesn't understand the issues and the people of the district."
Well, while they may certainly be applicable to Garamendi, those are actually all charges that were leveled against Tom McClintock in last year's CA-04 Congressional race against Charlie Brown. In fact, those are charges that were mostly made by Charlie Brown himself. That's why I was totally gob-smacked by Charlie Brown's endorsement of John Garamendi last Monday.
But it's not just the hypocrisy.
You'd think that a guy like Brown, who spent three years running an almost single-issue campaign based on veterans and their treatment, might have been inclined to toss his endorsement to the sole Democratic veteran in the race, Anthony Woods, who served two tours of duty in Iraq. But Brown has given Woods the cold shoulder. I don't know... maybe there's some weird military rivalry thing -- Air Force Academy vs. West Point. Or maybe Charlie Brown hit his head recently and is suffering from amnesia. Go figure. |
