NY-19th Nan Hayworth has a great blog, unloads on criticism from Albany Project

By Sam Foster

I'm no fan of The Albany Project.  

It's not just that they are leftist shills reproducing old and tired talking points that are at least two years old (you guys really need to get a new bag of tricks).  It's the simple fact that they rely so heavily on the reader believing in liberal fairy tales, that anyone not baptized into the religion of leftist statetocracy can barely following the meandering of their pontifications.  If you are unfamiliar with liberal fairy tales, their favorite meme is one in which the political right has sold their souls to the all powerful, corporate devils, while the saintly left are just one breath away from being exorcised by that highly conspiratorial, corporate body known as "Big…fill-in-the-blank with whatever business industry their leadership is selling like opium to their talking point addicted base."

Candidate Nan Hayworth, running against Democrat incumbent John Hall in NY's 19^th congressional district, was the most recent victim of The Albany Project's disconnected rationale:

Yesterday, Representative John Hall (NY-19) called on his Republican challenger, Nan Hayworth, to denounce claims made by GOP leaders of an Obama Administration "shake down" of oil giant BP.

Hall specifically asked his opponent to denounce comments made by Republican Congressman Tom Price, a major political ally of Hayworth's. But Hayworth won't budge, and is, in fact, now echoing Price's infamous press release, where the GOP leader rants that the administration is extorting BP and using the crisis to further its "liberal agenda." Is this where Hayworth begins to show her true colors, as an advocate of big corporate interests over the pressing needs of hard-working taxpayers in her district? It seems so.

I will admit that I was pleased to see the readership could actually engage in a fairly reasonable discussion attached in the comments section.  The same could not be said for the author Cliff Weathers, whose game of pin the tail on the Elephant routine was at best an attempt to turn lead into gold.  

The formula, evil equals oil equals BP spill, where criticism of Obama's unbecoming use of the office of the white house equals joyous support for leaking oil into the Gulf, has very little chance of convincing any of us living in the real world.  

In reality, there is nothing to Cliff's claims.  If Nan Hayworth was connected to the cabal of "Big…fill-in-the-blank," we would expect that energy is a major financial supporter.  Yet, where's the Big Oil contributions?  The way The Albany Project struts, you'd think the money was rolling in like union cash into the coffers of Hayworth's political opponent John Hall.



But, then it doesn't really matter where Hayworth gets contributions, because there is another liberal fairy tale that reads labor money…good, any source of funding for an R…bad.

The truth is this.  BP was negligent and there is a very large and long-standing practice of law reserved in this country for dealing with negligence.  If the current law is insufficient for dealing with the issue, then congress makes new law.  Using the office of the President as an arm of the judicial branch of government, while at the same time preceding the legislative branch is just plain wrong.

I will thank Cliff Weathers for both the excellent example of liberal hyperbole and for directing me to Nan Hayworth's blog.  It's so rare to find a congressional candidate that steps out into the blogosphere, yet Nan Hayworth seems both willing and talented in the craft with her response to The Albany Project:

Surprise, surprise: Cliff Weathers at The Albany Project has joined the collective attack of the vapors about Congressman Tom Price's recent comments regarding the White House and its meeting with BP. In the midst of his hyperventilation, Cliff sniffs at me for not reading things all the way through. Cliff should take his own advice.

Anybody reading my blog post all the way through would know the following:

I fully support holding BP responsible for the spill and its remediation.

I fully support ensuring that BP is committed to paying the costs for remediation.

I fully support the federal government's taking responsibility for protecting our environment.

The rational and conscientious reader would also appreciate that I openly share Congressman Price's skepticism about the way in which this White House does business. This extends far beyond the BP matter; the latter is simply emblematic of an approach that relies on closed-door dealings, unaccountable to the public.

As Larry Kudlow points out on Real Clear Politics today,  the Administration does not have the legal authority to establish a government-run escrow fund. Nobody is questioning BP's responsibility, nor do I feel sorry for BP. But we do need our leaders to follow the law; otherwise, the resulting uncertain business environment will shackle the entrepreneurship needed for major technological advances that will ease our dependence on oil. The vibrant, R&D-driven, "all of the above" energy economy we desperately need will remain out of reach.

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So as I've stated before, I'm not a fan of The Albany Project, but at least they've directed me to someone who is serious in addressing the issues facing this nation.  I think they've just helped me to decide which campaign to donate to next.