McCaskill: "Shame on Senator Talent"
State Auditor Claire McCaskill, candidate for U.S. Senate, was fired up over recent television ads and statements by her opponent Sen. Jim Talent's campaign that she said distorted her record and besmirched her character. In a press conference call today, McCaskill set out to get the record straight.
“Talent decided to make a calculated mis-characterization of my record, character and issues,” said McCaskill.
At issue were questions Talent's campaign have raised over McCaskill's commitment to renewable energy, the estate tax, animal identification and her auditing of nursing homes.
What seemed to strike McCaskill the most was the attacks against her auditing of nursing homes which call into question her independence and brings in her husband, whose company owns and operates nursing homes in Missouri.
McCaskill pointed out that the Kansas City Star has called on the Talent campaign to stop airing ads citing their paper as a source of criticism of McCaskill. The ads quote a McCaskill opponent criticizing her and is not the opinion of the paper or a conclusion of an analysis.
McCaskill said she had done more work in the area than any auditor previously. She dismissed charges she had gone easy on the industry after she married her husband in 2002 saying that in January of 2003 she delivered an extensive audit of nursing homes.
McCaskill said: she was the first to audit the oversight of nursing homes; called for spot inspections; and that when she reported a decline in care, she linked it directly to funding cuts made by Governor Blunt's administration and the Republican-controlled state legislature.
An issue drawing intense debate in the agricultural world is that of mandating identification for farm animals. The idea would allow livestock to be better tracked through the system. Small farmers and ranchers argue it's too expensive and would hurt their ability to compete.
McCaskill said Talent had slipped on the issue. First offering some support for the program, but now opposing it. McCaskill criticized Talent saying that as a member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee, he had been in a position to oppose the program. The United State Deparment of Agriculture announced a framework for the program in April of 2004, the Senate subcommittee held hearings on the issue in February.
McCaskill said she had done extensive work in these areas and Talent knew her record as well as she did.
"Shame on Senator Talent," said McCaskill.
A call to the Talent campaign was not returned.
Shame on BOTH Talent and McCaskill for agreeing with each other to freeze out the other two candidates in the debates aired by the corporate media. These debates allowed them to frame the issues in ways that made them look different, while never letting Progressive Lydia Lewis or Libertarian Frank Gilmour shed media attention on issues where McCaskill and Talent agree (or disagree minimally) and Lewis and/or Gilmour have better ideas. The corporate establishment, for which Talent and McCaskill are both pawns, don't want any attention paid to the fact that both McCaskill and Talent promote immigration policies farther to the right than President Bush, that both would leave US troops in Iraq for two years or more, both oppose gay marriage (McCaskill is running ads out in the sticks that stress her opposition to gay marriage), both support the death penalty, both favor continued criminalization of drug addiction (a health problem), and both propose band-aid health plans that rely on insurance companies (which are the root of the health care crisis) instead of single payer.
No room for better ideas, just the same old crap that their corporate handlers want us to hear.
Posted by St Louis Oracle on Sat., Oct 28, 2006 at 3:54 PM
Right a Wrong. Submit any tips or story ideas by using our anonymous email form. Confidentiality is guaranteed.