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Tony Raimondo has updated his website giving it a polished look.
And it actually has some decent content on it now.

Here- http://www.raimondo2008.com/

The thing I was most interested in was seeing if he would put up some
clarification about his stand on the issues, and he did.

Obviously his campaign manager has been schooling Tony or is at least hiding the right wing talking points a little better on his website, than when he was making personal appearances.

(See our Blog about Tony’s views in person)
- here http://nebraskablue.com/index.php/2008/03/04

Ok now, getting back to Tony on the Issues…. I am posting a link to each page with Mr.
Raimondo’s explanation of the issues and his statements with a rebuttal from
NebraskaBlue in the context of a Progressive Democratic stand on those issues.
Feel free to check out Mr. Raimondo’s website and read his statements for yourself.

First up he says - A FRESH APPROACH

And to all that boilerplate, all I can say is; Well Tony, Washington DC is broken because
of the GOP, their my way or the highway brand of politics has gottten us to where we are now.

We do have a non partisan Unicameral here in Nebraska, but there is one party that shows only soldiarity with it’s own ranks time and again to stop any progress being made
here AND in Washington and that party is the GOP, which you have supported in person and with your money your entire life, until just a few months ago.

Your claim to be able to help fix that is pretty hard to swallow.
Because it seems to tastes like koolaid and doesn’t go down very well considering your own history of personally supporting some of the WORST Republicans ever elected to office.
AND using money from your company and your Corporate Jet to lobby for favors on Capital hill.

Then there is - JOBS AND THE ECONOMY

Well in 2007 Tony’s company laid off workers here in Nebraska, and opened a plant in China, which is fine for his own pocketbook and his shareholders, not so good for Nebraska and the United States. Plus Tony is anti-union and his workers he glowingly talks about at his plant in Columbus are making about the same money they made back in 1965 or 1985 when he took over, adjusted for inflation.

I will bet anyone that Tony’s OWN paycheck has risen by a factor of over 200 percent over what he made back then, even adding in inflation.

Sorry Tony, but you are a corporatist, you use the labor of the people
in your company to make youself wealthy, and help to concentrate more and more wealth at the top class of Americans while sharing very little of those profits to those that actually go out each day and work hard for a living.

The he gets to the meat of his campaign, since he thinks his ultimate opponent is
Mikey (do nothing) Johanns.

AGRICULTURE

Calling out Mikey’s failure is a pretty easy target, considering he didn’t do anything, and the agency as it was under under him is being investigated by the GAO for gross wrongdoing.

The fact remains Tony is a city Kid, basically a businessman that sells goods to Farmers and Ranchers. Of course Tony could do well on this one issue., which Mikey is weak on.

But on AG issues, after Mike Johanns ANYONE looks good, up to and including the local village idiot.

Next up - BUDGET AND DEBT

Tony talks about the National Debt which is nice, but he leaves taxes entirely out of it. You want to know why? Because he supports George Bush’s Tax cuts AND he
supports the elimination of the Estate Tax (Sorry Tony only GOP Koolaid drinkers call it a death tax).
You will NEVER get Tony to agree to raise taxes, he still believes in supply side Voodoo economics which is why there is not one whisper about taxes on his website.

Note to Tony; you have to be able to bring money in, to pay debt down. And the reason the middle class and working class people in America are being royally screwed right now is the fact that people like YOU pay less in taxes with all the loop holes you enjoy, than working families do.

By percentage of income I would bet you paid less in taxes personally than most working class Democrats did last year, and most other years also. Would you care to release your tax returns Tony?

The majority of Nebraska Democrats support FAIR taxation across the whole spectrum of wage
earners Tony, and if you can’t handle that idea then you are in the wrong party.

Tony on NATIONAL SECURITY

OK, on this subject I am going to quote him as follows:

“Our troops deserve our respect. In order to respect them and their service fully, we need to continue to have a serious discussion regarding the direction of this war.

There is no doubt Al Qaeda exists in Iraq today. As a result, it is important that in the effort to defeat terrorism around the globe we must continue to fight Al Qaeda and other terrorists in Iraq – as long as they continue to pose a threat to our national security.

I am not for setting an arbitrary date for troop withdrawal. I prefer the accountability approach – transferring the accountability for security and military operations to the Iraqi government. When they are able to make progress in providing for their own security, we will find the opportunity for an honorable strategy to exit.

But critical missions remain in Iraq – we are building a $1 billion embassy in Baghdad. We need to protect those assets and personnel. We should continue to fight Al Qaeda there. And we should assist the Iraqi’s with maintaining their border integrity, especially as threats from Iran and others increase".

To which I say BS! Tony we are spending $222,000 per MINUTE supporting the forces we have in Iraq right NOW, if you want to keep our forces there much longer than you have to not ONLY repeal all the tax cuts made under GWB, you have to RAISE taxes also.
Or are you just gong to keep adding to the national debt?

You CANNOT have it both ways…
the middle class and most other American’s are TAPPED OUT. We don’t have anything else to give you.

The Army is suffering under 15 month tours, and bleeding many of their best Combat tested leaders out of the service because they cannot take multiple tours in Iraq with no end in sight. The Army is Broken and the National Guard is not far behind them, and if you even had a remote clue about the Army or even the Nebraska Army National Guard you might know that.

That Billion Dollar Green Zone embassy is a GWB boondoggle that we NEVER should have built in the first place, and probably will just be turned over to the Iraqi’s anyway in the end.

Quite Frankly Tony you need to quit watching FOX news and listen to smart people that actually spent time IN the Military over there in Iraq, and try and understand the different tribal alliances we face there, considering the costs of continuing this war are very high and perhaps more than this country can withstand. How long will we wait until the Iraqi’s can get their own act together? Ten years, fifty, perhaps a hundred like McCain wants us to?

Oh an by the way, here’s some schooling for you, so you don’t get it wrong , like Johnny (100 Years) McCain did today, Al Qaeda exists as an insurgent group allied with the SUNNI’s who IRAN does not support or even like. The groups WE are supporting in the Iraqi Goverment are SHIITE, and they ARE supported by and friendly to IRAN. And while the wonderful SURGE was going on, the Shiite Mahdi Army has pretty much taken over
the whole of southern Iraq, since all our forces are centered around Baghdad and the northern area’s supposedly fighting Al Qaeda. So the best effect of the Surge has been to lose HALF the country to people friendly to Iran… Heckova job GWB!!!

In closing I would give you Kudo’s for still being a Bush supporter with your version of “Stay the course lite” without any real idea of what Nebraska Democrats want.

Logistics win wars Tony, not ideas, politicians, nor pride, and we are just about out of money and people to send over there, well unless you want to raise taxes and actually have people in your tax bracket make some serious sacrifices for the war beyond just talking about it.

Better yet, if you want to have a permanent guard for that Green zone embassy, how about you talk to a couple of your own kids and have them sign up to guard it in the Army….

Or are you just another rich guy that thinks other people should sacrifice their kids for your security, but not YOUR kids?

I really would like to know.. and so would a lot of other Nebraska Democrats.

You want to represent us, yet you have made no personal sacrafice in this war you want to continue, your own family is not paying for it, not in any meaningfull way.

Please explain that to the Gold star mothers here in Nebraska if you would.

In closing all I can say is pretty much the same thing I originally thought about Tony Raimondo, there is not much there, not for a Democrat anyway, unless you want Bush Lite,
and I darn sure don’t mean the kind you drink.

He is at best a Corporatist businessman, and he still seems to value and follow the right wing policies that created the problems we all are worried about, and want resolved.

He does not appear to be a part of who Nebraska Democarats are today, or want to be in the future.

Like many people firmly rooted in one industry and in one party, Tony is stuck in the past
using the same values he learned in Business and as a lifelong GOP supporter.

And issuing the same tired talking points that we know mean nothing, and accomplish nothing,
and will not bring the change we all really want and our country desperately needs.

Sorry Tony, you’re a decent enough Guy, but right now we need someone with a better grasp of real Democratic values than you seem to have, to represent us in DC. Because even fools on the street can see the mess that Republican leadership has given us during the last 8 years.

Paul