Vote for John Hall in NY's 19th

Nobody has been a harsher critic of Obama and the Democrats than me over the past year, but the loss of either the House or Senate bodes ill for any progress we hope to make for the economy, particularly, but also on health care, Afghanistan and other issues.  Amid all my objections, though, the idea of not voting never crossed my mind, as tempting as it might have been. Now is the time for everyone to make calls and knock on doors for their local Democratic congressmen and senators.  Even if they don't deserve it, as Michael Moore has said, we do.  Do it for us.

But some congressmen deserve it, and mine, Rep. John Hall (D-NY), is one of them. Unlike many in the house, and far too many in the Senate, he has been a stalwart supporter of the issues Democrats campaigned for in 2008, and therefore has earned the full support of voters in New York's 19th Congressional District. He is a Democrat who hasn't run away from the things we care about, unlike those who claim to espouse progressive values but run at the first sign of a vote -- or a tweet from Sarah Palin. If only Obama had been as steadfast, we'd be in a lot better shape economically, among other measures of strength. Another sign? Democrats wouldn't be facing a cataclysm on Tuesday if they had fully enacted the stimulus (too small), the health care bill (too fraidy-cat conservative), and the bank bailout (they got help, we lost our houses). Instead, Democrats carried out a half-a-loaf agenda, whereby they determined what we needed to succeed, and divided it by two. Half measures don't work, in politics as in life, but particularly at a time of crisis demanding boldness and not, as Jon Stewart not-so-timidly pointed out, timidity.

That's why I'm for John Hall.  He took tough votes and did the right thing at a time when the world seemed to be coming to an end.  Just because his efforts died over in the Senate doesn't mean he should be punished or others like him who were looking out for us, and not their jobs.  Now his job is at stake, and it's our turn to look out for him.

I'd much rather lose the Senate, which has been next to useless these past two years, than lose the House, which has done what it was expected to do, taken on the thorny issues and gotten shafted for its efforts. No good deed and all that...

Here's what the New York Journal News had to say about Hall in its recent endorsement of him:

The choice for voters in the 19th Congressional District is fairly straightforward: They can pick the candidate who sees a measured and constructive role for the federal government in the framework of a free, civil and functioning society, or they can pick the candidate who, while on the campaign trail at least, appears to suffer from amnesia.

The former is John Hall, the two-term Democrat from Dover Plains, who has taken some tough — but wholly necessary — votes aimed at digging the nation out of a deep recession that was years in the making. The latter is Dr. Nan Hayworth, a retired opthalmologist from Mount Kisco, whose memory or understanding of what ails America seems to begin and end with the 2008 election. Our recommendation goes to Hall, for his broader world view, and because Congress can ill afford more of Hayworth's brand of forgetfulness.

And this is what they had to say about Hayworth, a Tea Party favorite who just happens to be my former eye doctor. Nice lady, good doctor, wack ideas.

Hayworth's prescription for what's wrong with America is right out of the simplistic GOP playbook being used in races across the nation: Stop spending, stop taxing, stop intervening in the economy — and ignore the roles played by two unfunded wars, deregulation and lack of oversight of financial markets. Hayworth said government cannot create jobs, not even in health care; she would "de-power and fund" the health care law, even though nearly 51 million people in the U.S. lacked insurance in 2008. And her serious concern about the federal deficit notwithstanding, Hayworth would extend the Bush tax cuts to all income groops, the super rich included. (Hall would extend them to 98 percent of all payers; individuals earning $500,000 and couples filing jointly and earning $1 million or more would see their rates revert to pre-2001 rates.)

The choice is abundantly clear:  Stand up for the guy who stands up for us.  Vote for Rep. John Hall.