This morning the New York Times published a story reiterating what we back in the Fifth District have known for some time-the national Republican Party, is targeting me for defeat in November. Eleven people have taken out papers to run against me, and although we don’t know how many of them will qualify for the primary ballot, I am not taking anything for granted as I gear up my campaign.
And I am pleased with the campaign we have put together so far. In the first quarter we raised over $300,000 outpacing the rest of the field tenfold. Our grassroots team is already engaging voters, both in person and online, and they are aggressively recruiting new volunteers to join the robust network of supporters who powered my first two elections.
As always, I am traveling my district, talking with voters and constituents, listening to their concerns. And what I hear is anxiety about the economy and jobs. And although we are already seeing signs of real recovery-positive job growth for the second straight month, in April the largest job growth in 4 years, and a steady growth of the economy over the past six months-I understand that many people who lost their jobs are still looking for work and are worried about the future. So in Congress I am focusing my energy on getting people back to work, and ensuring that our country never again faces the kind of calamitous situation we did in late 2008.
But national Republicans are not going away-they’re going to put up a fight this year and there is nothing they won’t say to get ahead. They have even gone so far as to say (based on a misinterpreted quote in the Times article) that I don’t want President Obama in the Fifth District. So let me be clear now-I will always welcome President Obama to Massachusetts and the Fifth District, whether he is here to talk about jobs and the economy, health care, or to campaign for me. There may be other districts and other candidates who need his help more than I will in October and November, but make no mistake, I would love to host the President.
I conclude by asking that you join my campaign. You may connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or at NikiTsongas.com and please consider making a contribution through our ActBlue page.
Discuss
39 Comments . Comments are closed.Miss Obtuse 2019
Resign Niki, while you still have some dignity. Everybody knows you live in Charlestown. Interestingly, Charlestown is not in the 5th district. We don't want Obamacare. You had to follow the party line blindly. Do you have any idea about what goes on in your district? The biomed tax you voted for in the Obamacare bill is going to ruin even more lives. I just cannot fathom why you are so blatently ruining people's lives in your district. Bring Obama in! Please! I beg of you. He can do for you what he did for Martha Coakley. When you're talking about jobs don't forget to mention the 12% in Lowell and 20% in Lawrence jobless rates. Maybe if you did your job, so many people wouldn't be unemployed. By the way, a half hour cameo appearance at the Tewksbury bipartisan beakfast does not constitute listening to constituents. You just don't have a clue.
Hey Bill
I can't see your graphic...
...but I could have sworn that Tsongas makes her home in the Massachusetts Mills in Lowell.
Blunt but accurate
At least Tsongas "lives" in the state. Markey has lived in Bethesda for decades.
I have a hard time believing...
...that the people who wrote the constitutional provision requiring residence in the state at the time of election would fault members from establishing a domicile (not to be confused with residence) close to the seat of government. After all, travel between the capital and distant states was even more difficult then. I think I heard several years back that officially Markey lives with his parents here in MA, and that is where he is registered to vote thus making it his political and constitutional residence.
Maybe but...
I wonder if you would be as understanding if he was a Republican...?
Of course
I'm sure there are plenty throughout the country who do.
Heh
Meanwhile, GOP talking points, misinformation and hysteria aside, it is Scott Brown who has been voting down money for Massachusetts and actually exacerbating the problems Bill complains about.
The Republican Bush administration created the current massive unemployment. It only started to decline after Obama took office.
Keep up the good work, Rep. Tsongas!
Bill - your credibility keeps getting lower and your effectiveness is about zero
Once upon a time you did posts worth reading. This vitriol ill becomes you, and harms the ability you once had to communicate about issues you care about. Word to the once-wise, I hope.
Baseless ad hominem attacks like this one are distasteful to me.
Sorry Miss A
But if Niki Tsongas is going to babble her political bullshit, then I have an opportunity to point out her failings also. Speaking with constituents is not giving a speech and then running away before she has to answer questions. I consider speaking with someone as a conversation, not a speech. She says she's working on the unemployment problem. Her tax on biomed companies is just driving companies and jobs out of Massachusetts. If she is going to lie, I am call her on it. You know that I am an equal opportunity basher. I bash Republicans on RMG equally as well.
Have you ever tried...
...to have a conversation with her? I've had several, including ones that start with my saying I wish she had done something a little differently. She has never walked away or cut me off. You can state a difference of opinion without being rude, and I frankly don't care if you're equally rude to Republicans on RMG - that doesn't make it right.
That proves exactly one thing
That just shows that your mama raised you without manners. It's not a disability, but it is a handicap.
I should have added...
...that if billxi is as rude to her in person as he is on this forum I wouldn't much blame her for not engaging the "conversation".
My Recommendation: Work For The Middle Class
Show results, and the Democrats win.
Don't do that, and... well, think "Scott Brown" writ nationwide.
What Democrat
could possibly stand up to the onslaught of ever expanding government, ever expanding entitlements, ever expanding debt and ultimately ever higher taxes?
What Democrat could cut the government?
Look at the charts Nikki, everyone knows we are headed off the rails within our lifetimes. The only question is do we wait till we become Greece or do we learn the lessons now?
If no Democrat can significantly shrink the government and its unsustainable spending, then no Democrat should be in office.
And PLEASE lets not delude ourselves that the HC bill is truly deficit neutral or does anything to fix spending. Phaw.
As a practical matter, the health care bill is probably the worst thing you could have ever done. Anyone who supported it richly deserves their fates in November.
Can you prove your assertions about health care?
CBO says otherwise. As for what Democrat, the kind that wants to become a Republican, though ironically we've done the better job on fiscal responsiblity lately.
Any thinking person already knows
that the CBO exercise was a hoodwink based on bad assumptions, tricks and gimmicks. However, I'll let you do the research on that and leave you with the simple fact that as of May 11,
The CBO does not say otherwise
A bit more
You really have to be willfully ignorant (or intentionally misleading) about the shenanigans that went into this bill in order to believe or assert that it is deficit neutral. But the, I guess some of you are.
A Democrat produced the last balanced budget
The Republican Bush administration blew our finances into smithereens with a massive tax cut and an unnecessary war.
Finally the adults got back in charge in 2009 and the economy has improved subsequently.
lol
pure politics Bob i expected better of you - you know damn well the R's controlled congress during the 90s, and we had that little internet boom as well.
But that is really beside the point because if you leave your rhetoric aside, you must know that what we are facing in the coming decade or two has no relation whatsoever to any previous era in our lifetimes, or ever.
Yay adults! Yay democrats! Yay 10% unemployment and trillion dollar deficits!
I know lets blame Bush, that'll fix it.
President Clinton - a DEMOCRAT...
...submitted the first balanced budget in decades, then his successor did not submit one.
And those unnecessary wars?
I notice that you're not saying anything about them. You know, those wars that are being paid for with borrowed money. Those wars that were started and supported by Bush, leaving the Democrats to clean up the mess. Those wars that are a huge part of the deficit you are blaming on the Democrats.
You're like a teenager who hosts a party that trashes his parents' house, and then asks them why it's such a mess.
Excuse You
Are you talking about Billy Clinton? The guy who started a war to keep his marital infidelity in the background?
No, I'm talking about
those wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have killed at least tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands.
Your news sources apparently have not mentioned them.
I have no further interest in addressing your ignorant taunting.
To be fair
The biggest reason that the budget was balanced was because Clinton wouldn't sign anything the Republicans wanted to spend wastefully, and the Republicans wouldn't give anything that Clinton wanted to spend wastefully, and thus each restrained the worst instincts of the other.
When either party is in power, they increase the size and power of government, focusing on their pet issues, which is why this line of argument from partisan Republicans (Greece! bankruptcy!) can be dismissed, like much of the effluvium emanating from them over the last year, as nonsense.
By the way, Democrats taking credit as you do here is almost--not quite, but almost-- as truthy as demolisher's bit.
Let's not delude ourselves
that a Republican will do better than a Democrat. John McCain's brilliant idea for health care reform was to tax employer provide health benefits and then offset it with a tax credit on April 15th. Ha, Ha ,ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
I'm not a big fan of the Health Care reform package we have either. But it would have been far better if the left didn't feel they had to keep the corporate right happy in order to get votes that they never got anyway. The Democrats will pay for that.
Here's hoping they learn a lesson and pass a strong financial reform package.
look around
Republicans who voted for TARP are losing primaries.
Republicans will fix it, and we are putting our house in order right now. Government entitlement of all sorts - public sector unions, direct entitlements, spending programs, pork - it all has to be severely cut, if not destroyed. Some of the R's may have been complicit before Trillions became the new Billions, but they are getting theirs now.
The D's just shove their heads in the sand and figure we can tax our way out of anything. Somewhere some greedy villain has all the money we need, if we could just tax it right. Right?
Wrong.
Right!
It just so happens I watched "Capitalism: A Love Story" tonight. One thing it reminds of is the higher tax rates and greater regulation we used to have, ALONG WITH a better and more consistent standard of living for the middle and working classes.
Actually the uber-rich
are doing better and better, unlike the rest of the country. The tax and entitlement cuts of the last 30 years have resulted in the greatest inequality of wealth and income since the Great Depression of the 1930's.
The flip side of "taxing our way out of anything" is "tax cutting our way out of anything". Entitlements and regulations have been chipped away for years, as with so-called welfare and financial "reform".
The rich have gotten much richer, while everyone else has fallen behind. This didn't just start with Obama and you know it. Yeah, let's apply more of that "fix".
Baloney
Republicans caused the problem and then initiated TARP to fix it. Now you want Republicans back in control to do what? Follow the same policies? Do you really want to continue the trend that America is of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations? It's true that the Dems have continued with failed Republican strategies to try to fix the country. But I have far more hope that if any party is going to turn things around, it will be the Democrats. The Dems have not put there head in the sand. They're making the mistake of supporting Big Business in the hopes it will stimulate the economy (honestly, I just can't believe it) and now want to pay for it (pay as you go) because the Repubs are crying BIG DEFICIT.
Um, well yes, now that you mention it.
Big greedy villains? Let's see, Goldman Sachs, BP oil, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, just to name a few. Sucking billions in dollars out of the economy by way of inflated prices and lack of investment, so they can enjoy huge profits. In the meantime, the government has created a taxpayer funded stimulus package to try to create jobs. So do I think these damn corporations are greedy and evil? Yes I do, because they hoard money for their own purposes all the while watching our country struggle and sputter with the potential for even farther reaching declines in the future. If they won't invest themselves, then they can help pay for government investment programs, such as the stimulus. If we continue with the current ideology of governments pay while Big Business hoards their billions, we will crash farther than we have so far. When we all come crashing down, the largest of corporations will just leave the U.S. and plant their parasitic companies on other soils. You and me, well, I hope you have enough room in your yard for a garden.
Tax Big Biz, Make Work Programs
That's right. The rich corporations hoard all of their money and sit on cash right now.
Why?
Consumers have no money to buy things with, because they are unemployed and broke.
So why invest in making things or providing services that there are no buyers for?
Corporations are designed to do one thing and one thing only: maximize profit every 3 months.
That's why they have to be regulated and taxed.
Here's what I say:
Raise taxes on the corporations and the rich. Use that money to (OH, HEAVENS MERCY ME!!!!!!) create government make-work programs in infrastructure, clean energy, and perhaps other fields.
Useful things would be created. But, more importantly, these workers would get PAYCHECKS.
And with these paychecks, they would buy things. This would create demand for products and services in the private sector. Private companies would have to hire people in order to increase production for these new buyers, and the economy would improve.
The Democrats should just DO IT. I know that they are scared of being called socialist and communist. Well, they are called that anyway by the gasbags. Ignore that, and just do it.
These rich capitalist pigs almost need to be saved from themselves. Having rich corporations hoard billions while everyone else is broke KILLS the economy.
Unfortunate word choice
I do agree with your proposals. Using the term "make-work" is not a good choice, however. Its usual meaning is a job that is unnecessary, a time-filler that serves no useful purpose, a sinecure. Opponents of government spending to stimulate the economy would be sure to jump all over that phrase.
Niki
has been far better than I expected when I went out and helped Jamie Eldridge.
the jobs issue is very important
but it's not the whole story. You need to also share your understanding that low wages and high costs of living make it difficult to survive in today's economy. The costs of basic needs (housing, utilities, health care, food ) eat up entire incomes. It's suffocating for middle/working class families, and there seems to be no end in sight. That is one of the most largely ignored issues in America today.
Nikki - thank you for your hard work, willingness to engage, and understanding of governance
What I do not understand is the vitriol directed by some at governance.
As you have demonstrated, it is teamwork that leads to good roads, good schools, safe water, and economic recovery.
The Teabagger mentality of as long as I get mine, let anyone else wither and die is anti-teamwork, anti-infrastructure, and short sighted in an unpleasantly luddite way.
So I, for one, say thank you for posting, thank you for choosing governance and continuing your husband's life work when you could have lived in comfortable, grandmotherly obscurity out of the gold fish bowl and blood sport of Massachusetts politics.
You did not run because you needed a job - you were already in a great job and doing a great job for Middlesex Community College, one of the best community colleges in the nation.
You ran because you care and I thank you.
I call for more 6s...
...to bring up the average rating for the above comment and ameliorate the effects of demolisher's 3, which IMO is itself "worthless". Please help by adding your 6.
Defend The Party Line Bullshit
Frankly Christopher, I always thought you better than that. Just in case you've never noticed, I don't post for ratings.
Only someone with your lack of manners...
...would agree with the idea that the referenced comment, which basically boils down to, "Thank you for your service" is deserving of a 3 or 0. I've been known to gripe about downrating just for disagreeing, but I've learned to see downrates from you as a badge of honor. If I'm towing the line on one issue it's because I too agree with it. I'm sure others can vouch that I have bucked the line without hesitation when I disagree. You are rude and offensive which is believe it or not NOT a requirement of being conservative. You need to get rid of whatever chip(s) you have on your shoulder stat! You would do well to heed the advice that if you can't say something nice to or about someone don't say anything at all, and realize this emphatically does NOT mean never express a dissenting opinion.
Congratulations Niki!
You just discovered Westford! How many stones did you have to turn over? Folks are saying its the first time the Democrats have ever participated in the Blossom parade.
Bill, give it a rest
You're just making yourself look silly.
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