Third District Congressman John Boozman. He’s always seemed goofy for reasons I couldn’t put a finger on, plus he’s a Republican, but now, running for his fourth two-year term (first elected in November 2000), I’m starting to like the guy. Very much.
His Democratic challenger, Woodrow Anderson III (from my hometown Fort Smith but I don’t know him), did the inevitable Mark Foley hit [see note below] against him. This was correct of Anderson, even if it seems negative. Boozman by being in the House nearly six years would know a leader of his party — and one from a Southern state, Florida, yes?
Not if Boozman uses the page of the Bill Clinton playbook that the ex-prez used against Fox News’ Chris Wallace (for background, put those two names in news.yahoo.com and call your spin doctor in the morning). And the optometrist did hit, as reported in the Demzette and Morning News [02-2011 Update: Neither article is archived for the public but see note below].
Foley’s predicament has muted and slowed Speaker Dennis Hastert (hit the online news) and apparently most top Republicans in Congress and the White House. Conservative columnists like Pat Buchanan should be pushing Foley as far away and as quickly as possible from themselves, but instead they generally are mumbling and stumbling [02-2011 Update: This San Jose Mercury News article is not updated for the public but see note below].
Boozman? He calls Foley as he sees him:
This shows how somebody will politicize anything, to be willing to somehow link me with a pervert.”
Wow. Called that guy a pervert. As an assumption of guilt by association, Boozman says, in both papers:
I’ve been a member of the Lion’s Club also, but I’m not friends with everybody in the Lion’s Club.”
That’s class. That’s preserving personal and party integrity.
I’d like to know more about Anderson (a fellow Southside High grad). There’s his Web site (besides instant sound it has unreadable text on Mac Safari) [02-2011 Note: The site is defunct], which shows him as a good guy with an unusually broad, yet sound, set of experiences, especially given his youth (33). But his issue stances don’t go past apple pie.
“It’s Hard Out Here to Be …” an Incumbent? More than usual this fall, my inclination is to oust any incumbent. I likely will vote, however, for Boozman. The eye doc may be comfortable in D.C., but the Republicans are going to need more men of integrity, especially if they become the minority party.
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02-2011 NOTE: A decent summary of the Foley sex scandal is in this Wikipedia item, and Vanity Fair had a lengthy piece in 2007.
