StopLouBarletta.com

Steve Corbett is a radio talk show host and reporter for WILK-FM.  One of the more popular reporters of the station, Mr. Corbett is also a very vocal and adamant Lou Barletta critic.  The following article was written by Mr. Corbett on February 4th of this year and appeared on the WILK home page.  The article is entitled, “Is Barletta’s Glass Half Full or Half Empty?“

“Lou Draft” might be more popular than “Draft Lou.”

A nice cold beer might win out over a lukewarm potential candidate who doesn’t know if he wants to answer a higher calling and run for a higher office.

After months of posturing and preening like a high school homecoming king with a sense of entitlement, Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta is playing hard to get.

Maybe he will and maybe he won’t challenge U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski for his congressional seat. In 2002, the powerful incumbent Democrat easily hammered Republican Barletta.

Maybe Barletta didn’t learn his lesson.

Or maybe he did.

Either way, Barletta has spent the past few years making a name for himself as the darling of the illegal immigration crowd. Appearing across the nation as a so-called voice of the people who oppose undocumented people whom critics call “illegals,” Barletta has whipped the masses into a frenzy with plans to round ’em up and move ’em out.

But rawhide chafes, and their mean-spirited chattel drive really isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

Still, ego sometimes drives people into the abyss. And supporters of blind faith also refuse to see reality as they pound the cracked pavements of the old hometown in the spirit of victory – even when they’re terribly out-classed.

Underdogs are admirable.

But Barletta isn’t your average long shot.

The true underdogs in this battle are the millions of hard-working undocumented immigrants whom Barletta and his gang of legals have demonized as being as bad for the United States as the Mexican Mafia and Pancho Villa put together.

Immigrants from south of the border give fits to Barletta’s fan base. Blamed for almost everything bad in America, they take the brunt of Barletta’s phony populism and find themselves battling for freedom and existence.

Mostly Mexican, they must wonder what they ever did to Lou except make his bed in hotel rooms, pick vegetables for his salad, and wash his dishes in restaurants when he’s on the road calling for their immediate expulsion.

Barletta’s Posse has now taken to the streets as well, rushing to draft him into action whether he wants them to rally round or not.

Of course he wants them to beg.

That’s why he told my WILK News Radio colleague Sue Henry this morning that he will announce one way or the other by Friday.

We have a week to bite our nails, hold our breath and hope that Barletta will step forward like Clint Eastwood to save us from the hordes of desperadoes from down Mexico way.

Ay carrumba.

Even Kanjorski has taken a harder line on immigration than ever, issuing loads of press releases and glossy color mailings that highlight crowns of barbed wire wrapped around desert spotlights rather than the halo that surrounds the sanctity of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Kanjorski and Barletta, both practicing Catholics, have forsaken the social justice lessons of their childhood catechism days. Both men forget their own families’ immigrant days. Both men campaign on exactly what flatline Americans prefer – lacking a pulse and a conscience when it comes to the humanity that’s required to empathize and reject the bigoted darkness.

Pizza and beer parties are now planned to gather signatures on petitions that must be filed by Feb. 12 if Barletta chooses to enter the race.

But hearts aren’t the only products that fizzle. Beer goes flat as well. So do candidates.

The once-frothy head on Barletta’s glass is already half empty. He still owes money from his last challenge to Kanjorski and his posse will have to rob a stagecoach if they expect to match Kanjorski’s money machine in Washington.

It’s doubtful that Republican political bankers will put more hops into the “Lou Draft.”

Tequila has a more powerful kick anyway.

My money’s on the Mexicans. They have more staying power.

And I mean that literally.

-Dan Cheek
www.StopLouBarletta.com
StopLouBarletta@gmail.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 7:16 am and is filed under What Others Say . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.