StopLouBarletta.com

Lou Barletta has been, once again, named a Republican “Young Gun.”  This is very exciting to the Lou Barletta people.  His imps on Facebook are sending out all sorts of spam talking about how wonderful it is and how Barletta has now pretty much got the entire election in the bag.  Anyone with a memory, however, will probably recall that Barletta was also named a “Young Gun” during the last election.  He ended up losing that election.

So what, exactly, is a “Young Gun?”  Basically it’s a marketing gimmick sponsored by the Republican Party.  But those are my words.  Here is how the Republican marketing guru’s describe it (full details HERE)…

“Founded in the 2007-2008 election cycle by Congressmen Eric Cantor (R-VA), Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Paul Ryan (R-WI), the Young Guns Program began as a Member driven organization of House Republicans dedicated to identifying, recruiting, and mobilizing a new generation of conservative leaders.

NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) adopted the Young Guns program as the candidate recruitment and training program for House Republicans and it is designed to assist Republican candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives build a foundation for victory.

The Young Guns is not just a political program, but an ongoing movement to go on offense and strengthen the GOP, welcoming your participation with and support for strong Republican candidates nationwide. Sign up for the Young Guns team today and you will be on the front lines of a historic election; we’ll keep you informed as news breaks and look to you for strategic advice on how to conduct this campaign.”

This all sounds well and good, but it’s not going to help the Barletta campaign.  This is Lou Barletta’s third attempt at running for Congress.  His previous two campaigns have floundered because 1.) He’s a lousy candidate with nothing important to say about real issues 2.) His campaign has struggled to raise cash and is now carrying a massive debt and 3.) His biggest supporters are racists and convicted criminals.  The Republican Congressional Campaign Committee (RCCC) can call Lou Barletta whatever they want.  Make him a Power Ranger for all I care.  It won’t change the fact that Barletta is unelectable.

And Barletta is just that: Unelectable.  You can try and argue with me on that point, but I have the election results of two previous, consecutive elections on my side.  Both times, a majority of voters said “NO!” to Lou Barletta and his candidacy.  Being a “Young Gun” didn’t help Lou Barletta raise money during the last Congressional election, it didn’t help him run a competitive election, and it didn’t help him win.  Because, when all is said and done, the last time Lou Barletta was named a “Young Gun”….he lost the election.  So from that perspective, the “Young Gun” program is a failed experiment.

The most entertaining part of the Lou Barletta press release is this part…

“The NRCC lauded Mayor Barletta’s “proven track record of serving Pennsylvanians’ best interests as mayor of Hazleton,” his “tough but prudent financial decisions that earned statewide praise,” and his service on the United Nations Advisory Committee on Local Authorities.”

His “tough but prudent financial decisions?”  Which ones would those be?  The ones that involved raising Hazleton’s tax rates to the highest in the State?  Or maybe they were referring to Barletta’s grand scheme to sell off the Hazleton Water Authority to the highest bidder.  Either way, there really isn’t anything to “laud” about Barletta’s financial decisions as Mayor of Hazleton.  The only explanation I can think of as to why the NRCC is so high on Lou Barletta is that they were all slipped roofies by the Barletta campaign.  And considering that a good portion of the little money that Barletta has raised was donated by convicted drug dealers, I probably shouldn’t joke about that sort of thing.

Clever marketing schemes will do nothing to help get Lou Barletta elected.  His campaign is running on fumes.  As mayor of Hazleton, he’s driven the city to the brink of bankruptcy.  Being named a “Young Gun” will not change any of that and it will not convince voters, a majority of whom have consistently voted against Barletta, to vote for him this time around.  If people wanted to have Lou Barletta as their Congressman, they would have made that happen by now.  And, thankfully, they haven’t.  Lou Barletta should not be elected to the United States Congress.

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

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 at 9:14 pm and is filed under Lou Barletta FAQs . 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.