Recalling Mary Landrieu?
In light of yesterday’s display of political prostitution by U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Storyville), which is being dubbed The Louisiana Purchase by some in the media, one wonders whether this isn’t the perfect time to launch a recall effort.
Most of the time, a recall is a lousy idea. The time and effort it takes to generate a recall usually eats up enough of an elected official’s term as to make it more efficient just to throw the bum out on Election Day.
But with a senator, and particularly a senator who just got re-elected and has five years left in her term, a recall makes more sense. Particularly given the fact that since there are only 39 Republicans in the U.S. Senate – one short of the necessary number to filibuster the worst of the abuses of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid cabal currently attempting to ram a noxious statist agenda down the throats of an increasingly unwilling population; the recall of Landrieu opens up the possibility of destroying the Democrats’ filibuster-proof majority.
And with Landrieu’s vote in favor of opening debate on the Harry Reid-authored Heath Deform bill, there is now an issue around which the people of Louisiana can be galvanized against her.
A survey done by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Nov. 8-10 found that Louisianians oppose Obamacare by a 55-36 margin. By a 60-33 margin those polled oppose a public option, including a 51 percent “strongly oppose” number. Some 66 percent think Obamacare increases the deficit. Sixty-seven percent say that taxes will increase with Obamacare. Sixty-six percent say it means more government control. Sixty-one percent say their personal costs of health care will rise. Sixty-two percent say senior citizens will be hurt by the Medicare cuts in the bill. Sixty-six percent think a public option will cause employers to dump their employees into the government plan.
In other words, Louisianians have reached a consensus about Obamacare – it sucks. And yet Landrieu is voting to move it forward against the wishes of her constituents in the knowledge that her seat is safe for the next five years – with the embarrassing payoff being a $100 million bump to the state’s Medicare program, as though the damage to Louisiana’s medical providers and insurers (not to mention employers overall) and the increased mandates upon the state for health care won’t easily exceed that number.
And to top it all off comes news that Landrieu is hosting a $4800-a-plate fundraiser for Reid at the St. Charles Avenue home of New Orleans investor David Voelker, who is a political animal and habitual donor to such disparate recipients as Steve Scalise and Fred Thompson as well as Landrieu, Obama and Niki Tsongas.
This is an outrage worthy of notice and activism by that majority of people in Louisiana who oppose what Landrieu and her masters in the Democrat Party are up to.
Is a recall difficult? No doubt. Louisiana law requires signatures of a third of the voters in last year’s election within 180 days of the petition’s filing, which means 632,192 signatures would be needed in six months. Over 908,000 people voted against Landrieu last year, so there is a market out there which can be tapped to achieve that goal – and it would seem that there might be some resources available to back such a move.
Anyway, it’s just a thought. A long shot, sure, but the payoff might even be worth it.
Filed under: Elections
