KS-Sen: Pat Roberts vs. Jim Slattery Gets Ugly Fast (Everyday Citizen)

Senator Pat Roberts might do well to take some of his memory pills.

For whatever reason, he and the Kansas Republican Party have decided to go down a path that certainly didn't work very well for Jim Ryun in 2006 as they threw up a barrage of negative radio ads and ad hominem attacks against former Congressman Jim Slattery on the day Slattery made his run for the United States Senate official.

It's just too bad Roberts remembers so little attention of his own party's recent history. Jim Ryun proved in '06 you've got to talk up your own record, because people aren't going to vote for you just because you say your opponent is the bogeyman. It always leaves people with the question, "You've been in office for how long and you don't have anything good to say about yourself?"

After two terms - twelve years - in the United States Senate, it's really kind of shocking Roberts has nothing good to say about himself and has to try to save his backside by lobbing off-base attacks at Congressman Slattery.

We probably shouldn't be surprised, though, because Pat Roberts, the man who has been in Washington, DC since before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, would certainly rather attack Slattery instead of the issues important to Kansans.

Why? Because he isn't here often enough to know what they are. And he certainly doesn't want us to talk about what he has done in Washington.

No, Roberts doesn't want to talk about the fact in the last eight years we've gone from a balanced budget and a $250 billion surplus to a $260 billion deficit and $3.6 trillion added to our national debt - all thanks to Roberts and Republican "fiscal responsibility."

Roberts would like you to ignore, too, that during the last 8 years inflation has increased, the average medium household income in Kansas as decreased by nearly $1,200, and the unemployment rate has increased from 4.2% to 5.1%, leaving 1.8 million Americans jobless.

Pat Roberts wants you to forget it was five years ago today that "mission accomplished" was declared in our still ongoing war in Iraq, and he wants you to just pretend he did his job as Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and that he was an advocate for Americans against the President's illegal warrantless wiretapping program- he prays you'll pretend, because if you don't, he knows his goose is very nearly cooked.

As chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Sen. Pat Roberts' (R-KS) duty is "to provide vigilant legislative oversight over the intelligence activities of the United States" and "to assure that such activities are in conformity with the Constitution and laws of the United States." But on the most important intelligence issues facing Americans- such as the manipulation of Iraq intelligence, warrantless domestic spying, and torture - Roberts has transformed his committee into a "Senate Coverup Committee" for the Bush administration. -Think Progress

And Roberts would really, really rather not talk about the fact he won't condemn the use of torture.

He's not going to talk about any of that, but he'll be happy to lie to you and tell you Jim Slattery isn't fit to be a US Senator because he isn't actually from Kansas - even though Slattery's never been registered to vote anywhere else in the country in the time since he retired from the House of Representatives.

While Slattery dotted his campaign launch speech in Topeka with criticism of Roberts' economic, energy and defense policy decisions, one of the senator's campaign workers thrust an official change-of-address form in the Democrat's hand.

"Welcome to Kansas,'" Ashley McManus, of the Roberts campaign, told Slattery.

Slattery, 59, reminded the audience McManus' boss went to Washington before the first astronaut stepped on the moon.

McManus said the brisk welcome was appropriate for someone employed as a Washington lawyer and lobbyist since 1994. Before that Slattery served the 2nd District of eastern Kansas in Congress for a dozen years. Never mind that Slattery has owned a home in Kansas since 1974 — the current one is in Topeka — and never registered to vote anywhere outside Kansas.

It is worth noting Roberts, however, doesn't own a home here anymore (he's registered to vote at an apartment in Dodge City, while his mailing address is a PO Box in Great Bend).

Also, that staffer who welcomed Slattery to Kansas was driving a car with Virginia plates. Very Kansan of them.

OK, I couldn't resist - but that's the kind of useless campaigning we're going to get from our junior Senator for the duration, because he just doesn't have anything good to say about his record representing us in Washington.

While it's clear Roberts is going to keep up his empty negative rhetoric, we can all be sure Jim Slattery is going to run a campaign based on the issues near and dear to Kansans. Don't believe me? Take it form the man himself, then:

Unfortunately, Pat Roberts chose to open his campaign by airing a negative radio ad in which he made cheap personal attacks. This is a clear sign he is worried about the competitive campaign I intend to run. Pat Roberts has no desire to take responsibility for the breathtaking incompetence and indifference of our political leadership in Washington, D.C.
I am determined to focus on the issues that truly affect Kansans. Our country's economy is unstable, gas prices are soaring, and we are engaged in a needless war in Iraq.

And that's what we want from you, Congressman, we want you to focus on the issues that truly affect Kansans. We've had twelve years of Pat Roberts, and we've had 8 years of him being a lap dog for President George W. Bush, and the people of Kansas - the the nation - are ready to had Pat Roberts a change of address form.

Who knows, Roberts might not like Kansas anymore- we've changed a lot since man first walked on the moon.

(Cross posted on kos - please recommend. Thank you!)