Is Mike Castle Out Of Touch With The Average Citizen?
Aug 10th, 2010 by Frank Knotts
I’ll get back to my question from above in a moment. I had to ask myself this after hearing Mr. Castle speak at the monthly Sussex County GOP meeting in Georgetown Last night.
First I have to say that I was thunder struck when I walked through the door and saw Mr. Castle. I could have gone over to speak with him, but since I was wearing a tee-shirt that identified me as an O’Donnell supporter, I didn’t see much coming from it. Also I may have been in a state of shock since in my admittedly short time of going to the monthly meetings, I had never seen Mr. Castle . I wasn’t sure he even knew that we held them. I don’t believe he even has an office in Sussex.
Well after the usual, old business, new business, and introductions of any elected officials, committee chairman Ron Sams introduced Mr. Castle to speak.
Mr. Castle then proceeded to give a speech that may have lasted about five minutes. Now it may have been my imagination, but it seemed to me that Ron was casting a wary eye my way. Since I have been guilty of asking provocative questions of guest speakers in the past, well, I guess I can understand his uneasiness. But not to worry, when the congressman had finished extolling the virtues of being a Republican(from him what a joke), he said he had to go. I kid you not, from the moment he said he had to go and left the podium, it took him less than ten seconds to reach the door. Not a single question was allowed. I would have followed him , but I was afraid Kate might tackle me from behind.
It would seem that even at a GOP meeting of loyal party members, a place that he should at least feel fairly safe, Mr. Castle realizes that he cannot afford to answer a single question. The fear radiates from him.
Now to my question of whether Mr. Castle is out of touch with the average citizen. The reason I ask, is because of something he said during his RA RA speech to the meeting.
At the beginning of the speech he let us know that his being there was merely by chance, you know, ” I happened to be in the neighborhood and thought I would drop by”, yeah right!
Then he basically went into a whine about having to cut short his summer recess to return to the congress for a special vote to loan states money(more on this later).
He then made what he assumed was a little joke. He told us that he was actually supposed to be in California raising money(insert chuckle by Mr. Castle), he then said that he was so destitute that he had to walk around with his hand out( insert second chuckle by Mr. Castle).
I find it telling that he would make such a joke about being hard up(by the way I get that it was sarcasm), that while the nation is in the worst economic times of my lifetime, when unemployment is near ten percent, and while he has nearly four million dollars in his war chest, that he would think this funny.
To me this demonstrates his total disconnect from the average citizen’s plight and concerns. It says to me that he has no real understanding of, or compassion for, the hardships that Americans are going through. It says to me that he is far to insulated from the real world, that he has been inside the beltway so long that if he ever knew,which I doubt, he has forgotten what it means to struggle.
I have to assume that to him a struggle is having to talk to the same Wilmington lawyer for an hour to convince the lawyer to contribute the maximum amount to the Castle for Senate campaign.
It is this attitude of being above the rest of us that demonstrates the need for citizen candidates, instead of career politicians. Career politicians that have become rich from the special interest money poured into their coffers by the very industries that the elected officials are charged with regulating, in the hope to curry favor from the ruling class elitist.
I believe that on Sept 14th we have the real opportunity to change this.
For the record, Castle did not endear himself to Delaware conservatives today on that crucial vote he had to leave for.
On the list of “yeas” on the Aviation Safety And Investment Act-As Amended (the bill carrying the $26 billion stimulus package), only two names appear in italics, which is how members of the Minority Party are depicted.
Anh Cao and Michael Castle….
I am now proceeding to bang my head against the nearest wall….
And yet Michael, there are those who will say “we must elect Mike Castle”, because he will vote with the Republicans. Really? When exactly will that happen? This is one more case of exactly why we must elect Christine O’Donnell!!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by DelawarePolitics.net and Jason C O'Neill, Jason C O'Neill. Jason C O'Neill said: Why did @repmikecastle reduse to answer questions from fellow #DEGOP members? Why is he afraid of the voters? http://bit.ly/cxOzam #DESEN [...]
And a woman who hasn’t held a job in 5 years, but uses campaign funding to pay for her living expenses is? Spare me. Christine is unelectable, funny how nobody from her side has mentioned the recent Rasmussen polls which has her losing to Coons by 10 points.
Frank, your irrational hatred of Castle makes anything you have to say about him irrelevant.
Ageed George. Frank, you had a chance to confront him and you wimped out.
Castle in the Senate will be a conservative Delawareans worst nightmare, especially if the Republicans hold a one or two seat majority. You think Snow and Collins are bad? You haven’t seen anything until Castle plays threesome with that crew. So the whole argument of “we have to vote for Castle because it is the parties best chance to gain control” is really silly. If he (Castle) wins the primary than I will NOT hold my nose again to vote for him in November, instead I may for the first time vote for a Democrat for a national office, UGGGHHH (Coons for Senate!)
I don’t get it. If Christine loses you’ll vote for a Democrat? There is another Constitutional conservative in this race. Jim Rash from the Libertarian Party. You might want to explore that possibility before you do something you will be ashamed of later
Frank
I was sitting on your immediate left at that GOP, meeting and he was not impressive. He mentioned nothing about the bill that he would vote on and gave no indication of anything that was happening in his campaign Oh! he did mention that he had an opponent in the primary but refused to mention Christine’s name. All that in less than five minutes.
It was the biggest non-speech that I’ve personally heard him give in Sussex.
All I can say is, “Christine, please beat this guys a– in the primary so we can have some real conservative representation.”
Castle still has an ‘R’ next to his name. Wouldn’t you rather have McConnell instead of Reid?
Thanks to Jess McVay for reminding me that I actually DO have a choice ! I was considering abstaining from this whole race, both the primary and the general due to a total lack of enthusiasm for both candidates.
I have met Jim Rash a few times, and he is the only one I would vote for with a clear conscience.
Thanks again.
Frank, it didn’t matter what Castle said at that meeting, just as it doesn’t matter what O’Donnell says or does at all (no job, no problem; no income, no problem; no fundraising, no problem) you’ve made up your mind and nothing is going to change it.
The question is: Is Castle out of touch with the average citizen? Well, he has become a Washington elitist that believes that socialism is best for the country. He knows that he has been elected on the republican ticket but he no longer believes in conservatives values. QUITE A PREDICAMENT MIKE.
Please just change parties and be honest with everyone. Hell, the democrats may welcome you with open arms and an lot of cash.
Mike the jig is up. You can no longer pass as a republican, no matter what the official ELEPHANTS say. Just retire and rest on your laurels, whatever they are at this point.
Just give the people of Delaware a break and let us get a real senator.
And I ask this question…… Who do you vote for in the race who is in touch with the people?
To be honest there is one person in the entire freaking Republican congressional stable who really I would consider in touch with the people and that is Urquhart. I am leaning Rollins, but after I have heard that Urquhart basically pulled himself up by his bootstraps and made something out of himself it definitely made me think twice about voting for him and I think it will go down to the wire between him and Rollins for my vote(I’m sure you are all on pins and needles).
Castle doesn’t make any bones about what he is, he has never tried to weasel his way out of any position he held, he realizes he is a moderate republican and he doesn’t try to portray himself as anything else. That I can respect even if I do not agree with it, and you cannot even try to claim the guy doesn’t know how to balance a budget which is what I want most out of Washington.
George C
Nobody can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. If you think so, put on a pair of boots and reach down and lift really hard while standing in them and if you budge an inch from the floor (without jumping) we’ll both call the science department at the U of D and exclaim a scientific breakthrough.
These elections are something to think about and we certainly agree with each other that the country is in danger.
My goal is to take back our country and state and have the constitution that our founding fathers created, re-instituted and put back into operation. Anything short of that is unacceptable.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/pull+up+by+bootstraps
I understand the Constitution supporters, but forgive me for saying this… I think a lot of times they want the Constitution applies how they read it and only on issues they support. Not all of them, but a lot of them.
To me the biggest issue is that if we keep spending money like we have a limitless amount there might not be a country for the Constitution to govern in 50 years.
GeorgeC
I agree adamantly with your last point.
Hell on earth has to be in a position of defending Mike Castle.
Go on and on and on about Christine O’Donnell is so poor (an assertion that lables the asserter as part of the ruling class who believe poor people have no right to deign to think they should run for election) and mention everything bad about O’Donnell.
BUT NOT ONE KIND WORD TO DEFEND THEIR GUY!
NOT A SINGLE ONE!
Tell us what a great speaker he is. Tell us how he voted so magnificently for all that swells greatly in Conservative’s heart. Tell us about his courage, love for our freedom of speech, concern for Delawareans and possible damage by a Cap and Tax vote.
and Rick, I just heard you on Bill Colley. I love you man, but you are so far off on this Castle thing. No less than Dave Burris told me in 2006 that we had to vote for Castle “just one more time” and here we all…by golly, in 2010, wanting to give the man MORE power with a six year term, seating in a lame duck congress……everyone reaches their point.
Too many of us have reached our point. DO NOT TELL US TO VOTE AGAIN FOR MIKE CASTLE…”just one more time”.
You’re liable to get your nose punched.
Go get em Pat. I won’t vote for him Just one more time and I shouldn’t have last time.
I’ll tell you why you should vote for him against Coons. Castle Balanced the budget in the entire state of Delaware as a Governor, Coons took a surplus and made it a massive deficit while raising taxes. He’d vote for Republican leadership, against Obamacare, against the Stimulus and wouldn’t be a rubber stamp for Obama. And no, unlike the lies you guys like to throw out there he does not vote for the Democrats 75% of the time.
I’m not saying O’Donnell is poor. I am saying she is a liar, lazy and lacks accountability. She’d be a perfect fit for the Democrats.
For the record…
Castle voted the conservative position 56% of the time in 2009…
His career American Conservative Union rating is 52.49%. On fiscal matters, its considerably better, on social matters its much worse.
Rep. Michael Castle (R-DE-1) as chronicled by the American Conservative Union. ACU lists members votes on 25 issues it considers most significant. Some are earth shaking matters, others symbolic. But it sums what Castle believes in and probably accurately reflects how he’d vote as a senator.
So first what he got right.
H.R. 11-Wage Discrimination
H.R. 384-TARP Shut Off
H.R. 1-Stimulus
H.R. 1728-GOP Anti ACORN Amendment
H.R. 915-Repeal Earmark For Johnstown Airport
H.R. 3288-Spending Caps Through FY 2014
H.R. 623-Housing And Transportation Dept. Cuts
H.R. 3962-Stupak Amdt To Health Care Bill
H.R. 3962-Boehner Amdt To Health Care Bill
H.R. 3962-Health Care Bill
H.R. 4154-Amdt To Repeal Estate Tax
H.R. 4154-Extension Of Estate Tax
H.R. 4173-Amdt To Repeal TARP
H.R. 4173-House Financial Reform
Here’s the bad stuff…
H.R. 2-SCHIP
H.R. 1105-Omnibus
H.R. 1106-Mortgage Modification Bill
H. Con Res 85-Republican Budget Substitute
H.R. 1913-Hate Crimes Bill
H.R. 626-Parental Leave For Federal Employees
H.R. 2751-Cash For Clunkers
H.R. 2847-Legal Services Bill
H.R. 2647-Republican Amdt. For Missile Defense.
H.R 2454-Cap And Trade
H.R. 3293-Planned Parenthood
Fourteen right, eleven wrong. That’s fifty six percent for the year.
Nothing for conservatives to be proud of, but nowhere near what we’re being told by his opponents.
You forgot the Disclose Act which he sponsored but than changed his mind on which I still count against him and this last Union jobs bill. I am SOOOO tired of the Republican “insiders” who think they know what’s best for the rest of us that yes I would vote for Coons. By the way, Jim Rash who?
I don’t get it. If Christine loses you’ll vote for a Democrat? There is another Constitutional conservative in this race. Jim Rash from the Libertarian Party. You might want to explore that possibility before you do something you will be ashamed of later
Jim Rash. The guy who wants to legalize drugs and same sex marriage.
If you vote for Castle, you are voting for a Democrat. Still, Castle does have an ‘R’ next to his name, which, hopefully, would count toward a majority in January.
I would really have to hold my nose to vote for him, but I’m resigned to so doing, if he wins the primary. I really can’t stand his type.
For John Thomas…
DISCLOSE was for this year. The above votes were his complete American Conservative Union record for 2009
“Frank, you had a chance to confront him and you wimped out”, not so. I have talked to the congressman on several occasions. At this point I have no need to ask him anything. You are correct if you think I have made up my mind on this issue, I have. I have researched and experienced the voting record of Mike Castle enough to know that I will not be voting for him. Also I was going to ask a question about debating Ms. O’Donnell, after his little speech, that was my mistake , thinking he would take questions. That was my missed opportunity.
Right now this is about the GOP primary on Sept 14th. GOP voters need to decide which direction they want the party to be headed. Do they want more of the same lame moderate do nothing of a Mike Castle? Or do they want to move the party back to the right? Voting for Christine O’Donnell moves the party back to the right.
As for those who seem to think Castle is the only Republican who can win, well if that is the best arguement you can make for electing someone, well you might want to re-think voting at all, because you obviously don’t understand the process.
Michael, that 56% number you and others throw around is misleading as you well know. Mr. Castle gets that number by voting with the GOP on amendments and silly resolutions like honoring some college for being around for a hundred years. But when the final votes come in for really important issues, he has a tendancy to vote with his real party the Democrats. Just look at how he voted Tuesday on the second stimulus package.One of only two Republicans.
Face it folks, those who say they support Mike Castle, either are blind Republican loyalist, or they are uninformed people who are buying into the Castle legion line about his first ever conservative opponent Christine O’Donnell.
As for third party candidates, well I don’t think it will come to that.