Heather Wilson: Afraid to Admit She's a Real Republican

That's right. Republican incumbent Rep. Heather Wilson, who's running against Dem challenger Patricia Madrid in NM-CD1, has purchased $200,000 worth of TV time for an ad that suggests she's not really a staunch Republican or a supporter of Bush and Company -- she's "independent."

I bet you didn't realize that Heather is "independent" and working for you -- maybe because she votes with Bush 90 percent of the time, especially on critical issues like the Iraq War, the flawed Medicare prescription drug plan, the energy bill written by oil lobbyists and tax cuts for our wealthiest citizens. She claims she acts on her own but her rubberstamping of almost everything the Bush-Rove-Cheney bunch proposes reveals the truth about her. She also takes money from the likes of Tom DeLay, Duke Cunningham and Abramoff crony David Safavian -- all one-time right-wing Republican powerhouses who have been discredited in corruption scandals. Even so, her ad claims she's "honest":

Wilson says "the best part of the job is gettin' to help people." Well some people anyway. Just not those suffering from the fiscal irresponsibility of the Bush administration. Just not those suffering from high gas prices or the growing consequences of global warming. Just not those who are dying in Iraq because Bush lied and then bungled the war's aftermath with incompetent strategies and corrupt practices.

She's shown more emotion over Janet Jackson's Superbowl halftime performance than she has for any issue that affects the well being of New Mexicans. Just listen to her quaky-voice, teary-eyed testimony (mp3) about the Jackson incident at a conservative showcase Congressional hearing. If she only exhibited that degree of passion about real problems being experienced by ordinary people due to Bush administration policies, we might take her claims more seriously.

I can see why Wilson wouldn't want to run as a real Republican these days. With approval ratings in the dumps for both the president and Republican members of Congress, it might seem like a useful strategy to pretend you're not really connected to those who've made such a mess of things with your help. But it's dishonest to do that when you've been an integral part of the team.

It's plain that Heather Wilson is running scared. Never before has she put up TV ads SIX WEEKS before an election. The word is that the Wilson campaign commissioned a poll last month to see how she was faring with NM voters. Apparently the results were surprisingly poor, because this ad campaign was launched in the direct aftermath.

Yes, she's running scared for a reason. More and more New Mexicans are onto her bait and switch game. You can't fly into Albuquerque with Bush and Rove in tow, have them raise $375,000 for your campaign from big donors, and then expect people to believe you're "independent" of the Bush debacle, can you? As Bush himself said, "I'm close to Heather." Close indeed.

Want to help get rid of another Bush rubberstamp and elect someone who really WILL represent ordinary New Mexicans? Visit Patricia Madrid's campaign website and sign up to volunteer or donate some bucks. We can win this election and have a good chance at regaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives IF we all work together with Madrid.