OPINION: The Author Of A Washington Times Opinion Piece Is Nuts (Or Was Paid)

Hirsh Singh competes in the Mr. DC beauty pageant

The one thing that happens while lying on the couch with the flu for days is you spend a lot of time scanning social media. I couldn’t help noticing an opinion piece in the Washington Times has been shared by a lot of folks here in New Jersey. Even my least favorite Republican U.S. Senate candidate Hirsh Singh shared the piece:

Of course, Singh would share the piece the author made Singh sound like an amazing candidate.

I freely admit I liked the headline. I was good with the first few paragraphs. Then came the garbage:

On the Republican side, GOP leadership has lined up behind 34-year-old Indian-American Hirsh Singh. Hirsh Singh — an engineer by trade who has over a decade in government contracting experience — is an up and coming Republican star endorsed by RNC Committeeman Bill Palatucci and has deep ties to conservative, libertarian and establishment Republican circles.

New Jersey is one of the most diverse states in the nation and sports one of the highest Indian-American populations in the country. The Indian-American community has long been allied with the Hispanic and Jewish communities, and with a well-liked, young and connected Hirsh Singh — whose strategy helped Republican successes in 2019 — leading the way, New Jersey is primed for massive Republican gains.

I don’t know if it was the flu or the fact that those two paragraphs are so disgustingly wrong, but I got sick, violently sick after reading that garbage.

In what world has GOP leadership lined up behind Hirsh Singh? Off the top of my head I know of at least five counties where I guarantee Singh will not be awarded the line.

I would love to know where Singh’s “deep ties to conservative, libertarian and establishment Republican circles” are.

And my personal favorite, Hirsh Singh’s “strategy helped Republican successes in 2019.”

I don’t recall Singh assisting any campaign in 2019. But, just for fun, let’s assume he did. What strategy did he employ? The same strategy he employed to win a beauty contest in Washington, DC?

Or perhaps he went with his strategy of accusing South Jersey farmers of hiring illegal immigrants. Or maybe he convinced one of the campaigns he helped to resurrect his idea of building a bridge from Cape May to Delaware.

Maybe Singh’s brilliant strategy that was so helpful in 2019 included complaining about his 99 problems:

Let’s ignore all of the above, even then how could anyone in their right mind want to vote for a 34-year-old man who still lives at home with his mommy and daddy. Then again, maybe that’s where he got all that “government contracting experience” – looking over mommy and daddy’s shoulders at the dining room table as they were filling out paperwork.

To be fair, I am not a fan of Hirsh Singh, maybe it’s because he lied to me in our one and only conversation. Here’s the way that conversation went:

Singh, on the other hand, I had a phone conversation with him when he ran for governor and he lied to me in that conversation. By way of background, a friend of mine was doing video work for him and at that friend’s urging, Singh called me. I asked him directly what made him think he could be governor and said something about the amount of money one would need to raise. Singh told me he had just written a check to his campaign for $1 million, to which I asked where he got $1 million and he told me from his personal wealth. Considering we all know that money was a loan from his father to the campaign, his reply to me was a lie.

But hey, why should I let that one lie bother me? He lied to a lot of other folks when he led Republicans to believe he could self-fund his congressional campaign. Don’t take my word for it. From the Press of Atlantic City:

Singh also angered party leaders like Atlantic County Republican Chairman Keith Davis, who accused him of misleading county party officials about how much personal wealth he had. After pledging to self-fund his campaign and raise as much as $2 million, Singh filed financial papers indicating he only has $50,000 to $100,000 in personal wealth, Davis said.

I don’t know who Rick Amato, the author of the Washington Times piece is, but I do believe the question has to be asked, did Hirsh Singh pay him to write the piece?

I don’t want to tell anyone how to vote in the US Senate primary, but you might be doing Singh’s parents a favor if you vote for him. He could end up winning the whole thing and then he would finally be able to afford to move out of mommy and daddy’s house.

He’s Sorta Kinda Officially, Unofficially One Of Us Now

Well, it’s sorta kinda official. Fancy suit wearing hoity-toity Congressman Jeff Van Drew is one of us now. Yesterday it was announced at the White House with President Donald Trump telling reporters, “Jeff will be joining the Republican Party.”

Honestly, I’m happy anytime we get a new Republican even if he is a fancy suit wearing hoity-toity Congressman.

What does not make me happy is when the “powers that be” or the “establishment” try to clear the field for any candidate. Let them fight for the line at convention or screening and if they want to run without the line let them fight against both the Party and the candidate who earned the endorsement.

Unfortunately, it’s beginning to look like the “establishment” is going to try to ram a Van Drew candidacy down the throats of voters in CD2. President Trump sent a message during yesterday’s White House photo opp. From The Hill:

“I’m endorsing him, OK? We’re endorsing him. I can’t speak for these two gentlemen, but I can say I’m endorsing him,” Trump said, gesturing to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Vice President Mike Pence, who joined him in the room.

An endorsement from the President in a primary election is a pretty big deal and it sends a message. At this point I am not ready to listen to that message. I spent years working against Van Drew, and of course Team Van Drew, especially the years Bob was Cumberland GOP chairman. Bob spent more years than I working against Van Drew, so many years the two definitely don’t send each other Christmas cards.

Now, after all those years of working against a guy we’re supposed to just say, okay we support him. Nope! Not us. We welcome Van Drew into the party, but like any other new member he has to earn our trust and respect.

There are examples of those who have earned trust and respect already running in this primary. Last cycle, when I first learned of Brian Fitzherbert, I openly wondered who the young guy thought he was running for Congress. Since then, he has proven he is an excellent organizer through his work with Young Republican organizations. He earned the trust and respect of many in the party.

More recently, David Richter burst on to the scene back in March of this year. Admittedly, I was less than kind to him, as were others. Richter toughed it out, kept showing up at events and meeting fellow Republicans and continues to earn the trust and respect of many in the party. I went from poking fun at him to calling him “frontrunner.” Bob, who endorsed Fitzherbert, after a recent appearance on the radio show by Richter told me, “I’m really starting to like that guy.”

Van Drew has only officially sorta kinda been a Republican for less than 24 hours. He’s done nothing to earn the trust or respect of anyone in the Party.

Unfortunately, for us, President Trump does not care that Van Drew has done nothing to earn our trust and came out and endorsed Van Drew.

If you doubt the “establishment” is already falling in line behind Van Drew, here are 258,000 reasons to remove that doubt:

That’s a $258,000 media buy before Van Drew even filled out his change of registration form. That’s more money than two of the three Republicans already running have raised.

In CD2 it’s beginning to look like if some people get their way Van Drew will be the guy. Just remember those “some people” are the exact same people who tried to shove Hirsh Singh down the collective throats of CD2 Republicans in 2018.

If the Republicans already running in CD2 want to stop Van Drew from being the guy, I strongly suggest Bob Patterson, Brian Fitzherbert and David Richter call a truce, get in a room together and figure it out. Don’t be stupid!

If Richter, Patterson and Fitzherbert all stay in we will have Van Drew as our nominee. I have no dog in the fight, I live in CD1, but I do not want to have to support Van Drew, which is exactly what will happen if he wins the GOP primary. That’s how partisan politics works – you support the winner of your primary, if you don’t like that rule, stop being a partisan.

Finally, since I have no dog in the CD2 fight, here’s a little advice for Mr. Van Drew: start earning some trust and respect from you new fellow Republicans. You have almost $1 million in your campaign account and that kind of money can buy a lot of love. The Committee to Defend the President just did a $250k media buy to support you, so there’s a little money for you to spread around. Other than that, you are welcome to come on The Bob and Steve Show, but understand that while we’ll be nice, we will not kiss your ass like that guy on another radio station.

Yes, Ronald Reagan Was Once A Democrat, But He Never Endorsed Cory Booker For President

Congressman Jeff Van Drew

We all know the fancy suit wearing hoity-toity Congressman Jeff Van Drew is flipping. I’ve talked with Bob at length about the issue, mostly to write a joint blog post, but all Bob could say was a word that could be derived from an Irish police blotter inscription, “For Under Carnal Knowledge him!” Since I’m not going to write the word, even though I m a huge fan of the f-bomb, that leaves me to write this post alone.

There are some excited by Van Drew’s flip, but those people ignore the truth. Yes, Van Drew had a moderate Democrat record in the state Senate, but he was protected by Senate President Steve Sweeney. He was given the South Jersey pass. He could vote against things because his party had the votes, if the votes weren’t there then he would vote the Democratic party line.

Contrary to popular belief, Jeff Van Drew was always a loyal Democrat soldier. Never did you hear him speak out against his fellow Democrats. Katie Brennan situation? Silence! Who hired Al Alvarez? Silence! Marcellus Jackson hired at the Department of Education? Silence! Norcross and the Camden tax breaks? More silence! Democrat Assemblyman punches his girlfriend in the face? Silence! Money taken from the veterans? Silence!  The list goes on.

Van Drew was such a good Democrat soldier that the New Jersey Globe reported he was “proud to endorse Senator Booker’s bid for the presidency.” Here’s the entire endorsement as reported by New Jersey Globe:

“I am proud to endorse Senator Booker’s bid for the presidency. While he and I don’t agree on every issue, he has shown time and again that he’s relentlessly focused on building bridges and working together to get things done for the people of New Jersey, and for every American. His record of bipartisan accomplishment and message of bringing Americans together regardless of their backgrounds or political views is something this country desperately needs.”

And let’s not forget that as recently as November 4 of this year Van Drew said it was “important for Democrats to maintain a majority.” Here’s the entire quote as it appeared in Politico’s New Jersey Playbook:

—“Why Dems should forgive Van Drew for siding with Trump,” by The Star-Ledger’s Tom Moran: “I think Van Drew might have just done Democrats a favor. Because Van Drew’s district in South Jersey voted solidly for Trump in 2016. If Van Drew sticks his neck out too far, the seat could easily flip back to Republicans, who controlled it for 24 years until he came along in 2018. ‘Out on the street, more people are supportive of my viewpoint, no question,’ Van Drew says. ‘Some people understand that it’s very important for Democrats to maintain a majority. Potentially, you could have a Republican House, a Republican Senate, and a Republican president. I think a lot of the folks who are so adamant would be even more disturbed by that.’ Count me among them.”

Van Drew is a Democrat, a South Jersey machine Democrat and now we’re supposed to welcome him with open arms. Not us!

We had a weak cap and trade supporting, union loving Republican in the second congressional district for over 20 years and his name is spelled F-R-A-N-K   L-O-B-I-O-N-D-O. We don’t need another. Fortunately, David Richter, Bob Patterson and Brian Fitzherbert all appear to be digging their heels in and staying in the primary. Every single one of them is better than Van Drew, you better start writing checks to the one you support, they’re going to need the money.

And, to Mr. Van Drew, to quote John McClane: “Welcome to the party pal.”