Martin Heinrich
“My God, Ellsworth, that awful Heather Wilson is at it again. Have you seen her column in today’s Albuquerque Journal?”
My friend Peter Keating and I were having a late breakfast at the Frontier — not one of our typical haunts, given the absence of French cuisine from the menu, but every once-in-a-while, I feel obligated to rub elbows with average folk. Those of us in the intelligentsia need to interact with the rabble on occasion to maintain our common touch, even if it requires enduring the odor of cheese enchiladas doused in green and red chile.
“Yes, Peter,” I replied with a sigh. “Of course I saw her column. What of it?”
Heather Wilson
“Wilson excoriates our guy Martin Heinrich for hiding from the voters,” Peter said, waiving the Opinion section at me. “This is what she writes:
Over the last few years, as the dominant party in power in Washington, Democrats have racked up a dismal record on job creation and spending. It’s something they don’t want to talk about with New Mexicans, which is probably why only one of New Mexico’s four Democrats in Congress is willing to face the public and answer tough questions at town hall meetings. …
Our representatives in Washington work for us. Whether we agree or disagree with what they’re doing, we deserve to be heard and they have an obligation to listen.
Rep. Martin Heinrich recently stated that he had no time for town hall meetings and no time to take questions from his constituents.
The excuse is new, but the absence isn’t. Heinrich hosted only one town hall in the summer of 2009 before voting in favor of the health care bill that increases taxes, cuts Medicare and unconstitutionally expands federal government power.
“Wilson then goes on an extended rant about excessive government spending and the multiple failures of the Obama Administration, concluding with this:
I don’t agree with the big-government, heavy-regulatory approach of Heinrich. But I am one of his constituents, and the people of the First District deserve a chance to ask him questions, and hear directly about what he’s doing and why he’s doing it. Until he stops hiding, we’ll have to let his record speak for itself.
“Heather is calling Heinrich out, Ellsworth. I think Martin has to confront her on this, or he will look like a total coward.”
Live Coward
“Better a live coward than a dead hero,” I shot back. “Facing angry voters is the last thing Martin Heinrich needs to do.
“Think about it, Peter. Are you really suggesting that Congressman Heinrich should walk into some community center or middle school cafeteria, subjecting himself to an unscripted grilling by members of the general public?
“What do you think would happen? Local news crews would show up, transmitting images across the state of angry, out-of-work citizens ripping into our guy Martin over the loss of jobs under the Obama Administration. That, or we would see enraged seniors upset about Obama Care, or middle-income tax payers incensed with out-of-control government spending. In other words, you would be sending him right into the jaws of the Tea Party.
Dead Hero
“Is that what you want, Peter? Martin Heinrich is the Golden Boy of New Mexico Politics, but we can only put so much on those narrow shoulders of his. We can’t just throw him to the mob. We don’t want a dead hero – a martyr to the cause. We want to win.”
“But Ellsworth,” Keating protested. “Heinrich is an incumbent congressman running for the U.S. Senate. He has to engage his fellow citizens on the issues. He has to convince the public of the wisdom of our enlightened Progressive policies!”
“Oh dear, Peter,” I sighed. “This is not high school civics. We don’t win elections on the merit of our Progressive agenda. The vast majority of voters — Republican and Democrat – are complete imbeciles, and have no idea what’s good for them. They don’t read newspapers or watch C-SPAN or other news shows. The morons decide how to vote based on those slick 30 second ads that they see during football games, telenovelas and American Idol.”
Eye Candy
“We’ll run some nice ads reminding everyone how handsome our boy Martin is, and run even more ads ripping the hell out of Heather Wilson and the Republicans – just like that big lie we hung around Jon Barela on Social Security.”
“But what if the voters decide they actually want substantive conversations with their next U.S. Senator, Ellsworth?” Keating whined. “Hiding Heinrich for the next year and a half could back fire.”
“A few slick ads will keep the great unwashed in line. Meanwhile, we’ll hide Martin in a box until after the election. No unscripted interaction with voters, no policy pronouncements of any substance, and no debates or confrontations with that smarty-pants Heather Wilson. We’ll play it safe.”
I finished off by sweet roll, and downed the last part of my orange juice.
“We can’t have a repeat of 2006, Peter. Just remember what happened to Patsy Madrid. She had a healthy lead, and we all told her to stay away from any debates, but she wouldn’t listen. You remember what happened next: Heather got Patsy so flummoxed Madrid couldn’t answer an easy question about taxing the rich. If Patsy had stayed home, she would have won that election and would now be well into her third term in Congress.
“Fortunately, Martin Heinrich knows he is thoroughly outmatched by Heather Wilson. Martin knows he can’t stand toe-to-toe with Heather in a substantive debate. He won’t make the same mistake.”