The Thinking Voter: Updates on the Special Elections in NY-9

With the all the hype in the national stage the upcoming special elections in NY-9 for Weiner's seat has suddenly crept upon us and is now less than two weeks away.

Things sure are heating up between the Democratic candidate, David Weprin, and The Republican candidate, Bob Turner! The week started off with a bang, with Weprin showing off how much he knows.

Here's the report from Lonely Conservative.

The folks at the New York Daily News had a Q&A session for the candidates running to replace Weiner in congress. The Democrat, David Weprin took the cake for the most ignorant answer. He was asked a pretty simple question – how much is the national debt.

Daily News: “Right now, how big is the debt?”

Weprin: (Pause) “Trillions.”

News: “But how many?”

Weprin: (Deer in headlights look.) “I got caught up on this once before,” referring to his inability while running unsuccessfully for city controller in 2009 to state that office’s budget.

News: “This is central to what is going on in Washington.”

Weprin: “About 4 trillion.”

News: “Four trillion is the debt?”

Weprin: “Right.”

Well, he was off only by a $10 trillion order of magnitude. As has been reported far, wide and ad nauseam, the U.S. is burdened by a debt of roughly $14 trillion.

And this man is telling voters he is ideally suited to participate in finding solutions to America’s yawning annual deficits and crushing debtload? It’s no wonder Weprin inhabits a fantasyland in which, he says, bringing troops home from Afghanistan and Iraq alone “will go a long way to reducing the deficit.” ….

In response, Bob Turner gathered a handful of his 13 grandchildren together below the federal debt clock in midtown Manhattan this morning to lay out what he thinks the federal government should do to lower the deficit and turn economy around. In short, he proposed:

A “significant” cut in spending to lower the debt

No further stimulus

“A sound energy policy”

Taking corporate money off of balance sheets

At least someone's aware of the current economic situation and ready to do something to reign in the debt!

h/t The Brooklyn Politics

Then, following the deficit debacle, Weprin ditched a debate blaming it on Hurricane Irene which was long gone Monday. Hmm. Wonder why.

Here's the news from Roll Call:

State Assemblyman David Weprin (D) dropped out of a scheduled debate with Republican Bob Turner scheduled Monday, just over two weeks before a special election in New York’s 9th district that will send one of the men to Congress.

Next, the New York Times jumped into the fray and endorsed ignorant arrogant Weprin because ... drumbeat ... Weprin "has a proven public record to support Israel."

Whoa! Since when has the New York Times become pro-Israel? And this is definitely the first time in all these years that they half-ways admitted Obama's anti-Israel stance. Does the NYT take us for such fools that we should fall for their phony claim of endorsing Weprin for his supposed support of Israel rather than being a through and through lib?

Here's their endorsement via Brooklyn Politics:

The least helpful contribution to this race comes from former Mayor Ed Koch, who has endorsed Mr. Turner, he says, as a way to protest President Obama’s statement that Israel’s pre-1967 borders should be the basis for negotiating a peace agreement — with mutually agreed land swaps. The idea has been the basis of all negotiations for more than a decade. But Mr. Weprin and Mr. Turner have been equally critical of Mr. Obama’s words. Mr. Weprin has a proven public record in support of Israel.We endorse David Weprin.

In more campaign news, Turner sent out this flyer of Weprin together with Obama and stressed their support for the planned mosque near ground zero, which Turner opposes. With this mailer Turner reinforces the message of his first campaign ad in which the burning twin towers were seen followed by Weprin's comments in support of the mosque.

h/t Brooklyn Politics

The left erupted at Turner for politicizing the tragedy to advance his personal agenda while disregarding the feelings of the families.

Aha! So when Obama uses the death of Osama Bin Laden as self-promotional material while our soldiers are still battling the enemy and endangering their lives, not a peeps is his heard in protest of the left. Nor do they condemn Obama’s sharing military secrets with a private company which will release a video of the raid which captured Osama a month before the 2012 elections.

But Turner’s ad which shows an image of the burning twin towers needs to be decried as insensitive to the victims’ families. Why pay attention to the fact that his ad is showing his empathy of their added pain because the planned mosque?

To see the ad click here.

In more news, Koch who endorsed the Republican candidate Turner, put out the following robocall for Turner:

"This is former Mayor Ed Koch. I'm calling set the record straight on something. David Weprin is making phone calls trying to scare seniors. They're NONSENSE. Weprin should be ASHAMED of himself. Bob Turner is running for Congress to PROTECT your Medicare and Social Security. It's why I ENDORSED BOB TURNER for Congress. If anyone tries to scare you with LIES about BOB TURNER, tell 'em ED KOCH told them to KNOCK IT OFF. BOB TURNER is the BEST candidate for senior citizens in this race. Don't believe anything else. Send Washington a message: Vote for Bob Turner for congress on September 13th. Bob Turner is supported by Rudy Giuliani, the Liberal Party and me."

So Weprin, in typical Obama style, is using baseless panic to persuade voters to vote for him. How disgusting, though not surprising. In his campaign last year, he used doctored images of swastikas against his Jewish opponent trying to scare Jewish voter.