The Republican editors of the “Caledonian-Record” in St. Johnsbury are not enamored with ex-General Rainville. Maybe they should have looked at the photo accompanying yesterday’s profile of Martha in the “Bennington Banner.” It showed her in camo fatigues holding a baby. What, no apple pie?

However, the Banner’s text was rife with exact quotes. Martha’s mouth is her worst enenmy. She sounds muddled and mediocre when she speaks. Worst of all, according to the St. J. tabloid, she’s MODERATE!!!

http://www.caledonianrecord.com/pages/editorials/story/15c37141e:

Why Won’t Martha Debate?

– Mark Shepherd is a Republican state senator from Bennington who is running for Congress. He wrote an open letter, which we published, to Martha Rainville, who claims to be a Republican and who also is running for Congress, asking her why she isn’t willing to debate him throughout the state on the issues in these months before the primary elections. Ms. Rainville has refused to debate him more than three times before then, this in face of dozens of candidate debates last time around.

Why is Rainville refusing to debate Shepherd? Could it be that she, having been anointed by Jim Barnett and the State Republican Committee as their official candidate for Congress long after Shepherd announced his intentions, is afraid of exposure to a seasoned office holder who understands the issues and can articulate them very well? Could it be that she doesn’t really want Republican voters to find out that her political positions might reveal her to be a Peter Welsh look-alike, if that is what she is? Could it be that she, being military and apolitical all of her career and already having suffered from foot-in-mouth disease several times, doesn’t want to take the chance of more gaffes? Or, could it be that she, knowing that the GOP power structure anointed her, essentially, because she is a pretty face, is content to limit her public exposure to that?

Barnett and the GOP State Committee betrayed rank-and-file Republicans and usurped their right to choose by, arbitrarily and a priori, shoving Mark Shepherd aside and elevating Martha Rainville. Were they afraid that he, who doesn’t have a pretty face, might defeat their darling in the primaries? Apparently so, else they would have allowed a race, and she would now be elaborating upon her declaration of being a Republican.

A lot of Republicans are not happy about what they did. It smacked of smoke-filled rooms and arrogance. If Martha wants to get their votes, she had better debate Shepherd whenever and wherever. To date, we see little light between her positions on issues and Peter Welch’s.

Letter to the Editor, “Burlington Free Press” May 11. http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060511/OPINION/605110330/1006

IT SURE CLARIFIES HIS POSITION FOR ME; NO FLIP-FLOPS HERE:

Think long-term on energy policy
In a May 4 editorial I am quoted as saying I am “open” to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

I believe we need a long-term energy policy in this country that reduces our reliance on foreign oil. This means taking a multi-pronged approach that includes conservation and developing alternative forms of energy such as wind, solar, hydrogen fuel cells and biomass.

I want to go to the United States Senate to work in a collaborative way to solve our country’s problems. The only way we can make progress is to get everyone around the table and hear all sides of an issue.

When I say I am “open” to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), I mean I am willing to listen to those who support it if it means we can begin working together to solve our energy needs.

However, I want to be clear that our first response should not be drilling in ANWR. Those who promote drilling are only thinking in the short-term.

In balancing environmental protection and the promotion of our short-term energy needs as public policy, our environment should always come first.
RICH TARRANT Colchester
The writer is a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.

( – promoted by odum)

Generalissimo Martha’s transparent posturing to be all things to all voters and never take an unpopular stand angered both conservative and liberal newspapers.

This week’s negative editorial in the Democrat- leaning Times Argus and the Rutland Herald has already been reported here. Below is the May 10 slam from the Republican daily, the Caledonian-Record, published in the Kingdom.

Rainville seems to have a long way to go to win Ms. Popularity. I wonder if her foot-in-mouth disease caused her media spokesman Noyes to bail out of her campaign?

The web link is http://www.caledonianrecord.com/pages/editorials/story/846fe36cc.

The Caledonian-Record Online Edition  ·  Wednesday May 10, 2006
www.caledonianrecord.com
Web Contact:
Ron Fontaine, Webmaster
190 Federal Street, PO Box 8
St. Johnsbury, Vermont 05819
fontainer@caledonian-record.com
Phone: 802-748-8121

Is Martha Rainville A Republican?

– When Martha Rainville came to St. Johnsbury to finish her two-day declaration of candidacy for Vermont’s congressional seat, she had some things to say that didn’t sit well with this traditionally Republican newspaper. She said that she wasn’t going to Washington principally as a Republican, but as a representative of the people of Vermont. All well and good; that is political boilerplate. But then she said that she would not blindly follow Republican policy positions. Instead, she would be an independent thinker – there’s that word “independent” that Bernie Sanders painted all over himself. She said that she wanted “to fix what is wrong with the Republican Party.” She declared that she is pro-choice, and said that she wouldn’t want George Bush campaigning for her.

Yesterday, she did a flip-flop and reversed herself, stating that Donald Rumsfeld should retire. Two weeks ago, she said that only the president should decide that. And recently she condemned the practice of earmarking unrelated bills with pork projects. Then, the press discovered that when she was head of the National Guard, she successfully lobbied for and got millions of dollars in pork for the Guard.

So the question is, is Martha Rainville a Republican? Or is she really another Jim Jeffords, who declared himself a Republican at a time when you couldn’t win a race in Vermont as a Democrat. Jeffords was always a Democrat at heart, voting with them much of the time until he declared himself an Independent – there’s that word again – after which he voted with the Democrats (and the liberal wing of that liberal party) most of the time.

The fact is that nobody really knew what Martha Rainville was until she declared herself a Republican. Did she do that because she suspected that she could not beat Peter Welch in a Democratic primary? If we buy her as a Republican, are we buying a Democrat in Republican clothing, a la Jim Jeffords? If that is the case, we suggest that it would be better to have a declared Democrat than a closeted one.

The Caledonian-Record is a daily newspaper serving Northern Vermont and Northern New Hampshire. Visit our website updated daily at www.caledonianrecord.com

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My nominee for the Outrage of the Week is the lengthy hagiography of “Major Mom” by Adam Silverman in the March 25, 2006 Sunday Burlington Free Press. http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?D=/20060326/NEWS01/603260315/1009&theme=

This one-sided puff piece reads more like a PR campaign press release than balanced news reporting.

The sole dissenter from the saccharin lauding of Generalissimo Martha’s record as head of the Vermont National Guard is painted as a fringe element peacenik, too clueless to comprehend that Rainville doesn’t have sole authority to stop the deployment of Green Mountain troops to Iraq.

There are Guard members who don’t think Rainville has done a good job. If any who share this view were interviewed, their opinions were not printed.

It is notable that AP canned their Vermont bureau chief, Chris Graff, for putting an op-ed piece by Senator Leahy on the AP advance wire. Just a few days later, the Gannett-owned Free Press prominently printed this slanted article, crafted to promote the General to Congresswoman.

Silverman implies warm and fuzzy Martha is for the flag and motherhood. It’s a wonder he didn’t write that she bakes yummy apple pies, while wearing a frilly white apron over starched camo fatigues.