Bishop's Last Move in NY-1

Congressman Tim Bishop

Congressman Tim Bishop (D-NY) won by a comfortable margin in 2008 in his upstate district, which should surprise no one, since he has held office since 2003.

Many Democrats did, as the Republican Party brand was in disarray. President Bush was deeply unpopular, and following two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus the Housing Crisis, TARP, and the ballooning of debt, Americans wanted a change.

They got one, all right, but regrettably, not what they hoped for.

Tim Bishop survived the national Tea Party 2010 shellacking, but by the slimmest of margins, less than one percent.

Obama's Top Ticket status barely kept Bishop on board in 2012 at 4%, and this year, the incumbent Democrat may find the GOP wave coming for him too wide to avoid. Ballotpedia reports a statistical tie between Bishop and his Republican challenger Lee Zeldin, which particularly demonstrates that Bishop is losing steam.

Of course, there is plenty of ammo for Zeldin supporters to burst out and oust the Democrat in New York’s First Congressional District.

During the Bush Administration, Bishop's liberal leanings were clear and present:

Our first priority must be protecting the brave men and women in uniform who have served this nation honorably and valiantly. The decision to invade Iraq is the single most devastating and misguided foreign policy decision our nation has ever made.

Even though he opposed President Bush's 2007 troop surge, Democratic majorities in both houses supported the measure. Bush showed strength in restraint pressing for a surge which quelled tribal violence and changed the trajectory of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

His faith in government funded mass transit prompted negative reactions from his colleagues in one open session.

At one time, Bishop declared:

The fact is that America relies on Amtrak to move people.

Once again, statistics suggest otherwise, with most Congressional districts offering no information at all, including for Bishop's own district. The Washington Post indicted the federal program for losing "a ton of money each year". Business Insider asks a more straightforward question:

Why The Heck Is Amtrak Still In Business After Losing Money 43 Years Straight?

Rep. Bishop is right about one thing: Amtrak is moving, deeper into debt and irrelevancy.

 

Regarding the promise that the Affordable Care Act would expand rather than restrict access to health care and health insurance, Bishop emphasized:

 

85% of Americans have coverage. But 85% of Americans don't have coverage that they can count on. We're trying to guarantee people that they can keep their coverage.

 

What happened in New York State after Obamacare? Deroy Murdock is losing his health coverage, and Avik Roy discussed the rising health care premiums for New Yorkers. Judicial Watch has reported that millions across the country are losing their health insurance, too.

 

President Obama got Washington Post's Four Pinocchios for his lie "If you like your plan, you can keep it. Period".

 

In a 2009 town hall meeting before the vote on Obamacare, Bishop fielded questions from angry constituents.  In this clip, one voter told the Congressman that he did to want to pay more taxes for someone else’s health. After a brief pause, Bishop stated [2: 40-55]:

The VA Healthcare System is a system which runs quite well. Ask most veterans.

One member of the crowd demanded: “Are you a veteran?” Bishop acknowledged that he wasn’t.

According to CNN, at least one thousand veterans died from the neglect and incompetence of the VA. Bureaucrats. Bureaucrats admitted that  leaders enacted secret wait lists to cover up the sloppy care that our nation's finest were forced to endure. The FBI had to launch criminal probes, and veterans are still not getting adequate care, having to wait an average of nine months, even though they were supposed to get care within fourteen days.

 

New York's First Congressional District

 

In 2012, Bishop visited Bank Street Family Center, where he read a book called In the The Tall, Tall Grass. Noteworthy for demeanor rather than rhetoric, the Congressman insisted on reading the book out loud and ignoring the children's pleas to see the pictures. Sometimes, he acted as though the children were not there. Restless and clamoring, the students roamed around or jumped out of their seats. Such behavior is reminiscent of his condescending behavior toward constituents, in which he repeats the liberal narrative expected of all Democratic lawmakers, all while ignoring the pleas and concerns of his constituents.

Then again, one remark from the Congressman is worth noting:

Snakes are hard to see. That's why they like the tall, tall grass.

Indeed. This description could apply to Democratic politicians this year, hiding from President Obama's deeply unpopular legacy and agenda.

Lee Zeldin

In his latest (and last) debate with Lee Zeldin, Bishop claimed that armed citizens do not prevent gun violence, and he exploited a tragedy to make his (false) point:

"[Zeldin says] that the answer to gun violence in this country is to have more good guys with guns than bad guys with guns. That is an outrageously irresponsible statement."

Actually, the armed personnel at Fort Hood were not allowed to have guns immediately available for defense on that 2009 day. The fact is that apart from designated security, military personnel are not authorized for concealed-carry, i.e. it was not “the good guys’” fault, but rather a bad government policy which restricts Second Amendment freedoms, and specifically for our men and women in uniform.

Here’s an excerpt explaining this bad policy, from the Washington Post:

Soldiers on all military installations, including Fort Hood, are not armed while on post, nor are they permitted to carry any privately owned firearms. Only law enforcement and security personnel are allowed to have weapons on post.

Not only did Bishop attempt to exploit a terrorist attack for political gain, but he used false premises to shame the very men and women whom he claimed to champion in 2007 while opposing President Bush's Iraq troop surge.

Tim Bishop says nothing about the disastrous roll-out of Common Core. He praises socialized medicine, stands by the President's abysmal Affordable Care Act, and has been under investigation for pay-for-play corruption. Pretending to respect and protect our nation's veterans, his record and his party have done the exact opposite.

A tax-and-spend liberal who ignores the facts and disdains his constituents, Tim Bishop is like Amtrak, a fossilized federal fixture in Washington whose presence taxpayers are questioning with greater scrutiny.

Hopefully, Southampton voters in 2014 will resolve to remove Bishop from Congress and replace him with state senator Lee Zeldin.