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My Turn: Name-calling from Jennifer Horn, Andy Sanborn, Bill O’Brien

By SCOTT SLOGIC

For the Monitor

Monday, January 28, 2013
(Published in print: Tuesday, January 29, 2013)

Is it any wonder that gridlock and do-nothing government exists today in American politics?

Take, for example, the recent election of Jennifer Horn as the leader of the New Hampshire Republican Party. Calling Democrats “harebrained” and “big spending, tax it if you see it,” Horn vowed to take the fight to recently elected Gov. Maggie Hassan, House Speaker Terie Norelli and Congresswomen Carol Shea-Porter and Annie Kuster. She went on to tell to the Democratic Party chairman to “bring it on.” State Sen. Andy Sanborn went so far as to call Hassan an enemy of the people of New Hampshire.

Wow. The newly elected governor, by an overwhelming majority of New Hampshire voters by the way, is now an enemy of the people? Apparently Sanborn has come to the conclusion that the governor is the enemy of “people who believe in family values, personal freedom, and personal responsibility.”

Senate President Peter Bragdon stated that the GOP-held Senate will be “the firewall for the next two years” against the Democrats, a promise of gridlock. And former House speaker Bill O’Brien calls Hassan “Taxing Maggie,” disrespecting her office in public much the way he did with former governor John Lynch.

The Democrats have their issues too, no doubt. Hassan could have reached across the aisle to add a conservative voice to the recently appointed Consensus Revenue Panel and failed to do so.

But then again, when the GOP publicly insults and disrespects her and the previous governor, what is her motivation to do so?

American politics is no longer about making reasonable compromises to come up with the best solutions for the American people. Its about protecting your party’s position and getting re-elected. God forbid anyone show real leadership and compromise on a position to create the best solution for the majority of citizens. New Hampshire has real problems that need real solutions. We are not small-business friendly. We have revenue problems. We have spending problems. We have the most expensive public college in the nation. The state’s school funding issues are unresolved. There is no longer a “New Hampshire advantage.” Property owners are overburdened.

We need leaders who can rise above calling each other names and publicly insulting the other side, whichever side it is. Who really is the enemy of the people?

(Scott Slogic lives in New London.)

RabbitNH wrote:
30/01/2013

Sorry Nashua Mike, when your putting forth an opinion on dialog or name calling, it just might make your opinion more valid if you did not do the same thing that you accuse others of doing. Kinda like me telling you your link from a biased Progressive sight is not valid, then I give you a link to Glenn Beck. I just did what you did. I responded that you were wrong and then used a biased link to prove my point. That would make me a hypocrite I believe.
sail wrote:
30/01/2013

Jennifer Horn, Andy Sanborn, Bill O’Brien are great Americans
RabbitNH wrote:
29/01/2013

This is how we conduct dialog now here in the US. Both Parties are guilty of bad dialog, insults and schoolyard language. We have been conditioned to react this way by the media. All media by the way. And WA has also stoked the dialog. Even the President. This is not about fixing anything folks. This is about two political parties that are so mired in their agendas, that they have decided to let all of us down. Dividing us accomplishes nothing. Both parties are guilty.
Van wrote:
29/01/2013

What a bunch of crybaby hypocrites you democrats are. Who would want to work with a group of people who lie so frequently. This is what the leader of the Democrat party, Obama said about Republicans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0YH6UQNbBo, http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/30826 Democrats=Weakness Waaaaaaaa Waaaaaaaaaa Sanborn called democrats what Obama called Republicans Waaaaaaaa Waaaaaaaaaa
lilac_city_kid wrote:
29/01/2013

Van , I did not go to the youtube clips. The point here is about how uncivil NH lawmakers have been of late. It has not always been so venomous, whereas on the national level, finger-pointing, name calling and pigeon holing have been entrenched. Not that because it's practically tradition makes it acceptable, however.

Van wrote:
29/01/2013

Yeah and Radical Ray Buckley is mister nice guy. Get your head out of the sand lilac_city_kid do you just ignore the raunchy things that Buckley does? NH Democrat party Chair Ray Buckley =venomous Finger-pointing, name calling and pigeon holing have been entrenched in the way NH Democrat party Chair Ray Buckley does things.

nashua-mike wrote:
28/01/2013

You would think after getting a major slap-down in last fall election, you would have thought the NHGOP has learned its lesson. Instead, we get more of the same childishness from the so-called "leaders" of the NHGOP, who think juvenile insults are "good" public policy. But what do you expect when a party chooses a college dropout like Jennifer Horn as its leader, person who has never held a paying job in her adult life and whose rhetoric continues to drone, year after year, without change, mouthing the same stunted and tired rhetoric .
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