Republicans who live in glass houses….

Me To Curt: Just Shut It! (or team him up with Lois, apparently they both have a lot in common when it comes to PMS Politics )

Here we have yet ANOTHER irksome been feeding at the public troth too long politician who makes my eyes roll to the back of my head in pain. That would be U.S. Congressman Curt Weldon, of the 7th U.S. Congressional District.

Let us open the floodgates with Curt’s own words:
“This story, I predict, will grow to be worse than Watergate. The American people need to have the answers.” (source)

So today, Congressman Pithy Phrase, king of the female lobbyists, master of his domain, is calling for his opponent to return campaign funds - $350 to be precise. Tom Infield at the Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon called yesterday for Democratic opponent Joe Sestak to return $350 in campaign contributions from Mary O. McCarthy, the CIA investigator fired last week for allegedly leaking classified information to the news media.

Sestak's spokeswoman noted, in reply, that the CIA employee had not been charged with any crime and said she saw no reason for the money to be returned "at this time."

...Weldon "finds it very curious that the individual alleged to have disclosed the classified information ... shows up on his opponent's finance report."

Allison Price, Sestak's spokeswoman, said Weldon's call for Sestak to return the cash was "a typical Weldon smear."

Early this year, Weldon was among several members of Congress who were politically embarrassed to have received campaign contributions from Jack Abramoff after a scandal erupted dealing with Abramoff's actions as a lobbyist. Weldon said in January he gave to charity the $2,000 he had received directly or indirectly from Abramoff. (full text)

Now this would be what? Double standard? Weldon got money from Jack Abramoff, right? Says he gave it to charity, right? What charity would that be?

Now this is in addition to Curt Weldon’s cruel remarks about where Sestak took his poor cancer ridden child to get treated (from the Philadelphia Daily News 4/6/06):

Apparently trying to score political points on a residency issue, Weldon reportedly suggested to a Washington newspaper that Sestak should have sent his daughter to a hospital in Pennsylvania or Delaware, rather than the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, where she has been treated since the tumor was diagnosed last summer…Alexandra Sestak - initially given just three to nine months to live - underwent three operations and chemotherapy. Her father said that in January doctors reported she had done well and could resume a normal life. (full text)

Weldon really shouldn’t be throwing stones, should he? Daughter-gate continues to grow, does it not?

I read the article titled “The Curt Weldon Employment Agency” by Ken Silverstein. In it, Mr. Silverstein says:

Representative Curt Weldon (R., Penn.), a powerful member of the House Armed Services Committee, has been a good friend to the Italian firm Finmeccanica, and it appears that his good deeds on its behalf have been rewarded. Last year, Weldon was a key supporter of a long-shot bid by AgustaWestland , Finmeccanica’s helicopter unit, to land a $1.6-billion contract to build the new presidential helicopter [link]. With Weldon’s help, an AgustaWestland partnership with LockheedMartin beat out a bid from United Technologies Corp., which had been favored. On November 29, 2005, AgustaWestland broke ground on an addition to its Philadelphia-area plant. The project, said Weldon, who was on hand that day, “provides a direct and sustained stimulus to the regional economy by way of increased investment and job creation.”

One job at AgustaWestland has been filled by Weldon's daughter, Kim. Weldon’s office declined to comment, but a source who declined to be identified but who is close to the Congressman said that Kim has worked in the firm's public relations office since the fall of 2005.

....It doesn’t stop there. Weldon’s twenty-something daughter Karen was once hired by Boeing, one of the congressman's major campaign donors, and later became a high-powered lobbyist who built her company on her father’s connections (a story I reported with a colleague in the February 20, 2004, L.A. Times [link]). Weldon “family friend” and realtor-turned-lobbyist Cecelia Grimes was retained by Oto Melara, yet another subsidiary of Finmeccanica, and by several other firms with close ties to the congressman as well. Given all of this, Kim Weldon’s new job looks less like an overwhelming coincidence and more like the continuation of a proud Weldon family tradition. (source)

Also read the Philadelphia Daily News coverage.

Now I have never understood the allure of Curt Weldon. Dude is for starters, a big walking “Glamour Don’t”. He is in need of a make-over. Now I never minded his lack of fashion sense, face it, a lot of politicos ARE downright dowdy. However, every time I ever read about him, he seemed prone to the silly comment. Among the latest? His claim in March that Osama Bin Laden was dead (would I make this stuff up? See this story).

Rep. Curt Weldon, who broke the Able Danger story last year revealing that military intelligence had identified lead hijacker Mohamed Atta as a terrorist threat before the 9/11 attacks, now says that Osama bin Laden has died.

Weldon made the stunning claim during an interview Wednesday with the Philadelphia Inquirer, which reported: "Weldon is making explosive new allegations. He says a high-level source has told him that terrorist leader Osama bin Laden has died in Iran, where he has been in hiding."

Weldon cited as his source an Iranian exile code-named Ali, telling the paper: "Ali's told me that Osama bin Laden is dead. He died in Iran." (source)

Now correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t Bin Laden just release a new video or something?

Look, maybe Curt Weldon is right, and the annals of history will eventually list him as a crusader who didn’t cry wolf.

All I DO know is that he is really starting to bug me, and Republicans in Glass Houses need to watch those stones they are throwing. That’s my opinion.

Here are some links to opinions of others:

http://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/huffingtonpost/raw_feed?m=2799

http://paxnortona.notfrisco2.com/?p=3018

http://corrente.blogspot.com/2004/12/got-yer-new-homeland-security-chief.html

http://mydd.com/story/2006/4/6/143946/4292

http://www.delcotimes.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1675&dept_id=18168&newsid=13557809&PAG=461&rfi=9

http://1fp.us/2006/04/19/curt-weldon-whos/

http://sayanythingblog.com/2006/04/25/osama_bin_laden_is_dead_dead_dead/

http://roxpublius.blogspot.com/2006/04/cant-make-this-stuff-up.html

http://pro2.livejournal.com/897383.html

http://www.swingstateproject.com/2006/04/pa07_curt_weldo.php

http://bigbrotherlovesyou.blogspot.com/2006/04/in-case-you-forgot-i-really-dont-like.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/7065.html

http://actionsbyt.blogspot.com/2006/04/handgun-decisions.html

http://asmokefilledroom.blogspot.com/2006/04/friday-roundup.html