Stop Shuler -- Keep Heath Shuler Out of Washington

Ryan Leaf vs. Heath Shuler -- Draft Bust Cage Match

   

Real Sports on HBO did an interview with Ryan Leaf last week, who is often considered the worst QB draft bust in NFL history (to read about the interview, check out The Sports Pulse). This got us to thinking -- who had a worse NFL career, Leaf or Shuler?

Here are the numbers over their 5 NFL seasons:

 

Wow -- almost identical.

Probably the two main differences between the two is that A) Shuler had a franchise to ruin -- the Chargers are not exactly a storied member of the NFL; and B) Leaf was openly hostile to the local media, while Shuler just instigated an entertaining Theismann vs. Sonny debate.

But, in the end, Leaf had the common courtesy to leave football, stay out of the limelight and try to let people recover and forget. Obviously, Shuler is taking a different path. One could, if one was so inclined, admire the fact that he is not running from his failures. We, on the other hand, would rather he took Leaf's approach.

We're dogging Shuler

One of the amusing things about this site is that as the press picks up on this site, the Shuler campaign have to keep answering questions about it.

The Henderson Times-News Picayune wrote an article about how the web allows "armchair politicos" to attack politicians. Sites profiled included stopshuler.com and taylorsucks.org (a good website, by the way -- even if their reasoned attacks on Taylor completely ignore Shuler's tenure with the Washington Redskins).

The best part was that the Shuler campaign had to actually come up with a quote about this site. Here's what they said:

A spokesman for Taylor said last week he was familiar with the site targeting him but had no comment. Andrew Whalen, a spokesman for Shuler, said he didn't think stopshuler.com would affect the election.

"I think they're just both outlets for people's anger," he said. "One comes from an unsuccessful NFL career and the other comes from a lack of leadership and ethical representation. One is more important than another."

You're right, "Andrew." One is more important than another -- more people go to Redskins games each week than the number of people who voted in the 11th District primaries.

Although, we did get them to say "unsuccessful NFL career"...

We made the Washington Times!

We've never really been fans of the Washington Times, partly because they are part of the vast right-wing/Moonie conspiracy, and partly because they don't have a good comics section.

Anyway, we just found this article from April 30 that the Washington Times did on Shuler. Two things of note on the second page:

"He insists he read no newspapers and watched no television when he played for Washington, but he did hear the boos on Sundays. Even today, many fans refuse to either forgive or forget.

A blog, www.stopshuler.com, is dedicated to trashing him nearly 10 years after he left. It proclaims, 'We simply are Redskins fans, and we love the city of Washington. And frankly, both are better off since Heath left town, and we don't want him back.'"

Hey -- that's us! However, in the "Forces of Darkness Coming Together" category:

"Among the programs he turned down as a recruit was the University of Florida, then coached by Steve Spurrier. Later, Mr. Spurrier became head coach of the Redskins and had pretty much the same lack of success as Mr. Shuler. Now Mr. Spurrier is the head coach at the University of South Carolina. The two have become friends, sharing phone conversations during which they laughed about life in the District. Sometimes, all you can do is laugh."

It's hard to stomach the thought of Shuler and Steve "There's two years of our lives we won't get back" Spurrier getting together and talking Redskins football. It just seems every time we turn a corner, there is more pain waiting for us...

Memo to Charles Taylor: You're not helping

Now that the primary is settled, and the November election slate is set, it is time to take a look at the horse we're betting on, incumbent Republican Charles "Chuck" Taylor.

The good news is that he is an incumbent. And 9 times out of 10, incumbents win. Especially in relatively conservative districts like NC-11.

The bad news is, well, just about everything else.

Here is the opening paragraph from a recent article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

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"Western North Carolina voters have supported U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor for 16 years, despite loan scandals at his bank, his acceptance of questionable campaign donations and his financial ties to Russia.

They've looked beyond his plan to spend almost $600 million for a controversial road through pristine parts of the Smoky Mountains. They didn't turn away even though records show he hasn't paid more than $1,800 in 2000 property taxes owed to Jackson County and that he's accepted more than $19,000 in campaign contributions from convicted gaming lobbyist Jack Abramoff."

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That's not exactly a glowing list of accomplishments. But it gets better (worse). The reason a Pittsburgh paper is running a story about a NC Congressman is that Taylor had been blocking federal funding for a United Flight 93 memorial in Pennsylvania.

Yes, Taylor had bravely come out against the families of 9/11 victims. Thanks a lot.

The other big Taylor story these days is that he swears he meant to vote "no" on a bill that he managed not to vote on at all. This is the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) bill, which ended up passing by the slimmest of margins (217-215). Taylor's office says that it was a technical glitch -- the world's most convenient technical glitch that allowed the bill to pass (like the Republican leadership wanted) without Taylor having to vote for it.

So, our message to Charles Taylor: Knock it off. You have the Congressional Manual -- never vote against patriotic issues in an election year.  Also, if you have to lie, at least make it plausible -- not too many people are going to buy "I meant to vote against it."

C'mon, you're running against Heath Shuler -- don't make it so hard on yourself.

Shuler not stopped

We don't know if it is our lack of influence on the North Carolina electorate, or yesterday's unfortunate TypePad outage, but Shuler was, in fact, not stopped yesterday. He murdered Michael Morgan (sorry -- we mean voluntarily manslaughtered him) with almost 80% of the vote in the Democratic Primary. He will face off against incumbent Charles "I Am Not the Ex-Strongman of Liberia" Taylor, who also won handily (see, we told you so).

So, that means we have to keep at this until November. We will unveil our slogan and bumper sticker concept in the next few days, so stay tuned...

stopshuler.com Endorses Mike Morgan

We kinda slipped on the fact that the primary is tomorrow. Just so you know, we endorse Mike Morgan in the Democratic primary for North Carolina's 11th District. Vote early, vote often!