Tuesday morning, 5/27, Peter Roskam took a few minutes out of his busy schedule for one of his recurring appearances on WIND’s repugnant John and Cisco show to engage in a little Clinton-bashing. (You may recall Roskam’s recent appearance on the show when he insinuated that the Clinton’s would attempt to blackmail the super-delegates in order to win the nomination) I assume that spreading innuendo about his Congressional colleague is something that falls outside of his official duties and is part of his assigned role with the McCain campaign, but I can’t be certain. It was unclear whether he was calling from his Congressional office.

I have my own opinion about what he said but I’ll let you judge first. Here’s a transcript of the brief exchange, the first item of business in the call:

CISCO: “So as much as I hate being in a position where it sounds as though I’m defending Hillary, when you hear her bring up RFK and bring up how in the past party nominations have taken a lot longer certainly… and then people freak out over her using RFK, it kind of sounds like what she was getting at wasn’t all that bad.

ROSKAM: “Well I think it sort of…her problem is that…there is sort of a dark narrative about the Clintons right?”

CISCO: (sound of agreement)

ROSKAM: “There is these stories that follow them about not just being real aggressive towards…being aggressive towards being political opponents in the political sense but being REAL AGGRESSIVE toward political opponents and different operatives over the years. So when she invokes the assassination of Senator Kennedy it just kinda spotlights this feeling that a lot of people have about her…kinda that what won’t she do to get elected…and that’s…that’s why it just sounded bad.”

CISCO: “Because of the past history and people wonder is she bring that up just to plant the seed…”

ROSKAM: “Yeah. I mean it’s beginning to sound like a weird movie script doesn’t it? She’s kind of like the water skier after he goes down and just not letting go of the rope…

CISCO: “Being dragged through the water but not giving up…”

ROSKAM: “Yeah, that’s right. So it’s probably a two or three day story and it’ll end up going away…but I also think that it…it does highlight what a lot of people think about the Clintons…but obviously not going to that extent…but what won’t these people do to win this thing?”

What I hear is my Congressman, Peter Roskam, right wing radio code referring in code to the some of the accusations that have been fabricated out of whole cloth about the Clintons by members of Roskam’s own party (who is it that will really do anything to win?) - stories like those surounding the tragic suicide of Vince Foster - in an attempt to defeat Bill Clinton in the 1996 election. Roskam know’s his audience is familiar with this garbage - so all he has to do is ues words like “dark narrative” and “REAL AGGRESSIVE” to get that audience imagining all sorts of conspiracies behind Clinton’s remark the other day about the RFK assassination. I believe that Roskam knows exactly what he is doing and I think it is very sad that we have a man like him, devoid of conscience, representing us in the House.

Incidentally, this same show that Roskam is fond of appearing on, did a spot within the past few days mocking Senator Byrd for his display of grief on the Senate floor upon hearing that Senator Kennedy, his longtime friend and colleague, had been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

In a press release dated May 22nd, 6th District Congressional candidate Jill Morgenthaler takes her opponent, Peter Roskam, to task, for his consistent failure to support legislation that would benefit Illinois veterans, including his recent no vote on the GI Bill. The release states:

Sixth District Democratic Congressional Candidate Jill Morgenthaler blasted her opponent Peter Roskam for his votes against veterans in the days leading up to Memorial Day. “What does Peter Roskam have against U.S. troops and veterans? Roskam says he supports vets and then repeatedly votes against us. When Roskam ran for Congress he said he was for our troops, but he voted against appropriations for the new GI Bill and against the future of our troops and veterans.”

“Roskam needs to keep his promises to our soldiers. He voted with President George Bush and John McCain and voted against soldiers and veterans. Our troops deserve better treatment. They deserve the healthcare and education that they were promised when they signed up,” said Jill Morgenthaler.

Morgenthaler, a businesswoman and a Colonel who served in the United States Army for thirty years, supports the new GI Bill (Post 911 Veterans Educational Assistance Act) and advocates that Congress should keep its commitment to health care and education benefits for the soldiers who have served our country. “Roskam and his fellow Republicans say they support ours troops and then vote against them. We need well trained soldiers to protect our nation. If we send soldiers in to battle, we need to keep our bargains with them after the battle.”

Amen to that. Roskam has been steadfast in his support of allowing George Bush to continue to send our young men and women in to harms way in Iraq. It’s time he offered them something more than photo ops and flowery statements when they come home. Roskam’s only interest in vets appears to be in using them as props in his re-election campaign. Speaking of which, Roskam was here in Elmhurst over the weekend for the Memorial Day Parade. I did not attend, but I understand from someone who did that Roskam used the event, not as a commemoration of those who have served and died but as a campaign event, replete with a coterie of marchers with Roskam for Congress signs.