I had planned to write about yesterday's taping of Sen. Kerry's debate with Mr. O'Reilly, but I've only seen clips of it on NECN and read the news reports, and heard a bit from someone who was there to support the Senator. What I could gather from all of that is that O'Reilly spent most of the time repeating his tired, old attacks and said little about what he would do to improve the lives of the people of Massachusetts if he were to be elected to the Senate. After three days of RNC vitriol, I'm ready to hear about what our elected representatives are actually doing and planning to do, not repeats of the same attacks we've been hearing for the last several months.
As we head into the fall, one of the things most on people's minds is the projected increase in heating cost, and this new ad from Senator Kerry highlights this important voting issue.
Senator Kerry focused on the upcoming heating crisis early this year, holding hearings in Washington and in Massachusetts, talking with constituents, and introducing legislation that will help seniors, small businesses and low income residents deal with the rising cost of energy this winter, just as he did last year when heating prices rose a whopping 44%.
In June, he held a hearing with Sen. Snowe and introduced legislation to help small businesses and New England residents who will be impacted by this winter's rising energy costs, and wrote an op-ed to draw attention to the challenges heating costs will place on small businesses and families.
In July, he wrote to the CEOs of energy companies to ask their help in dealing with the potential crisis.
Throughout the summer months, Sen. Kerry has been looking ahead to the potential crisis this winter, drawing attention to the issue and taking action to help his constituents.
Video Credit: Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Now, I know Mr. O'Reilly makes a point of disparaging the fact that Sen. Kerry is Chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee. I'm not sure why he does, but I understand he did again yesterday. Since we know that small businesses employ most Americans, is Mr. O'Reilly saying that looking after American jobs isn't important work for a United States Senator? With unemployment on the rise, seems to me there aren't too many things more important than to support small businesses and the people they employ, and helping to make sure they survive the coming winter.
The debate will be aired tomorrow on WBZ TV. I guess we'll learn more then about Mr. O'Reilly's priorities.
