Larry Agran’s arrest in 1992 trumped Steven Choi’s protest at the Truman Dinner, in terms of boorish behavior
The big story this week in Orange County is the concerted effort by liberals to attack Irvine Councilman Steven Choi, who is a Republican, because he protested at the DPOC’s Truman Awards Dinner last week by showing up with a picture of their keynote speaker, dreadful House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, taped to the back of his blazer. The cartoon portrayed Pelosi as Stalin.
The blue boys at the Liberal OC have since gone nuts attacking Choi for disrespecting Pelosi. However, does she deserve any respect when she is the most hated House Speaker, perhaps in the history of the U.S. Congress?
Choi did not disrupt the dinner. He silently protested. That is quite a contrast to what Larry Agran did in 1992, when he was arrested after his own party officials called the cops, when he disrupted a televised presidential debate that featured then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton and former California Governor Jerry Brown. Agran was the Mayor of Irvine and for some dumb reason he actually thought he was a viable presidential candidate. Hardly anyone agreed.
Irvine Councilman Steven Choi silently protested at the Truman Awards Dinner (Picture Courtesy of the O.C. Register)
The real reason the blue boys are attacking Choi is that he is running for the State Assembly seat held by Chuck DeVore. The blue boys want their candidate, Melissa Fox, to win that seat. This is just plain politics. Their umbrage is completely false and hysterical.
So why are they afraid of Choi? They have good reason to be.
“Dr. Steven Choi was elected to the Irvine City Council for the first time on November 2, 2004. Previously, he was elected as a Trustee of the Irvine Unified School District in 1998 and was re-elected in 2002,” according to his campaign website.
When Choi won his school board seat in 2002, he was a political neophyte. Yet he came in second with over 15,000 votes, according to Smart Voter. He beat three other candidates and won the race.
Last year Choi got more votes than Agran in the Irvine Council election, according to Smart Voter. He was right behind Beth Krom, who got the most votes. Choi beat out 8 candidates.
About a third of Irvine’s voters are Asian. Koreans rank just behind ethnic Chinese, according to this site. While the different Asian races are not cohesive, Choi is obviously getting votes from a broad spectrum of voters.
You see why the blue boys are so threatened by Choi? So now they are rabidly going after him, when he had the right to protest. The blue boys are showing that they are against free speech!
Choi is well thought of in Irvine. He has a great background in education. The blue boys can rail all they want, but Choi is a real threat to them – and their ridiculous attack isn’t going to hurt him. Will it peeve Democrats? Sure. But who cares? He has to win a GOP primary in order to take DeVore’s seat. This story will only help Choi in that primary.
I don’t know why he would leave the council. That would leave an open seat for an Agran super-majority.
Oh no no no nooooo, crap!! I know Choi, he’s a nice man… but why in hell did he have to go do something stupid like this? Wearing a picture of Pelosi on his back. Man, show some class!! What’s next, dump his tea and dance on the table?
“However, does she deserve any respect when she is the most hated House Speaker, perhaps in the history of the U.S. Congress?”
Good lord, that’s just a stupid statement.
Is he REALLY running for State Assembly? Then, Buh bye, Stevie! 😉
Thank you, Lam. You and I have similar tastes in net visuals, and apparently similar preferences for class and courtesy, as well! I’m with you.
Lam,
Is it? Have you not seen the polls? Pelosi is absolutely despised – even by many Democrats. The numbers don’t lie.
Red,
Really? Ever heard of primary races? Choi has to beat about six other Republicans. He won’t do that by being nice. Most Republicans, again per national surveys, really dislike Pelosi. This stunt won’t hurt him – in a GOP primary it will help him.
Now in the general, it could be an issue. But he has to win the primary first.
Art,
This is an interesting situation. Would Choi be able to run for State Assembly AND city council of Irvine. Or does he have to pick just one? I would think that $$$ would be cost prohibitive if he were even allowed/able to run for both positions simultaneously.
I smell an Agran Supermajority coming on, too. There is a persian woman running for council who is very sympathetic to the board majority already. IF Choi has chosen to opt out of the council race, things could get very interesting for the Agranistas!
As far as Pelosi being despised, well, her own voters would have to vote her out. She’s consistently brought home the bacon to her constituents, so I think they’d be pretty silly to vote her out when she wields so much power – based on WHAT? Some principle that she is “Despised”? lol, really Art… that would be interesting to see. Kennedy lasted and lasted for the same reasons – he brought home the bacon and the voters kept him in power for decades. Love him or hate him, he helped the people he represented over and over again.
Red,
As you know, congressional districts in California are gerrymandered. Incumbents don’t lose. So Pelosi continues to win every two years.
What I am saying is that as House Speaker she is hated – and the national surveys back this up. She is leading her party into treacherous waters in the 2010 mid-term elections. At this rate it looks like her party may even lose control of the House.
What does it benefit her party to keep her as Speaker when they may well lose power? Then again, who would they replace her with? Most of them are inept.
The Republicans are not much better – and may be worse. Why do you think I quit the GOP? The Dems are not an alternative. And so the voters keep fleeing the red and blue parties…
BTW, Pelosi is no Kennedy. Please. That is ridiculous. Kennedy was a great Senator. Pelosi is hardly a great anything. Again, look at the polls. The numbers don’t lie.
I still say it’s a whole lot of hating on a powerful woman. She’s been a pretty good majority leader, and not as liberal as people seem to think, I wish she were more. But you’re right, to Republicans and conservatives and a whole s-load of insecure men, she represents scary powerful feminist socialism or some damn thing.
I agree with Vern. the woman is unflappable and that’s why she’s such a target of all that hate.
and ART, really, who are you kidding about Kennedy? The guy was HOUNDED about the Mary Jo thing for decades. He has had to have been one of THE most despised representatives, EVER. Tons of negative books have been written about him. They guy’s now dead, so everyone seems to be laying off him. But his name has always been trotted out as the MOST Despicable man in politics, EVER.
Some more info on Choi’s AD race. Beware that it’s by Allan Bartlett, who is a HUGE Don Wagner guy.
http://www.redcounty.com/ad70-election-watch-irvine-councilman-dr-steven-choi
Hey Irvine Reporter, have you seen this one? http://www.talkirvine.com/index.cgi
negative, seems like an Irvine Housing Blog clone
Art, I actually like Pelosi but I do agree with you that she is hated by many.
However, I stand my initial statement that the statement in the post was just stupid. Read it again:
“…she is the most hated House Speaker, perhaps in the history of the U.S. Congress?”
Really? MOST hated now and in the history of Congress as well? and how exactly do you measure this? It’s like saying Robin Williams is the funniest comedian in the world, perhaps in history. It’s a silly, meaningless statement.
Lam,
Actually, it is quite easy to quantify. Pelosi has the worst approval ratings of any House Speaker, period.
Here is an excerpt from Time Magazine, from an article in Oct. of this year:
A Field Poll released over the weekend found just 51% of Democrats in California approve of the job Pelosi’s doing as speaker, while 23% disapprove and 26% have no opinion. Overall, she has a 34% approval — her lowest since May 2008 — and 44% disapproval rating. Just 7% of California Republicans approve of the speaker, while independents are split.
Art, what is Congress approval rating? Wasn’t it down as low as 9% at one point? And of course we all can find various polls that say different things. It is nearly impossible to say so and so currently has the worst rating, much less in history.
But anyway, I guess this thread is not so much about Pelosi, as it is about Choi. Choi did a silly, childish thing. I don’t even how to react to the man the next I see him.
The Liberal OC quotes Beth Krom, “To see Councilmember Choi parading around the lobby of the Hilton Hotel with a picture depicting Speaker Pelosi as Josef Stalin on his back was deeply disturbing, though sadly not out of character. Worse still, he posed with protestors who had images of the Speaker and the President as Nazis. To defend such actions as an appropriate expression of his republican values speaks to his caustic nature and indifference to the diverse community he represents.”
I am in agreement, in total. Choi does not represent well. He lacks basic courtesy, respect and OBVIOUSLY he lacks steady judgement. He’s loaded up his opponents with plenty of material to paint him as a clownish character who somehow sneaked into politics for access to public forums to display his selfish, immature antics. He’s a loon.
Oh, and Art, your numbers at OJ must be doing good again, because Claudio used the story about Choi over at the LiberalOC to focus on what he considers YOUR faults. Nice one. You STOLE a thread from a rival without even having to post a darned thing on it. Snap! 😉