Bearing Drift Endorsement: 9th District
By JR Hoeft | Thursday, May 20th, 2010 | PoliticsIt’s not often that a highly respected and longtime standard-bearer for the conservative cause decides to break from their comfortable, yet high-profile position and get back into the fight against fierce competitors. Yet, in the ninth congressional district, it looks like that’s exactly what we have amongst those vying for the right to challenge longtime incumbent Rep. Rick Boucher (D).
If PA-12 from last night should teach Republicans anything (John Murtha’s former seat that was reclaimed by a Democrat), it’s not to just assume that the GOP is going to win a majority of seats just because there is an (R) next to a candidate’s name. Voters are not going to kick out a long-time incumbent like Boucher unless they are given a viable alternative.
For years Boucher has been talking the talk in his district but voting against the 9th in Washington – whether that be on budgets, energy, or otherwise. Yet, Majority Leader Morgan Griffith is someone who will represent the 9th District 100% of the time, not just 50%.
Griffith would not vote for massive bailouts or vote to undercut the very industry – coal – that the ninth depends so much upon. Griffith understands the region as much as he understands the needs of all of Virginia when he becomes a member of the larger delegation to Washington. Through his experience as Majority Leader, he knows how to represent not only his district well, but understand the needs of all Virginians when he joins the Congressional Delegation.
Griffith is someone who is intimately familiar with the grassroots of the Party. He is someone who has been actively involved with the Party for over 30 years, worked his way up as a local Party Chair and eventually into the House of Delegates.
The majority leader has fought in the trenches for conservative values for a long, long time and has a conservative record to back up his rhetoric. With the others challenging Griffith, it’s just talk. Just look at http://legis.virginia.gov if you think otherwise. When it comes to key issues of taxation, energy, immigration, the economy, transportation, etc., Leader Griffith has always been on the right side of history.
Finally, anyone who thinks money is going to fall out of the sky into the 9th is fooling themselves. There are over 100 seats that will be contested by the NRCC. If a candidate hasn’t proven they can raise the money needed to take on Boucher yet, they won’t be able to. Griffith is the only one who has.
The bottom-line is that in the 9th, a candidate with all the intangibles going for them is the only one who can defeat a 14-term incumbent like Rick Boucher – the only candidate who even comes close to this description is Griffith.
Therefore, on Saturday, the party needs to unite behind Morgan Griffith to send him to Washington and send a clear message to Rick Boucher that his career is at an end.
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About the author
Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
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10 Responses to "Bearing Drift Endorsement: 9th District"
It’s going to be a simple campaign. Rick hasn’t fought for the Ninth. He helped craft Cap and Trade, undercutting our coal industry. Then he voted for the Slaughter Rule and then against Obamacare, cynically hoping to please Nancy Pelosi while protecting his job. Twenty eight years in DC makes you forget who you represent.
Nobody — nobody — who has seen Morgan speak or watched him in action, doubts the guy is a fighter. Ask Dick Cranwell.
I am not sure how easy it is gonna be when you have folks that don’t view Mr. Griffith as much of a local, and some even consider him to be a carpetbagger due to the confusion over his home address. Whether he lives in the District or not, the perception is there. Another tough perception to overcome is the fact that Salem and the Roanoke Valley don’t come close to mirroring Hillsville, Pulaski, Grundy or Wise. Some voters are going to ask themselves “does this guy really understand my problems?” And the answer may very well be “NO.”
A third problem for Griffith is the sentiment of many voters to have someone who is not a career politician, and especially not another lawyer. Most of the folks I talk to here in the heart of the 9th District feel we do not need any more lawyers in Washington, we need some real people. So until these issues are effectively dealt with I disagree that this will be a simple campaign.
Jon — I’ve heard about those “issues.” Nobody I know in Hillsville, Pulaski, Grundy, or Wise looks at those photos of Rick holding hands with Barack and thinks “that guy really understands my problems.”
And with regard to lawyers, if I can choose only one, it will be the one who will fight for me and not the one who plea- bargains my freedom away to ingratiate himself with the judge.
Nice try at changing the subject to Boucher’s problems, however the issues I noted in the previous post still remain relevant for Griffith and for many voters. Until these can be dealt with in a satisfactory manner Griffith has a problem. Republicans that ignore these facts due to blind optimism do so at their own peril. You think folks would have learned that lesson after 14 congressional races. So, SL, it doesn’t matter what people tell you they think of Boucher, there is obviously some level of comfort with the man, and that is what the Griffith campaign needs to overcome. I pose these “issues” because they need to be addressed sooner rather than later.
As for the lawyer comment – please don’t be so naive. Washington is all about horse-trading, or plea-bargaining as you put it. That is exactly what we elect these people for. Plea-bargain, horse-trade, negotiate, politic on every issue so we in the District don’t get screwed in the end.
Jon — I doubt seriously Griffith and his campaign are naive political players, so I find your handwringing odd. I do, however, doubt the sincerity of someone publicly trying to direct attention away from Rick Boucher’s record and toward Griffith’s being a “furiner.” We’ve got lots of new Hispanic voters in the Ninth — want to have a go at questioning their right to vote?
a moby –
An insidious and specialized type of left-wing troll who visits blogs and impersonates a conservative for the purpose of either spreading false rumors intended to sow dissension among conservative voters, or who purposely posts inflammatory and offensive comments for the purpose of discrediting the blog in question. The term is derived from the name of the liberal musician Moby, who famously suggested in February of 2004 that left-wing activists engage in this type of subterfuge: “For example, you can go on all the pro-life chat rooms and say you’re an outraged right-wing voter and that you know that George Bush drove an ex-girlfriend to an abortion clinic and paid for her to get an abortion. Then you go to an anti-immigration Web site chat room and ask, ‘What’s all this about George Bush proposing amnesty for illegal aliens?’”
So let me get this straight, just because I ask questions and do not agree that this is going to be an easy campaign I am a “left-wing troll?” That assertion makes you sound more like a Democrat than me, sir – resorting to name-calling when you can’t answer the questions or can’t keep up with the discourse. I am a proud right-of-center republican, and not some inarticulate hack that can only make unqualified statements with no examples or facts to back them up, who refuses to address the questions that are posed from folks that obviously have concerns and more than an obligitory 7th grade civic class education.
And for the record I did not allude that the Griffith campaign was naive, I said that your lame anecdote about lawyers was. Please re-read the sentance if you cannot understand it the first time – ther is no shame in that, and no one can see you doing it on the Internet.
Hopefully there are others on this blog that understand the need to identify and address concerns / weaknesses before the opposition dose and have answers to those concerns when they are brought up. Those are the individuals I wish to interface with …thinkers, strategists, people of substance. Noah built the Ark before the rains Salt Lick, but I’m guessing you wouldn’t begin until about 10 days into the storm.
Also, I find some of your remarks to be iggnorant and offensive.
So,since you seem so fond of vocabulary lessons, here’s one:
a racist -
someone who is offended by the sight of a white man shaking hands with a black man; someone who feels that if one is of hispanic heritage he or she is not legal and does not have the right to vote. (synonym: Salt Lick)
Jon — Morgan was nominated the GOP candidate May 22. Your remarks raising questio0ns about his acceptability are dated May 24. If you are a proud, right-wing Republican, why are you harping on Griffith’s negatives?
As I said, Griffith and his staff are aware of those negatives. They researched them beforehand. The party knows them. Why are you here doing the opposition’s work and shifting the discussion away from Boucher’s record?
It’s “game on” now. We have a candidate. When the ball is hiked, it’s not time to start questioning your tailback’s moves.
This will be my last post on the matter because I have grown tired of responding to your inability to comprehend what you read. And for the record, my first post was on the 21st – prior to the primary. The rest were responses to your asinine statements. And I am not right-wing, I am right-of-center, though I doubt you will understand that statement either.
I hope that you are not a staffer or volunteer for his campaign, and if you are I pray for the love of God that you are not on the comms committee.
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