Originally published in the Daily Press.
The Middle East is in turmoil. Unemployment is over 8 percent for the 42nd consecutive month. Sequestration looms on the horizon. It’s been more than three years since the U.S. Senate has produced a budget. Our national debt just screamed past $16 trillion.
Despite these issues and more, all Democrat Paul Hirschbiel wants to talk about in the 2nd Congressional District campaign is Rep. Scott Rigell’s voting record, reports the Virginian-Pilot.
Apparently there are no other topics as important.
I have always found this type of campaigning a bit ridiculous – even when Rigell used the same tactic in the 2010 campaign.
Elections are about “hiring” a person to represent their constituents in a manner consistent with the ideas presented during a campaign. Generally, a Republican presents Republican ideas and a Democrat presents Democrat ones – usually consistent with their party platform (you know – in the case of Democrats – the one that removed all mention of ‘God’?). One presumes an elected official will vote with their party a majority of the time.
Therefore, Rigell has merely been fulfilling his promises to the people of the 2nd District over the past two years. Was he elected to go to Washington and vote with the Democrats a majority of the time? Of course not. If he did, his campaign would have ended this past June in a primary.
But this doesn’t mean he hasn’t bucked traditional conservative thinking either.
When it comes to the oft-cited “no tax pledge” — Rigell won’t make it because he believes that a mix of spending cuts and raising revenue is the right approach to balancing the budget. That doesn’t exactly sit well with the tea party crowd.
Rigell told the Editorial Board here at The Daily Press that “the American people are ready for the truth — they can handle the truth…They can handle solutions. They want solutions and they want leadership.”
I don’t agree with Rigell on this proposed solution, but I don’t fault him for trying. And compromise can be good. After all, compromise gave us The Declaration of Independence and our Constitution — the results of political conflict and consensus.
Rigell is also trying to fix Washington gridlock with the “Fix Congress Now Caucus” (he, one other Republican and two Democrats formed this bipartisan group). It is certainly a noble goal, if rather Quixotic.
But at least Rigell is trying. Hirschbiel’s plan is right out of the far left playbook.
Hirschbiel supports “Obamacare” – so that means he favors the $716 billion raid on Medicare to pay for it, while also raising taxes and enforcing the individual mandate.
Hirschbiel supports raising taxes — his solution isn’t a mix, it’s simply to raise taxes by $400 billion.
Hirschbiel supports a balanced budget (laudable) — but he says entitlement spending reform is off-limits, funding for education and transportation must be increased, and he doesn’t want to touch Defense spending. What kind of new math is he using?
The bottom-line is that Hirschbiel can criticize Rigell’s record all he wants, but take it for what it is: his attempt to disguise that his views are more akin to those of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi than those of the citizens of the 2nd District.
Based on Hirschbiel’s views, if he is elected, his voting record will be in lock-step with the Democratic Party. That prediction is 100 percent guaranteed.
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