While I appreciate the fact that we realize that most of our current problems are a result of the current crop of incumbents, I must caution against indiscriminate voting of any kind. First off, there are actually a few incumbents who have value. The US senator from Virginia who is running this time, Mark Warner, has the requisite chops: he is an entrepreneur who has started a number of businesses, and some of them failed before he got into telecom and made his fortune.
So he has some empathy with the guy who has to watch his pennies to cover his bills, which many members of Congress do not. He then became the state’s governor, taking over from a reckless idealogue who, with partners in high places in the state legislature, had left us without a budget and in danger of losing our credit rating because of tax planning that guaranteed continued losses for the future, and turned our treasury around. As a freshman Senator, he was one of the “Gang of Six” whose ideas were not considered (and replaced by the sequester), so he works with the Other Party. And he has been in office one term, so he knows a whole lot more about inner workings than he did when he got there. He’s a keeper, in my opinion.
The OTHER thing to keep in mind is to make sure we don’t go from the frying pan into the fire. If the opponent is worse than the incumbent, anti-incumbent fever will not help us in the future.
Mr. Warner’s opponent has been Republican National Committee chairman, an advisor to GWB, and a lobbyist for the energy industry, including Enron. Even if Mr. Warner was a dolt, I believe I would be putting my fellow Americans at greater risk if I vote for Mr. Gillespie.
Well, I guess that hate-toon from yesterday didn’t work out. (The one that depicted Republicans as neo- Nazis for supporting overwhelmingly popular, common-sense voter ID.)So now “Socialist” Wuerker slams Congress for a high re-election rate. Don’t worry Matt, we Republicans are working on the problem.
Jason Allen over 9 years ago
Vote the @#$%^s out of office… except my guy!
Theodore E. Lind Premium Member over 9 years ago
Fire all incumbents and get someone in Washington who will actually do their job. It is your opportunity to enforce term limits. VOTE.
I Play One On TV over 9 years ago
While I appreciate the fact that we realize that most of our current problems are a result of the current crop of incumbents, I must caution against indiscriminate voting of any kind. First off, there are actually a few incumbents who have value. The US senator from Virginia who is running this time, Mark Warner, has the requisite chops: he is an entrepreneur who has started a number of businesses, and some of them failed before he got into telecom and made his fortune.
So he has some empathy with the guy who has to watch his pennies to cover his bills, which many members of Congress do not. He then became the state’s governor, taking over from a reckless idealogue who, with partners in high places in the state legislature, had left us without a budget and in danger of losing our credit rating because of tax planning that guaranteed continued losses for the future, and turned our treasury around. As a freshman Senator, he was one of the “Gang of Six” whose ideas were not considered (and replaced by the sequester), so he works with the Other Party. And he has been in office one term, so he knows a whole lot more about inner workings than he did when he got there. He’s a keeper, in my opinion.
The OTHER thing to keep in mind is to make sure we don’t go from the frying pan into the fire. If the opponent is worse than the incumbent, anti-incumbent fever will not help us in the future.
Mr. Warner’s opponent has been Republican National Committee chairman, an advisor to GWB, and a lobbyist for the energy industry, including Enron. Even if Mr. Warner was a dolt, I believe I would be putting my fellow Americans at greater risk if I vote for Mr. Gillespie.
TripleAxel over 9 years ago
Campaign finance laws benefit the incumbent, who can rely upon name recognition and pork-barrel spending of public funds to garner votes.
Dtroutma over 9 years ago
Everyone says “vote THEM out”, but continue to vote for THEIR incumbent representative, ’cause THEY are the problem, not US!
manteo16nc over 9 years ago
Well, I guess that hate-toon from yesterday didn’t work out. (The one that depicted Republicans as neo- Nazis for supporting overwhelmingly popular, common-sense voter ID.)So now “Socialist” Wuerker slams Congress for a high re-election rate. Don’t worry Matt, we Republicans are working on the problem.
lopaka over 9 years ago
If it is an incumbent, vote for the other one. Send a message