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Random thoughts from today’s Republican debate

Today, the candidates for the 5th District Republican nomination had their third in a series of debates sponsored by the area TEA parties. I was able to attend the first half of the debate and here are some random thoughts that came out of the first half. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to attend the second half, but I had to host a TV show at 5PM and had to get to Reidsville. That being said, let’s go to the thoughts…

  • We’re LIVE! at DCC for today’s 5th District. Republican Debate. LIVE! Comments follow and we’ll clean this article up later tonight.
  • Opening from Nigel Coleman. Good speech, but I disagree that “shouting down your Congressman” is part of the American way.
  • Chuck Vipperman explains the rules. Now comes each candidates’ opening statements.
  • Ken Boyd says he can bring the Charlottesville votes in and if that had happened last time, Goode would still be in office.
  • Ron Ferrin does well. Robert Hurt’s up next and does well too. McKelvey does a prop joke to start, and pushes the FairTax and 4 year self-imposed term limit.
  • Mike McPadden pushes military and his outsider status. Funny thing, his wife (beside me) leads off applause and the audience follows, so it seemed that McPadden really won the crowd. Well played.
  • Feda Morton’s up and she’s nowhere as bad as others have said. Laurence Verga goes last and pulls a smooth move and comes out in front of the table to do his stuff.
  • All seven candidates passed the opening test.
  • First question is from Catherine Amos about compromising and little experience.The field all had decent answers to that question except Jim McKelvey. McKelvey said that if elected, he’d immediately get with the other incoming freshmen Representatives and start forming an agenda based on their mandate. Sorry, Jim. That sounds great, but that’s not the way Washington works.
  • Second question is from Chuck Vipperman about term limits. Hurt & McPadden actually hit the bullseye by saying term limits just don’t work. Ferrin agrees and pulls another joke. And now some follow-up on this… Self-imposed term limits by our representative will do nothing but doom the 5th District to mediocrity unless the entire Congress imposes universal term limits. In Washington, seniority has its benefits and if our Representative self-limits themselves out of office, we have to start back with a freshman member. Mike McPadden is on the money with his thoughts on another front. He’s very leery of amending the Constitution for any purpose and I can’t argue with him on that. Term limits are a great concept… for everybody else and not for your guy.
  • Third question is from Gracie Gunnell and it’s about foreign aid vs. domestic programs.All of the candidates answer that question in the standard conservative matter. McPadden comes out with the most interesting answer of cutting out foreign aid completely.
  • ***This debate is running way over scheduled time and I’m going to have to leave at halftime for a TV show. ***    And of course I need to clarify that… I had to host a LIVE! TV show at 5 PM over in Reidsville NC. Work has to take precedence over SouthsideCentral, until SC pays the bills.

Overall, the format was good. I’m pleasantly surprised that Danville’s TEA party (in partnership with the local Republican committees) were able to put an event like this on. Chuck Vipperman did a great job moderating the debate, and Gracie Gunnell & Catherine Amos each had a good question for the field.

And that’s the recap from the first half of the debate. We’ll have an article on how the candidates performed soon.

7 comments to Random thoughts from today’s Republican debate

  • kelley in virginia

    thanks Bruce for starting the discussion. I could not attend because of meeting in Victoria. What else happened?

  • “Feda Morton’s up and she’s nowhere as bad as others have said.”

    Well of course not. Some of the other bloggers who are supporting other candidates decided to develop a narrative that “our congressman shouldn’t sound like a biology teacher.” The objections were never substantive; it was all about attacking the candidate on personality, not policy – and the attacks on personality aren’t even valid.

  • kelley in virginia

    samuel, were you there? what can you tell us?

  • Tarheel

    Sam, I have to disagree were you at the last debate in Lynchburg?

    I was and Morton was really, really bad.

    She was off balance, and did remind me of some HS teachers I had….she even spoke of what, at least came across as, some sort of great infatuation with the UN on a couple of occassions.

    That certainly is not the impression a conservative wants to give conservatives looking for a candidate to defeat Perriello.

    I, personally was really turned off.

    This was not the first time I heard her speak, and each time I came away with the same feeling. She, as nice as she is, is not the person we need in congress. Of course this is just my opinion.

  • VaPatriot

    Dude, I’m happy you got to see a TV show, but you have done serious damage to your site’s reputation by not completing the report from the debate today! Let me see if I can make it simple. Your website name and intro is as follows:

    SouthsideCentral
    The only blog covering Southside VA… and more!

    Duh, today I would have to say it is……….. “The only blog NOT covering Southside VA… and more!…because I’m watching a TV program”

    What a sad way to gain readers and viewers! Get with it, dude!


    Reply: Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. I had to go do a live TV show over in Reidsville NC from 5PM to 7PM. Until SouthsideCentral pays all of my bills, work comes first. Or as a friend of mine once said… “Actual reality before virtual reality.”

    And “serious damage to my site’s reputation”? Even I don’t have that much of an ego. SouthsideCentral is what it is and most people like it.

  • To be fair, I’ve not been able to attend any of the debates; being in Lexington and having a broken neck, I can’t get there. However, I would not have signed onto her campaign without talking to her first and she was just as, if not more, impressive than the other candidates I have met. I suppose it’s possible that she had a bad performance in Lynchburg – I wasn’t there – but the idea that she’s in over her head and can’t hold her own just isn’t factual.

  • […] how did the candidates do at today’s debate? All righty then… we just completed some random thoughts on today’s 5th District debate in Danville. It’s time to see how I think the candidates […]

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