Thomas Langhorne has an article entitled GOP silences Bucshon challenger at dinner wherein he reports on Rep. Larry Buschon speaking at the Vanderburgh County GOP’s Lincoln Day Dinner while his primary challenger, Kristi Risk, was not given an opportunity to speak.
Risk seemed to take it in stride, making a point to emphasize that the voters and not the party leadership ultimately gets to decide who the nominee is.
In the course of his remarks, Buschon apparently criticized Democratic challenger, Dave Crooks, for supporting health care reform. I’m not sure Buschon wants to go there. I’ll confess I know nothing about Buschon’s prior career. But, here is the default perception. He was a surgeon. He probably profited mightily from the health care status quo and has apparently parlayed that success into a position in Congress where he is now defending the status quo. But, guess what, the status quo of the U.S. health care system sucks for most people; a spiral of rising costs and ever-more illusory insurance coverage. Other than some hand waving and mumbling about “tort reform” and cross-state insurance sales, I’m guessing Rep. Buschon doesn’t have a lot of solid suggestions. “I’m from the health care industry, and I’m here to help” might not be too reassuring to voters these days. Certainly not if you have a pre-existing health condition.
I don’t see your point. The #1 issue of Dr. Buschon when he initially ran for Congress in 2010 was that Obamacare was not a good law. It seemed to work for him then, as he won a crowded primary and handily defeated his Democrat opponent. What has changed in 2012?
Paul, what changed was that during his term as a freshman Congressman, he took several symbolic votes to repeal ObamaCare and thought that was all he was sent to do. But in the meantime, he ignored the constituents and admitted to them on multiple occassions that despite the numerous phone calls urging one particular vote, he listened to the “experts” in Washington. He has said, many times, “We know best,” and his excuse for everything this past year is, “there’s nothing we can do as long as Obama is in power.” If Obama really is this mammoth obstacle that just can’t be overcome, he should probably explain it to the people, rather than just saying, “there’s nothing we can do,” over and over again. We didn’t send him to Washington just so he could throw his hands up and wait for a new president. Between his CR votes, the debt ceiling votes, the Patriot Act renewal, on and on and on, he ignored the clear majority of people calling his office and voicing what they wanted. He became an elitist, “I know better than you do,” Representative on day 1. As far as healthcare, H.R. 525? Extending portions of ObamaCare to veterinarians? If he’s dead set against ObamaCare, why would he vote to extend any portion of it?
Michael: I was addressing Doug’s post on Crooks vs. Buschon, not Risk vs. Buschon. If Buschon wins the primary, I will support him and his fight against Obamacare vs. Crooks. I will also support Kristi Risk if she wins today’s primary, and who I am also quite fond of.
I can appreciate that Buschon may not have voted as we would like here in the 8th District. There have been times where I wished Buschon would have been a stronger advocate for liberty (Patriot Act being one example). Still, do you really believe saying that HR 525 “extends Obamacare to Veterinarians” is an accurate depiction? Are dogs and cats now going to have an individual mandate to buy health insurance? Is HR 525 going to socialize pet medicaine? Because that’s what most people don’t like about Obamacare. And don’t give me this bull about “symbolic votes” about repealing Obamacare. I realize this is the date of the primary, but don’t tell me Bucshon hasn’t done everything in his power to vote against it. Because he has. Unfortunately, very little can be done when Republicans have less than 60 senators and don’t have the presidency.
I grew up in a district with a representative who frequently did not vote in the way that we the constituents asked. So why did he get re-elected? Because he made a point of *communicating* with us about his votes. He saw it his job to read the fine print, think through the long-term consequences, and vote with care.
I’m prepared for the possibility that Buschon has followed the same tactic, but if this is the case, I wish he’d say more about it.
Granted, I grew up before the Internet, when members of Congress had the time to communicate with constituents in a more thoughtful manner…