As folks vote tomorrow in the 11th district primary, I want to reiterate my support for Ken Vaughn, a candidate who believes in true liberty. In encourage you to check out his final message posted on his campaign website.
Allow me again to explain my support for Ken in this race. In short, desperate times call for desperate measures and Vaughn seems to understand this more than Chris Perkins. Perkins is an honorable man who served his country, but as a politician I believe Perkins is unimaginative and vanilla, willing to go along and get along. He's a product of his surroundings . . . mentored by men like Jim Jeffords, hardly staunch conservatives who understand the magnitude of the problems we are in. The fact is, Perkins's a product of insider, establishment Republican politics. If elected to Congress he would be a face in the crowd, hardly fighting to change a system he's a product of.
Ken Vaughn offers a much clearer understand of the problem because he's never been apart of the problem. He gets that to solve this debt crisis we are in, we cannot make budget cuts simply partisan where our stuff is off the table and only the Democrats are. We cannot solve this problem just by eliminating the Department of Education. There is a big difference national security spending and defense spending. For Perkins to attack Vaughn is not only shameful, but an admission that Perkins isn't serious about solving this problem. To win this fight against spending and debt, the governmnet must be willing to sacrifice just like regular folks do, who put everything on the table.
I think that Vaughn's independence from Bushian Republican orthodoxy will ultimately help him in this race. Perkins believes that if you run as a moderate you can win, but this is now a Democratic district, Democrats who doesn't have to "settle" for a moderate Republican when they have a straight-out Democrat. We need someone who thinks outside the box, is willing to bring up tough issues and actually take a stand on them, like defense spending. We need someone to offer a different presentation to this district of what a Republican is. Bland and cookie-cutter will not get it done. That's not to say that I think Connolly can be defeated, but I'd rather go with someone with their own ideas rather than ones fed to them by consultants.
Ken Vaughn for Congress.
Most voters recognize standard GOP talking points. That's doubly true in the DC area. The reason why I've backed Ken since last year is because he's the rare person who avoids Republican cliches and isn't afraid to go against party elites, while at the same time being able to articulate the values Republicans are supposed to have. Values that poll overwhelmingly well with broad cross-sections of the population, but are muddled and/or mangled by most politicos.
There are large pools of non-partisan voters in the district that aren't wedded to Gerry Connolly, and have enough education and economic knowledge to understand a serious message about spending and debt. Ken can go after the holes in Connolly's voting record more effectively than Perkins, *and* with more nuance than Fimian.
Northern Virginia is trending Democratic. I believe a big reason behind this is a failure by Republicans to properly articulate and live up to our values; to make the case to the voters and win. We need to nominate people like Ken Vaughn, who can change the conversation and shift the center of gravity.
The fact that Perkins didn't want a debate with Ken speaks volumes about how ready-for-primetime he is. The fact that he's sending out mailers attacking Ken for wanting to cut spending- including that this would be a blow to the economy- speaks volumes about Perkins' actual ideology.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I could understand ignoring all that if Chris Perkins had a markedly better chance of beating Connolly. But he doesn't. Meanwhile, if Ken Vaughn got the resources that will come to the primary winner, he would make those resources go MUCH further.
To every Republican, conservative, and liberty-minded voter in the 11th District, I implore you: vote for Ken Vaughn today.
Posted by: David D | June 12, 2012 at 12:46 AM
You all do realize that I'll be in this seat as long as I want it, right?
Posted by: Boss Connolly | June 12, 2012 at 05:31 AM