Candidates Speak to Lonoke County Republicans

On Monday, 3-8-2010, both candidates for Congress in Arkansas' 1st Congressional District addressed the Lonoke County Republican Committee in Cabot. Here are videos of their speeches and Q & A sessions with members and guests of LCRC. Meet Rick Crawford and Princella Smith.

Speeches

Q & A

Blanche Lincoln files for re-election amid Tea Party protesters

Hat Tip: The Tolbert Report

The Pulaski County Tea Party organized a protest to correspond with Blanche Lincoln's filing for reelection at the State Capitol today. As Lincoln filed, protesters chanted "Bye, bye Blanche!" and "Hey, hey, ho, ho Blanche Lincoln's got to go!"

The Senator seemed to be living in a dream world when she told reporters at the Capitol she's not worried, and in fact feels "really good about this race."

Stop Obamacare w/ Free Faxes to Legislators

Grassroots protests, town hall meetings, and even a Republican victory in one of the most Democrat Senate seats in the country have all failed to finish off today's great threat to the America we know and love. But the good folks at Citizens in Action are arming American voters for the next battle in this all out war for our way of life!

Though President Barack Hussein Obama has promised to listen to and incorporate opposition ideas with his planned government takeover of the US health care system, it's now becoming obvious his promises were nothing more than a feint intended to lull the US electorate into believing We the People had stopped him and his latest planned intrusion into our lives.

Obamacare is still very much alive, and moving.

Congressional Democrats and their unscrupulous Chicago gangster who leads them are once again promising to ram their Obamacare bill down our throats. Tomorrow, President Obama has promised to reveal his "compromise" plan which he says "will include the best parts" of the two different bills previously passed by the US House and Senate. Harry Reid promised yesterday he will pass this bill within 60 days using a parliamentary maneuver reserved for budget bills that will enable him to bypass a Republican filibuster.

The jackass party is abandoning one of the most essential ideals that led our founding fathers to break with England and form these United States. They are completely ignoring the unequivocal statement in the preamble of our Declaration of Independece that "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..." Instead, Democrats are giving the American electorate the middle finger and telling voters, "We don’t give a damn what you want!”

Our last hope to stop this train wreck is to communicate to our elected Senators and Representatives they WILL lose in November if they stand with Obama and his henchmen against the American people! Citizens in Action has made it easy for everyone to do just that.

The organization has a free Fax Center (they do accept donations) that allows you to send up to three faxes on different matters to all your elected officials with a few simple clicks! Their latest fax (text below) demands our legislators refuse to go on ignoring OUR will, and refuse to vote with Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and President Obama to destroy our health care system.

Please click here to send your fax(es) today!

The text of the FREE health care fax CIA will send in your name can be read below:

TO: [Representatives’ names go here] “All may be quiet on the Healthcare front”—making it appear that Obama’s Healthcare Reform legislation is stalled or even dead, but the American people are not fooled! We are well aware that the silence surrounding the reconciliation of the House and Senate versions of the Healthcare Reform bills and the talk of “bi-partisanship” is nothing more than a smoke screen designed to fool us into thinking our representatives are actually listening to us. As for the healthcare “summit,” it is merely a propaganda tool and has nothing to do with creating a bipartisan solution. Furthermore, a “bipartisan solution” is meaningless unless both parties are listening to the citizenry. Currently, the representatives of both parties are doing a very poor job of listening to their constituents. Perhaps you remember Speaker Pelosi’s comments that Healthcare legislation would be passed—even if it means, as she stated, “pole-vaulting in…” Senator Reid is busy “twisting arms” and making sweet “back-room” deals in order to change the minds of any would-be no votes. And now, as the Democrats have lost control of the 60th Senate vote, they are, once again, talking about employing the “Nuclear Option,” which would require only 52 votes to get Healthcare Reform passed. And you want us to believe you are actually listening to the American people? As OUR elected representatives, we demand that you listen to us! WE elected you to office—NOT Obama, Pelosi, and Reid! We do NOT want any part of the Healthcare Reform legislation currently being considered for reconciliation! We want the whole mess thrown out and started over from scratch! You see—we are not stupid! We recognize the need for some type of Healthcare Reform…BUT, we want any Healthcare legislation to actually concern Health and Care…not PORK! We do not want the unconstitutional, government-controlled, mandatory Healthcare that is being considered. We DO want Healthcare Reform to address TORT Reform and the ability to buy insurance across state lines. We do NOT want our tax dollars used for abortion funding and we certainly do not want to provide coverage for illegal immigrants! These are just a few of the many issues we would like addressed when considering Healthcare Reform. We’ve been voicing our opinions concerning these issues and others for over a year now. Except for the sneaky, manipulative moves of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid, Healthcare legislation, as currently written, doesn’t appear to be going anywhere—so…. Isn’t it time to try something different and actually LISTEN TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE? Don’t patronize Obama, Pelosi, and Reid “just because…” They WON”T be there for you when you need them in November—do the right thing and vote against Healthcare Reform reconciliation—and the American people WILL be there for you!

Thanks! And keep up the good fight!

To win in 2010, GOP needs statewide participation

The election year is now upon us, and polls undeniably show a strong majority of Arkansans are mad as Hell about what’s been happening in Washington.

Democrats in our Congressional delegation have overwhelmingly voted to support nearly every plank in President Obama’s platform that failed to stimulate the economy, failed to create jobs, and failed to take a strong stand against our terrorist enemies around the globe.

Two of those Democrats, Vic Snyder and Marion Berry, realized they’d followed President Obama too far down his Socialist path and have already chosen not to run for reelection. But Blanche Lincoln and Mike Ross believe they can use their millions in out-of-state cash to convince voters to ignore their votes for Obama’s Socialist agenda.

Other Democrats are stepping into the voids left by the Snyder and Berry announcements. These will claim to be different than those they hope to replace, but we’ve seen how effectively Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid bend Democrats to their will.

We need clear alternatives, candidates who will go to Washington and represent us. Candidates who will challenge the establishment and stand up for what’s right.

The problem is that Washington, DC establishment Republicans also failed to uphold Arkansas’ conservative values when they had the opportunity.

That’s why we need real change in 2010; ordinary men and women who will go Washington and take the extraordinary step of challenging the status quo, men and women who understand their job is to uphold the US Constitution and make the country a better place for our sons, daughters, and grandchildren.

Since both parties have dropped the ball recently, some are tempted to support independent or third party candidates. But history shows us these candidates have almost no chance to win. This year, they are more likely to split the conservative vote and guarantee at least two more years of the Obama Hell that we’ve suffered these past months.

Fortunately, we have an opportunity to accomplish our goals. But it will take a concerted effort on the part of conservative voters across the state.

Historically, participation in Arkansas’ Republican primary has been extremely light.

In 2004, only 54,000 of Arkansas’ 3 million residents voted in the GOP primary. More importantly, fully 41% of those reside in three counties. Eight of Arkansas’ 75 counties supplied over 67% of voters in the 2004 GOP Senate primary. This resulted in voters from a handful of counties actually selecting the GOP nominee.

If the same pattern holds this year, voters in 67 Arkansas counties will have virtually no say in who will run on the Republican ticket. If we hope to nominate a conservative candidate who can win statewide, we need that candidate to be chosen by voters statewide.

If we again allow only 8 counties to choose the GOP nominee, Arkansas will likely send another crop of Obama-Pelosi-Reid lap dogs back to Washington to continue on the path of destroying our country.

The Republican Party is counting on the Tea Party energy and emotion to deliver in the fall for whatever candidate wins the GOP nomination in May. But they may well be counting their chickens before they hatch.

Most Tea Party activists aren’t looking for Republican candidates to support, they’re looking for conservatives. And not just Republican candidates who say they’re conservative during the campaign. These disgruntled voters have had enough of experienced politicians who say one thing on the campaign trail but go to DC and play the game.

2010 could be an historic year for the Republican Party of Arkansas. There are more candidates running as Republicans than we’ve ever seen. The US Senate race alone has 9 declared candidates even though the GOP couldn’t field an opponent to run against Mark Pryor in 2008.

But not all of these candidates will satisfy the Tea Party activists’ hunger for honesty, integrity, and responsibility in their candidate of choice this year. In races across the state; veterans, small business owners, and other non-politicians stood up last spring and said “I’ll stand up for limited government, fiscal responsibility, and accountability against the Obama-Pelosi-Reid lap dogs” --before establishment Republicans realized Berry, Snyder, and Lincoln were vulnerable.

Over the last few weeks we’ve had several professional politicians and other Washington insiders jumping in these races, attending out-of-state fundraisers and claiming they’re the best candidates because they’re “electable.” Our question to them is, “Where were you when Tea Partiers and Town Hall attendees were challenging these once powerful politicians last year?” These are the candidates who will turn off Tea Party voters.

If we hope to elect “real people” who will represent Tea Party activists at the state and federal level, we need voters statewide to participate in the GOP primary. We need GOP nominees who voters in every county can support and we’ll only achieve that if voters in every county take part in their nomination.

If you agree with the 60% of Arkansans who want to stop the Obama-Pelosi-Reid train to Socialize the American economy, encourage your friends and family to vote in the GOP primary on May 18.

Help us nominate real conservatives who will represent Arkansas values in all levels of government.