As the Durango Herald’s Joe Hanel reports:
Rep. Scott Tipton and Sal Pace sparred over differences of style and substance in the first debate of their congressional campaign Wednesday night…
Tipton said House Republicans have been the only ones to vote for deficit reduction through their budgets, drafted by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. Democrats savaged them for that budget because it would convert Medicare into a voucher program for private insurance.
“Unfortunately, in Washington, when you put an idea on the table, you get demonized,” Tipton said.
Pace said the demonization was deserved.
“I’m sorry that you felt that way, but a lot of people felt scared about the Ryan budget,” he said. [Pols emphasis]
In turn, Tipton criticized Pace’s record in the state Legislature. Pace voted for bills that raised car registration fees and suspended some business tax breaks.
By most accounts we’ve heard, it was a Sal Pace-friendly crowd last night at the Adams State University Theater in Alamosa (see photo above). Hanel’s report concurs:
The crowd of around 100 included supporters of both candidates, although Pace elicited some of the loudest applause on a few occasions when he took direct aim at Tipton. He knocked Tipton for Congress going home for the month of August without passing a farm bill, which includes drought relief and money to clear out beetle-killed trees.
“If I were your congressman, I would have not voted to come home on recess for five weeks until we passed the farm bill,” Pace said.
Tipton said Congress is not on recess. However, it is not meeting in Washington for the rest of the month…
That last line from Tipton is a bit more embarrassing than meets the eye, folks. It appears that the House indeed voted to formally adjourn on August 7th:
The House and Senate formally adjourned until Sept. 10 on Tuesday morning eliminating the need for pro forma sessions over the August break.
The House voted to adjourn, reversing itself after all Democrats and 78 Republicans voted last week to defeat the Senate’s adjournment resolution, during a pro forma session.
So Tipton is not being truthful about this. Tipton did vote–with Democrats–not to adjourn last week, but as of Tuesday the House is adjourned until September. Not that this was anything other than a pro forma excuse for Tipton anyway, but in this case even the excuse was wrong. And the most charitable explanation is that Tipton wasn’t paying attention either way.
Hopefully, along with never promising “no cuts, no privatization” to Medicare again, Tipton will stop using this “we’re not in recess” line for the rest of the August recess.
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Tipton obviously meant that the House isn’t in session………retroactively.
…was noted by the Valley Courier: “Pace questioned how many times it was going to take Tipton unsuccessfully voting against this act to realize it is passed already.”
rest of story here:
http://www.alamosanews.com/v2_…
John Salazar paid the ultimate price for Obamacare, after all.
I bet the memo you got last night put the fear of God in you.
comment, ArapaGOP . . . “ultimate price”?? . . . “for Obama”?? . . . since Libertad hasn’t shown yet today this site’s been short on it’s ration of Republican hyperbolic stupidity.
I hear war rhetoric from liberals from than conservatives. Heal thyself.
its OK.
from than you harder than telling an idiot blithering . . .
A smoking-gun last post this proof is word that paid by the you are . . .
ArapaGOP, that is the spin Salazar and his people sent out to make Tipton’s win look better.
I can tell you there were a whole lot of us who simply did not vote for Salazar because he was such a bad representative for this region of the Colorado (and if you look at his fundraising for that run, it is reflected in his totals). His voting record, when he bothered to vote at all, was horrendous and he turned his back on rural Colorado. From the various county and city meetings I went to, I can report first hand that Salazar was not liked and the region was looking for a new person. For many of us, letting an incompetent like Tipton step in for a single term, when the Repubs were going to take the House anyway, was a way to clear the bench and start fresh.
Is Pace who I personally would have selected? No. But his stance on many different issues that will help those of us living in the San Luis Valley is much better than Salazar’s.
Granted its a gamble to dump a sitting House rep. as was done with Salazar. But looking at Tipton’s unforced errors going all the way back to his first days in office, I think we will end up in a beter place than we were under Salazar’s absentee, money-grabbing ineptitude. And two years of a placeholder like Tipton who didn’t really have the skills to do any real damage or sponsor any bills that went anywhere is certainly a price I was willing to pay to see Salazar go.
So in sum: Salazar lost because he was a horrible represenateive across the board and the voters in general finally noticed. The republican “wave” helped, but he was gone anyway if the city and county meetings were representative of the way people felt about him.
Walking down the streets and attending city and county meetings, I can tell you the same feeling is coming about for Tipton. He has had way too many bad headlines and money problems for a “fiscal and moral conservative.” He is ending up looking like the republican version of Salazar. Just in it for himself and not the people who is supposed to represent.
Sal seems to be dropping from one of the top targets nationally to one on the second tier according to the Democracy Corps.http://www.democracycorps.com/Battleground-Surveys/july-battleground-survey/ This briefing memo is a good read.
Looks like about a dozen folks waving Sal’s signs. It does sound like Sal won the debate and caused a few verbal miscues by Tipton.
There are many others…like Bob, my brother. Rip is a good one, too. In fact, Rip Torn…present and past tense in one moniker!
I think the capital letter might be what has confyoosed meh.