From conservative Spokane.....in the red part of Washington state: ;-)
Our View: Grant the best choice
Democrat will be a moderate voice for Idaho
October 5, 2006
Many Idaho Republicans are still shaking their heads that abrasive conservative Bill Sali won their congressional primary.
House Speaker Bruce Newcomb and other Republican insiders secretly – or not so secretly – must wish that almost any of the other candidates had emerged from the six-person field to capture the nomination. Not only is Sali very conservative on social and fiscal issues, but his confrontational style alienates even fellow Republican legislators. During the 2006 session, he angered Democrats so much during a debate about abortion that they walked out. Afterward, Newcomb said: "That idiot (Sali) is just an absolute idiot. He doesn't have one ounce of empathy in his whole fricking body. And you can put that in the paper."
Sali triggered the unusual response from a party leader with a dubious statement linking abortion with breast cancer. But that isn't all. When Republican Congressman Mike Simpson was speaker of the Idaho House, he once threatened to throw Sali out of a window in the state Capitol. If this is how friends react to Sali, including one whom he would serve with in Congress, how is he going to build consensus for issues and policies important to the state?
Rather than support a temperamental candidate with extreme positions, Idahoans should elect Democrat Larry Grant, a former vice president of Micron Technology who is fiscally conservative and socially moderate. Grant pinpointed the difference between Sali and himself at a Coeur d'Alene debate when he said: "If Mr. Sali goes to Congress, he moves his party to the right. If I go to Congress, I move my party closer to the middle."
Sali would further divide Congress. Grant would be a bridge builder.
Grant, who would be the first Democrat to hold the 1st Congressional District seat since 1994, holds reasonable positions on a range of issues. He reflects his Western conservatism by wanting to relax logging restrictions on federal lands. By supporting development of energy resources such as coal, natural gas and oil. By opposing the Kyoto Protocol to limit global warming.
His approach to the Iraq war and immigration are moderate, too. Grant believes, like many Americans, that this country should remain in Iraq but that our approach to winning the peace is flawed. We should concentrate on eliminating the violence to begin to win over the Iraqis. By contrast, Sali supports the Bush administration's uncompromising position, stating at the Lake City debate that the war on terrorism won't end until "there are no more Islamic fundamentalists who believe that they need to kill everyone who is a Christian or an infidel." Grant again shows his moderation in his belief that the United States should establish a temporary worker program to allow illegal aliens to work here legally. Sali would put military troops on the border to prevent illegal immigration.
In 1994, Idaho picked ultraconservative Helen Chenoweth-Hage over moderate Democrat incumbent Larry LaRocco after she won a GOP primary horse race, much as Sali did this year. Chenoweth-Hage then served three relatively ineffective terms in Congress before honoring her term-limits pledge. With only two seats in the House, Idaho can't afford to send another conservative flamethrower to Congress. Not only will Grant be in a good position to help Idaho if the Democrats regain the House, but he would work better with Republicans than Sali would if they don't.
spokesmanreview.com |
