Joe Walsh for US Congress

Congressman Joe Walsh (R-08) joined the Tea Party caucus in Congress following the 2010 shellacking of the Obama  juggernaut of government mandates, trillion dollar deficits, and federal overregulation. He has differed with the leadership of his own party while setting of upset from the opposition.  He is the only Congressman I know of who is not afraid to shoot from the hip, even if it means shooting off his mouth or even shooting himself in the foot. At least someone refuses to give up, even if it means going down with all flags flying.

Repeatedly he acknowledges the growing distrust of voters for politicians. He has pushed for the Balanced Budget Amendment; Cut, Cap, and Balance; he does not shy from the fight, he does not hide his outrage, and refuses to hide his heated rhetoric under a bushel.

Joes Walsh – the first Congressman who demanded not just attention along our borders, but the medieval  proposal of loosing crocodiles  throughout the Rio  Grande. He is the only Congressman who slammed the President for seeking the opinion of celebrities instead of sitting down with the statesmen in Washington to secure the borders then enact comprehensive immigration reform.

Walsh is the freshman Congressman who audaciously declared:  President Obama, Quit Lying! He posed before the camera, demanding that the President stop playing “budget-chicken”. He called the President on his bluff to stuff payments to Social Security recipients and veterans if the debt ceiling wasn’t raised. Walsh then and now has stuck to his pledge not to spend one more extra dollar that further bankrupts this country and impoverishes his children and grandchildren.

Walsh accuses Obama of not being serious. Obama’s calm demeanor has yet to forge lasting compromise and care for our nation’s precarious financial situation, and the Illinois freshman refuses to let these matters go away.

His constituents should admire his thorough yet respectable exchange with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. He shared the scared sentiment of businesses in his district, who are frightened by the lack of stability and certainty in Washington’s shifting fiscal policies, from ObamaCare to incremental extensions of tax cuts.

Walsh mopped the floor with Chris Matthews during one edition of “Hardball,” a spectacular take-down by a Congressman vs. the liberal media. Matthews snidely labeled Walsh an acolyte of Grover Norquist. True, Walsh pledged not to raise taxes, but he refused to let Matthews pull him from one question to another without letting him answer. “I’m a freshman who came to here to change the way this town does business by structurally reforming spending.” Finally! He planted responsibility squarely on the President for playing politics and taking no serious lead on bringing down the spending that is killing this country. “Cut, Cup, and Deceive”? Indeed!

“Your President, who sends a tingle up your leg . . .” Walsh fired on Matthews. Wow! This guy started asking the questions, not afraid to paint Matthews as megaphone for the Obama administration.  Taking control of the debate, Walsh refused to concede the fundamentals of his mission: stopping the federal government’s spending addiction. In another interview, Walsh confirmed his damning appraisal of the President acting like a ten-year old. Obama is over his head, playing golf and scooping up campaign funds while Walsh voiced the growing concern of voters in his district and throughout the country who want leadership in Washington.

Joe Walsh – the only Congressman who openly chastised  his own constituents for continuing to claim the Mainstream Media thread that the Big Banks caused the economic collapse of 2008, when in fact it was and is and ever will be Big Government. We need more legislators like Walsh, men and women who are not afraid to tell it like it is. He was angry, and we need leaders who will get angry with him.

In his May 2012 debate with Congressional challenger Tammy Duckworth, Walsh slammed the distracting social issues which the Obama administration and the Democratic Party have thrown up like a smoke screen. During that debate, he refused to pander to Ms. Duckworth’s hollow accusations of privatizing Medicare and ending Social Security. He defended the freedom of conscience regarding contraception, then shifted away from wedge issues. He delivered an expert explanation why he voted to permit student loan interest rates to rise. Cogently he pointed out that keeping interest rates low would benefit future students by saving them seven dollars a month while dumping on the country $6 billion in debt: one bad deal.

A few minutes later in the same debate, Walsh displaced the distinction on social issues. As an unofficial spokesman for the Tea Party Movement, the outspoken incumbent identified the movement as “ the silent majority” who are tired of “Big Government” spending money we don’t have, which will turn our nation’s kids into “indentured servants”.

As Walsh claimed, Congress is filled with people who just want to get elected, so they make promises. He refuses to join the “spend now, save never” crowd in Congress. I admire his courage, and so should the voters of the 8^th Congressional district of Illinois.