Politics, open government, and safe streets. And the constant incursion of cycling.

Month: March 2008 Page 2 of 4

Interview with Candidate Amit Singh (8th CD)

I got a chance to sit down last week with Arlington’s Amit Singh, who is running for the GOP nomination in the 8th Congressional District race. He’ll be vying with Mark Ellmore for the votes of 8th district Republicans on June 10th. The winner of that race will face long time incumbent Rep. Jim Moran (D) this fall.

I’ll be posting this interview in multiple parts, and then follow up with some of my own analysis. As I’ve noted earlier, I don’t think that Singh’s the typical Republican candidate that we’ve come to expect, and I hope readers will find this interesting.

(This interview took place in the Hard Times Café in Clarendon on March 18. I did summarize and edit for length and clarity, tho’ I have attempted to use full quotes where possible.)

On Running

MB: So this is not a good time for Republicans in general, nevermind in the 8th District. Why now? And why as a Republican?

Amit Singh: “I didn’t feel like I had a choice – I was compelled. I’ve been really frustrated at what’s been going on in the US for a while now. I had this unsettling feeling that the country was just going in the wrong direction.”

Mr. Singh relayed stories about his military friends and colleagues, and how their lives have been upended by the Iraq War. Once the presidential race on the Republican side was wrapped up (Singh had been an active volunteer for Ron Paul), he focused his attention on the local Congressional race, looking for someone to support – but was “less than inspired” by the existing candidates. That unsettled feeling “continued to boil”, eventually leading him to make what he characterized as “not an easy decision” – the decision to present and commit himself as a candidate.

Why are you a Republican?

“I think the core Republican values are what I agree with. The Republican Party today has gotten away from their base, and what made them successful in the past. Now they’re relying on big government solutions to solve the problems of today, which, I think, has exacerbated the problem. You know, growing up, the Republicans were about fiscal responsibility, smaller government, and you know, that’s the party I remember and affiliate myself with.”

[ . . . ]

“The Republican Party is fractured. And there’s a contingent that is fiscally responsible and believes in limited government, and that’s why I am still running as a Republican.”

Were you influenced by the politics of your hometown?

“Yes. [Colonial Heights] was a very conservative city, a great place to grow up. And, I don’t know if there were any Democrats there when I was growing up [laughs].” He described a disconnect between the way a number of his Democratic friends view the Republican party and the one he grew up with – “I guess I saw the good side of conservatives,” adding that he has a “very fond view of Republicans and conservatives.”

The Republican Primary

Mark Ellmore has a record of raising primary dollars and has some name recognition – how will you beat him?

Singh responded by pointing out that Mark Ellmore outraised his primary opponent last time, but lost badly, “We’ve already raised more than Ellmore raised in his last primary [MB: the Singh campaign indicated that it had approximately $20k cash on hand as of March 18, as compared to the $17.9k that Ellmore raised for his ultimately unsuccessful 2006 primary race. As of the date of posting this, Singh appears to have pushed that figure up past $23k]. From a money perspective, there’s not an issue.”

Singh also highlighted the difference between the “bumper sticker politics” on Ellmore’s site to the “dissertations” on his own. “It goes to the level of understanding what the issues are, and actual solutions to some of them.” He’s been working the local Republican circuit to raise his recognition (see some of his appearances here on YouTube), and sounds pleased with the results, saying that “It’s not a one man race anymore.”

In other coverage of your campaign, you’ve been described as a “Ron Paul Republican” – what would you call yourself?

“My personal definition is somebody who believes in limited government, fiscal responsibility, and personal freedoms. No two people are ever going to agree on everything, it’s just that he believes in those things and so do I.”

On the principle of limited government – “Most of our problems are not because we don’t have enough government involvement, [it’s that] we have *too* much government involvement.”

On the importance of personal freedoms – “I travel all over the world, and people want to be like Americans. It’s not because of our money, it’s because we can wear what we want, listen to what we want, that’s . . . people love the American culture. And Americans themselves don’t understand that, which is kind of sad to me.”

On fiscal responsibility – “We can’t do anything if we’re broke – we can’t protect the borders, we can’t educate our kids, we can’t provide any services at all.”

Does being a “Ron Paul Republican” create a burden for you in the primary? You’re running on getting out of Iraq, which isn’t exactly a popular GOP campaign approach.

“Attitudes are changing. Just last week, Iraq showed that they have a huge budget surplus because of the oil revenue that we helped them get. We’re in a budget deficit, yet we’re paying for [all of the reconstruction].”

[ . . . ]

“We’ve won the war. Our soldiers have done everything we asked them to do. They’ve brought Saddam to justice; they’ve killed his two tyrannical sons. We should be bringing [the soldiers] back and having victory parades and treating them like heroes[,] instead of having them in “Operation Babysit.” We’ve won the war. It’s over, and it’s time to bring them back.”

One of my regular reads – Sepia Mutiny – recently noted your campaign launch.

[Laughs] “I was recently familiarized with that”

As a Desi oriented site, and thanks to George Allen, the Macaca and “welcome to the real America” jokes were immediate. It’s easy to dismiss that as lazy humor, but it does express a real concern about the Virginia Republican Party’s commitment to *all* Americans, and not just the ones that look and sound like George Allen. The party rallied around him after those remarks. That is something that may make those who would otherwise find that their interests would be served by the Republican party think twice about voting Republican. How do you respond to that concern?

“Well, I didn’t vote for George Allen, if that’s what you’re asking. [ . . . ] As far as his comments were concerned, he made them, I wasn’t offended by those comments, and what he messed up on was that he just wasn’t honest about what he said. He could have dealt with that situation so much better. I think he handled it poorly, more than anything. As far as the Republican Party rallying around him, that’s what the party does. They’re trying to support each other.

It’s kinda like having that embarrassing uncle. And even though they’re embarrassing, sometimes you have to rally around them. I think George Allen made a mistake, he didn’t handle it well, and the Republican party for better or worse, had to rally around him. But I think what you saw was that he did lose a lot of Republican support – people did not want to be associated with him.” What a lot of people don’t realize is that he lost more support than he gained. I mean, this was a guy who was supposed to be the next President, and he didn’t even win his own race.”

On being the subject of discussion online (at Sepia Mutiny and elsewhere) – “I figured that this is going to be a part of my life now, and people are going to say things about me even though they don’t know me, and the best thing for me to do is to let it be. I’m not going to get into a tit for tat on a blog. If they want to call me or email me, that’s a different story – we can have a reasonable discussion.”

~

Part II – covering Singh’s views on Federal spending, the Tyson tunnel, and energy solutions – will be up soon is available here. In the meantime, you can learn more about the candidate at his website.

About that Empire . . .

India.  A reminder that it’s not just IT and call centers:

Thousands of workers at Jaguar and Land Rover plants are expected to be told today that the marques have been sold to the Indian conglomerate Tata.

Maybe Tata can fix what the British and Ford couldn’t.

Don’t Like Your US Airways Flight?

Think twice about complaining to the pilot.  Some of their pilots fly with guns, and at least one of them isn’t too careful about controlling his weapon.

Meanwhile, McCain coasts along

I just want to extend my most insincere thanks to the Democrats who have decided to settle in and do what we do best – attacking our own for no particular benefit. Whether it be comparing Obama’s pastor to David Duke, or slamming Hillary for a made up – but ultimately inconsequential – story about a PR stunt in Bosnia, Democrats only seem to know how to swing hard when it’s at the chin of another Democrat.

Meanwhile, McCain, the press’s favorite crazy old man, gets a free ride. McCain is almost obscenely unsuited for the office of President, yet there’s little to no critical coverage of him. The press certainly isn’t going to go there on its own, so it falls to Democrats to press that story and press it hard. So c’mon, Dems, get on it. Obama supporters, stop wasting your time attacking Hillary and start learning how to throw punches across the aisle (and get used to taking them – because you ain’t seen nothing yet). Hillary supporters? Look, I’m sorry. It’s just not happening. Angry about it? I absolutely understand. Take it out on McCain (and if that’s not enough, perhaps you can have a go at the top level of Hillary’s campaign).

If you need some help, here and here are good starting points for everything that’s wrong with McCain.  Short version – McCain isn’t just like voting for Bush for a third term, but for another Cheney term.  Follow those links, and act.

CycleFest 2008

If you live in the DC/NoVA area, and you’re at all interested in off road riding (or think you might be), mark your calendars with a reminder to head out to Wakefield Park (Annandale, VA) on Sunday, April 6th. The Bike Lane, a shop I can recommend without reservation, is putting on CycleFest 2008:

Enjoy a day completely dedicated to the sport of cycling. You will be able to demo the latest Trek, Lemond, Gary Fisher mountain and road bikes. Attend seminars including yoga for cyclists, core training for the cyclist, commuting basics, adventure racing 101, road and mountain bike clinics, bike fit and maintenance sessions, bike travel trips, and much more. We are adding more seminars everyday. Local experts and cycling’s top of the line manufacturers will be on hand to show you everything you want to know about the latest and greatest in cycling.

Everything the Bike Lane does is a quality effort, and I expect something for everyone here. The clinics are free, and only require pre-registration (seriously, check out that link and see what’s on offer).  There are also group rides that will be led throughout the day (and this is a great chance to check out the newly finished (well, as of the end of this day) Phase IV Wakefield trails.

Don’t have a mountain bike?  Want to see what the differences between a rigid and full suspension bike feels like?  That’s what the demos are for.  Come up, give them some way to track you down (usually a license), and ride off with the bike.  Very easy, and I’ve never experienced any selling pressure at a demo day.  Their bet is that the ride will sell you on the bike.

Hope to see some of you there.

Friday Notes: One Foot Out the Door

Looking forward to the end of a most miserable week. Combine days of fever, a raw cough, and poison ivy all over for an especially good time.  Off for a weekend in Raleigh, shortly, and I am working hard to convince myself that I’ll be all better when I get back.

~

I’m a big fan of Larry Lessig, and think that he can be credited with a good chuck of the progress we’ve made in imparting the importance of IP laws to the general public. He always found a way to get to the core of the issue in a plain and understandable way, without dumbing it down. So I’m at something of a loss to explain the extraordinary naiveté that he seems to be demonstrating with his new Change Congress project.  I think maybe he’s been hanging out with us techno/law dorks too long.

~

Brilliant.

~

Had a chance to sit down with Amit Singh earlier this week.  This fellow Arlingtonian recently announced for the Republican primary for the 8th Congressional District seat (yep, he wants to run against Rep. Jim Moran).  I’d hoped to get our interview up this week, but it looks like I’ll have to push it to next week.  It’ll be worth it, I think – he’s not the kind of Republican we’ve been hearing from over the past 8 years.

~

Among the many things I didn’t do (that I should have) this week was point you to Vivian Paige’s take on Geraldine Ferraro’s words.  Well worth reading.

Elvis, Was a Hero to Most

Dedicated to the sad and fearful little man behind Laura Ingraham’s show:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuTi9UZtPbw[/youtube]

On Five Years

What’s there to say?  Our political leaders have completely failed, when it comes to Iraq (both on the mission there and ending that mission).  Our soldiers are still dying for a cause they didn’t sign up for – I am sure that not a single one of them ever had “keep the Administration from admitting its mistakes” in mind when they enlisted or re-uped.

Quietly Doing Good

It’s not often I can cite a WSJ story as something that warms my heart, but this qualifies:

One frigid March morning last year, federal agents raided a factory in this old whaling town, arresting hundreds of illegal immigrants as they sewed vests and backpacks for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Most were shackled and sent to a detention center in Texas, where they faced rapid deportation unless they could post thousands of dollars in bail — money they didn’t have — to buy time to mount a defense.

Then, a mystery benefactor appeared. The anonymous donor ponied up more than $200,000 to spring 40 people from detention.

The payments, which until now haven’t become public despite extensive news coverage of the raid itself, came from Bob Hildreth, a Boston financier who made his millions trading Latin American debt. He was “infuriated” at the televised images of workers being shipped to Texas, he says. Helping them make bail is “payback.”

The raid broke families apart,” says the diminutive 57-year-old, who once taught high-school history. “This was extremely un-American.”

It’s not just the outlay of money. It’s the outlay of money for a cause that will almost certainly bring this man only grief amongst his peers.  And the benefit will only ever be really appreciated by the families he kept together.   Another part of what I admire about his action is the expression of faith in the basic decency of these people – that they would not run off (and thus leave him out of the bail money).  And so far, it looks like that faith was well placed – none of the recipients of his aid have skipped out on bail.

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company C(NN)?

CNN’s Kyra Phillips was doing her best John McCain impression – implying that Iran is training al Qaeda – during an interview with Gen. Petraeus. So TPM’s David Kurtz posted a clip:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kps7kxnhjLU[/youtube]

And what struck me wasn’t the usual babble emanating from Ms. Phillips, but what she was wearing. Fatigues. Did she just return from an audition for the part of the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy? Will CNN’s sports reporters be donning a helmet and pads when football returns? Scrubs, when interviewing a doctor? Insane.

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