{"id":698,"date":"2008-03-26T12:22:36","date_gmt":"2008-03-26T17:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2008\/03\/26\/interview-with-candidate-amit-singh-8th-cd\/"},"modified":"2008-03-27T18:12:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-27T23:12:00","slug":"interview-with-candidate-amit-singh-8th-cd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2008\/03\/26\/interview-with-candidate-amit-singh-8th-cd\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Candidate Amit Singh (8th CD)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I got a chance to sit down last week with Arlington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Amit Singh<\/a>, who is running for the GOP nomination in the 8th Congressional District race. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be vying with Mark Ellmore<\/a> for the votes of 8th district Republicans on June 10th. The winner of that race will face long time incumbent Rep. Jim Moran<\/a> (D) this fall.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be posting this interview in multiple parts, and then follow up with some of my own analysis. As I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve noted earlier, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that Singh’s the typical Republican candidate that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve come to expect, and I hope readers will find this interesting.<\/p>\n

(This interview took place in the Hard Times Caf\u00c3\u00a9 in Clarendon on March 18. I did summarize and edit for length and clarity, tho\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 I have attempted to use full quotes where possible.)<\/em><\/p>\n

On Running<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

MB: So this is not a good time for Republicans in general, nevermind in the 8th District. Why now? And why as a Republican?
\n<\/strong>
\nAmit Singh: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like I had a choice \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I was compelled. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been really frustrated at what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

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 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153less than inspired\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by the existing candidates. That unsettled feeling \u00e2\u20ac\u0153continued to boil\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, eventually leading him to make what he characterized as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153not an easy decision\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the decision to present and commit himself as a candidate.
\n
\nWhy are you a Republican? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the party I remember and affiliate myself with.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

[ . . . ]<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Republican Party is fractured. And there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a contingent that is fiscally responsible and believes in limited government, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I am still running as a Republican.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Were you influenced by the politics of your hometown?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yes. [Colonial Heights] was a very conservative city, a great place to grow up. And, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if there were any Democrats there when I was growing up [laughs].\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He described a disconnect between the way a number of his Democratic friends view the Republican party and the one he grew up with – \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I guess I saw the good side of conservatives,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d adding that he has a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153very fond view of Republicans and conservatives.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The Republican Primary<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mark Ellmore has a record of raising primary dollars and has some name recognition \u00e2\u20ac\u201c how will you beat him?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Singh responded by pointing out that Mark Ellmore outraised his primary opponent last time, but lost badly, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not an issue.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Singh also highlighted the difference between the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bumper sticker politics\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on Ellmore\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s site to the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dissertations\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on his own. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It goes to the level of understanding what the issues are, and actual solutions to some of them.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been working the local Republican circuit to raise his recognition (see some of his appearances here on YouTube<\/a>), and sounds pleased with the results, saying that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a one man race anymore.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

In other coverage of your campaign, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been described as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ron Paul Republican\u00e2\u20ac\u009d – what would you call yourself? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just that he believes in those things and so do I.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

On the principle of limited government <\/em>– \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Most of our problems are not because we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have enough government involvement, [it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that] we have *too* much government involvement.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

On the importance of personal freedoms <\/em>– \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I travel all over the world, and people want to be like Americans. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not because of our money, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because we can wear what we want, listen to what we want, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s . . . people love the American culture. And Americans themselves don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand that, which is kind of sad to me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

On fiscal responsibility<\/em> – \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do anything if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re broke \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t protect the borders, we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t educate our kids, we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t provide any services at all.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Does being a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ron Paul Republican\u00e2\u20ac\u009d create a burden for you in the primary? You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re running on getting out of Iraq, which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly a popular GOP campaign approach. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Attitudes 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in a budget deficit, yet we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re paying for [all of the reconstruction].\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

[ . . . ]<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve won the war. Our soldiers have done everything we asked them to do. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve brought Saddam to justice; they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve won the war. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s over, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to bring them back.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

One of my regular reads \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Sepia Mutiny \u00e2\u20ac\u201c recently noted your campaign launch<\/a>.
\n<\/strong>
\n[Laughs] \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was recently familiarized with that\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

As a Desi oriented site, and thanks to George Allen, the Macaca and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153welcome to the real America\u00e2\u20ac\u009d jokes were immediate. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to dismiss that as lazy humor, but it does express a real concern about the Virginia Republican Party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t vote for George Allen, if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re asking. [ . . . ] As far as his comments were concerned, he made them, I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t offended by those comments, and what he messed up on was that he just wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what the party does. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re trying to support each other.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kinda like having that embarrassing uncle. And even though they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re embarrassing, sometimes you have to rally around them. I think George Allen made a mistake, he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t 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 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c people did not want to be associated with him.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d What a lot of people don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even win his own race.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

On being the subject of discussion online (at Sepia Mutiny and elsewhere)<\/em> – \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know me, and the best thing for me to do is to let it be. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going to get into a tit for tat on a blog. If they want to call me or email me, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a different story \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we can have a reasonable discussion.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

~<\/p>\n

Part II – covering Singh’s views on Federal spending, the Tyson tunnel, and energy solutions – will be up soon<\/strike> is available here<\/a>. In the meantime, you can learn more about the candidate at his website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I got a chance to sit down last week with Arlington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Amit Singh, who is running for the GOP nomination in the 8th Congressional District race. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-virginia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}