On August 9, incumbent Republican Virgil and challenger Al Weed met for the first time before voters in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District. The event was sponsored by the Senior Statesmen of Virginia, and was held at the Senior Center in Charlottesville.
Not strictly a debate, both candidates had fifteen minutes to give an opening statement, and then had five additional minutes to rebut. Then they took questions from the audience. The first four of these dealt with illegal immigration, which prompted boos from the crowd. Questions also abound at health-care, energy policy, and economic development.
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[...] Yesterday, Al and Virgil faced off at the Senior Statesmen forum in Charlottesville. Listen here. I’d say it went very well. More than that, it shows how Vulnerable Mr. Goode feels. He’s slipping up, he’s sloppy, and he reeks of wounded politician. In his 15 minute opening remarks, he runs away from Bush, runs away from Bush, says he’s not for putting up a white flag in Iraq, but can’t bring himself to say what he is for (”Stay the Course”), finds himself defending Bush on Katrina — Isn’t there someone on his staff whose job it is to tell him that’s a bad idea? — and can’t finish his remarks because he spent seven minutes defending himself on the MZM/Martinsville debacle. Seven minutes. Let’s hope he spends half his ad buys on that too. [...]
Several times during the forum Virgil quoted how he voted for higher penalties against employers. Virgil also quoted past mistakes in Immigration Laws which are causing today’s problem. Apparently he is talking about HR 4437 which imposes higher penalties. Conviently Virgil forgat about HR 3736 where he voted aginst higher penalties for employers who higher illegal immigrants.
Why the “flip flop”? Is it now more politically correct?
Really appreciate the chance to hear this debate! We were away on vacation when it took place so didn’t even get to read about it, but hearing it directly was so much better than reading a rehash in the Daily Progress. This is my first podcast of any kind, and it’s just a great medium.