Potts Pans Kilgore and "Dr. No" Republicans
By: Lowell
Published On: 3/3/2005 2:00:00 AM
On yesterday's "Virginia Politics Hour" on WAMU radio, Russ Potts slammed Jerry Kill-more better than we at RaisingKaine every could. It's worth listening to the Potts interview, which is both informative and entertaining. Here are a few highlights.
Why is Potts running? He says he "loves Virginia" and wants to provide "leadership" for the state. Potts pans Kilgore as "promis[ing]...no solutions, and certainly no nitty-gritty."
Why is Potts running as an Independent when his party "already has a candidate?" Potts says, "What I see, quite frankly, from Mr. Kilgore, is no hope, no vision, no plan, no roads, no schools, just no. Every time we try to pin him down on just what are your plans and how are you going to pay for it, we get is broad platitudes like 'oh we're going to grow out of this problem' or 'when we're there, we'll address it.'"
Potts says he's we should not eliminate the car tax, but should return the issue back to the localities "where it was for some 60 years."
Potts believes we need to "put everything on the table" to solve Virginia's transportation problems. This includes a possible hike in the state's gas tax.
Potts points out that, to win this November, "we just have to get to 34 [percent]." Compares himself to Lowell Weicker, Angus King, and Jesse Ventura, but with "more experience" than most of them.
As to whether or not Potts is garnering GOP support, he points out that, just recently, a "promiment Republican in New York State" stepped forward and is going to host a major reception for Potts in New York. Potts slaims that, although he won't raise the most money in the race, he can "raise enough to win."
Potts says he is not a spoiler, but is "running to win." He adds that he also wants to "provide a little excitement" to the race.
Potts emphasizes that he is "not leaving the Republican Party, the party of my dad, chairman of the Winchester Republican Party." Potts stresses that the Republican Party is "the party of Dwight David Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan." He points out that the Republicans put Arnold Schwarzenegger, John McCain, and Rudy Giuliani front and center at the Republican National Convention last summer, and that those guys are in the same place politically where he is -- Right in the middle of the road...Virginia is a moderate political state." Potts also cites Harry Truman as a model of "plain speaking."
Asked whether his candidacy exposed a "rift" in the Republican Party, Potts say "Well indeed it does, because there are not thousands, but millions of discontented Republicans who don't want this onslaught of legislation that tries to get in peoples' bedrooms...and brings this whole abortion issue to the forefront." Also, Potts points out the "insanity of this whole no tax, no invest mantra" which ultimately boils down to "just no."
Potts' political philosophy? He says, "I happen to be a Mountain Valley Republican that's proud of the institutions in Virginia...[including] one of the finest public education systems in America."
Asked about some other Senate Republicans who demanded that Potts step down as Chairman of Education and Health Committee and from other committee assignments, Potts' responds passionately: "I was a Republican before most of those other Republicans were born, and I will die a Republican, and I stand on principle."
"I'm a member of the class of 1991...that gave the Republicans the majority" in the first place. Virginians want a "moderate, common sense, pro-public education" Republican Party "not dominated by social issues" and the "whole 'Dr. No' mantra."
"I'm an American first, a Virginian second, and a Republican third."
Asked if he is, as the Kilgore campaign has attempted to argue, the "second Democrat in the race," Potts answers, "It's very obvious that I'm stirring the pot a little bit...but I am much more conservative than the Democrat Tim Kaine. Case in point, I'm very much for the death penalty."
Potts points out that former Republican Governor Jim Gilmore promised that "the most the car tax would ever cost would be $650 million," but it has ended up costing "$2.4 billion." Potts says that Jerry Kilgore is, like former Gov. Gilmore, a member of the "free lunch bunch crowd" in Virginia.
Senator Potts, we couldn't have said it better ourselves!
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