David Wu plays the Bill Clinton Card

August 19, 12:47 PMPortland Civil Rights ExaminerDianna Cotter

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Iraqi War Veteran Stephan Andrew Brodhead (R)

Today's guest Author is Stephan Andrew Brodhead. He attended David Wu's Town Hall meeting in St. Helens on Friday Aug 14th and this is his eyewitness account of that event.

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St. Helens, Oregon Aug. 14th 2009

It seems that Oregon Congressman David Wu's  St. Helens Health Care town hall was not as controlled or manipulated as his Seaside event which I also attended. But again the venue was much too small, and once again hundreds of voters were left outside. This time van loads of immigration reform activists came very early and garnered two complete rows in the small town hall meeting area. Instead of asking about health care, they asked David Wu about immigration reform. They then reminded him that they were voters and requested that he support legislation for Illegal amnesty. They even went so far as asking David Wu to submit legislation this year. David Wu stated that “We wanted to look at immigration reform, but this serious issue will probably be looked at in 2010 sometime". David Wu balanced on the fence of illegal immigration. He stated that he supported secure borders, but omitted that he voted against the Border Fence!

It was a sad event to listen to David Wu dodging the illegal immigration question. He tried to appease the illegal immigration activists, as well as, the legal voters from St. Helens that were in attendance. I was waiting for someone to ask him why he voted yes on a stimulus bill that excluded E-Verify and protected the rights of illegal workers and their access to stimulus jobs.

I was lucky enough to be pulled from the hat and I asked David Wu a question. I falsely referenced The "Preamble of the Constitution" versus Section one of the U.S. Constitution, but most people overlooked the mistake. David Wu corrected my false reference and then answered the following question:

"Congressman Wu our current federal budget deficit stands at $1.84 trillion dollars, or a full Bill Clinton budget year!

Congressional Budget Office federal revenue estimates stand at $2.12 trillion or basically half of Obama's 2009 federal budget which would take double the current taxation on every man, woman, business, and trade organization to reduce this deficit.

Medicare expenses stand at $682 billion and will eclipse $1 trillion in just a few short years!

Many representatives have voted yes on TARP, the stimulus bill, Cap and Trade and have used Section 1 article 8 of the U.S. Constitution to justify not reading the bills, and grow government. Does section 1 article 8 of the U.S. Constitution or "Promoting the General Welfare" also support running up massive deficits, doubling the national debt and passing the bill on to our children?

David Wu's answer went something like this:

During Bill Clintons years in office we had a balanced budget and three years of stimulus,(no reference to Newt Gingrich's contract with America demographics or Reaganomics), and it only took a few years of a Bush Whitehouse to turn this surplus into deficit spending. ( no reference to the tech bubble, stock market crash, or 911 ). He goes on to say that George Bush spent over $600 billion in Iraq and that he did not support the war in Iraq. (No reference to now supporting Obama's $160 billion a year in war spending). He then states that we can pay for the deficit spending in the future, and that section 1 article 8 gives them the authority to legislate Health Care, and apparently to pass the debt to our children and grand-children. I was waiting for David Wu to evoke the JFK Card!

He made no reference or apologies for running up the deficit or increasing the national debt from 9 trillion to 12 trillion in 7 months. He made no apologies for ramming through TARP, Stimulus, Cap and Trade, Health Care on any of Obama's socialist tax and spend agenda. He would not answer my follow up assertion that we have never paid off the national debt and never will!

This event was not top loaded with Health care supporters as was the Seaside event. Outside there was a much larger crowd of limited government folks with signs etc. A Few questions were asked about "Public option Health Care ". One person wanted to have Congress squash conservative free speech with no reference to the democratically controlled media or Obama's $150 million dollar help from drug companies. Most were worried about the debt and how to pay for huge government. Many were more open to a State run Health Care option and wanted to avoid centralized big federal government.

All David Wu did was tap dance around the issues and offer insultingly vague generalities. When he was asked by a senior citizen a simple question as to why he voted for such large bills without reading them, with the press calling simple citizens a “mob”, Wu responded with a callous “Well if you don’t like the way I am representing you then you should vote for someone else”.

The only fun thing was watching conservatives helping the illegal immigration activists back their packed van out of the parking lot and sending them on their way!

~ Stephan Andrew Brodhead is an Iraq War Veteran, retired Air Force Reserve Aviator, and Real Estate investor. Brodhead is challenging David Wu for his congressional seat in 2010. His website is: http://www.StephanAndrewBrodheadForCongress.com