Posted on 10/18/2013 5:42:50 PM PDT by shortstop
Republican Rep. C.W. Bill Young, Florida's longest-serving member of Congress has passed away.
On Thursday, the family of the 82-year-old lawmaker said that he was gravely ill.
Young's family released the following statement Friday:
"U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young (FL-13) passed away this evening at The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in the company of his family. The cause of death was complications related to a chronic injury. Information on services will be forthcoming."
Young was influential on military spending during his 43 years in Washington, and in October announced his decision to retire.
In recent years, Young had become increasingly frail and relied on a wheelchair. He was quoted by the Tampa Bay Times as saying that his decision was based on both his health and a desire to spend more time with his family.
Young had been seeking treatment at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., due to back problems that stemmed from a 1970 small-plane crash.
After Young made his announcement to retire, praise of his service from his fellow Florida politicians emerged.
"Congressman Bill Young is an American patriot," tweeted former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush. "We appreciate his service!"
Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio praised Young for his support for the military. "No one has fought harder for the servicemen and women in this country and for returning veterans than Bill and his wife, Beverly," wrote Rubio in a news release.
Said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat: "He was always someone who approached solutions in a bipartisan way. He will be missed."
Young's term in office was slated to end next year.
Young was born in Harmarville, Pa., and later moved to Indian Shores, Fla., a small Gulf Coast community in Pinellas County.
He served in the Army National Guard from 1948 to 1957, then became an aide to U.S. Rep. William Cramer from 1957 to 1960. From 1961 to 1971, he served in the Florida Senate.
He was first elected to the U.S. House in 1970. Young and his wife, Beverly, have three children. His son, Bill Young II, has expressed interest in the past in running for office.
The congressman was a longtime member of the House Appropriations Committee, where he focused on military spending. He and his wife frequently visited ailing service members at hospitals in the Washington area.
As one of the strongest defense hawks in Congress, Young made headlines in 2012 when he said the United States should withdraw its forces from Afghanistan.
Young told The Associated Press at the time that "we're killing kids who don't need to die," and reflected the growing weariness with a conflict that had dragged on for more than a decade.
Young brought hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks back to the Tampa Bay area, and built up a defense contracting industry in the region, creating jobs and stirring the economy.
That might’ve mattered years ago, not so much today, and that they were married for almost 3 decades does tend to count for something. As I’ve mused on many times, DC is a terrible place for married couples (worse if they have children) to be, at least those married prior to their spouses being in politics. The pre-DC wives tend to get sick of it real fast, because the men have to decide whether they want their career or to go back home (a demand Bob Dole’s first wife made). Before long, many of them end up in affairs with their staffers or even marrying them after divorcing wife #1.
I’m often bemused by some running for Congress showing off their nice families, as so many have no idea what they’re in for. You’re better off going there single, and if you’re lucky, you’ll marry someone “in the biz” that shares similar interests (and even better, if they work in their office to keep an eye on hubby). ;-)
AFAIK Parnell has been Don Young’s only “real” primary challenger in some time, some nobody isn’t gonna beat him, not in Alaska. Suckabee endorsed him in that race? What a doofus.
David Hale sounds promising, I emailed that fruit who runs politics1.com and told him to add him. Kinzinger was disappointing, yes.
In addition, did you know that Tom Coburn backed Joe Manchin in West Virginia? I just read that today. What an eccentric tool.
I’m really hoping we’ll see a Senator Bridenstine when the doc retires in 2016.
As for Aaron Schock, he always struck me as weird and untrustworthy. His “sane caucus” comment really pissed me off.
Schock sucks up to Peter King. He’s a loser.
Petey has about 5 die-hard followers. He rules his own pathetic little fiefdom in the House and Schock is his crown-polisher.
Yes I remember that. Coburn has gone completely off the rails, and he would have been the last guy I expected to. Potomac fever, or just too many close friendships with swine (he was buddy buddy with Obama), maybe early senility. I don’t know what happened but it’s disgusting.
Schock is one of the premier federal Combiners. I think he’s being groomed as a Senate replacement at some point. I also believe he is a closet job. Getting this guy out on reason #1 alone is worth doing.
Who knows ? Perhaps the establishment has dirt on Coburn. It’s clear that in most instances, the longer you stay in DC, the more you get assimilated. When that much power, money, influence are at stake... If Satan had a home anywhere in the U.S., it would be in DC.
For the record, Mark Levin on the Schockster.
http://video.veryconservativenews.com/mark-levin-aaron-schock-is-a-nitwit-clown-moron/
Rep. Kinzinger has a conservative primary opponent, David Hale, an officer of the Rockford Tea Party.
not even that but look at Ginsburg, she;s napping during hearings though I want her to stay until we get back the white house.
I would not have said that Bill Young was anything close to a James Madison.
Politically, you are right that for most of the electorate this ceased to be an issue years ago. But character does ultimately matter. I agree that when deciding between lesser evils, or even lesser goods, this might not be a deciding factor—but it is telling.
In the end, if it is a choice between family and career, the man who chooses career is wrong, and that flaw will usually tell, even in subtle ways. Your observation may also help to explain why, in Reagan’s words (whom my mother agonized over voting for because of this very issue) once our people get to DC they cease to be our people.
You are right that nearly 30 years does count for something—but home wrecking is a big thing, and late 20’s is old enough to know better. How much the character has changed—who knows? Certainly not me.
Still almost certainly better than the Dem, but if it were my district I would still hope for someone better.
So do you only advocate term limits because of the character of the current crop? If so, they'll get worse with term limits, not better, particularly because they will owe no loyalty other than to those who have a cushy jog on the way out but also because there will be no experienced leadership.
Our experience with term limits in California has been nothing short of dreadful.
That list of 8 supposed “other RINOs we really have to target” seems wrong to me. Just because someone casts one or two votes one doesn’t like doesn’t maje him a RINO, for Pete’s sake. I mean, I can see Schock in their due to his Combiner background, and Walden is “pro-choice” on abortion (my preference would be for him to run against Oregon Senator Merkley, since he would give us our best chance of winning a Senate seat there, and then have a 100% conservative win the open, very Republican, OR-02 House seat), but if we concentrate on trying to defeat congressmen with 95% conservative voting records we won’t have the money or resources to defeat true RINOs in conservative districts or Democrats in conservative or competitive districts.
If you’re refering to this list, let me give you the conservative rating for each of these lawmakers from Heritage.
Greg Walden - Oregon (61%)
Rick Crawford - Arkansas (54%)
Frank Lucas - Oklahoma (50%)
Steve Palazzo - Mississippi (72%)
Martha Roby - Alabama (58%)
Larry Bucshon - Indiana (74%)
Renee Elmers - North Carolina (61%)
Aaron Schock - Illinois (51%)
Now, none of these people receive anything close to 95%. Heck, none of the ever break 75%.
So, let’s look at the top 2 performers on that list. Palazzo receives a 74% rating. If he were from somewhere like Ohio or Minnesota, that would be acceptable. But for Mississippi, that’s just not good enough. Larry Bucshon may be in the semi-purple state of Indiana, but he won his district by about 10% last time. We can get a better guy in there, especially as Bucshon was almost primaried last time.
I don’t disagree on Walden.
A) It would be easier to get someone in an open seat that run an expensive primary against him.
B) In a wave year, he might run Merkley out. Gordon Smith held that seat prior to the 2008 wave, and Merkley is neither charismatic nor smart. Although he wouldn’t be very conservative, he would be an improvement on Merkley for Oregon.
So, I put it to you that those mentioned ARE the RINOS in conservative districts, and what’s more, they aren’t entrenched beyond reach.
Also to note, Merkley won with 49% of the vote last time, to 46% for Smith.
What was the upset?
You guessed it. Constitution candidate who took 5%..
My friend Scott Barr who lives there is thinking of running. He is a ex-Marine and would do a great job.
I shouldn’t say that it doesn’t matter, because it does, or at least it should. But I’ve also reached the point where DC’s corruption (moral, spiritual or otherwise) is concerned, that if we’re to send someone there, I’d rather the person have sexual peccadilloes who votes the right way (pro-Constitutional/small government, et al) than an individual who may be moral under his own roof (faithful to his/her spouse), but who votes like a degenerate (anti-Constitutional/anti-life/profligate spending without end).
It’s sad that we might have to make such a choice, but all of this has been going on a lot longer than we care to acknowledge. Maybe someday when we reign in the power and excesses of that paragon of vice and avarice in Washington, DC, and restore power and control of their own destiny to the people, we can finally start to send majorities of people committed to morality both privately and publicly.
Thx shortstop.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.