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Rep. Ralph Hall, 91, Faces Fight of His Career in Runoff
newsmax.com ^ | 5/15/14 | John Gizzi

Posted on 05/17/2014 6:53:22 AM PDT by cotton1706

Republican Rep. Ralph Hall of Texas, who has served 34 years in office and at age 91 is the oldest U.S. representative in history, faces the fight of his career in a May 27 runoff.

His opponent, former U.S. attorney John Ratcliffe, 48, insisted to Newsmax that "I haven't made his age an issue and I wouldn't make it an issue."

Contrary to many reports, however, the Ratcliffe-Hall showdown is not a tea party vs. Republican establishment battle. Sources in Texas' 4th Congressional District told Newsmax that local tea party groups are split down the middle. All 18 Republican county chairmen in the Northeast Texas district are supporting Hall.

While Ratcliffe has the backing from important national groups such as the Club for Growth, Hall has been endorsed by such pivotal conservative figures as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, and Jim Martin, head of the 60 Plus Association.

Recalling that Hall was an early supporter of 60 Plus' efforts to end the estate tax, Martin also pointed out to Newsmax that, with the retirement of veteran Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, a re-elected Hall would be the lone World War II veteran in Congress.

"This is Ralph Hall's last mission," said Martin, "and we know we'll count on him to be firing away at the death tax in the next session of Congress."

Most recently, Hall has picked up the endorsement of the entire Texas Republican delegation in the House, as well as Rep. Trey Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican, who was just tapped to be chairman of the select committee investigating Benghazi.

Steadfastly insisting that Hall's age is not the issue, Ratcliffe said it's his 34 years in Congress that's the problem.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: elections
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To: Night Hides Not
He switched to "R" only when he saw the tea leaves change.

Now I know how much you DON'T KNOW.. Ha, WE finally convinced him to switch when we needed him to get a majority on a committee we needed his vote.. Who are you, and from north Texas at that, and you don't know this?

Maybe we should start a list of our own to do our own house cleaning.. I lived under this man in Sherman Tx. and spent thousands to elect Republicans in that dark corner of the state.. Remember it was Grayson County that supported Perot and the third party.. Such BS.. HA!

21 posted on 05/17/2014 9:18:15 AM PDT by carlo3b (Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad.. Henry Kissinger)
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To: RIghtwardHo
Too old. (And coming from a really old person)

Perhaps it's time for you to hang up the computer.. I've watched you and I don't trust you one bit.. and never have..

22 posted on 05/17/2014 9:24:26 AM PDT by carlo3b (Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad.. Henry Kissinger)
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To: X-spurt

BINGO


23 posted on 05/17/2014 9:26:47 AM PDT by carlo3b (Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad.. Henry Kissinger)
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Ralph Moody Hall's Ratings and Endorsements


24 posted on 05/17/2014 9:36:43 AM PDT by deport
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To: cotton1706
Thank you,cotton1706, for posting facts for discussion, and not trying to bully people by using some trashy caps.
‘his voting record... Just for last year:

79% (Average)- 72%(Heritage)- 74%(CFG)- 88%(ACU)- 82% (FreedomWorks)’
Those are pretty weak numbers. It is still hard to discern what votes were significant, like on Obamacare and funding for Obamacare and what were frosting votes like Republicans for good things,et al.
All told, for the good of the country, people of his age should consider whether or not they should continue. He feels he is able to perform and not just be a tool for aides and special interests. He might speak for himself, stay up for 8 hours, use a cell phone and do a computer search, if he is able.
TWB

25 posted on 05/17/2014 9:50:47 AM PDT by TWhiteBear (Sarah Palin, the Flame of the North)
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To: TWhiteBear

“Thank you,cotton1706, for posting facts for discussion”

Because I know what’s going on. If Hall had decided to retire this year, the RNC, etc. would probably be behind his opponent, or somebody similar.

The Establishment’s strategy this year is to support ALL incumbents, and to destroy any challengers. Because they want to kill the Tea Party and it’s funding sources. And they do that by having Tea Party candidates be thought of as “losers.” And they want to prevent any real conservatives from getting into the congress. AND they want to choose the candidates themselves.

They all get behind their “colleagues” as if it’s a cozy club. It’s not. It’s a legislative body, where the people send their representatives because they can’t all possibly be there themselves.

One of the keys to liberty is rotation in office. And a 91 year old, 34 year representative should be removed and replaced with somebody else.

But to the Establishment, an incumbent should stay until he himself decides to retire or is taken out by a democrat. Those are the only two options, and the natural order of things in their minds. That’s an aristocratic mentality, and smacks of the House of Lords.


26 posted on 05/17/2014 10:30:23 AM PDT by cotton1706 (ThisRepublic.net)
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To: Night Hides Not

Don’t know how much you know about Texas politics history, but when Hall got started the only way anyone got elected in Texas as with d by their name, except for John Tower.

Thanks to John Tower that began to change. When the klintoons po’d everyone in Texas everything had changed. Now only college kids, homos and wildeyed liberals are dem.

Hall(d), like many other Texas dem pols, was more conservative than most now in the GOPe. The “handwriting on the Texas wall” was for more than just Ralph Hall from Rockwall.

Ralph Hall has done Texas a damn good job and we will have a very hard time to replace him on any conservative effectiveness scale.

If he has the will at 91 to keep working for us, we should be smart enough to let him.


27 posted on 05/17/2014 11:26:01 AM PDT by X-spurt (CRUZ missile - armed and ready.)
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To: cotton1706

Hall’s a good guy, a Conservative and still has all his faculties. He wants one last term. Let him have it.


28 posted on 05/17/2014 3:05:01 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: carlo3b

Bingo. One last term. He’s earned it. If he were a lefty, he’d deserve the boot.


29 posted on 05/17/2014 3:06:10 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: X-spurt; carlo3b

I don’t care how conservative he is, in fact, if he were truly conservative, he would know that our form of government had no intention of having lifers in public service roles.


30 posted on 05/17/2014 3:07:33 PM PDT by ican'tbelieveit
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To: ican'tbelieveit

Most politicians would do well to move on along after a stint, a few do actually serve properly for much longer tenures. Had the Founding Fathers seen extended time in office a hard and fast bad thing, they would have spelled it out a limitation in the Constitution. They conversely did not.

With all due respect, frankly a citizen of the newest “Stoner State” will have a sizable difficulty in advising how Texans choose to maintain our significantly more conservative State.


31 posted on 05/17/2014 7:50:11 PM PDT by X-spurt (CRUZ missile - armed and ready.)
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To: X-spurt

Idiot.


32 posted on 05/17/2014 7:50:56 PM PDT by ican'tbelieveit
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To: X-spurt

Our Founding Fathers didn’t put everything in the Constitution, rather they were living examples for us.


33 posted on 05/17/2014 7:54:30 PM PDT by ican'tbelieveit
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To: ican'tbelieveit

Thanks for verifying my point.


34 posted on 05/17/2014 8:41:09 PM PDT by X-spurt (CRUZ missile - armed and ready.)
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To: ican'tbelieveit

There ya go, proving my point again.


35 posted on 05/17/2014 8:43:02 PM PDT by X-spurt (CRUZ missile - armed and ready.)
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To: X-spurt

You are dead wrong. Our founding fathers never envisioned representatives of the people becoming political welfare whores. Someone serving for 34 years is nothing but another form of a welfare whore. But, based on his “conservative ratings,” looks like he serves your RINO needs.


36 posted on 05/17/2014 8:47:23 PM PDT by ican'tbelieveit
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To: ican'tbelieveit

If I thought there was even a minuscule chance you had multiple brain cells I would continue the discussion, but that would just be wishful thinking on my part.

Don’t Bogart that joint my FRiend.


37 posted on 05/18/2014 6:17:17 PM PDT by X-spurt (CRUZ missile - armed and ready.)
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To: X-spurt

Hahaha, here you said you wouldn’t continue the conversation with me by... continuing the conversation with me.


38 posted on 05/18/2014 8:07:11 PM PDT by ican'tbelieveit
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