Looks real human to me as compared to most of the skunks and roaches roaming the halls of our Congress today
Posted on 02/02/2002 3:38:17 PM PST by Stacy
Bill Salier is a liberal's worst nightmare.
He's an ex-Marine who served in Somalia and guarded the first President Bush. He's an anti-gun control, anti-stem cell research, anti-abortion, pro-family, young, articulate, "personal responsibility" spouting, right-wing conservative who believes in privatization of Social Security and tax cuts. And, since he's never held office, he has no record to run against.
"I am about local control, individual rights, liberty and freedom," Salier said last Thursday prior to a campaign event attended by nearly 50 people at the Celebrate Community Church in Knoxville.
These are some of the reasons Salier is garnering support from conservative Republicans as a potential opponent of Sen. Tom Harkin this November. For these Republicans, Congressman Greg Ganske - Salier's opponent in the June Republican primary - is too moderate, too much like Harkin.
"There's some real key differences between myself and both of those men," Salier said in an interview prior to .his appearance here. "Both of those gentlemen favor taking your tax dollars and funding Planned Parenthood. I do not. They both favor taking your tax dollars and utilizing it toward embryonic stem cell experiments. I do not."
Salier, 33, will find allies in the National Rifle Association.
"Tom Harkin rates an F with the NRA and Greg Ganske a D-," he noted. "I am a strict constitutionalist, and that includes the Second Amendment."
Salier said he's not concerned about the possibility that his opponents will point out his lack of experience in government.
"If you want experience in raising taxes and increasing the size of government bureaucracy and having Washington take a social agenda and ram it down the throats of teachers inside the classroom and create a system of dependence, destroying the free market for farmers, then they've got all kinds of experience doing that," he said. "Greg Ganske shouldn't be saying anything because he ran for Congress as a plastic surgeon for Pete's sake."
Salier, a Nora Springs farmer, indicated he believes in less government.
"I believe that a government politician cannot take better care of you than you can take care of yourself," he said. "When I look across the countryside, I don't see a bunch of problems for the government to solve. I see a bunch of problems the government has created."
Salier said government should concern itself primarily with what it does best - national defense, building infrastructure, promoting trade and regulating interstate commerce.
"I believe we need to cut taxes," he added. "We are overtaxed and overburdened."
Although the federal welfare program has undergone an extensive overhaul beginning with President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, Salier was still critical of the welfare system.
"We've replaced the need for a family with the false promise of a false federal father," he said. "Instead of becoming a safety net, too often it becomes a hammock. ... We are not getting the help to those people who truly need it. And those who may not truly need it find a way to work the system."
Salier's isolationist foreign policy views ought to attract the Pat Buchanan lovers in the Republican party.
"There are too many treaties being launched and put out there that are possible invasions upon our sovereignty through the U.N."
He listed as an example the Kyoto accords on limiting greenhouse gases, which he said "would have had the United States paying for everybody's pollution across the world."
Salier praised the way the Bush administration has responded to the events of Sept. 11.
"Folks, we're in a battle here. We are in a war and we have got to get dead-on serious about handling this situation. The president has handled this in exemplary fashion."
The administration has not fared as well on the economic front, but Salier said it's not up to government to get the economy rolling in the right direction again.
"The only one that can improve the economy is you," he said. "Washington taking money and running it through their bureaucracy does not improve an economy."
Still, Salier said he favors a tax cut to help stimulate the economy.
"We've already cut interest rates so far; you're not going to get a big impact from that," he explained."We've got to do the tax cuts."
Salier said his campaign is on track to win, and he characterized the race in terms that conjure up a Rocky movie.
"We're doing really, really well. Everybody loves an underdog," he said. "This is that underdog mentality. It's the American story of a former Marine whose leaving his farm, willing to go to Washington to fight the good fight."
Only time and the voters will tell if Salier goes the distance wins the title or is knocked out in the early rounds.
I think I may be sending this guy a campaign contribution. Don't sound like any RAT to me!
That depends on where you are buried.
Or possibly on where your parole office is located.
I see cars with Salier bumper stickers on the road.
This is David taking on Goliath.
I believe that if Bill can win the primary he has just as good a chance as Ganske to take out Harkin--maybe better.
If I were Harkin, I would be more afraid of Salier than Ganske.
Looks real human to me as compared to most of the skunks and roaches roaming the halls of our Congress today
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