Indiana: The roots of conservatism are moral conviction

http://Evansville Indiana Courier&Press/ecp/news/article/0,1626,ECP_734_1363000,00.html ^ | Evansville Indiana Courier Press

[carpio]

True principled stands are so rare in Congress as to be news worthy. http://Indiana's John Hostettler/ecp/news/article/0,1626,ECP_734_1363000,00.html

[sharkdiver]

I live in Indianapolis, and would hardly call Indiana a bastion of Consevatism. Our Governor is a Democrat. The mayor of the largest city, Indianapolis, is a Democrat. One of our two senators is a Democrat. Evan Byah who basically inherited his seat from his father. Our other senator is a moderate republican. Sen Richard Lugar.

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[carpio]

I live in Indianapolis, and would hardly call Indiana a bastion of Consevatism.

That is because you do not know what it is like here in New Mexico where English is an ill tolerated second language, Bill "I gave Monica a job to shut her up" Richardson will be our next Governor and Pete "Let's not call any witnesses for God's Sake!" Domenici passes for a Pubbie.

My wife and I are shopping for a retirement home in rural small town southwestern Indiana and it looks like a true conservative stronghold there to us!!

I mean after all a lot of the people there DO speak English and most homes don't even have iron bars over the windows! Que Paridiso!!

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[Viva Le Dissention]

Indiana is definitely a very conservative state; you are way too hung up on party labels. Indiana's Democrats would likely be solid conservatives in most any other state in the Union.

Forget that Indiana has voted GOP in pretty much every Presidential election since Lincoln, and take a look at the actual makeup of the state. You said you're from Indianapolis, so take a look at people like Murray Clark or Luke Kenley from your neck of the woods. Those two people are just about as conservative as anyone I've ever met in my life, and if you're not involved in Indiana politics already, those names will become a lot more familiar to you in the next several months, as they are both running for Governor. Clark had ought to already be familiar; he ran for Lt. Gov in our last election. Go west of Indianapolis and we see people like John Waterman; going southeast we find Johnny Nugent. Southwest, we've got Becky Skillman--a name that has been mentioned over and over again for Secty of State--speaking of which, Todd Rikita is about as conservative as they come, and he'll be on the ballot next November. All this doesn't even mention someone like Atterholt, who represents Pike in the House. Of course, I don't even need to mention the 32-18 edge the Rs hold in the State Senate, a gap which is expected to widen after this November's election.

Even our Ds are pretty solid conservative folks; I don't like O'Bannon, but his penachant for "sin" taxes aside, he's a pretty decent fiscal conservative; granted, the Senate probably keeps him in line. Joe Kernan, the likely D candidate for Gov in the next election, besides being one of the genuinely nicest people I've ever met, is a pretty darn conservative fellow; his record in South Bend speaks to that. Add to that his record the last 8 years, and it ain't bad.

Look too at the strength of conservative fringe groups in Indiana, like the Libertarians. Indiana has one of the largest and most powerful Libertarian parties in the country--most definitely because of its HIGHLY conservative population.

While it's true that one of our Senators is a D who rode in on Dad's coattails, he's a pretty conservative guy who took a left turn to get to Washington from Indiana--even taking that left turn into account, he's still one of the more conservative Ds in Washington. Of course, Shark, you fail to mention that Bayh has never won an election against an incumbent, neither for Governor nor for the Senate; Orr's term had expired when Bayh ran for Gov and Coats resigned when Bayh ran for his Senate seat. Which brings up the point, of course, that Bayh's seat was occupied by two hard core conservatives before he came to Washington: Dan Coats, current ambassador to Germany and the man who lost the Secty of Defense job to Rummy, and Dan Quayle, who needs no further description as to his conservative politics.

Of course, this has nothing to do with Hostettler, who I personally think is a big jerk, but that's neither here nor there. Despite his personally, he does have a very conservative voting record, and manages to win elections despite having the most liberal city in the state in his district (Bloomington).

I read a comment earlier about how Hostettler's seat was a "lock" this term, and I think that is being optimistic nearly to the point of being laughable. The old 8th was as hard fought as any district in the country, and the new 8th, not to mention the entire Indiana map, was drawn specifically to beat him; that is one valuable seat, and make no mistake about it--the Ds drew the map this past census. While there is some speculation that Mahern might have screwed up when he drew those maps, we won't know till next november.

In the meantime, greetings from an ultra-conservative midwest state.

[Bigun]

Sounds like my kind of fellow!

He deserves our support!

[Republic]

Noyes said while some fellow Republicans might occasionally resent him voting against close bills, they respect that he stands up for what he believes in in a traditionally tumultuous district.

"He does not always vote in the way that would be politically the best way for him to vote," Noyes said. "But he really sticks to his principles."

ey ya Teach, what a terrific post you wrote about this man...he sounds as if he is truly, truly honorable.

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[Republic]

He does deserve our support-BIG TIME! What a good man!

[Teacher317]

LOL, thanks for the praise, but I just posted the article and forgot to put in the title and author. ;^)

[Republic]

Now that really is funny!!! LOL Anyhooooou, thanks for posting the info anyway. Interesting and heart lifting stuff!

[AFreeBird]

he Ds drew the map this past census.

Ain't that the truth. I live in Indy and I'm not sure, but I think I went from being in Dan Burton's(R) district to (gag) Julia Carson's(D). I wasn't sure where I ended up on the re-draw, but I got a mailing from that wast of space and oxygen, Carson, just the other day.

I'm sure them Dem's were careful not to pull too many of Burton's people into her district for fear she'd lose. Needless to say I'l be voting against her.

If we had to lose a seat in congres, why couldn't it have been Julia Carson's!?

[ForGod'sSake]

This guy's my man in congress; so, naturally I support him rather enthusiastically.

You've got one of the best in Hostettler. I wish I could say the same for mine(Jim Turner D-Tx). Best I can determine, my reps only redeeming value is he votes right on guns(most of the time). On virtually every other issue he's in lockstep with the rest of the Dims. Seems many of the folks in this district are single issue oriented. As long as you don't mess with their guns you could probably steal their wives and ravage their daughters...

(I exaggerate.....some.)

FGS

[Maitre_Z]

The dirty little secret in Indiana is that it has been going down hill for the last 20-30 years. Wags now speak of it as the Mississippi of the North. I can't help thinking that know-nothings like Mr. H. are behind this trend.
Did you grow up in Indiana? Did you go to school there?
Recent studies have indicated that Indiana has one of the lowest college educated work forces in the country (at least above the Mason-Dixon line). Not because we couldn't crack the books but because most of us who went to college had to leave the state after graduation.
I would include "bible college" (snicker, snicker) graduate Dan Burton in with the obscurantists

[Bigun]

If he's hangin with my old friend Ron Paul he HAS to be an OK guy!

We need many more just like him! ;>)

[Republic]

A great big huge AMEN to your comment!

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[carpio]

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Is there some way to support Hostettler from afar? Other than the obvious which is campaign contributions I mean?

[carpio]

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