 Congressmen Bucshon Made Mistake By Not Debating His Opponent
The Republican voters of the 8th Congressional District are going to have quite a decision to make in the May 8th primary election. They will be choosing between the incumbent Congressman Dr. Larry Buschon and his fellow physician, political newcomer Dr. Richard Moss. Dr. Buschon survived a challenge from the Club For Growth’s funding and Christy Risk in 2014.
This year, it appears that Dr. Buschon enjoys the backing of his party’s establishment. That should make for an easier re-election bid, but Dr. Moss is launching a strong effort to unseat him. Dr. Moss has challenged Dr. Buschon to a public debate, but the incumbent has refused to participate. We think that Dr. Buschon declined the challenge because of the conventional belief he has nothing to gain and everything to lose by debating. The power of the incumbency is on Buschon’s side. The voters know who he is and what his stances are. The challenger is not well know, especially in the more populous parts of the district. He lives and practices in Jasper, while Dr. Buschon practiced in Evansville and lives in Warrick County.
Both candidates have a great deal in common, both personally and politically. They share a common profession and strong conservative ideals. A debate between the two would have been an effective way for Republicans to distinguish between them. We believe that Dr. Buschon’s refusal to debate may have made this into a referendum on just how strongly voters really feel about getting rid of the Washington “establishment.†We will see if the GOP electorate in this area truly wants to change Washington, as this is boiling down to a choice between the status quo candidate and a “fresh face†in the capitol. It may be that Dr. Buschon made a mistake by following the conventional wisdom of not debating in this most unconventional primary. Failing to set himself apart may well prove to be a mistake that is fatal to his political career. If Dr. Moss presents himself to the voters as a political outsider running against the “establishment†we expect that he will do well in the approaching pri.mary.
We invite both candidates to tell us what sets them apart from their opponent. We will share their unedited replies with our readers.
Buschon has not made a good impression on most of this district, with his inaccessibility and part in shutting down the government. Anybody who believes in term limits believes he has met his shelf-life limit as an officeholder, as well. He would, I think, make an easier target in the fall for Dr. Orentlicher than Dr. Moss would. This is going to be an interesting race.
Orentlicher? Isn’t he the guy that left his family in Indianapolis to move into an apartment in Terre Haute so he could run for Congress? I heard he was an ethics consultant.
“Do as I say, not as I do” ethics consultant?
Did you, by chance, vote for Dan Coats?
I’ll bet he did vote for the North Carolina dweller, who registered to vote out of his son’s basement. That wasn’t unethical, though. Coates had an “R” behind his name!
Since he teaches biomedical ethics in Indianapolis and Terre Haute, it makes sense that he maintains residences in both places. Are you trying to imply that makes him unethical?
Intellectually, he can eat the lunches of either GOP candidate and he has run a successful campaign in the area before. No wonder you are trying to imply some sort of personal criticism of the man, because the Republicans understand what a challenge he presents in the 8th District.
Someday…..there is gonna be a time when the industry and blue collar and construction and uniformed, hard-working employees of Evansville and the 8th District are gonna wake up and realize they have been casting votes for a local GOP Congressman who continues to be their worst enemy….sending their jobs overseas, driving their wages down in the interest of their donor/lobbyist class who collaborate with foreign manufacturers and who insist that private market healthcare will actually be cheaper for that working class.
They have been foolishly voting for people like Bucshon, Hostettler and such for years.
They have been TOTALLY abused and exploited by these guys who tell them their guns are gonna be taken away to make sure they keep voting GOP.
And they do. They keep voting for the local GOP Congressman. Keep losing their jobs, keep watching their wages go down….it’s lose, lose, lose….but they keep voting for that GOP guy because of fear over guns.
Buschon and the GOP Congressman works for donors, NOT YOU.
He does not represent your best interests…at all.
Let’s hope “someday” comes this November, but I’m not holding my breath.
Does anyone else keep noticing that doctors keep running for political office (at least in the 8th district), yet our medical bills/costs keep going up…
There is a line in the movie, “Charlie Wilson’s War” that says this perfectly: “Congressmen aren’t elected by Voters, they’re elected by Contributors”……..which is another way of saying FFT, you are EXACTLY correct. Both of these primary opponents are running for the 8th District for the Donor Support (especially the NRA and the health care lobby), not for the citizens of the 8th District.
The working class in the 8th District is huge, and it keeps voting these guys in, not over jobs or wages or productive economic issues…..instead……they keep voting because of some bull—- campaign slogan about “taking away our guns.” Pretty despicable.
First off, any politician who refuses to debate their opponent should be shunned like the plague. It may not seem like it at the time, but IMHO, we would be better off getting rid of any arrogant SOB who doesn’t support the voters right to at least know an opinion other than theirs.
That said, the inflation of our health care system has been my pet peeve for years. Whether you hate ObamaCare, love it, or indifferent, there is something called the IPAB board in it that Mr. Bucshon denigrated relentlessly during his past campaigns.
The sole purpose of the IPAB board was to find waste, fraud, abuse AND better ways for our health care system to operate in order to save our financial strapped country. He claimed “Do you want unelected bureaucrats to have control of your health care.”
What he left out was any suggestions the board came up with to help save our country from financial ruin had to be sent to congress, voted on and approved before being initiated.
All the sensationalism of ISIS killing us to Ebola to taking our guns away to you name it, takes a back seat to our health care inflation which has already been the most destructive force this country has faced since WW11.
I don’t know enough about how seriously Dr. Moss or Orentlicher take health care inflation Food for Thoughts, but Bucshon has already shown me he is even in support of more of it. Which means he doesn’t have a conservative bone in his body….
An incumbent almost NEVER benefits from a debate. If, however, the voters of the 8th District would check the true politics of both candidates, there is little difference, and a vote for either will be a vote against progress. My suggestion: vote Democratic!
Both Bucshon and Moss are two peas in a pod. There is no difference so a debate would be useless. Neither should be elected. Orentlicher on the other hand has some intelligence and original ideas. Would love to see him get a foothold locally. However I have to agree with DB. People in the Evansville area are cattle easily driven through the chute and are somehow afraid or too lazy to take time to learn and think.
They are two peas in a pod, it’s a good metaphor.
By the way, did anyone listen to Fresh Air on WNIN today? Quite good. Take the time to listen to the replay.
I never vote for someone who refuses to debate their opponent
Bucshon is afraid to debate because Dr. Moss is the only anti-establishment candidate running.
Succinct editorial.
Two peas in a pod? Let’s get serious. I have spoken face to face with Doctors Buschon and Moss. I am a 27 year veteran of the U.S. Navy and Vietnam. Buschon had two years in the Navy and never left Balboa Hospital in San Diego. I had hoped he would have a serious interest in the plights of Veterans. He is instead interested in receiving massive donations from the GOP Party machinery. Moss, on the other hand, is not a veteran but understands veterans and their problems with VA. He supports the whole Constitution, by its original intent. Buschon picks and chooses from the Constitution like a smorgasbord to obtain more votes but disregards it in Washington. To accuse these two men of having the same characteristics as two peas in a pod is totally absurd. That is about like accusing Pres. J.F. Kennedy of being just like Pres. Obama simply because they were both Democrats. I know both men and I would much rather see the Constitutional activist, Dr. Moss, in Washington than the “do nothing” Congressional leach, Dr. Buschon, remain in office.
My spouse is 66 years old and was in the service. Do the math. Buschon made big promises before going to DC the first time. Then the Party got hold of him. It happens to every who is elected. They have to tow the party line to some extent or another. I don’t have much hope that Moss would be any different. I think he could be sold a line about doing good and things not ending so well. He is also an extremist I think. Trying too hard to be perceived in one direction and I don’t believe he can deliver. Glad you have spoken with him. That gives you a judgment base. But it is easy to profess strong points of view and in DC difficult if not impossible to achieve them. Orentlichter is a more thoughtful less foot stomping type who brings a more even moderate point of view willing to be a part of the whole governing body, not believing, as Moss does, that all by himself he can push things further than Buschon has (which isn’t far).
What is there to debate? Congress has a 9% approval rating. They suck and even they know it. Listening to Moss’s commercials on the radio though, I couldn’t blame Buscheon for not debating because Moss sounds like a rerun of the past 6 years of a do nothing congressman. Vote another 70 times to do away with our healthcare with nothing to replace it with. Promise of jobs, just not here in the U.S. More and more renaming of Post Offices. No fixing our infastructure. This is a party of “no” ideas, everything is, no! The only yes vote is for more days off each year and then blame it on the President that nothing is getting better. That is unless you are a congressman or part of the 1%.
So, let’s fix this now, and hold debates including ALL candidates on the ballot for IN08 US House of Representatives.
All of us.
People are sick of incumbent candidates and parties making all the rules. Elections are for voters, not for candidates. And voters need more information than will fit on a bumper sticker.
This is at least as hiring a janitor, right? Who’d hire anybody without face-to-face interviews?
Make this happen. Let voters see ALL their choices.
Comments are closed.