The Resistance’s dance to the right won’t work in November

The Resistance’s dance to the right won’t work in November
Harley Rouda (Image: YouTube screen grab)

The Resistance has been in full force, wielding its influence in recent Democratic primaries for seats in the House of Representatives.

Democratic candidates seeking to gain influence with the left wing of the party have endorsed nearly every socialist spending scheme from government-run health care to Medicare for illegal aliens. But after winning the primaries, many of these candidates are now running and hiding from the positions they embraced just weeks ago in a desperate attempt to appear less polarizing than they really are.

To illustrate this point, one need not look further than liberal Democrat Harley Rouda, who is attempting to unseat Dana Rohrabacher, a long-time congressman and former speechwriter and special assistant to President Ronald Reagan.

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California’s 48th district is majority Republican and includes a substantial number of right-leaning independents and conservative voters. Despite this, the participants in the crowded Democrat field during the June 2018 primary did their best to out-left each other. Rouda emerged victorious, barely, after supporting a laundry list of ultra-left proposals, including government-run single-payer health insurance.

At the time, he announced his support for Bernie Sanders’s “Medicare for All,” an unworkable and prohibitively expensive proposal that would kick all Americans off their private health insurance and force them into a government-run system that is currently reserved for seniors. Sanders’s version, however, didn’t go far enough for Rouda. No, he promised to support a version sponsored by now-disgraced Congressman John Conyers, which would open Medicare to all residents of the United States, including illegal immigrants.

You see, to win the Democrat primary, Rouda had to prove he was liberal enough. Therefore, he sought and secured the endorsement of the Progressive Democrats of America and promised to join the Progressive Caucus if elected. He made all sorts of other promises, too, including advocating government jobs for all, which would be financed by taxing pensions and retirement plans. He also denounced President Trump as a Russian stooge and said he should be impeached. To show just how left he could go, Rouda even said he would support reparations for slavery.

But now it’s different. Rouda needs not just a majority of Democrats, but a coalition large enough to win in a Republican district during a general election. So, naturally he is running away from the positions he supported just months ago, including his support for government-run healthcare and giving Medicare to illegal aliens. Rouda has repeatedly lied by claiming he never advocated those positions. Don’t take my word for it, let Rouda tell you himself:

Not only does he lie about his previous positions, he is also hypocritical about others. Rouda consistently denounces “big oil,” while attacking Rohrabacher for his alleged poor record on environmental issues. But reporters recently discovered that he personally profited from investments in crude oil.

That’s not all that Rouda says that doesn’t jibe with his personal behavior. When he ran a real estate business in Ohio, his company fired a female employee with cancer. The reason? The health insurance was costing them too much money. The woman sued, and a court awarded her nearly $2 million in damages. So much for the guy who wants to help Americans get health insurance.

Rouda is a formidable candidate in large part because of his personal wealth and receipt of millions of dollars in left-wing money. He is also benefiting from liberals in Santa Monica and Los Angeles busing into Orange County to walk precincts for him. But, he faces an age-old problem. The Democrat base is out for blood, a fact we witnessed when it tried to destroy Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings. It created a litmus test for candidates that includes socialism and big government at every turn. Rouda passed that test and knows he can’t win by showcasing it to the larger electorate.

Congressman Rohrabacher has served our communities well for many years. I haven’t always agreed with him, but at least I know where he stands and trust that he will tell me truthfully what he believes. I can’t say the same about Rouda, and that’s why he’s not who we should send to Washington to fight for us. His history shows that he’s more likely to fight for himself.

Edward Woodson

Edward Woodson

Edward Woodson is a lawyer, now host of the nationally syndicated Edward Woodson Show, which airs daily from 3 to 6 pm EST on gcnlive.com.

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