Bud Pierce takes questions after his talk to the Albany Chamber forum Wednesday.
Bud Pierce, M.D., the Republican governor for Oregon governor, makes a point of the fact that he’s not a politician. And it shows.
For 45 minutes Wednesday he talked to more than 200 people at the Albany Chamber of Commerce’s monthly forum. This was a business audience, and the candidate delivered a business-friendly message. You’d think his listeners would have been enthusiastic. But there was hardly any reaction to the message, delivered as though the candidate was reading from his platform. When it was over, the doctor got three or four seconds of polite applause.
The message was standard for Republicans, to the extent that I heard and understood it. Increase education funding. Teach students how to build things. Oregon needs more jobs, and job creation has to be done by the private sector. Regulations should be reasonable and help, not hinder, businesses in their work. Oregon taxes need reform and he would produce a plan. Spending has to be controlled. Forests should be managed better. Technology should be applied to help resource industries thrive. Prosperity must be driven by private business employment. State politics needs balance instead of the heavy dominance by Democrats that we’ve had. And so forth.
It’s all true, what he said. Pierce, a former Marine who became a cancer doctor practicing in Salem, is the kind of reasonable conservative many of us would like to see in the governor’s office. If only he could raise his voice now and then.
His opponent, Gov. Kate Brown, isn’t exactly Miss Showbiz either. But as a Democrat, she doesn’t have to be. (hh)
The candidate listens to a question after his talk in Albany Wednesday.
While Pierce. Is a good example of milk toast republicanism, the most interesting things he’s contributed to the political fray this campaign season is that he will NOT vote for Donald Trump. At least he demonstrates a modicum of intelligence in choosing presidential candidates.
Why does Hering believe that Pierce is uninspiring (he is) but that Governor Brown is equally non-charismatic, yet, according to Herring, “she’s a democrat and doesn’t need to be.” Oh…yeah….Democrats win in Oregon.
As Hering knows full well, Oregon’s last GOP governor, Vic Atiyeh, was the poster child for unexciting candidates, yet he won 2 terms. Bud Pierce makes Vic Atiyeh look like Donald Trump when it comes to personal magnetism.
With over 200 members of the Chamber of Commerce present, why is it that the state GOP can only manage to recruit mediocrity to be the face of the party. Is there not even one charismatic Republican in Oregon? Is there not a “daring, entrepreneurial businessman who could lead Oregon into the promised land?
The fault, Mr. Hering, lies in the total lack of imagination Oregon’s Republican politicians demonstrate election cycle after election cycle. The only people who show up to these sleepy events are the business people who applaud mildly when the candidate trots out the same tired bromides. The applause is brief because the Chamber types desperately want to get back to the workplace and focus on the cash.
So, Mr. Hering…do not blame Kate Brown’s having picked the correct party on which to hang her candidacy. She may not be as exciting as you might like, but at least she’s not like Bud Pierce- the Cure for Insomnia, and headed for defeat.
Jackson, I think the big problem is that Republicans need to face is that they just can’t let the past go. They keep wanting to take the country back to an idealized past that wasn’t as ideal as they believe.
Some, but a dwindling number, still want to get rid of Social Security. Many more want to get rid of Medicare, Medicaid and all the legislation and court decisions that have protected the rights of those that the country habitually suppressed. They want gays to stay in the closet, and would go back to the days that business owners routinely refused service to Blacks, Hispanics, Jews or any person that did not conform to their view of a “good American” . They continually want to re-litigate over 200 years of settled law.
What they really need to do is accept the past as the past. They need to focus on current issues and how they could make things work better.
But most importantly they have to recognize that their party has through decades of lies, pandering and character assassination, put forth the most ill equipped, vile, incompetent, cheating liar that America has ever seen as their presidential candidate, and as the model of the kind of America they want.
Only fools buy rotting fish.
You must eat a lot of rotten fish!
So you want the dog-n-pony Democratic show?!..JE
And why doesn’t Kate Brown have to be either? Is it because the Democratic Party is unified? Makes sense in this current reality where black is white and vice versa. Richardson has publicly stated he cannot endorse and probably will not vote for the Republican Party candidate for POTUS. Richardson certainly IS NOT the current & popular brand of Republican.
Speaking of Don the Con, imagine the howling and inflamed punditry if it was a Democratic Candidate not releasing her tax returns.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/kathie-obradovich/2016/09/21/garrison-keillor-iowa-trump-liar-tax-cheat/90755698/
Boring is better than fascism.
By fascism do you mean the choice for the candidate who promised even more unconstitutional executive orders than the current president?
Do we need a refresher on the definition of fascism?
If you crave entertainment, buy a ticket to some show.
If you want good government, listen to the meaning and then vote. No guarantee that you’ll get what you want, but then life is uncertain.