Yawn. We want real change, not just one politician taking the place of another.

Excellent and well crafted article, Dan H.

Fitz looks like he has renewed energy and purpose.

Not too excited about Fitzpatrick. Would prefer a new face and voice for the local GOP … but with same old, same old unimaginative local GOP leadership, what do you expect? While this will no doubt keep the local GOP leadership happy, independents (like me) won’t get excited and it probably means Murphy will win in November (though I expect it will be very close). Fitzpatrick = no crossover vote.

“For four years, I hoped and prayed that our country would start to rebuild a new and vigorous start to providing jobs, improving health care, keeping us safe and reducing taxes on working families.”

What? Fitz didn’t weant to try to tackle any of that when he was in congress before. He voted lockstep with the Bush Administration to deny a lot of that when he was in. Lest people forget, it was under the Bush/GOP watch and beyond that we saw health care and good economic stewardship get tossed aside.

It’s ironic that Fitxpatrick would kick off his campaign at a hospital that gave him a quality health care that he would deny to others.

Ed H, my delusional friend.

Fitzpatrick and the GOP have proposed a multitude of things that would greatly REDUCE the cost of health care to the average person, from cross-state availability (not single state monopolies like the Obama-Murphy Democrats demand) to tort reform …. to expanded health-care IRA savings plans….. to free clinics in EVERY county in America. (similar to the free clinics we have right here in Bucks County)

No my delusional friend Ed H ….. the only thing Obama and Murphy have proposed is having the federal government be in control of EVERY facet of health care…..

…. from controlling how many people and what ethnicity can or can’t attend medical school …

… to the number of specialists allowed to practice in each state and each field of medicine…

And FORCING all individuals over 18 and also all small businesses to pay fees and fines of $4,000 a year an over if they don’t join this Obama insanity….

… to allowing Obama supporting UNIONS to NOT PAY TAXES on their health care benefits while us regular schlubs DO pay taxes.

Why do you think that even overwhelmingly Democrat MASSECHUSETTS gave a resounding victory to the Republican Scott Brown who vowed to stop this Obama insanity from happening.

Fitzpatrick has been a beacon of conservative common sense, not only in health care issues but across the political spectrum.

Was he perfect? Perhaps not.

But he is light years ahead of quivering fraidy-cat Murphy who doesn’t even have the stones to come out in public and do an OPEN town hall meeting.

While Fitzpatrick’s entry no doubt keeps the Doylestown GOP and its inner-circle closed-minded supporters very happy, this is very uninspiring. So, what does the local GOP do in response to Scott Brown’s grassroots-based win in MA? Does it find a fresh, new voice? Does it find someone who will appeal to independents and people outside of the hardcore GOP party people? OF COURSE NOT! It is the same old GOP of Harry Fawkes – the same old GOP which can’t even keep up with the Tea Party movement in a Rasmussen poll:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/...

Indeed, here in Bucks, I am sure that the perception of the Tea Party movement is at least 20 percentage points ahead of Pat P. and Doylestown HDQR. Like it or not, Fitz helped Bush and the GOP grow big government in 2004-06. How is Fitz’s sudden change of heart concerning his fiscally liberal past any different from Murphy saying that he will not support any more non-military discretionary spending? It is politics as usual for both Fitz and Murphy. While I, like most people, am tired of Dems blaming Bush for everything, this is a dumb move by the local GOP because Fitz was part of the Bush machine and such criticism is fair in my mind … and it is why Fitz won’t appeal to independents … and why Fitz will lose to Murphy in a vicious mud-slinging battle in November. With two such uninspiring candidates and the likelihood of two highly negative campaigns, I will stay home and focus on the Eagles this fall – as I think both Fitzpatrick and Murphy stink. Very sad day in the 8th District. Some frustrated Dem should challenge Murphy in the primary and the GOP should find someone else.

Also, as Beth H is a member of the Fitzpatrick campaign, I think http://www.pa2010.com needs to either add a blogger from the Murphy campaign or ask her to take a sabbatical until she is no longer with Fitzpatrick.

Dave my reality challenged buddy…

The GOP’s proposals just have one thing going against them… they generally don’t lower costs or provide better coverage. Tort reform? A whopping savings of .5% of costs for the insurance companies (with not controls for passing any savings on to consumers). The same thing with opening state lines for health insurance companies. Basically, Fitxpatrick’s unspoken agenda is to see outsourcing of jobs to other countries by keeping health insurance costs higher, so health insurance execs can keep on taking consumers to the cleaners. And in an economy that needs jobs to be created, obstructing that goal from the GOP (never mind the fact that it was their party that caused most of the problems) is just plain silly.

Sorry to say it Dave, but the delusions are all yours my friend. When you discount what the reality is and then move to put your failed conservative idealology in front of dealing with that reality, it’s a recipe for disaster.

Bucks voter,

I wouldn’t put too much stock in Scott Brown’s win as being the lever that gets the GOP back into the driver’s seat. Scott Brown ran against a candidate that didn’t go out and work the crowds like he did. Coakley’s loss can be partly blamed from voter discontent (the voters seem to think that the Democrats are supposed to fix 8 years of Bush and over a decade of GOP rule in just a year) but overall, she looked on that Senate seat as hers for the taking. She was outworked in that campaign, much like how Murphy outworked Fitzpatrick in 2006.

The Republican proposal reviewed by CBO cost more then the present proposal and covered way less people. The Republicans have never presented a real proposal or made any attempt to solve this problem. They in fact ignored the problem for eight years. It is clear now and has been for years that the
Republican party does not care that working Americans are dieing without healthcare.

Ed, I wholly agree that the Scott Brown victory does not get the GOP back in the drivers seat. In fact, that’s my point. By Harry F. and Pat P. ordaining Fitzpatrick the GOP-endorsed candidate for the Republican primary (if they allow a primary at all), it shows that the local GOP learned nothing about appealing to the grassroots, independents, etc. Unfortunately, it’s business as usual for the local GOP … and it also means that Murphy will probably win. As I believe there are at least 30,000 more registered Democrats than registered Republicans – and all the local Dems I know still love Murphy, what is the plan for getting the crossover vote from independents and moderate Dems? With Fitz-Harry-Pat, the answer is no plan. Look how miserably Harry-Pat-local GOP did in 2008 in support of McCain and Manion. They couldn’t have gotten their butts kicked harder … but let’s let this dated machine continue their leadership in endorsing a GOP candidate prior to the primary (which is unheard of outside of SE Pennsylvania). Great idea (sarcasm intended).

With my “GOP Party People” friends, they love the idea of Fitzpatrick. Outside of them, there is little to no excitement or buzz about Fitz. And unfortunately for Fitz, my “GOP Party People” friends are outnumbered 10-to-1 (at least).

Bucks voter,
I misunderstood the point you were making. I agree with the sentiment6, even if I’m not of the same opinion about some of the issues as you are. Frankly, the Democrats have a chance to bang some nails into some GOP coffins if they play strong (which admittedly, is something Democrats rarely seem able to do). Fitzpatrick’s rhetoric and his record makes him an easy target for Murphy to take aim at, frankly. Still, I’ll never say any race is over until the General Election Day, so no predictions from me. Murphy’s been great for the local and County Democratic Partry because he’s been a part of the grassroots building that has been going on in Bucks County. The Demographics are changing and that makes it harder for the GOP to come back from their losses.

While anyone is better than Murphy, Fitzpatrick is not the answer. He was one of the more liberal Republicans while in congress, and brought home plenty of earmarks. If you are opposed to earmarks, why would you re-elect Fitzpatrick?

Weak candidate, and disappointing on the local GOP leaders’ part that they would go back to him. Yeah, I guess he has name recognition, but if that’s the best you can say about him, it isn’t much. I’m hoping one or two of the other candidates buck the party powers and stay in the race until the primary. Let the people have a choice, for once in our lives. (And the party leaders should remember NY 23)