By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Tuesday, January 13, the President of the United States, Barack H. Obama, gave his final State of The Union Address. Jonathan McConnell (R candidate for US Senate) and Becky Gerritson (R candidate for US House 2nd District) both released statements critical of the President’s vision for America
Gerritson said, “Leading up to last night’s State of the Union address, all we were told to expect was a focus on “the big things that will guarantee an even stronger, better, more prosperous America for our kids—the America we believe in.”
McConnell said, “I, like most Americans, am glad tonight was the last time President Obama will be given the House floor to lay out his disastrous vision for America. Over the last seven years he has reigned unchecked from the White House, unduly wielding power ceded by a Congress eager to pass the buck.”
Gerritson said, “He spoke of creating a “new economy that works for us all” through ideas that would cripple the weakened economy we already have by broadening—not reforming—universal health care, Social Security and Medicare. He admitted that Islamic terrorists pose severe threats to our nation’s people while in almost the same breath defending the intake of thousands of un-vetted refugees from ISIS-infested lands and scoffing at our military’s rapidly declining budget. And he insisted America join him in playing Don Quixote—abandoning our natural energy industries to fight the mythical windmills of climate change.”
McConnell attacked his Primary opponent, incumbent Senator Richard Shelby, “”Far from being a thorn in Obama’s side, establishment Republicans like Richard Shelby have done little but rubber stamp his foreign and domestic policy, confirming Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and failing to defund Obamacare and Planned Parenthood. Just a few weeks ago the debt ceiling was raised once again—something Shelby has done 20 times during his 37-year career in DC—saddling generations with trillions of dollars of national debt.”
Gerritson continued, “Yet, it was perhaps his overall insistence that he was proposing a better country for our kids that struck me as the most outlandish. Last night, we watched a man stand in front of the country demanding a brighter future for children while sending government money to a corporation that murders them for profit. Before we can talk about how to build more prosperous lives for our kids, we have to first build a country that allows them a life at all.”
McConnell said, “On March 1st Alabamians will cast their ballots for new leadership across the state and to represent them in Washington, DC, but the man or woman selected for the Oval Office is only one facet of how we must work to right the ship.”
Gerritson said, “The First Lady sat next to an empty chair meant to represent the children killed by gun violence. If the President had wanted to represent our country’s children killed by legal abortion, there would have been no one left in the chamber to applaud.”
McConnell stated, “I’m running for US Senate because we can’t fix 2016’s problems by reelecting the same career politicians who caused them; because our nation’s credit card bill will soon come due and we must actually make the cuts and reforms necessary to preserve the American dream; and because I fought too hard in Iraq for our nation to continue down this path toward an ever more intrusive big government.”
Gerritson said, “I do agree with our President on one thing, that we absolutely must do something to create a better world for our future generations. And that begins by ensuring we have future generations with the defunding of Planned Parenthood and the restoration of a nation that defines life the way God defines it—beginning at conception.”
Gerritson is well known for her conservative activism and presidency of the Wetumpka Tea Party. Gerritson and her group were among the conservatives allegedly targeted by Lois Lerner and a rogue unit of IRS investigators. Despite the destruction of subpoenaed evidence, to date no one has been imprisoned for any actions associated with the IRS scandal.
Gerritson is seeking the seat in Congress currently held by Congresswoman Martha Roby (R-Montgomery).
McConnell is a former Marine Corps Captain who served in Iraq.
While Republican challengers and incumbents alike have attacked President Obama, if elected the next Congress will have to deal with a new President to be named by the American people in the rapidly approaching primaries and November election.