Andrew Hurst Delivered the Thunder From the Left

please note, this is my first time trying to transcribe a debate and may have missed reported some of the quotes below. Please consider all quotes to be a “paraphrase” of what the candidate said

Thunder from the left is what was promised, and it came. I need to catch at least a little sleep as I’m a full time student, but I wanted to get the best quotes of the debate up here tonight. The analysis will come tomorrow.

Everyone I talked to, including non-partisans said that Andy kicked ass. Even some of the reporters (let’s see if they print that tomorrow). About 2/3 of the audience was pro-Hurst, with 1/3 pro-Davis.

The debate was supposed to start at 7:30, yet Davis showed up at 7:57 (the moderators and host killed time until he arrived). This brings us to our first quote.

#1 “Name calling won’t catch Osama Bin Laden, fix healthcare or transportation that prevented you from getting here on time”. Andrew Hurst to Tom Davis in the opening statements, he was referring to a Washington Examiner article in which Tom Davis called Andy a “goofball”.

#2 In the same Washington Examiner article Tom Davis said “[Andrew Hurst] hasn’t done a thing”, Andy responds with “I haven’t supported Bush 90% of the time, I haven’t taken special interest money, I didn’t support the war when it started and I don’t support staying the course”

#3 Regarding a question on striking the balance between privacy and homeland security, Andrew Hurst said “can you believe it, in this country we are talking about torturing people”

#4 In response to the above question Ferdinando Greco (Green Party) begins by saying “All I know is what I hear on TV”, then fumbles around for a few seconds and goes on to say “I’m sorry that’s all I have”, Andrew Hurst then flips through his notes and says to Greco “here, you can use mine”, laughter abounds from all sides. I should note that Greco seemed extremely unprepared, and if it wasn’t on his talking points, he had no clue what to say. This happened more than once.

#5 Tom Davis wins whopper of the year in his response to this question “ we may well have been hit again without the Patriot Act”…

#6 Andrew Hurst: “Every Problem in Iraq was predicted…We are solving nothing…It is time to change the war”

#7 Tom Davis again on a whopper (this time with cheese) “No Child Left Behind is a good bill”

#8 In response Andy says “I didn’t know this was possible but Tom Davis received a Zero Rating from the National Education Association, Cut $12.7 Billion from Student assistance, and created an under funded mandate by $40 Billion…we can’t balance the budget on the backs of our future”

#9 DOUBLE WHOPPER Tom Davis “I SUPPORTED TUNNEL TO TYSONS”, yes he had the balls to say that after he threatened to cut off federal funds if Governor Kaine went with the tunnel, so that his maxed out campaign contributors Bechtel could keep the above ground contract.

# 10 Andrew Hurst “Corruption predates Republicans, they just perfected it”, a response to Tom Davis saying that corruption in the House predates his tenure as Chairman of the Government Reform and Oversight Committee.

# 11 Andrew Hurst “I will be voting NO [on the constitutional amendment], I’m a United Methodist and in my church marriage is between a man and a woman, but my marriage is not threatened by gay or straight people getting married.

And finally in Andy’s closing statements responding to Tom Davis harping about some ballfield that he claims he got for Fairfax County

”What good is a ballfield, if that child will die in Iraq for no good reason”

Nate de la Piedra is the Online Outreach Coordinator for the Andrew Hurst for Congress 2006 Campaign. The ideas expressed herein belong to Nate de la Piedra and do not necessarily represent those of Andrew Hurst, his advisors, staff, or "The Campaign".