In North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District, incumbent Richard Hudson is facing a new electorate. When the legislature redrew his district in February, they gave him three new counties and took away others where he’s better known. Now, he needs to introduce himself to voters in Cumberland, Hoke, and Moore Counties. According to the Southern Pines Pilot, he started with a meeting of Moore County leaders in Pinehurst.
Gone is the old fire-breathing Hudson who routinely bashes the president and Obamacare while harping on abortion and pandering to his right flank. The new Hudson is a pragmatic, common sense politician who works across the aisle to get things done. He’s creating the persona he needs to get elected in a new district.
Richard Hudson is a man who will be what he needs to be. When he moved to the district from Washington to run for the seat, he claimed to be a small businessman. He might never have run a business, but he has filed the papers to set one up. He says that he served as former 8th District Congressman Robin Hayes’ district manager prior to running for office. That’s technically true, but Hudson forgets to mention that he spent five years on Capitol Hill working in Congressional offices between the two gigs.
In his more conservative old district, Hudson wrote weekly updates that focused on social issues and divisive politics. He proudly voted time and again to repeal Obamacare to bring back preexisting conditions and deny health coverage to millions of Americans. He gladly shut down government with Senator Ted Cruz and voted to defund Planned Parenthood, denying health care to women across the country.
That guy’s gone. He’s been replaced by a softer, gentler Hudson who is suddenly more interested in working across the aisle and finding bipartisan solutions. And he might, if that’s what benefits him.
Hudson is a chameleon, an all too common type of politician who is more interested in staying in office than getting anything done. In reality, he’s a political hack who built his career running campaigns and working on Capitol Hill. He says he hasn’t heard many good idea come out of Washington and he should know. He’s been up there for over ten years, playing the system and moving up the ladder.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
Concerning Hudson has anyone paid attention to his ads how he tells untruths about how they are coming to destroy christanity and that the President and Hillary don’t care ,and then about the ( VA) how the veterans aren’t getting the help they need. The best I can remember is that the republicans have the purse strings to fund the (VA) so that the vets can get the proper care, but the house refused to fund it .So Hudson should be careful about what he says because some of us are listening and not just taking them at their word.
Hudson totally disregards or misrepresents the fact that, over at least the last 7 years, the GOP in Congress has voted against on a long list of bills designed to help veterans on healthcare, education, family life, and re-entering non-military life.
So watching/listening Hudson and his Republican colleagues solemnly wrap themselves in the American flag and praise our armed forces, then do little themselves to actually help vets, all the while while blaming Dems for abandoning our military past and present, really turns my stomach.
Plus, claiming (as he does in a campaign ad) that his politics are driven by his faith and religion demonstrates that he is clueless about the notions of freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.
I want my government reps and leaders to be “driven” by the laws and principles of this nation, by a strong desire to work for the interests of all those they represent, and by an ethic of public service.
Ebrun: Thanks so much for calling me “obtuse.” It forced me go check the 3 polls —individually—that RCP offered in calculating in its most recent polling average on the ACA. And I discovered that Jay is onto what so many of us here on these blog comment threads have learned, i.e., you display a lack of understanding on the interpretation of polling and statistical information, and you always seem to leap to conclusions that better fit your partisan narrative.
Specifically, the most recent polling data on ACA popularity used in the RCP average was the Rasmussen. And as I noted earlier, it did not ask about repealing ACA, only about favorable vs. unfavorable stance. So, as Jay and I have pointed out earlier, this poll does not support your contention that over half of Americans want ACA repealed. The great majority of polls on ACA have found that “repeal” is not what the majority of Americans want; they want it fixed, expanded or improved.
The second poll in the RCP average was the AP. In it, 39% of Americans strongly favored repeal (“replacement”), will 33% opposed repeal (“replacement”). So, it’s a far cry (one might just plain call it a misleading lie) to go from such findings to a claim that more than half of Americans want ACA repealed.
Finally, the third poll in the RCP average was the NYTimes/CBS poll. It found that 63% of Americans either want ACA kept as is or kept with minor changes.
Your claim –followed by your various explanations– that a majority of Americans want ACA repealed is bogus.
Since the beginning of 2014, the vast majority of RCP polling averages have shown that over 50 percent of the public opposed/against Obamacare. If one is against or opposed, they would obviously favor repeal and replacement. That’s the problem with the polls you cite. Not one asked if the respondents favored repeal and replacement. That is the Republican consensus position and the obvious view of a majority of Americans
A Gallup poll in January reported that only 26% of the country identified themselves as Republican. The “consensus” of Republicans you rely upon would be less than 100% of Republicans and would amount to fewer than a quarter of American voters. When you use the word “obvious,” you mean something is obvious to you, but it may not be true in fact. It is not obvious that the Republican position is the view of the majority of Americans. Again, if the poll asked the respondents whether they were pleased with Affordable Care, it is not the same as asking if they favor repeal. Many may want to make constructive changes in the Act. They may wish for better benefits or lower premiums or better coverage for certain conditions. Your use of the word “obvious” is too expansive. Much of what you think is obvious is not obvious at all and is unsupported conjecture.
Ebrun, you earlier called me obtuse. So, based on your last response, I hereby call you stupid.
The second poll in the RCP average (THAT YOU REFERRED ME TO) was the AP. In it, 39% of Americans strongly favored repeal (“replacement”), will 33% opposed repeal (“replacement”).
Finally, the third poll in the most recent RCP average (THAT YOU REFERRED ME TO) was the NYTimes/CBS poll. It found that 63% of Americans either want ACA “kept as is” or kept “with minor changes.”
Neither of these most recent polls—noted by RCP and that YOU sent my way—show that over half the American public favor repeal.
Please grow up and stop gaslighting.
A.L., you need to work on word definition in the English language. Repeal and replace have different meanings. None of the polls I’ve seen asked if the responder favored repeal AND REPLACEMENT.
BTW, I didn’t call you obtuse, I wrote “don’t be obtuse.” There is a difference, but it must be too subtle for you to discern.
Really? You are going with that? That wanting a law “replaced” can’t possibly mean wanting a law “repealed”? LOL.
Oh, and another thing about gaslighters: their responses/rebuttals, like yours, get lamer and more “obtuse” as more facts are thrown against them.
Richard Hudson, from his bio and from opensecrets.org, graduated from college and moved to Washington D.C. He stayed there, learned his trade, befriended the lobbyists and the powerful, then, when Howard Coble retired, saw an opportunity with a nice, gerrymandered district and pounced. He started a “small business”, a consulting firm, and entered the Primary for Rep. Coble’s office. As soon as he won the Primary he shut down his “small business”. Over 90% of his campaign funding came from a handful of big donors and anonymous PAC’s.
Richard Hudson, son of a schoolteacher, a man who has never held a real job has leveraged power into money. He is a multi-millionaire while many his age are still trying to pay off their college debt. Sorry, but he is the worst kind of politician. One who will do, or say, anything to gain even more power, even more wealth. Vote him, and his kind out.
What a pack of blatant lies and gross misinformation. Hudson was never elected to succeed Howard Coble, who represented NC’s 6th Congressional District. Hudson defeated Democrat Incumbent Larry Kissell in the 8th Congressional District in 2012. Mark Walker succeeded Rep, Coble in the 6th District in 2014. Seems your sources got it very wrong.
Although born in Virginia, Hudson’s family moved to Charlotte in 1975. He graduated from Myers Park High School in 1996 and later from UNC Charlotte. And perhaps you can tell us how the son of a school teacher “who never had a real job has leveraged power into money.”
Just another left wing attempt to smear a successful conservative politician. No doubt Mr. Mills appreciates your support.
So blatant lies shouldn’t be recognized if they’re aimed at politicians you oppose? We should be politically correct and say the liar just misunderstood the truth, right? More hypocrisy from the left.
Another prime example of your intellectual acumen, D.G.?
Give it a break, D.g. Your frequent, tedious and condescending tirades are redundant and egocentric. I am not paying attention to them any more and I doubt any of your fellow liberals are, either.
Nothing is a sure thing, D.G., but I am predicting Burr will win re election by a rather comfortable margin. His expertise and leadership on national security will show him to be much more knowledgable than his inexperienced opponent. But we’ll have to wait till November to find out if I am right.
Hudson is a narrow minded waste of space and time…Hopefully he will be retired, forever and moves out of state. Let all these crybabies keep right on crying. Chameleon-no SNAKE IN THE GRASS-YES
The 8th District race will pit a lot of out-of-state money against a Democrat who is well behind in fund raising. Hudson has already collected more than $740,000.00 including money from Koch Industries, compared to less than $10,000.00 for Thomas Mills. This is only one of the races where billionaires are buying a legislature using the unfair advantage created by “Citizens United.”
Political operatives have identified races in all 435 Congressional districts where they believe that they can take over the country on behalf of a few billionaires. In 2012, massive spending by the Kochs, the Popes and an assortment of heavies changed 900 seats in state and federal legislatures. The money comes with strings attached. The money comes with marching orders to enact the ALEC agenda, to allow environmental pollution in our air and streams, the continue the destruction of our public schools, to continue the exporting of jobs overseas and the termination of Medicare and Social Security.
If Mr. Mills uses his blog to have a small voice in the political arena when his opponents use the loud speakers of television, radio and full-page ads, I do not begrudge him. The right wingers would probably have taken away David’s slingshot. They always want Goliath to crush the people.
Thomas Mills, this is no longer a news website. This is now just you writing rants against your opponent in the 8th district. Hudson is a phenomenal man, and representative. You will lose very badly.
Which Hudson is a “phenomenal man”? The old iteration or the new one he’s invented to keep his seat?
Then again, it worked for Richard Nixon. Some of us are old enough to remember the “new” Nixon. So there is precedent for reinventions like Hudson’s reinvention of himself.
For many years of my life I was represented by a Congressman with whom I disagreed on many, if not most, issues. But he was both competent and honest. And I can honestly say I was never embarrassed to be represented by him in Congress. He wasn’t a phony.
Being a hypocritical phony is never a good thing.
Let’s hope the voters of the redrawn 8th retire Mr. Hudson. We already have an overabundance of hypocritical phonies in office.
Good point, Jaxon. I was just trying to remember who was Rep. Hudson’s Democrat opponent in the upcoming election. It is, of course, none other Mr. Mills. I guess this blog can serve as a low-cost vehicle to attack his opponent. And while Rep. Hudson is taking a “softer, gentler” tone in his election campaign , not-so-much for Mr. Mills.
Don’t you just love the double standards liberals employ. Mr. Hudson wrote weekly updates “that focused on social issues and divisive politics.” Why he even voted to repeal Obamacare in accord with the views of over half of the American public.
While Rep Hudson’s positions on public issues that come before Congress are mean-spirited, “divisive politics,” it’s quite virtuous to describe your opponent a chameleon and label him a “political hack.” Nothing divisive about that, right?
I won’t call you a liar, Ebrun, because then you’ll feign outrage and gaslight your response. But why do you always have to twist the truth so badly?
This from the most recent Rasmussen Poll on Obamacare, Thursday, March 03, 2016:
“Six years after its passage by Congress, President Obama’s national health care law remains unpopular with a majority of voters who still believe it will lead to higher costs and lower the quality of care.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 43% of Likely U.S. Voters have a favorable opinion of the health care law, including 19% with a Very Favorable opinion. Fifty-four percent (54%) view the law unfavorably, including 37% who regard it Very Unfavorably.
Voters tend to think a piecemeal approach to fixing Obamacare is a better route than scrapping it altogether.”
It is not, in any way, that “over half of the American public” want ACA repealed as you claim. This poll, and most all of the reputable polls taken over the last 2 years, from left and right leaning polling agencies, have indicated that the public wants it fixed and improved, with better options and coverage, but do not want it repealed.
Why must you skew the facts and the truth all the time?
Latest (3/17/16) Real Clear Politics average of public opinion polls on Obamacare:
Against/Oppose49.7%
For/Favor 36.1%
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/obama_and_democrats_health_care_plan-1130.html
You an spin it anyway you want, A.L., but Obamacare has and continues to be unpopular with a majority of the American public.
Ebrun quotes a reputable source, and the numbers are accurate, so I don’t think he is a liar. There is a big difference, though, between having an unfavorable view of Obamacare and seeking its repeal. Some may wish to see improvements in the existing program. The Rasmussen poll did not ask whether the respondents wanted the law repealed.
The worst thing that could happen to the Republicans would be to repeal the law. Tens of thousands of people would die without coverage. In North Carolina, many have died because of the failure to expand Medicaid. No one talks about it.
Jay:
In his original post, Ebrun did not cite any source. He said “he (Hudson) even voted to repeal Obamacare in accord with the views of over half of the American public.” Can we agree on this?
I responded by essentially saying that the most recent poll did not indicate that the majority over half) of Americans wanted ACA “repealed.” Am I right here?
Ebrun responded by citing the most recent RCP poll average, which does not show or say anything about Americans’ position on ACA repeal. Correct?
That RCP latest average also showed that only 49.3% of Americans viewed the law unfavorably, which would translate into LESS than half of Americans. Right?
Finally, note that, when called out, he gaslighted on his next reply, as he he changed his tune from ACA repeal to its unpopularity.
In sum, I didn’t call him a liar. I said he twisted (as in “warped,” “bent,” or “jerked”) the truth. It’s what he does…..
Don’t be so obtuse, A.L. A near majority (49.7%) are “against” or “oppose” Obamacare which would mean to any any rational person that they support repeal Now it may be true that many of those may support repeal and replace, but you’re spin on these numbers is partisan attempt to obscure the continual unpopularity of this big government attempt to control the provision of medical care.
Obamacare, however, was not the primary focus of my initial post on this thread. So far no rebuttal to my critique of Mr. Mills’ mean-spirited personal attack on Rep. Hudson.
It is not obtuse to be accurate. Anything less than 50% is less than a majority.
You display a lack of understanding of the poll to claim that those who disfavor the ACA also want to repeal it. The only logical conclusion of the poll is that it is less than half of the people surveyed did not favor it, for some reason. They may have been unhappy about the deductible or the premiums or something else. Your leap to the conclusion that the same people want the act repealed is unwarranted, and, in your case, probably wishful thinking.
To more accurately reflect public opinion, the Rasmussen Poll should have asked: Should the ACA be repealed and replaced? That’s what the GOP is proposing.
Your egregious claim that “tens of thousands of people would die without coverage” and that many in NC have died because Medicaid wasn’t expanded is beyond belief. There is no way such an absurd claim could be substantiated. Public hospitals must treat any patient with life threatening injuries or illnesses whether insured or not. And there are a number of publicly subsidized medical clinics across the state that provide free or low cost care to patients without insurance.
That’s a different poll. And the poll you cited doesn’t support your contention regarding the popularity of the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Interestingly, if you ask people if they like The Affordable Care Act, they generally do, but if you ask them if they like Obamacare (the same thing), they don’t – an endorsement of the value of negative propaganda.
The hard right has not yet proposed a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act after all these years fighting against health care for the poor and the working poor. The repeal of ACT is their only goal. It is part of the long-term strategy of the rabid right wing which wants to do away with any government programs to assist anyone but the richest Americans.
Actually, there have been many studies establishing the morbidity and the mortality of those who do not have health benefits. You probably have not seen them on Fox News or heard about it from Rush and his ilk.
Two things about the use of the emergency room as an alternative to Americans having insurance: 1) it is expensive and stupid, and 2) it is not really coverage. Right wingers like to console themselves with the thought that everyone gets care if they are sick enough. Not true. People get sick and die because they cannot afford health care. Only billionaires like yourself can afford medical services without insurance. Right wingers don’t like to think of themselves as cruel and inhumane, but they cause a lot of death and suffering that isn’t discussed at your country club.
Hey D.g, if you really think the Democrats will defeat Burr and Hudson this time around, I wanna know what you’ve been smokin’.
Voters need to look at how much Hypocrite Hudson has taken in government funds all those years he was in Washington. I’ll be if you add those dollars to his current salary and benefits, since he started dipping into the congressional trough, it will come close to a million dollars. Yet, at the same time, Hudson was cutting health benefits for Americans and complaining about the size of the federal deficits and debt! Perhaps he should start a movement to earn these tax dollars by advocating that the Congress work a five-day week and reducing their congressional salaries to cut federal spending. Think he would take a pay cut?
Always look at what politicians do–not what they say. End of today’s homily.