A little over 50 people who gathered at the GOP Rally Thursday night at Arborwood were treated to an extremely honest conversation from Indiana Congressman Jim Baird.
“I think Congressman Baird is well liked by our people here in Clinton County and he gave a very nice talk,” said Republican Party Chairman Jim Moyer. “He said he might have been a little hard on the Democrats, but I don’t think so.”
Baird was the guest speaker at the event which basically replaced the Lincoln Day Dinner which is the party the Republicans usually have in September. Admitting frustrated by his colleagues on the other side of the aisle, Baird didn’t mince words.
“The things that are holding up the support for small businesses, when you’re talking about defunding the police, when you’re talking about paying a millions of dollars to certain towns and cities in states that have been mismanaged for years by Democrats, you expect us to pay the taxes to help bail them out,” said Baird. “That’s a holdup we’re having right now in D.C. Nancy Pelosi will not let a bill come to the floor. We’ve got $138 billion still in the PPE budget. It’s a balance and it’s already been approved. The funds are there. So, why not try to take care of the some of the small businesses and some of the things we need to keep in order to help save our economy and move on from this pandemic.”
Baird added there is a lack of patriotism in the nation’s capital.
“I never dreamed we could talk about socialism so openly in our country,” said Baird.
Baird was also asked what he enjoys most about coming to events like the GOP Rally.
“Just the enthusiasm, visiting with people in the audience and getting their response and reaction,” said Baird. “There is also a lot of non verbal communication that takes place. Having the feel for wanting to say what we think about this country and having them express that in one way or another.”
Baird was asked how is the best way to try and deal with all the negative talk.
“You have to stay focused,” he said. “You have to recognize what’s important and not get sidetracked on some of these side rails which really are efforts to distract you from the real issues.”
Moyer said he was happy with the way the evening turned out.
“We had a nice turnout and I’m glad we got it done,” he said. “I think we were safe, we all wore masks, we were socially distant and we all behaved ourselves.”