The national Democrats’ extremism as evidenced by the debate positions of presidential candidates last week exposes the party of the incumbent Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, his chief GOP opponent Rep. Ralph Abraham (R-LA) said on Breitbart News Sunday.
“It showed how unhinged they have become,” Abraham said when asked about the moment when all ten Democrat candidates for president on Thursday evening raised their hands when asked if they would provide government health insurance to illegal aliens. “They have lost touch with reality. They have lost touch with the American people. They are the party of open borders, government-run healthcare, and to fund that you’re looking at 70 percent taxes or greater. It’s just crazy.”
Abraham, a third-term GOP congressman from Louisiana, is running for governor against the incumbent Democrat Gov. Edwards. Edwards has attempted to paint himself as a moderate Democrat, recently signing into law GOP-crafted healthcare legislation and pro-life legislation. He also portrayed himself as pro-Second Amendment. But his comments about being a “proud” Democrat–made on Twitter earlier this year–are now coming back to haunt him as the national Democrat party lurches further and further to the left.
I’m pro-life.
I’m pro-Second Amendment rights.
I’m a born-and-raised Louisianan.
I’m a Democrat.
And I’m proud of all of the above.— John Bel Edwards (@JohnBelforLA) April 3, 2019
Abraham, in his Breitbart News Sunday appearance this weekend, ripped Edwards for being “hooked at the hip” to the national Democrats.
“He did say he is proud to be a Democrat,” Abraham said. “He is proud he voted for Obama. He is proud he voted for Clinton. And just think about it: He will be voting for one of these radicals over President Trump in 2020. Louisiana, it is the pre-game to President Trump’s re-election. It is that big of a deal. Certainly, the Democrats desperately want to keep the governorship here. They want to show that their radical message can work in a state that overwhelmingly voted for Trump and is overwhelmingly Republican. We are not going to let that happen. It’s going to be a huge blow to the Democrats when I win this race.”
Regarding the national Democrats’ positions against private health insurance–wherein they want the government to take people’s healthcare away and replace it with government-run plans–or the Democrats’ efforts to provide government-run health insurance to illegal aliens, all while raising taxes to pay for it, Edwards has not said anything about it.
“He’s just proud of it,” Abraham said. “He’s not saying it’s a bad deal. He’s not saying we can’t afford it. But you got to understand Edwards is a trial attorney. He’s as big of a tax-and-spend liberal as you can get. He’s raised more taxes on the people of my state than any other governor before him. Now we got one of the highest if not the highest sales tax rates in America and because of it we got one of the slowest economies in America. I’m not going to let him have a second term because it would only get worse for the people of Louisiana.”
Democrats have declared New Orleans, Louisiana’s biggest city, a sanctuary city–something Abraham opposes, but Edwards has done nothing to stop it.
“He knows it is a sanctuary city, and I think he is glad it is a sanctuary city,” Abraham said of New Orleans. “But to your point, I have got a bill that I have cosponsored that would stop federal funding from going to any sanctuary cities, especially ones like New Orleans… It’s going to get some traction. If we can get Pelosi to even consider it in committee or have a vote, it will pass. That’s exactly where we’re going–to defund the craziness of sanctuary cities. Why in America would we allow that to happen? We get checked when we get onto an airline. If we had a knife or nail clippers in our hand–And these illegals come across with backpacks in mass numbers and again, we don’t know what’s in those backpacks. We’re going to stop these sanctuary cities.”
National Democrats are flooding Louisiana with resources in an effort to swing the election to Edwards against the odds. “This is a battleground state,” Abraham said. “This is only one of three gubernatorial elections in this cycle and again Louisiana is the only state in the south that has a Democrat governor. We’re going to get him out of there. The president wants him, certainly, out of that spot. And to your other point, we have got federal money–and I think even some global money–coming into our state trying to push this very radical agenda and trying to put the spin on it, of course, that we’re the best thing we’ve ever had. But they’re just a wolf in sheep’s clothing–we’re going to expose them, we’re going to call them out, we’re going to counter them, and again we’re going to win this election.”
The Democratic Governors Association (DGA), the national campaign arm for Democrat governors, has been heavily backing Edwards’ campaigns in both 2015 and 2019. According to one local columnist, the DGA has already sent staffers to Louisiana to back Edwards’ re-election bid. And while it’s unclear how much the DGA will spend backing Edwards this cycle–who welcomes the group’s support again in 2019–the DGA spent north of $2 million backing Edwards in 2015. What’s more, the DGA is funded in large part by Planned Parenthood–the radical pro-abortion organization–even though Edwards proclaims to be pro-life. DGA received nearly half a million dollars, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, from Planned Parenthood between 2015 and 2018.
Edwards, appearing on a radio show in Louisiana, was asked about this by a caller into the show. He said he doesn’t know how much if any dollars Planned Parenthood funnels through the DGA.
“I saw that the Democratic Governors Association takes a lot of money from Planned Parenthood,” the caller, Nicole, asked Edwards during the radio show. “I was just wondering–how can you take their money? I thought you were pro-life?”
Edwards responded by claiming he did not know Planned Parenthood funded the DGA.
“Well, Nicole, I think if you’ve been paying attention, you’d know that I’m pro-life,” Edwards said. “I’m not sure whether the Democratic Governors Association gets money from Planned Parenthood, or not–I just don’t know.”
But the DGA organization is in fact funded by the pro-abortion Planned Parenthood, and Edwards is taking their money. What’s more, the DGA chairwoman of Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo just signed into law a radically pro-abortion bill in her state–while funneling money into Edwards’ re-election bid in Louisiana.
The Washington Free Beacon reported in late June:
Rhode Island became the latest Democrat-dominated state to adopt radical legislation protecting abortion up until birth.
Democratic governor Gina Raimondo signed the Reproductive Privacy Act into law Wednesday. It will allow for abortion procedures to take place after fetal viability—when the baby is able to live outside the womb—as long as doctors say the mother’s health is at risk.
While Edwards did sign into law one of the nation’s most pro-life bills recently, his close relationships with national Democrats and deep ties to the abortion industry including Planned Parenthood through the DGA undercut his claims of being pro-life, says Abraham.
“This is a guy that talks out of both sides of his mouth,” Abraham said. “Again, it’s just not acceptable in Louisiana. We’re going to make him tell the truth and when he tries to deflect or whatever you want to call it we’re going to bring him right back in bounds and say look, this is what you did, this is what you said, and more importantly this is what you’ve done. So yeah, again, he’s part of those liberal Democrats that embrace Planned Parenthood.”
LISTEN TO REP. RALPH ABRAHAM ON BREITBART NEWS SUNDAY:
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