IDAHOCONSERVATIVEBLOGGER.COM: ICB Spotlight Interview; Idaho Congressman Raul Labrador Pt. 1/Pt. 2

Posted on Sep 28, 2012

ICB Spotlight Interview; Idaho Congressman Raul Labrador Pt. 1
By Idaho Conservative Blogger
Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Yesterday I sat down with Idaho Congressman Raul Labrador at his office in Downtown Boise. I have met the Congressman many times and it’s always nice to see him. Thanks to the Congressman and his staff for making time for ICB.

ICB: What do you think about the IG’s report on Fast & Furious?

Labrador: It was very interesting. If you read the report everything we have been saying for a year and a half was confirmed in that report. That there was laxed supervision, that the Attorney General had no idea what he was doing, He was not getting reports from his underlings. They kind of gave the Attorney General and Lanny Brewer a pass, but other than that I think it was a really, really through report. Like I said in my testimony, my exchange with the Inspector General, we could have saved the last year and a half if they had just given us all the documentation in the beginning. They received about 100,000 pages of information. We received 7 to 12,000 pages of information. this was all information they could have given to congress and we wouldn’t have needed to have all the hearings we had. And I still question why the Attorney General continuously came to congress and deceived the American people in his testimony to congress. And it goes back to what I said initially, He’s either lying or he’s grossly incompetent. The report says that he’s not lying, that he really didn’t know. The report also says that he didn’t have the right people around him and the right information flowing up to him so he is grossly incompetent and I still think he should go.

ICB: Are you satisfied with the report? Did you get the information that you wanted?

Labrador: It’s gotten us a lot more information than we could get from the Department of Justice. Even the Inspector General went after the Department of Justice for not providing that information to us. He says that there was absolutely no justification for them not giving us the information.

ICB: Are any more heads going to roll, do you think it’s going to go any higher?

Labrador: I think it is what it is. It’s a political year, having the Attorney General resign right now in a scandal would not be good for Obama. I think they are going to wait until after the election to decide what they are going to do with the Attorney General. I don’t think anything is going to happen right now.

ICB: How do you feel about the Romney/Ryan ticket?

Labrador: I think it’s a great ticket. I’m a friend of Paul Ryan, I think he’s a great person I was really excited when he was selected because it made me feel that Romney was actually going to take on the issues that are important. I’ve been a little disappointed the last couple of weeks, they were sort of leaving Paul Ryan in the corner not really being Paul Ryan. They’re not letting Paul Ryan be Paul Ryan. It sounds like this week they are starting a major tour and I think Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney will be together more often which I actually think is a good thing. I don’t know if you have noticed but when Paul Ryan is with Mitt Romney, Mitt Romney is actually a better candidate. They play off of each other really really well. I predicted it was going to be Paul Ryan about two or three weeks before it happened and the reason was because of all the people that I saw with Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan was the only one that actually made him elevate his game. I still think it’s a wonderful choice and I hope they continue to work hard, I just think they have to start hitting Obama a little bit harder.

Coming up in Pt. 2 we discuss the Embassy/Libya uprising, Obama and Israel, Romney and Obama Debates, the campaign, and the Hispanic vote.

ICB Spotlight Interview; Idaho Congressman Raul Labrador Pt. 2
By Idaho Conservative Blogger
Thursday, September 27, 2012

ICB: What are your thoughts on the Libya/Embassy uprising in the Middle East?

Labrador: It’s outrageous and what I find the most outrageous is that if you look at the polling data, people actually believe Obama has been a good President when it comes to foreign policy.

He’s been the worst President when it comes to foreign policy. In fact, I haven’t heard any Republicans say this but look at what happened two weeks before the embassy. You had the Vice President of the United states going around bragging about the death of Osama Bin Laden. And now you have all these people dead at the embassy, you have all these riots and on every wall they are writing that there’s a thousand more Osama Bin Ladens. We as Americans, we don’t spike the football when we depose a leader. When we do the things we do in foreign policy we don’t go around bragging about the things that we do. You have the Vice President of the United States bragging for political reasons about the death of Osama Bin Laden and I think this caused the entire Middle East to go up in flames.

I think Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan need to hit them hard. Look at the data. Americans are divided about the economy because there is an argument to be made, it was George Bush who caused the collapse of the economy. I don’t agree with it but I understand how there’s an argument made for that, so Americans are 50/50 on the economy. They think that Obama’s policies are better, 50%. The other 50% think that Mitt Romney’s policies are better. Obama is beating Romney on foreign policy by 10 to 20 points. It shouldn’t even be close. He started with his Cairo speech apologizing for American supremacy and this is what, when you apologize for America this is what happens internationally and they should be hitting them and they should be hitting them hard on that issue. It had nothing to do with the movie.

I told the Romney team last week, I said you should have an ad that shows the Cairo speech, shows what happened in the Middle East, shows the Obama administration, what their excuses for what was happening was that they are now retracting. And then they need to have an empty chair and say you know maybe Clint Eastwood isn’t so crazy after all.

ICB: Do you think Obama supports Israel?

Labrador: You know it’s hard to tell , the other night on 60 minutes, now I don’t want to misquote him but that Israel is one of our biggest allies in that reign. Israel is not one of our biggest allies, Israel is our number one allie in the reign.
This week the President doesn’t have time to sit down with Netanyahu but he has time to sit down with the ladies on The View. Last week he had time to sit down with David Letterman and he’s not used to being questioned. If you watch the Univision interview, I thought they were pretty hard. I actually went to Florida when they interviewed Mitt Romney, and they were really had on Mitt Romney and Mitt Romney did really well because he was expecting a hard interview. Obama looked like he was floundering because he was not expecting a hard interview and they went after him and they went after him hard. It’s going to be interesting, I actually expect Romney to do pretty well in the debates. If we get the media to get of their duff and actually be reporters instead of cheerleaders for Obama. If they ask the tough questions Obama is going to have a hard time responding. He also has a thin skin, he doesn’t like to be criticized. Romney is pretty good, you know people complained during the primaries, he’s pretty good at getting under peoples skin.

ICB: I thought it was interesting that it was a big news story that Obama was asked tough questions on Univision.

Labrador: It was. It was incredible. He hasn’t had any tough questions in four years. I was actually pretty impressed. I didn’t think they were going to do that. They are upset about fast and furious and on immigration. I’ve gone around the country working for Mitt Romney to get him elected, working with the Hispanic community. I say, Obama made two promises to you. That you would have more jobs. That he would give you immigration reform. He failed with both. That’s gotta be the message.

ICB: What’s important that you want me to make sure my readers know?

Labrador: I think it’s important that your readers understand that I haven’t changed. I kept my promises, I kept my commitments, I kept my word. And the best complement that I get from my supporters here in Idaho is that you did exactly what you said you were going to do. That means more to me than anything. I’m really honest with who I am. I’m honest with what my policies are going to be and I think it’s important for Republicans to go back to D.C. and actually stand up for those conservative principles that they campaign on. And that’s one of the biggest disappointments that I’ve had, not everybody does that in Washington. They are good about coming back and saying that they are a proven conservative but then they go back to D.C. and they are somebody else.

People are not always going to agree with you 100%. And that’s what people need to understand. We get calls sometimes and they say, well he voted against this and I disagree with him and I’m not going to vote for him ever again. I’m like, your here with me on 99% of my votes but this one vote is going to cost you to not vote for me? People have to realize we can’t be 100% in agreement in all things. I’m going to do everything I can to keep taxes low, to keep spending low, and to make America prosper again. I’m going to work hard and it makes me unpopular back in Washington D.C. because I stand up for the things that are right. What Idahoans want. I stand up for them back in Washington D.C. The Leadership doesn’t like that.

ICB: You don’t need to be popular in Washington D.C. You need to be Popular in Idaho.

Labrador: Exactly!