“I pay attention to Wisconsin. I love Wisconsin” – Derrick Van Orden, in a video the media and Democrats deemed controversial.
Congressman Derrick Van Orden said that he loves Wisconsin and puts policy over politics in a recent videotaped interview, and the media and Democrats were horrified.
Yeah, that kind of confuses us, too.
The Wisconsin Democrat Party’s head immediately pounced, trashing Van Orden for the comments. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel turned the comments into a story that proclaimed, “He isn’t paying attention to his campaign and doesn’t know if he’ll be reelected, but is instead focusing on policies working their way through Congress.” Their headline, though, sniped, “Derrick Van Orden says he’s not following his reelection campaign.”
Hint: That’s exactly what voters wish all congressmen would do, focus on legislation that helps their district versus fixating on politicking and campaigning.
However, it’s par for the course when it comes to liberal media coverage of Van Orden, a former Navy SEAL intelligence chief with multiple combat deployments. As with President Donald Trump and U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, who are also off-the-cuff personalities, the media and Democrats appear to enjoy cherry-picking Van Orden’s comments to create misleading attacks.
And so it went the other day.
What did Van Orden say that so upset the liberal media and Democrats?
Van Orden was actually making a point about the outrageously biased redistricting maps in Virginia. He called the ballot initiative “completely disingenuous” and a “sham.”
“I pay attention to Wisconsin. I love Wisconsin,” Van Orden said, when the reporter pressed him on redistricting in Virginia and Texas. He said he didn’t really spend time on redistricting strategies in other states.
“I’ve got a lot of friends here in Congress that are Republicans in Virginia, and if this goes through, I’ll miss them,” Van Orden continued. “But I don’t even know if I’m going to get reelected. I don’t really follow that either, sorry to disappoint you guys. I’m just a horrible politician, I guess. I don’t track all of this stuff. It’s all politics. I focus on policy.”
Pretty self-deprecating, but, in the 3rd congressional district he represents, voters really don’t seem to prefer polished, slick politicians. It’s a very swing, independent area of Wisconsin, so probably his comments will get him additional votes.
Van Orden is locked in a tight re-election campaign against leftist Rebecca Cooke, who worked as a liberal fundraiser.
