Chris Van Hollen (By afagen on Flickr)
By Matt McNab
Capital News Service
TAMPA, Fla. – U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Kensington, on Wednesday became the second Maryland Democrat to show up in Tampa to challenge Republicans during their national convention.
But unlike Gov. Martin O’Malley, who spoke at a Democratic Party office across the street on Tuesday, Van Hollen went inside the security perimeter Wednesday evening, doing an interview with Politico before talking to Capital News Service and criticizing the Romney-Ryan plan and the speakers at the convention.
Van Hollen, speaking at the convention center where most of the media is stationed, called the Romney-Plan “wrong for America.”
Tax breaks for the rich
“He’s going to double down on windfall tax breaks on the rich like himself,” Van Hollen said. “When the rich aren’t going to pay a cent more, it’s going to come at the expense of students, the middle class, and almost everyone else. President Obama’s balanced approach is right for America.”
He added that the Romney-Ryan plan would have a “very negative impact on the state of Maryland,” because the tax breaks would hurt things like medical research at the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health.
Van Hollen pulled no punches describing Tuesday’s convention events. “(Tuesday) night was a straight out personal attack on the president,” he said. “What I watched was clearly going after the president.”
Stay home, chairman says
Maryland Republican Delegation Chairman Louis Pope called Van Hollen’s appearance an attempt to get Democrats media exposure, and supposed that Republicans would have a surrogate in Charlotte doing the same thing next week.
“They are trying to interject Democratic beliefs into a solid Republican setting,” he said. “They should stay at their convention and we should stay at ours. They are trying to damage the enthusiasm in America for Mitt Romney. (Van Hollen) is going to be depressed on Nov. 6.”
Van Hollen & O’Malley would better serve the citizens of MD & the USA by by seriously urging Harry Reid to get the Senate’s act together & propose a BUDGET. Afterall it’s only been 3 years since they’ve fulfilled a mandated job requirement that they are being PAID to perform. What both Dems should be seriously concerned abt is the financial reliance of the MD economy on high paying Fed gov jobs while chasing private sector jobs out of state.
Abby,
O’Malley and Van Hollen don’t care for any one but themselves and the parasitical, demented, depraved, DemoniKKKrat party and its authoritarian rule !
And the votes of an ignorant,blindly loyal,easily distracted,willingly uninformed,unthinking, parasitic,voting public who vote in a Pavlovian response to the propaganda,and get nothing for it…
Pavlov used meat powder to condition the dogs to respond to a bell by drooling…Eventually, he stopped using the meat powder and the dogs still drooled to the sound of the bell…
As for O’Malley…Just “believe”…
Yes, water is wet and there are attacks on the president in Tampa. I don’t know that they are personal. Caustic and deserved are perhaps better adjectives.
Considering taxpayers mostly built the forum the GOPs used for their dishonest “we built it” hissy fit, the Republican attacks were as much on the truth and reality as anything else. Great job acting out rank hypocrisy, there.
Hey, Reality Check,
If it wasn’t for the taxpayers who have 50% or more of their earnings confiscated via various taxes, fees, etc, government wouldn’t build anything !
Government is a malign parasite !