Joe Donnelly claims to be a fiscal and social conservative, and claims to be an independent voice in Washington. He is none of those things. In fact, as Crossroads GPS points out, when Barack Obama has needed Donnelly's vote, Donnelly has always "had Obama's back." Specifically:
Donnelly voted for Obama's trillion dollar "economic stimulus" package, which has utterly failed to revive the economy.
Donnelly voted to raise the debt limit five times, just as Obama wanted.
Donnelly voted for Barack Obama's trillion $ health care bill.
The last one is especially galling to conservatives who were deluded into thinking Donnelly shared their values on social issues. It was Obama's health care bill, after all, that the Obama administration has used to force Christians to fund birth control, including drugs that can act as abortifacients early on in pregnancy. Is this the vote of someone who is "pro-life," Mr. Donnelly? Clearly it is not.
See the new Crossroads video here:
After the 2004 election, Democrats were surprised by the role "values voters" played in George W. Bush being elected to a second term. Knowing they needed to change their image as a radically Leftist party on social issues, Democrats recruited phony "social conservatives" to run against incumbents. Combined with the Republicans' terrible record, it worked. Voters were fooled, and incumbent Republicans Chris Chocola and John Hostettler were defeated by Donnelly and Brad Ellsworth.
What should make Hoosiers think that Donnelly will change if he gets a promotion to the Senate after 6 years in the House? Obviously, that will not change. Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior, and Donnelly will continue to support the same destructive policies he has supported in the past. His voting record is out of step with Hoosier values and voters should send him the same message we sent Brad Ellsworth two years ago: We do not approve of your support for Barack Obama and you do not deserve to represent Indiana in the Senate.
