VA-05: Virgil Goode Flip-Flops; Now Refusing to Debate

Al Weed Shares a Moment with Judy Feder at the July Unity Rally in Charlottesville

Virgil Goode Jr., the Republican incumbent of Virginia's Fifth Congressional District, has declined to debate his challenger, military veteran Al Weed. This comes less than a week after Mr. Goode released a statement calling for debates and inviting civic organizations to organize the events.

Previous to Mr. Goode's call to civic organizations, he had been scheduled to speak to the Fieldale- Collinsville Rotary Club on August 23rd. Mr. Weed was scheduled to speak a week later on August 30th. The Rotary Club responded to Mr. Goode's call and invited Mr. Weed to debate on the 23rd, turning the event into a debate. Weed happily accepted. Mr. Goode, despite already being scheduled to appear on that day, refused to debate.

"He would rather have lunch and hand out pencils than have to defend his record.", Weed said. "“He can flip-flop his positions and dodge the issues at every turn, but the voters see through the smoke screen.", Weed continued.

In Mr. Goode's release he challenged Mr. Weed to a debate on August 9th with the Senior Statesmen in Charlottesville, but a document dated June 17th from the Senior Statesmen of Virginia inviting both candidates to appear on August 9th states, this meeting is a showcase, not a debate.

"Mr. Goode is just playing politics." Weed said. "If he would like to debate on August 9th, I am fine with that. But since he ducked an invitation to debate at the Fieldale-Collinsville Rotary Club, it's clear he is more interested in talking about debating rather than actually debating.", Weed continued.

"The voters deserve to hear the truth. For too long Mr. Goode has pretended to work for the people of this district, only to vote with George Bush and support fellow millionaires. Mr. Goode is home for the month of August. If he is truly dedicated to the people of this district he will accept the Rotary Club's invitation. But of course won't. He doesn't want to explain to the Martinsville taxpayers why he sacrificed them to get a failed multi-million dollar contract for a felon. It is really too bad that he doesn't care enough about the hard-working people of this district. I'm eager to talk about my positive vision for future of our district. A future where agriculture thrives, jobs are stable, wages are competitive, and healthcare is affordable.", Weed said.
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Virgil Goode is naive. He is up to his neck in it. Virgil would do well to explain to those of us in the district that don't want to play politics as usual, don't want to listen to his drivel about he didn't know, don't want to vote for a cash-taking, George Bush-loving,do nothing Congressman anymore. It is too important now that Bush and his minions and cronies have screwed it all up.

Go See Al. He will tell us the truth and never let us down like Virgl Goode (R-MZM) has. Enough of all this madness.

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