I just finished interviewing Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, (R-GA). The first thing I asked during the interview was whether he’d seen proof that last night’s elections had an impact on the DC Democrats’ behavior. To my surprise, he said that it didn’t appear that the elections had had much of an impact whatsoever.

He said that Democrats filed the manager’s rule so they could vote on health care this week, possibly as soon as Friday or Saturday. I was astonished to hear that. Rep. Westmoreland said that it’s his impression that this might be the most tone-deaf congress in history.

I asked for Rep. Westmoreland’s opinion on something that I wrote in a post earlier this morning. I wrote that knowing President Obama couldn’t help or hurt red district Democrats would leave them feeling “like a Minnesota deer hunter dressed in blue jeans, a flannel shirt and a thin vest”. In other words, they’d feel chilled to the bone.

Rep. Westmoreland said that, for him, the key part of that opinion would be that President Obama couldn’t exercise authority over red district Democrats the way he could’ve a week ago. He said that knowing that might allow those Democrats to vote their conscience more often than they’re currently allowed to.

Rep. Westmoreland said that Speaker Pelosi “is acting like August didn’t happen”, that the townhalls and the TEA Parties didn’t happen. When I said that that’s foolish, Rep. Westmoreland agreed.

Last night represents irrefutable proof that the TEA Party movement has staying power and that common sense conservatism has the ability to attract independent voters without sacrificing conservative principles.

The other thing that Rep. Westmoreland said that caught my attention was that the Pelosicare legislation’s cost is $1,200,000,000,000 BEFORE adding in the $245,000,000,000 for the now infamous Doc Fix (infamous is my word, not Rep. Westmoreland’s), bringing the real total up to almost $1,500,000,000,000. According to my trusty calculator, that price tag is 67 percent higher than the $894,000,000,000 price tag that Speaker Pelosi is touting.

When I told Rep. Westmoreland that I’m represented by Michele Bachmann, he said that she’s one of the GOP’s stars in Congress. He then said that the rally that Michele organized promises to be a great event.

Finally, I was impressed with Rep. Westmoreland. To be honest, I didn’t know much about him prior to this morning’s interview. After the interview and after examining his positions on the most important issues of the day, I can confidently say that Rep. Westmoreland is a solid conservative. Count me as one of his fans.

Technorati: Interview, Lynn Westmoreland, TEA Parties, Protests, Conservatism, Townhall Meetings, Republicans, Health Care, Doc Fix, Speaker Pelosi, President Obama, Democrats

Cross-posted at California Conservative