Burnt Orange Report

DMN Endorses Hall Opponent in GOP Primary

By Byron LaMasters

This was a bit of a surprise to me.

We recommend political newcomer Mike Mosher to Republican primary voters in the 4th Congressional District, which stretches from Grayson County and parts of Rockwall and Collin counties due east to the Louisiana border.

The 53-year-old Paris lawyer, who is as energetic and knowledgeable about the issues as a non-incumbent can reasonably be, is making a run at Rep. Ralph Hall, 80, a lifelong conservative Democrat who became a Republican last month. Mr. Hall, a Rockwall resident, converted his registration to become more palatable to voters in the newly drawn, heavily GOP district – two-thirds of whom never have been represented by him.

Though we have long respected Mr. Hall's two dozen years in Congress, we have grown troubled by some of his foreign policy opinions, expressed to us most recently in an interview with the editorial board. For example, Mr. Hall said the United States should station armed National Guard troops on the border with Mexico, withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq, and encourage Japan to re-arm to police much of Asia. He also suggested that the U.S. military should have leveled Baghdad to show the Iraqis that they truly were whipped.

Wow. Ralph Hall truly is nuts. Good riddance.