JD Vance Welcome Card Send-off

hey everybody Paul Dame chairman of the Vermont Republican party here I just wanted to give you folks an update I'm here getting uh ready to to head into the post office uh as you remember when uh vice president Vance came to Vermont uh a little over a week ago uh we sent out a welcome card and asked verm moners from around the state to sign it and we got over 500 signatures uh on that online petition um and uh so we've printing those out sending them over to uh the vice president and you know as I was printing this out a number of people hundreds of people uh wrote a little comment uh to encourage the vice president and as I started to read those it really gave me a sense of hope and pride in my fellow vermers uh despite some political agreements some of us may have uh there's still plenty of vermers who know how to be friendly and welcoming uh to people who are visiting our state and uh you know let me let me just read a couple to you uh so Allan from Franklin wrote thank you for caring about us you're doing a fantastic job uh Heather from Sheldon said thank you for choosing Vermont for your vacation it makes us conservatives feel proud and we hope you come back this summer right they they could have go they could go anywhere they picked Vermont uh Barbara from Springfield wrote hope you and your family enjoyed the beauty of our state in Vermont you are always welcome and rosemary from Charlotte said I hope you enjoy your Vermont vacation you picked a perfect winner to experience the beauty of Vermont that's the thing I love is so many people are talking about how beautiful uh Vermont is and why wouldn't a family want to come here and enjoy it uh Tammy from middle sex wrote enjoy the ski conditions with your family I hope you post some great photos have a great time and uh Janine from craftsbury said thank you for visiting Vermont in winter back for our fall colors uh um number of people also kind of brought uh you know so we had some just generic Vermont Beauty a couple of comments were uh talking about some of the controversy uh you know uh Maria from Bennington said enjoy your trip welcome to Vermont this state does have Republicans and more important hidden conservatives that are Democrats that we certainly found that to be true in November uh the November elections uh Francis from Walcott said welcome to Vermont I must apologize for our Senators and representative they do not represent My Views it seems the cities in chitton County get all get to tell all the rural people how we are supposed to live that's something we're dealing with at the state house too uh Rodney from town uh townin said I wish you a nice respit in Vermont with the fresh air and beautiful mountains thank you so much for returning our country Traditional Values God knows that is what Vermont needs it has been difficult here in Vermont being a Conservative Republican these past four years uh Perry from Killington had a little different approach he said thanks for visiting Vermont I wish you came to Killington we would have uh accepted you with open arms so a number of people kind of picking up on some of the protest issues there uh you know Gary from North ferrisburg wrote we appreciate you and your effort efforts to bring our country back to Common Sense views and values pay no mind at all to the haters out there in Vermont you have more support that meets the eye here peace be with you and Scott from Williston said I am so sorry for the actions of some people they are not how vermers are we are a caring people my best to you and to your family uh Cynthia from Waitsfield where all the action was said thank you for choosing to have a family vac in Vermont I'm sad that your stay in the Mad River Valley was met with hostility not all of us vermonters are so disrespectful I hope you and your family have a wonderful time uh Bob from Rutland apologize for how uh the vice president was treated said I'm so embarrassed at the behavior of some Vermont citizens and how local media has sensationalized that behavior we are not all that shallow I hope your family was able to make the best of your weekend getaway in Vermont uh and one last one my family and I as well as most everyone we know are both saddened and angry by the disgusting behavior of some protesters when you visited Vermont please know they do not represent Vermont we would be happy if you and your family would return so you can experience the welcoming warmth of vermonts we wish the best for you and your family so as you see there were uh you know some of these uh folks signed the petition before all the protests happened some uh did so after uh some of the the the news reports uh came out uh and so you can even hear the the change in tone about how some people were optimistic when this started and and were a little disappointed in their fellow roners after the ca after uh the protest started and and uh you know there were about like I said there's over 500 people that signed it in in a positive way had a positive mindset you know many wrote some encouraging words uh but I do have to admit there's about a dozen or so people who demonstrated that kind of disgusting behavior that was on display during the vice president's visit and um I think it's only fair to read a couple of those so if you've got uh kids around you may want to uh fast forward or skip this video um but I think it's important to know what people are facing here in Vermont uh one one person who uh was such a coward they didn't even put their name on the signature uh they said they're from Burlington wrote The Following eat I hope you hit a tree go back to Russia you traitor okay that's that's that's what somebody thought they needed to say uh Sarah Connor bethl wrote F off you disgusting Nazi Follow Your Leader and go kill yourself I can't even believe that there are people like that live in my state that think and write this way uh about a man coming here with his family lots of FWS F off punk from willhem Andros Andrew from Jericho Fu and the horse you rode in on from Devin Weller and Barry Fu Vance you boot looking racist lots of lots of colorful creativity there okay and this is probably one the the nastiest ones another coward who listed their name and their town as Jay gave one of what I thought was one of the most troubling comments they said have you told your wife and kids you hate them for their skin color yet I mean what kind of nasty monstrous person do you have to be to First think of something like that believe it and then decide you know what I'm going to do with that thought thought I'm going to write it out and send it to the vice president of the United States I can't think of anybody I know and I know some pretty contentious people in Vermont I can't think of anyone I know that would actually say something like that and yet here it is you know that so that was one of only about five negative comments that didn't use some kind of vulgarity or or curse word um but uh but again those negative comments were such a tiny fraction of what came in more than 10 times as many people offering those same kind of warm welcomes that you heard before invitations to come back that's the kind of Vermont that I know that I grew up in that I want to still be here as my kids grow up you know I know that a lot of people like me uh you know living in Vermont feel like we're all alone we feel like um you know all these really negative people are the ones who get all the attention they exercise all the power but you know after reading through hundreds of comments like this you know I really came away encouraged and I wanted um other Republicans to come away encouraged that even though we might not be the majority there's still a lot of us left who want to do the kind-hearted good welcoming work um that needs to be done uh to to change Vermont and uh and we can be proud of how we conduct ourselves even when we disagree and so I just want to con you know uh encourage my fellow vermers the same thing and even Republicans who are in other blue States who feel like you're you're kind of swimming uh against the tide you know there are these radical people out there and they are going to say some of the nastiest and most negative violent hateful things and what's going to happen is they're going to continue to lose the people in the middle that just want to live their life that don't want to be disturbed um and and all Republicans have to do is just keep moving forward slow and steady implementing Common Sense things that need to happen in Vermont the big issues right now are education reform affordability housing and crime I mean if we can just continue to focus on working on those things and and doing what we need to do uh while the left is going absolutely crazy that that's the goal that's the goal we can make our state a better place to live despite the opposition by just working together keep your head down keep doing what you know is good and right uh and we can turn this thing around