Every night before Congressman Joe Walsh falls asleep in Washington D.C., he looks up at the Capitol building and is thankful that the United States of America has freedom. Joe Walsh, the Republican for the 8th District, said this to a room full of people at The Village Inn in downtown Huntley on Saturday.

Walsh started out his speech addressing the way he acted last week at a bar in Gurnee during one of his town hall meetings. Blogger District116.org captured the viral Youtube video that was an instant hit to all of the cable and online news circuit. Walsh is seen yelling about the banks and voicing his opinion and then asking a person to leave if he didn’t stop talking.

“All right, please pay attention, I don’t want to lose my temper,” Walsh joked at The Village Inn. “Last weekend, absolutely I went over the line, I used a word my mom hates and boy, when she heard about that one…”

Walsh blamed the explosion on a lack of food and too much coffee.

“It happens to everyone,” said Walsh. “I did apologize to everyone about crossing the line, but I will not apologize for being passionate.”

During the town hall in Huntley, the congressman brought up a few issues that the conservative audience, mainly consisting of Sun City residents, was very passionate about.

“My name is Joe Walsh, and I’m angry at both Democrats and Republicans who put us on a path to bankrupt our future generations,” said Walsh. “I went to Washington to do two things: to stop this president, and to grab my party by the (you pick the body part) and shape up my Republican party to get it back to its conservative roots.”

One issue was Illinois’ redrawing the districts for the state due to the 2010 US Census. Walsh filed a lawsuit in September after he claims the Democrats made that move to get more votes. His house in McHenry would lie in the new 14th District, which is currently represented by fellow Republican Randy Hultgren, could pose a conflict in the 2012 election.

“Democrats in this state have drawn a horrific map,” said Walsh. “The Democrats are basically trying to rewrite an election, but before you hit Democrats over the head like we want to do, understand Republicans do this same thing in other states.”

Another major issue for the Tea Party supporter was a plea to elect a Republican president. He encourged his constituents to vote for the Republican nominee for president, no matter who it may be. He claims Barack Obama is violating the Constitution.

“I am trying to be as respectful as I can towards the President,” said Walsh.

According to Walsh, Obama has been known for using presidential power and creating executive orders to overide Congress and the checks and balances system the Founding Fathers put in place.

“Barack Obama is a mistake,” said Walsh. “Every day he is in the White House, he is destroying what makes this country great.”

When asked about education, Walsh said school vouchers or school choice is the way to go. Parents choose if you go to public, private or any other type of school and the taxes will follow.

“We will not truly improve our public schools in this country until we interject competition,” he said.

Walsh, who used to help inner-city youth in Chicago and also taught at the community college level, said after he is done with politics, he is going back to teaching.

His overall message at the “Cup of Joe Town Hall Meeting” was that Washington needs to be shaken up.

“[America is] broke and losing freedom,” said Walsh.

He said that if the conservatives of this country work to get the president out of office and retain a Rebublican majority in the house, the country will be getting back on the right track.

“Walk in my shoes in Washington, you’d be scared after a week,” said Walsh.

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