Thank You President Obama
Nov 4th, 2009 by Frank Knotts
Two of the three most watched races on this election day have been called for the Republicans.
In Virginia , Bob Mc Donnell has beat out Democrat Creigh Deeds for Governor, and in what will be seen as the biggest upset , Republican Chris Christie defeats Democrat incumbent John Corizine for Governor of New Jersey.
As I am writing this it is still too early too call the New York 23rd Congressional , though the polls have closed.
It will be said by the left’s spin doctors that these races had nothing to do with President Obama. Really? Even though he made something like five trips to New Jersey for Corizine. I guess it can at least be said that he carries little influence in a huge Democrat state.
I happen to believe that not only do these race demonstrate that the country is rejecting the Obama agenda of fascism , but it also confirms the polling that has shown a move to the right among voters , especially independent voters.
This is exactly what the GOP needs to build upon and to read the writing on the wall and to support candidates that have demonstrated a conservative principle.
If the New York 23rd does go for the Conservative Party candidate , then it truly shows that Republican voters want conservative candidates . The New York race is a water shed because it was a special election with no primary , where the GOP party leadership chose a candidate named Dede Scozzafava, even though she had been rated less conservative than the Democrat candidate by the Conservative Party, which is exactly why that party put up its own candidate that immediately gained more traction than did Ms. Scozzafava , forcing her to withdraw from the race . She then endorsed the Democrat, wow that sounds familiar to us here in Sussex County , Delaware now doesn’t it.
But what this race in New York really shows us is that the GOP nationally as well as locally is out of touch with the rank and file. And like in the special election in New York with no primary, we GOPers here in Delaware suffer a similar fate every election , due to the fact that the Party selects a candidate before the primary and as of lately they haven’t done so well. But that is for another time.
Let me be clear, my only role in the GOP is that of a registered voter and out spoken supporter of the party when I believe it deserves that support. So in that role I say that we the voters must convince the GOP that we will no longer support either candidates that are counter to the founding principles of this nation or a party that supports candidates of this ilk.
I am no fan of third parties, they almost always spell “WIN” for the Democrats, again this is why the 23rd is important, I would rather the GOP leadership see the light or I would call for whole sale changes at the top and right down to the bottom of the party leadership .
We can no longer continue to do the same things and put up the same type of candidates that have failed to win. Look back and you will see that the GOP started the slow slide of defeat , when it began to move left . That is what we must stop if we truly wish to win.
Yes, the state primary needs to be discussed.
A nondescript man who walked in off the street one month before the election, with no money, who doesn’t live in the district, lost running as a third-party candidate. Wow.
The Dems will hold that seat for exactly one year.
Independents voted Republican in VA two to one (so much for Obamamania). And the far-left Obamamite Jon Corzine, is gone, gone, gone. Ha!
REPUDIATION!!!
“due to the fact that the Party selects a candidate before the primary and as of lately they haven’t done so well. But that is for another time.”
Frank, you are demonstrating a that you know little about the Republican Party locally. Party candidates for the General Election ballot are picked at a primary in September as required by Delaware Law.
You also have zero idea regarding the dynamics of the selection of the Republican candidate for this race. There were 11 county chairmen who made this choice among 8 candidates. None of us no the dynamics of what went on in that room.
As for Michael Steele and the national party, What were they supposed to do regarding this race? Should they have opposed the pick of the local party? Should Michael Steele have declared himself dictator of the Party and replaced the local pick with someone of his own choosing.
In the end most Rank and file Republicans made the Conservative choice.
Steele had no choice unless he wanted to unravel the entire concept of local control. His job to build and support the party. He is moving it in a more consistently conservative direction, but this one blindsided him. What could he do? You can not have the RNC chairman running around blasting the NRCC and local committee in public and doing his own thing funding someone while they fund someone else. He just kept NRCC money out of the race until Dede dropped and then put it behind the conservative.
This episode shows that the GOP had better work know it is a conservative party.
I don’t know the dynamic but it is interesting that Dede only had the support of 4 chairmen. They could not agree on anyone and took her as a compromise candidate on the 3rd ballot. The compromise that almost sunk a party.
T.W. then please help me out and lead me to where in Delaware law the party is instructed on how to pick their candidates. I have read Title 15 and haven’t seen that requirement. My point is that the party endorses a candidate at the convention and then we hold a primary if someone has the audacity to challenge that candidate, this is what make coming together after a primary in Delaware so hard for the GOP . But please if I have missed something in title 15 in the many times I have read it , please hekp me out.
Anyone who has read Title 15, multiple times should have come across Chapter 31.
The straightforward statement of how candidates are selected for the General Election ballot is as follows:
Ҥ 3101A. Direct primary elections.
The nominations of candidates by all major political parties for all offices to be decided at a general election shall be conducted by direct primary. All such primaries shall be conducted by the county departments of election under the applicable provisions of this title.”
In terms of a party not coming together after a primary, It seems not to have stopped Jack Markell and that was a primary as hotly contested and closely battled I can recall in recent memory.
You have absolutely no proof that the Republican endorsement process stops or intimidates anyone. You are simply going on your gut instinct.
Our party has had primaries after an endorsement convention every general election year in the 21st century with the exception of 2002. We have also had Republican primaries
most years somewhere in our state and somehow we have won those general election races and the party has survived.
If there has been some problems coming together after a primary, (which is not universally the case), I would suggest it could be traced more to the nature of the competitors and not party rules or structure.
I think there is some truth to TW’s last sentence. The primary is too late in year and should be moved up, but the convention should not be after the primary. There is no point when the people have spoken.
What the convention does is allow a voluntary test of strength and gives the candidates a chance to gather volunteers and organization from party activists. It gives a chance for candidates to grow (the meetings across the state is the first time many candidates every spoke in front of people about policy), meet people across the state, and put together an organization. It saves people from wasting time. Some outsiders poke fun of those like Bill Holt or
Colin or Mike P. who decided not to run because it was not the right office. They learned that because of the convention process, but the process allowed them to make contacts for the future. In Colin’s case, he ran for reelection and won. In Mike’s case, he may now have a statewide base from which to draw when he runs for county council, and in Vance Phillips’ case he became councilman then county President, and also state vice chairman. It is not a perfect process, but I think it is a workable structure.
I think some people have a problem with party resources being used to support an endorsed candidate in a primary instead of using it to support the party in the general. Some compromise could be reached like a budget limitation. There should be some benefit to getting the endorsement for the nomination. I would like to have a discussion on that.
To those who suggest that the national GOP had no choice once the locals made their decision as to the candidate but to support it….well there’s all sorts of ways to “support” something.
Just throwing it out there….DID THEY HAVE TO SPEND A MILLION BUCKS TO SUPPORT THE CANDIDATE? They could have smiled and maybe sent a hunnert bucks…just throwing it out there. The local yokels, hey, maybe they’d stop appointing Marxist Communists Liberals if they knew the national would be stingy with the purse strings.
Seems to me, just using the common sense God gave me, that the national party could have nodded its collective head but kept the purse strings close.
The national GOP could have, just throwing it out there, kept the spokesnoids’ mouths shut when a local choice is unpalatable. No rule says Gingrich (Newt Who?) had to get on the soapbox of champions. Silence, just throwing it out there, might have sent a message.
WHAT IF THE LOCALS CHOSE ADOLF HITLER FOR GOD’S SAKE?
Like there’s no damn limit to how the national party can support local choices. Y’all who defend how that “support” was carried out for Scuzzyfuzzy on the national level must want to pee upon our feet and tell us it’s raining. I was born at night, but not last night.
Heh. It’s not like Scuzzyfuzzy turned out to be some sort of national gem on which the national party can point to with pride for their silly actions.
T.W I have read 3101A of Title 15, but I see no where that it requires a party endorsement of a candidate before that primary. The current system that the GOP uses is divisive. First you have the party machine deciding who they feel is the best candidate and then if there is a motivated candidate such as a Mike Protack who “FORCES” a primary by daring to go against the party wishes , you then have a primary and sometimes they can be bloody. Then , I feel , it makes it very hard to bring the supporters of the loosing candidate back into the fold . Some may choose to vote for the Democrat or to not vote at all if they feel they got a raw deal from the party.
A loosing candidate of a primary may even choose to endorse the Democrat, just look to the Bennett/Baker race for County Council last election. Mr. Bennett was so sure he had the GOP nomination , that when he was primarried and defeated he threw his support behind the Democrat, who won by the way.
My point is that the whole point of elections , is to elect the person that most represents the majority of those who vote. So why not have an open primary ? Why not allow anyone who can meet the requirements to be on the primary ballot apply , campaign, and run in the primary, and I know this is going to sound radical, but let the people decide. Then and only then should the party machine put its full weight behind the people’s choice.
If you think the current system is not divisive, you just wait until Christine O’Donnell is put in the position of having to force a primary with the party’s choice of Mike Castle this coming election. With the current climate around Mr. Castle , I think you can expect a no holds barred , knock down ,drag out fight from those of us who oppose Mr. Castle. I know that I intend to do some radical things , like bringing up his voting record.
I wish conservatives would quit hitching their horses to the O’Donnell wagon; she can’t win anything. Mike Miller in pumps.
Frank, you are starting to sound like Perry with all of your personal feelings and biases being presented as facts, then you actually present no facts to back up your assertions.
I want to thank you for bringing up the Baker Bennett race in Sussex. This race totally disproves your contention that a non endorsement process would bring the party together. There were no party endorsements in this race. In fact the Sussex Headquarters in Goergetown kept campaign literature for BOTH candidates. I guess this is the type of primary activity that you approve of that will bring us together.
In the world you so naively propose the candidates Baker and Bennett should have come together in a kumbaya moment. This didn’t happen. In fact Bennett endorsed the Democrat (yes I know he regrets it recently but that is too late ) and proves my point that the personalities of the candidates have more to do with later rancor than any endorsement process. Let’s be very clear the Bennett/Baker race gives us Democrat office holders and totally negates your proposition that the
Well guess what Frank you were DEAD WRONG. I know your years of going to Sussex County Republican meetings (0) has given you special insight most don’t have.
If you really want to take your lame conspiracy theories and insults to the 300+ party activists who earn the right based on hard work and dedication to being convention delegates, the keep this up. You don’t know what you are talking about. You have accepted a world view with NO independent first hand research on your part.
Where is this Republican machine, you speak so confidently about? Who pulls the switch? Do you really believe that Republicans in Sussex County just jump up and salute when Tom Ross says so?
I find your lame brained view of regular hard working, phone call making, sign posting, volunteers insulting and condescending.
Keep up the stereotypes of the Democrat view of the Republican party and its volunteers. You do our party a grave disservice by your continued insult to our volunteers that they are a bunch of mind numbed robots waiting for Tom Ross to tell them who to support.
First to Rick, I use O’Donnell only because so far she is the only one that has shown an interest in fighting mushy Mike Castle.
Now T.W. , you say I have (0) years of coming to county GOP meetings, true , I have only been coming for the past seven or so months. So tell me at what number of years do I get the right to speak my mind, ten twenty, thirty ?
I am not ridiculing the volunteers, I am ridiculing the system.
Why is it that those who have worked in the process for so long, fear a change? Could it be the loss of control? The results from doing it the “OLD” way have been steadily declining.
Are you saying we must stick to the “OLD ” way until we win zero races? What is so wrong with giving an equal chance to every person who can meet the requirements to be on the ballot ?
And I am sure you are so right when you say that there are no back room power meetings among GOP leadership when deciding who’s turn it is to run for governor. And I’n sure that there is never any pressure brought to bare on candidates to wait their turn by the state or national chairs.
I am new to actually showing up at the meetings, but I have been reading and watching for many years now.
As for me speaking my mind on which direction the GOP should be headed in , well all I need for that is to be registered as a GOP member, which I am.
It is old school thinking such as yours that has gotten us where we are today, I am only saying that it is time to think outside the box , so that we can get a few more checks in the box.