Dispatch Notes from the NH GOP Liberty Dinner - Updated - Video - Granite Grok

Dispatch Notes from the NH GOP Liberty Dinner – Updated – Video

Liberty Dinner

Full house. Actually oversold. The bad news is that the Chairman and Executive Director could not say no to latecomers, causing some contention for space and seating – the good news is almost all of 500 attendees paid.

Reince

Reince Priebus, Chair, Republican National Committee

  • “We can’t be a five months every four years party”
  • “Need to be full time, coast to coast, door to door, hiring and engaging local spokespeople”
  • “We need big data, sliced and diced.”
  • Primary system needs to change, but not by changing first in the nation.
  • We will no longer allow news makers be debate moderators.
  • Wants to move the convention back to June so that the candidate does not run out of primary money after the result is determined, and before the general commences. (As Mitt did)

Donated GOP cuff links for the auction. (Unusual design – got a good price)

Advice from an outspoken party member after the election: Go bold, or go home – and he intends to go bold.

 

Rand

Rand Paul.

 Rand Paul donated $10k to the party!

  • One thing straight. We do need border control, and a fence……. because we have to keep the people from MA out of NH. (Much laughter at the punchline)
  • The key question in the drone speech was: “Mr President, do you think you have the authority to kill an American on US soil?”
  • It is not about whether he would use power such as drones, or NDAA detention powers, but the fact that he could, and that government should not have such arbitrary powers.
  • Let us not forget what our soldiers fight for: it is the constitution and bill of rights.
  • How will anyone ever trust the IRS, especially with healthcare information, unless there is an independent Commision to investigate the abuse and prevent a repeat.
  • President is losing the optics war because he announced the end of self-guided White House tours the same week he announced 250m in aid for Egypt.
  • Old MacDonalds Farm of scandals: here a scandal, there a scandal, everywhere a scandal!
  • Anyone (of any party) who would use the power of government against their political opponents is profoundly un-American.
  • We have to, not only look like America, but we have to teach the public that big government hurts the have-nots as well as the haves, and that we are the party that will help more of them join the middle class.
  • We need the passion of Patrick Henry (Give me liberty, or give me death!).

Outside the hall, Tammy Simmons was selling T-shirts with the catchphrase “The Palatable Paul” and riffing off his epic filibuster with “#StandWithRand”.

Earlier, Simmons and others met with Paul and Priebus to discuss how to attract more conservatives and libertarians to the party, which was clearly one of the themes of his press conference: “The main thing is not to talk about me”, he said, “but about how to grow the party” – As Tammy Simmons told USA Today, “Most Americans want smaller government”.

It will be interesting to see if Preibus’ efforts to remake the party into a full time fighting machine, and Paul’s efforts to attract a broader spectrum of Americans to the small government message will resonate, especially after the way Tea partiers have been rebuffed by the state and national party the last year or so.

Special thanks to Skip for assembling this for me as the dinner proceeded

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