NH GOP Meeting - Ruminations: Kelly Ayotte - Granite Grok

NH GOP Meeting – Ruminations: Kelly Ayotte

Consistency breeds Trust which yields Votes.  The operative word is “Consistency” – is what you SAY congruent with what you DO?  Can we, as voters (notice I DIDN’T say “Members of the NH GOP State Committee” – at least, thus far) see that Consistency and can we depend upon it?  Are we so sure of it that, once elected, we no longer need to pay close attention because you will not violate our Trust (or is it the flip side: we kvetch because we can’t?)?  So during the recently held NH GOP Annual Meeting, I listened.  In fact, I listened hard – I wanted to hear Consistency.  I wanted to hear the words that matched their actions this past year.  Oh sure, I know these types of meetings are “rah-rah!” for the upcoming cycle – but I still tried to listen for the Consistency-to-come.  And then when I started to process the video, I listened again.  And then, transcribed certain speeches to ensure I WAS hearing things correctly.

And then I started to compare the spoken words to other words and to Actions.  First up was our junior US Senator, Kelly Ayotte.  So, what do you think I found?  Here is the video again:

Here is the transcript – with my commentary:

First of all, let’s work together.  Let’s stop focusing on the differences that we have with each other and start focusing on the stark differences we have with the Democrats because when we are divided, the only people that win are people like Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Barack Obama.  Our principles are strong.  we know that we will focus and make sure that we actually adhere to the US Constitution. We believe in the principles of fiscal responsibility. We believe in the principles that we create the best climate in a tax and regulatory climate that will allow the private sector to unleash opportunities for Americans to create good paying jobs in this country.  we believe in  American Exceptionalism.  We cannot put those principles into action if we don’t win some elections. So I am asking all of you here today, to work with me.  we have some great candidates who are running in elections in November.  We are blessed to have some wonderful candidates running for state wide office, for the state offices, local offices.  We all need to work together to win these elections and to be unified in November so that we can govern and make a difference for this country.   We are so blessed to live in this country and I know that our Republican principles are strong when we are together.

Again, I “get it” in that this is a “rah-rah” speech in some part.  She is, like a lot of other Republican leaders, getting it wrong with respect to the cart and the horse.  I am quite sure that we at GraniteGrok are seen as the rabble rousers making us “not united” – that we point out the differences.  Problem is, they have it totally backwards – it isn’t us, and people like us, that are causing the problem.  I have said it before and will continue to say it over and over again – the only agenda we (at GraniteGrok) have IS to defend the Constitutions and the Platform.  Period.  The problem are THOSE Republicans that do not and do act contrary to those principles.  Let’s unpack some of that paragraph:

  • on the stark differences we have with the Democrats because when we are divided

Like I said – it’s about Consistency.  Problem is, because of NH Republicans at the senior levels (re: State Senate) have worked HARD to lessen those differences.  Our Platform says that the NH GOP Utterly opposes Obamacare –   and  the Rogue Republicans ™ (that would be NH State Senator Jeb Bradley, NH State Senator Chuck Morse, NH State Senator Nancy Stiles, and NH State Senator Bob Odell) ignored it and very much lessened that stark difference.  And the latest iteration of the Rogue Republicans ™ (that would be NH State Senator Jeb Bradley and NH State Senator Sharon Carson) that are working AGAIN to lessen that stark difference is SB120 (the NH State Senate Republican; not to increase Liberty but silence those that would oppose them.  Republicans are supposed to be FOR Constitutional values – the letter AND the spirit of the law. SB120 carries out DEMOCRAT values by limiting that which should not be infringed – Free Speech.

  •  when we are divided, the only people that win are people like Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Barack Obama

This is true, but she makes no mention, at this point, what the REAL reasons why we are divided.  Let’s be blunt: there are two camps:

  • Those of us that say to ALWAYS act in concert with Principles (with very few examples)
  • Those that only say fealty to that but act contrary to that.

So, how do you square that circle, for that IS the differential difference?  I posit that you CAN’T.  I am a creature of habit – I don’t do politics but I do Principles exceedingly well.  Principles DEMAND Consistency – it cannot be otherwise.  Politics just wanders around and does only what it believes to be expedient at the time.  Principles protect us all – expediency only enhances the few chosen ones.  Who benefits from SB120, for instance?  Certainly not Joe and Jane Sixpack, for instance.

  • Our principles are strong.  we know that we will focus and make sure that we actually adhere to the US Constitution

Really, Kelly?  One of the fundamental theorems that undergird the Constitutional values is The Rule of Law – how do YOU square that in granting Amnesty to illegal aliens?  How in God’s green earth is wiping out an illegal act simply because you no longer will hold fast to what you campaigned on (yeah, we’ve got that video too)? The Constitution DEMANDS that the Federal Government protect its citizens via keeping its borders – now you are in favor in making it mere Swiss cheese?

  • principles of fiscal responsibility

History has shown that BOTH Republicans and Democrats in DC (and here in NH) have not followed that principle.  How big of a cut in YOUR Legislation that you have written has advanced the cuts necessary for a balanced budget?  Oh, I see – Republicans in BOTH houses in DC voted to raise the debt ceiling instead of forcing the Federal government to live within OUR means.  And that is a primary point – you all have forgotten that it IS our money – not yours.

  • We believe in the principles that we create the best climate in a tax and regulatory climate

This can get tedious – see Rogue Republicans ™ (that would be NH State Senator Jeb Bradley, NH State Senator Chuck Morse, NH State Senator Nancy Stiles, and NH State Senator Bob Odell) in extending Obamacare into NH.  And former US Senator Scott Brown voting for Dodd-Frank.  How does THAT work for us little people?  And with respect to Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion, how’d winning the State Senate elections (last time I looked, the NH GOP DID have a majority there) square with your “We cannot put those principles into action if we don’t win some elections.”  We did win – what did that get us with respect to expanding government, spending, and regulations here in NH?

  •  We all need to work together to win these elections and to be unified in November

And now we get to the “we must be together” – sorry to pick on you, Kelly, but that’s what happens when you draw the straw to go first.  Sorry, but many of us don’t do “together” anymore without some good reasons.  No more “blindly punching the checkbox”, no more “holding the nose”.

Consistency – you want us to be “together”?  The NH GOP is going to have to show us that your present talk about future actions is Consistent with past actions.  Er, it hasn’t been, lately (er, see above).  And the clock is ticking on that whole “stark differences” bit – which, I might add, really DO want to see.  Just not hearing the words around election time.

  • we can govern and make a difference

How about “make a difference” FIRST, 360, and then we’ll talk about that governing thingie.

  • I know that our Republican principles are strong when we are together

Cart before the horse here: Principles are strong – Period!  They do not need us to be “together” to be strong.  Principles are principles – the Party is irrelevant to whether they are strong or not.  Now, whether they are implemented does depend on the Party – but can the Party be together around them instead of just the politics?

She continues:

I will be with you.  I will work with you but I need your help. I cannot come over that hill without an army behind me.  You are that army that is going to make the difference in this election.  So please, go out there and do everything you can; hit the doors, hit the phones, talk to your friends and neighbors.  If Gov. Sununu was here he’d be saying “Talk, talk, talk”.  we have to do it again as you did in 2010. We have to do it even better in 2014.

Er, that was the TEA Party and 9/12ers and Libertarians and Constitutionalists that made it happen in 2010.  You know, all those groups that the Party is now trying to freeze out?  Yes, we DO listen – and we watch your actions, too.  They haven’t been all that kindly lately.  So a lot of us are rather dubious right now about being in an army that really may not want us – except when you want our votes.  We’re kinda all done with all that.  Earn the vote – it’s no longer an entitlement.

Yes, we are the ones, seemingly, that folks try to bring to the woodshed for “airing out the dirty laundry in public” – they want us to shut up..  Well guess what, buckos – maybe, just MAYBE, if those that act counter to those principles (including a great many that mouth the words but then prove the lack of Consistency in their actions) were brought into line, well, then we WOULD have to shut up – for we’d have nothing to say, would we?

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