A time for choosing - what will the NH GOP Exec Board, NH GOP Chair Jennifer Horn, and NH GOP Committeeman Steve Duprey choose? - Granite Grok

A time for choosing – what will the NH GOP Exec Board, NH GOP Chair Jennifer Horn, and NH GOP Committeeman Steve Duprey choose?

Steve Duprey Jeb BushYes, I do believe that the story that NH GOP Committeeman Steve Duprey supporting the Planned Parenthood Action Fund “has legs”.  Certainly here at GraniteGrok (where we hate it when we catch Establishment GOPpers being political hypocrites – because it shows they ARE hypocrites) it is But – Steve has a very good point:

And even if we abandon any conception of complicity with regard to the event or any like it (not that we’ll ever get any of them to admit that complicity begins at conception), the optics on this in a Republican Presidential primary year are awful. Duprey has become little more than ballast at this point and needs to realize that he can still support Republicans without being a dead weight in a Presidential election year.  (What campaign will dare embrace him for fear of losing all the conservatives and pro-life grassroots voters?). Given the predicament he presents to Republicans he should either step aside or the NHGOP must propose an amicable separation and move on.   The curtain has been pulled aside. You can’t just close it and hope everyone forgets what is behind it.

After all, the Establishment NH GOP MUST have learned SOME kind of lesson from November when it was clear that the Conservative, especially the Pro-life contingent, are no longer willing to lock-step with the Republican Party – we are rejecting the snickering thought of “WELL! Where else will they go?”.  They showed that by utterly punishing the top of the ticket holders – Walt Havenstein (waffling between pro-life personally and pro-choice semi-publicly) and Scott Brown (who was vehemently trying to out-abortion Jeanne Shaheen).

But neither is the NH Media letting go (even as they’ve dropped looking at the Dems malfeasance with the Federal Election Committee fining them); this from WMUR (emphasis mine, reformatted):

A top Planned Parenthood of Northern New England official views the Duprey matter as an example of a broader problem with the NHGOP.  “It’s disturbing that in New Hampshire there is a (Republican) platform that demands opposition to Roe V. Wade,” said PPNNE policy director Jennifer Frizzell, “and where people are pressured to disavow their support for Planned Parenthood. It tells me that the Republican presidential primary is going to be a race to the bottom on the issue of women’s health,” Frizzell said. “These positions are clearly out of step with the voters in New Hampshire, and we will be watching how the candidates discuss their past records and articulate their positions on the issue.”

That pro-baby killer’s screed that can’t even be sufficiently honest enough to stop with the euphemism “ the issue of women’s health” and just be truthful and say “abortion“.  And most polls I’ve seen is that the country is, more and more, pro-life than pro-choice. That said, this next part, however, was far more important:

Ayotte’s camp did not respond to our request for comment.

Indeed.  That is the linchpin here – And I know that I would be wicked ticked if I was in Ayotte’s shoes (no, not the skirt, shoes and maybe only if in sneakers – no high heels, thank you). The longer this goes on (and I predict it will), it will get worse for her.  Especially true as Steve Duprey has made the weakest of an eighth- partial, undertoned, “mea culpa”.  The longer Duprey stays on the active scene, the worse it is going to be for Ayotte.  And it is clear that the pro-aborts are going to seize on this, tying Steve Duprey to Kelly Ayotte not so much to defend someone that stands with them but for political reasons.  They’ll easily throw Republican Steve Duprey overboard and under the bus, even if he has been a stalwart supporter, if it gives them a chance for a two-fer and knock Ayotte off her perch.

And yes, they’re smart enough to see the already created rift between the Establishment and the Liberty & Freedom wings is ripe to be upscaled to a chasm.  Ayotte is not all that well regarded based on her actions and if hit often enough, well, you’ll see a rerun of November IF NH GOP Chair Jennifer Horn and the NH GOP Executive Board just tries to protect Steve Duprey.

Can they play that chess game – well?

So the operative question is now:  Will Steve Duprey act in his own sense of being a BMOC and keep Kelly Ayotte at risk?  Or do the right thing and slink away from the scene during this primary season? Which is of more import – Duprey or the Primary candidates? And make no mistake, the NH Democrat Party is already tying that knot (emphasis mine):

“It’s astonishing but not surprising that the New Hampshire Republican Party believes that support for women’s health is a ‘mistake’ that requires an apology,” said New Hampshire Democratic Party Communications Director Lizzy Price. “Planned Parenthood provides critical health services for New Hampshire women and families including cancer screenings, breast exams and birth control, and Granite Staters will hold New Hampshire Republican Party leader Kelly Ayotte and GOP presidential hopefuls accountable for their party’s out-of-touch position on women’s health.”

The longer he sticks around, longer the flack will rise…I also note that they NHDP can’t be honest enough to admit they are protecting abortion and not womens’ health; that’s just a rhetorical phrase that’s about a true about their true intent as #WarOnWomen was.

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