I am very confused - I have never heard this term before - Granite Grok

I am very confused – I have never heard this term before

WMURI did watch WMUR’s Close up yesterday but didn’t have the time to put up a post on it.  Didn’t care much for Jon Huntsman when he actually ran – he tried to run as something that he was not and it didn’t work well at all.  For him to think that he could win NH next time around is, um, silly. I was there at his second campaign stop (Laconia, NH) and the optics could not have been any worse – a bevy of black SUVs arriving late, the staffers in the Republican Political Operative Uniforms of blue blazers and ties as the Huntsman Family were trying to dress like “the natives”.  Not impressive and fast forwarded past it.

But I did watch, intently, Josh McElveen’s interview with Marilinda Garcia or (elect-mari.com) who has just announced for a Congressional run (NH-CD2) and she did have a number of talking points that she repeated a couple of times.  However, McElveen did ask what I consider a pretty typical question:

What kind of Republican are you?

I ask the same question to pretty much every candidate I meet up with – but my twist is “where along the political spectrum would you say you lie: Susan Collins (used to ask “the Maine Twins?”) or Jim DeMint (and now maybe will slot in either Ted Cruz or Mike Lee).  While no one is an exact match for another, it is a quick take on the candidate’s political frame of reference and something that I believe gives lots of information to prospective voters.  It also demands a certain level of honesty – one that some wish to hide (usually for political reasons – Kelly Ayotte refused to answer the question honestly).  However, I just don’t even have a clue how to take Garcia’s answer:

I consider myself a “Results” Republican

Wha?  I don’t even know what that even means!  I looked over to TMEW (who knows more than most being married to me but would just as happy to be apolitical) – it was clear that this “closer to normal” voter had no clue either.  I’ve asked some other folks as well – in each and every case, bewilderment ensued.  That is no more descriptive than “Hope and Change” – a rather nebulous idea at best.  What KINDS of results?  Stemming from WHICH political philosophy?

To me, that is dangerously close to being a “pragmatist”.  Problem is, many on the Left, having burned out the word “Liberal”, now doing the same to “Progressive” with its negative Socialist / Communitarian / Communist connotations.  Instead, they call themselves Pragmatists to:

  • Blur where their real intents lie along the political spectrum
  • As simply a PR stunt to hide that they DO have a hard case ideology.

In essence, they have no problem in lying to voters.  On the other hand, the Conservatives I know make no bones about their stances – not so much as a “check off on the list” but unafraid to tell people “here is where I stand on the issue” believing that the label does tell a positive story..

A note of caution – in each and every contact with the MSM, one had better make the best use of that time to clarify themselves to the voters that may be tuning in.  In this case, if she ignored her staffers, she’d better start listening.  If they offered up this “pithy phrase”, they either ought to be flogged or fired as this did nothing but confuse one and all.

Yes, every politician wants to control “their message” – but my main piece of advice is to just be who you really are as it is too tough to try to be somebody else.  Sooner or later, somebody’s gonna figure out the difference and blurt out the lie.  Stand on your own merits, for better or worse, unless your goal is simply to be elected by any means possible (which then tells us you are an Establishment Republican at best and an Opportunist at worst).

Choose wisely.

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