bumped and updated: Paul Jacob who puts out Common Sense on a regular basis, had these bon mots concerning this (emphasis mine):
Though it may be that “it’s only a matter of time” before Tea Party folks run the GOP (as “the longtime national committeeman” from my state put it), the price of admission to the higher ranks seems calculated in the abandonment of principle. Hohmann quotes one old party hand as saying that Tea Partyers need to learn “that everybody who is in government is not evil, that we’ve got some really good people in government. Let’s don’t burn the barn down to get rid of the rats.”
And here you have the real problem.
Real change isn’t about putting “better people” in office. It’s changing the principles by which anyone in government — good, bad, or indifferent — must operate.
The founders knew this. Today’s Republican insiders do not.
*****
In the same post where James Pindell asked “how many is enough to be successful?” concerning the turnout of the Granite State Patriot Liberty PAC’s TEA Party , he also had this to say (emphasis mine):
The Republican Establishment: While Jack Kimball tries to mount a comeback, the fact of the matter is that the Republican Party is being run by establishment types like Wayne McDonald, Steve Duprey, Juliana Bergeron, Kelly Ayotte, Charlie Bass, Frank Guinta and Peter Bragdon. Yes, Bill O’Brien is the exception.
Now, as Grokster Mike pointed out, I did launch a stealth campaign to run against Steve Duprey for the RNC Committeeman on the idea that no one should run unopposed; when I heard that no one else had put up their hand, I did. Given that I spent no money on campaigning, no time spent on campaigning (except a select few words whispered before the vote that evoked “WHAT?” responses followed by smiles), I figure that I had a decent ROI. Now, I had no illusions about winning against a multiple time NH GOP Chair / RNC Committeeman. But my takeaway were these:
- standing on the auditorium floor looking upwards at the crowd, it was amusing to listen to the gasps and looks when it was announced that there were TWO contested races for the RNC representation
- I receive 68 votes just by showing up. It showed that a sizable number of folks were open to an alternative to the status quo. How will this be received going forward by the Establishment?
That should be a message – but from this piece from Politico, it seems that the NH GOP Leadership is not all that in love with those of us that made 2010 possible
Read more