I have started hearing an old familiar phrase on the campaign trail: “I’m a conservative Republican” (emphasis on the ‘conservative). The label “Republican” is polling about as low as it’s ever polled, but its part-time synonym — “conservative” — is the most popular ideological label in american politics.
A Gallup poll found that the number of Americans defining themselves as conservative is at its highest point in 20 years, at 40 percent. That compared to 35 percent saying they are moderate and 21 percent saying they are liberal.
The results track closely with another Gallup poll, from May, which found more Americans defining themselves as “pro-life” than “pro-choice” for the first time since it began asking the question in 1995. And it wasn’t even close — 51 percent to 42.
Is it possible to be a conservative again? I am not sure. Will this trend favor the Republican Party? Not yet. Republicans have not finished paying the price for their lack of fiscal discipline and leadership. The folks in today’s tea party movement are a testiment to the large numbers of conservatives out there who say they are done with the GOP. These folks simply don’t believe in the Republican brand, because in the past what Republicans have said they stand for has not been matched by what they have done while governing in the majority.
It’s time for the Republican party and its candidates to start acting like conservatives and not just telling us they are conservatives. Voters crave the real deal.
Stop the presses – the Yolo County Republican Party decided to endorse Incumbents Wally Herger and Jim Nielsen for Re-Election.
Problem. Charlie Schaupp is running against Nielsen and Colonel Pete Stiglich is running against Wally Herger.
The Irony is that Mark Pruner is the Chairman of the Yolo GOP and is one of the loudest critics of the Placer County Republican Party Endorsement Process.
(To be honest – I had to look at his website to even know what Wally Herger looks like, but I digress. – I am sure those on the Yolo Cent Com feel the same way…)
This blogger received a copy of an email from Mr. Pruner indicating the same sections of the CRP By-Laws with the same vacuous wording as the reason why the Yolo Cent Com needs to reconsider…
Reconsider? Abel Maldonado is in between a rock and a hard place.
First off – his campaign Chairman (Patrick Dorinson – a lifelong Democrat until he latched on to Arnold) attacked the Placer County Republican Central Committee… begging us to endorse Senator Sam, but now Abel has to get confirmed to be Arnold’s (um.) Lt. Gov.
With Sam Blakeslee resigning his post as assembly leader – to run for Maldo’s Senate Seat (that he’d have to vacate if confirmed) – it looks as if the fix is in.
Look at it this way: The Dems don’t trust him – so they will confirm him and then roast him in his attempt to get re-elected.
The Dems also feel that they have a better shot to re-claim the Senate Seat Maldo occupies (it is majority Dem) with him out of the way.
I predict that only Blakeslee, Anthony Adams and a few others on the Rep side vote to confirm… so we’ll be able to safely say that he is the choice of the dems.
Maldo. He could have kept his Senate Seat – now he’ll end up with nothing… and the Dems will be happy and so will the Republicans.
Damon Dunn for Secretary of State
The vote was 21-2 with only a procedural objection from one member and Roger Niello through his Ex-Officio objecting to Central Committees endorsing period.
Recently, the Yolo County Republican Central Committee suspended its’ by-laws to Endorse Assemblyman Jim Nielsen for re-election. Recently, the Yuba County Republican Central Committee ammended their by-laws and then endorsed Sam Aanestad for Lt. Governor as well.
The Press Releases will be going out today!
In a side note – the Placer County Republican Central Committee meeting was heavily attended by members of the local Tea Party Movement.
Remember how the FPPC exhonerated the Placer County Republican Central Committee? Didn’t it seem odd that the Fresno and Stanislaus committee were not mentioned that much in any stories that ran all over the state until the FPPC finished their investigation?
The statewide media had help. The same person who shopped the stories about the Placer County Republican Central Committee’s non-scandal has turned his sights on Tom Hudson.
The agenda of Doug Elmets and the Sacramento Bee meet again – the template of the National Media is to Show a Divisive, mean Republican Party that clings to its’ Guns and Bibles. Elmets, because he has an axe to grind is a willing co-conspirator.
Enter Doug Elmets as Quoted by the Bee:
“I would not want to be in a position of debating him on any issue,” said Doug Elmets, a local political consultant who is not on the committee. “It would be exhausting. And no matter how right you think you are, he would declare victory.”
Elmets said Hudson should be careful not to let his passion get in the way.
“Sometimes those who are the most passionate lose their objectivity and ultimately become more controversial than constructive,” he said.
It is refreshing to see Doug Elmets come out of the shadows – It was Principle that carried the day for Tom McClintock in 2008 and it will be principle that will carry the day for Rick Keene in 2010. The significance of seeing Doug Elmets quoted in these articles is borne by what the reporter omitted:
Elmets’ main client is the United Auburn Indian Tribe. (The Auburn Tribe is viewed as amongst the most anti-Republican in the state) Doug Elmets is also active in re-assembling the same endorsement list for Doug LaMalfa that Liberal Millionaire Former Congressman Doug Ose had in 2008.
Now that Elmets is out in the open – let’s point out the absurdities of his friends in the Bee:
Hudson is not the only one that thinks Meg Whitman is a Democrat. (She campaigned for Boxer in 2004, gave wads to Enviro Groups, Supports Benefits for Non-Citizens, Supports Taxpayer Funded Abortion, etc…)
Peter Hill and Jim Holmes both have a history of supporting tax and fee increases which they were rightly criticized for. This fact is deliberately omitted by the Bee in their numerous stories attempting to portray Peter Hill and would-be Congressman Jim Holmes as victims.
The Placer Cent Com was a top performer in the dismal 2008 election cycle for registrations and because of technicalities had to wait until after the election was over to receive the bounty check from the California GOP.
There will be no attempt as the Bee alleges to unseat Tom Hudson – in fact, the criticism has only served to validate his leadership.
The Central Committee’s endorsement of Tom McClintock was a stunning counter-weight to the local electeds who rallied behind Liberal Millionaire Former Congressman Doug Ose in 2008.
And therein lies the rub.
Team Ose Vs Team McClintock Round Two
Here we go again, this time like an unwelcome Christmas gift Team Ose has come back to take another swipe and Congressman McClintock and those that helped him win election. Every political observer in the country knows that the Ose vs McClintock battle was the archetype for the decades long struggle between those in the Republican Party who want us to be more liberal in our philosophy and those who want to hold firm to a core set of conservative principals.
One year has past since Congressman McClintock was declared the winner over Charlie Brown, and the Ose team has come back together for a reunion of sorts. Who is team Ose? Well they should really be called team LaMalfa instead. The team is made up of 4th Senate District Candidate Doug LaMalfa, David Reade, former PCRP Chairman Ken Campbell, Supervisor Jim Holmes, United Auburn Area Spokesman Doug Elmets, Lincoln Councilmen Spencer Short and Tom Cosgrove, Loomis City Councilman Miguel Ucovich, Rocklin City Councilman Brett Storey, and Rocklin Mayor Scott Yuill. This is the same group of folks who worked overtime to keep Congressman McClintock from winning election in 2008. Even after McClintock defeated Ose in the primary most of Team Ose did almost nothing to actually aid his campaign against Charlie Brown. Team Ose headed by Doug LaMalfa is now in full swing working hard to try to defeat former Assemblyman Rick Keene in the 4th Senate District primary in June.
Rick Keene was one of a small handful of elected officials that stood by Congressman McClintock from the beginning of his campaign for congress to the end. Rick Keene was true to his conservative roots by never wavering in his support of Tom McClintock. Doug LaMalfa and team Ose were on the wrong side of history in 2008 and they are on the wrong side of history in 2010.
Just as in 2008, team Ose and their new standard bearer Doug LaMalfa must be stopped. Placer County and the Republican Party need true leaders that understand the value of principal as opposed to the convenience of personal expediency.