Ronnie Come Lately
Posted by Andy on June 29th, 2007
A few parting shots regarding the Amnesty bill.
Remember that it was plain jane conservative activists that helped twist the arms of US Senators into doing the right thing, so don’t credit ‘Ronnie come lately’ Carey’s leadership at the MNGOP as far as the issues go. All he did was wait until the game was over to cheer for someone doing the right thing he should have done all along.
And regarding that right thing. It turns out that Senator Coleman was not so quick to do so. He came in as the 47th Senator to vote no. Meaning Amnesty had already been defeated before he voted. As one dedicated reader of ResidualForces.com puts it, he had his finger in the air once the bill was dead, he made up his mind.
We, the conservatives, can all be very proud of defeating this bill, and let’s keep in mind that once again, the conservative activists had to save the Republican party from itself. Don’t for one minute forget that leadership matters, and sadly the real leaders aren’t running the delivery vehicle for conservatism, the Republican Party nationally or locally.
Just imagine all of the activists who burned up the phone lines in order to make Republicans like Coleman do the right thing, actually working on their behalf. What if the Republican party could harness the dedicated conservatives to work for the party, rather than save it from its Senators? We need scores of volunteers in 2008 to right the 2 cycle trend of losses for the MNGOP.
We cannot do that if Ron Carey can’t figure out how to tap into the true conservatives. Here’s a hint Mr. Carey, stop waiting until the fight is over to take sides. Lead!
I know a lot of people feel that the Republican party can’t take stands on issues and has to let the candidates do it. Well, we’ve been doing that for a while….. how’s that working for us?
Candidate after candidate has tried and failed to thread the needle, all the while the activists are abandoning a sinking ship, because the ship no carries its cargo. “We’re not them” is a crappy message, and an (R) behind a name is not what gets people to go out and work.
The Republican party of Minnesota has to tap in to the vast conservative movement in order to reverse the course of the Republican party, rather than fight them. Moderation is not the key. Neither is mitigating defeats.
The Republican Party is dropping the ball in tapping into the energy of the conservative activists by being “Ronnie come latelty’s” on the major issues of the day. I’m sorry, I know some of you think Carey just can’t oppose Pawlenty or Coleman on issues, but frankly you’ve been saying that for about 4 years, huh, that’s how long our losing streak is. Coincidence? I think not.
Just imagine if the party had lead the charge in saving this country from the US Senate’s Amnesty bill. That would have been something that would have drawn people to the party. They could have reached out to new people who share at least one value with us, so we could have ‘kept in touch’ with them as the election cycle continues and IDed them on other issues.
But nope, the Party never did a goll darn thing, and all those activists who did the right thing, are still unknown to the party.
You remember the marriage CD? granted, a colossal failure, but the right idea. Conservative issues draw conservative workers. finger in the wind cheerleading draws flies!
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June 29th, 2007 at 11:47 am
What if the Republican party could harness the dedicated conservatives to work for the party, rather than save it from its Senators?
What if dedicated conservatives could harness the power of the Republican party? That’s what thing I don’t like about conservatives. It seems like their attitude is primarily, “we’re a power that should be harness, so harness us.” Why should the “moderates” be demanded to harness the power of conservatives? Why not conservatives pariticipate themselves instead of demanding those who do participate what to.
It’s nice that conservatives stop bills be making phone calls, and have talk radio, and hold rallies. It’d be nicer if conservatives would actually participate in the political process and take charge for a change.
Take the tax rally for example. Supposedly upwards of 7000 conservatives there. That’s over a 100 people per senate district in MN. I’m guessing the Twin Cities area was over represented at the rally, so that is probably an even higher average for suburban districts. Imagine if instead of going to a rally, they’d go to their caucus? If conservatives like Jason Lewis got 7000 people to go to the Republican Caucus next March, conservatives would OWN the party.
You wonder why conservatives chosen chair lost? Do you know how many people we had at my caucus last year? Total? Out of 6000 Republican voters in the district? 30. At the district convention this year to elect the delegates who would vote for the new state chair? 12.
There were at least 3 conservatives in my district that complained about the state of the party in their view. The number that cared enough to do anything about it? 0
You want a party that takes the charge to tap into the energy of conservative activists? I think that is going to take conservative activists being involved. Let me tell you now, it’s not the party that is dropping the ball. Ramstad, Pawlenty, Coleman, Carey, and the others on their side are probably happy with what they are doing for the party. IMO.
You want conservatives to stop being unknown to the party? Then conservatives need to stop dropping the ball. They could OWN the party if they wanted to. In my view, they really don’t want to. They’d rather complain about those who do own the party not listening to them.
If you think conservatives matter, then show it for a change. If “Andy” is the only conservative who is involved in a district, that’s not going to change much.