Wyoming Vote Tracker

I love being my own editor and publisher. I can choose what I want published, where I want it published, and even when I want to publish it. And you thought I was against choice for being a pro-lifer? Ha! I believe in so much choice, I make liberals look like control-freaks.

For example:

• if you want to shop at Wal-Mart, that’s your choice. If you don’t, I won’t complain.
• You wanna drive a big ol’ SUV every day? Go for it! If you don’t, well, make sure you know some one that has a big ol’ SUV to come get you unstuck from the mud or snow. Yes, I happen to know someone with a good-sized pick-up truck for such an occasion.
• Rent or buy, you choose the terms of having a roof over your head, just make sure you can afford it either way.
• I even believe in choice when it comes to pregnancy. You can choose to get pregnant (or have a role in getting someone else pregnant) or not, and if you do choose to get pregnant, even if the pregnancy is inadvertent, choose life. Whether you choose to take care of the life or you choose for someone else to take care of it, choose life. And to be fair, if you’re going to choose to have a role in getting someone pregnant, you need to be supportive of that individual and your offspring. That’s where I stand. You can choose to agree or disagree (I told you I was pro-choice!) , but that’s where I stand, and if you didn’t know before, now you do.

All that was for free (just like everything else on this blog). I recently had a comment submitted to a post, but the comment seemed to have few sketchy ties to the post that it was submitted on, so I figured, why not make it a post in it’s own right? And because it’s my blog, I’ll be responding to it. I would like to forewarn the reading audience that the following does have a decidedly anti-Lummis theme to it (part of which why I’ll be responding to it), and it comes pretty close to having a decidedly anti-Republican theme to it (another reason that I’ll be responding to it). So, here’s the comment (without interruption):

In a recent issue of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Harlan Edmonds, husband of Representative Amy Edmonds of Cheyenne, writes a clever column defining the ever elusive RINO, Republican in Name Only. Poor Harlan’s humor falls flat as the Nebraska plains for anyone but former Republican Party Chairman Drake Hill and his cronies, who have been lamenting about RINOS for years. The op ed got me thinking, though, who the heck are the “Real Republicans” (RRs) and what do they stand for?

Republicans and Democrats alike got hit over the head with the “Real Republican” moniker with the Ray Hunkins campaign. Suddenly there was another litmus test for being a good conservative that for a time made the Pro-Lifer litmus test take a back seat in an election year. But Hunkins and his handlers, including Hill and Cynthia Lummis, pressed the issue. Any time Hunkins spoke, he pontificated on what it meant to be a “Real Republican.”

The RR craze erupted with Republicans all over the state trying to out Republican each other, often doing so by evoking (sic) the name of the only true Republican that ever lived, Ronald Reagan. At least that’s what it looked like from afar. It was a distasteful display. For Hunkins, Hill and Lummis, their definition of Real Republican came down to one issue: you had to hate Dave Freudenthal. Unfortunately for them, there were a lot of Republicans (Harlan would call them RINOS) who really liked Gov. Dave. Hence, the second term and the worst thumping any gubernatorial candidate has ever taken in a general campaign.

I have gleaned a better picture of the RRs from Harlan’s writings. RR legislators must vote in lockstep with one another on RR issues. RRs must support and control the county caucuses and conventions, making sure that new, untested RRs don’t have a say in the political process. RRs must attend every Republican meeting, event or face serious RINO demerits. RRs must not think but act immediately on RR issues. But most of all, RRs must abandon all civility in their pursuit of the principles of RR-ism.

Case in point – Ray Hunkins exploited the birth of his grandchildren minutes after they are born on the steps of the hospital to prove that he was a Pro-life candidate. Extremely distasteful. Current party chairman Fred Parady desperately wants to be an RR and they grudgingly let him in, only because his rudeness exceeds his RINO tendencies. Has he ever respected any schedule other than his own? I could go on, but the point is Real Republicans are rude and ill-mannered. More importantly, they are hypocrites on key Republican issues (a topic for later) and other Republicans know it.

While Harlan opines in his op eds and the former Republican chairman schemes with his posse in his two-story compound, the Wyoming Democrats are taking over and they are not being subtle about it. The DNC is pumping money into the state. The county parties are mobilizing. Activists are everywhere. The Democrats smell blood and have the good sense to capitalize on it. Add a charismatic candidate like Barack Obama who rallies the young people, and you’ve got a lethal buzz that could carry them all the way through to the election of Gary Trauner.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party is, as Harlan wrote, “crippled by internal division, moles, sabotage and a shortage of funds.” His final assessment is correct but his argument is wrong. His RINOS have not destroyed the Party. This small band of Real Republicans has shut out and insulted the heart and grassroots of the Republican Party. The result: Republicans are staying home, sending their money to other causes and hoping for a fresh face with just a modicum of civility that can bring the party back together. There is no such person on the horizon. Worse yet, it is unlikely that this much needed individual will show up this election year.

Yet, the RRs persist and you have to give them credit for their tenacity, misguided though they be. They have [bravery] but no brains; persistence but no heart.

And now, my point-by-point response:

• Mr. Edmonds’ op-ed: Thank you for choosing to reference something that is so un-readily available! I have perused WTE’s website in every perceivable corner, and found nothing by the noted author. I enlisted the help of a couple of brand-name search engines, and came up with nothing. You are forcing me to visit my local public library on my day off, and I’m not even sure if they carry WTE however far back the op-ed is (you conveniently left that out), and that’s if they carry WTE at all (I do live diagonally across state from Cheyenne). Your vague reference to the author’s humor is meaningless since there is no common frame of reference, and why is it that Republicans are the only ones that have “cronies?” Were Clinton’s cabinet members all outsiders? What about the Clinton campaign team? I’m sure they have their own group of cronies, and I see nothing wrong wrong with having people close to you as your trusted advisers.
• Gov. Freudenthal has an advantage of a budget surplus that he didn’t create, but because he’s the chief exec of the state, guess who people give the credit (deserved or not) to? It’s sad, but it happens. He also had the NRA’s endorsement. Why? He’s a Western Democrat that’s still at home, thus he can’t go the way of his party and support tighter controls on Second Amendment freedoms. Thus, the NRA had no reason to oppose the incumbent. I had one personal encounter with the Governor, and it really wasn’t all that pleasant. I don’t hate him per se, but I don’t really get a thrill out of listening to him being interviewed on my local radio station of seeing him on TV. I do have a problem with his political history, and I don’t think he’s got some kind of charismatic aura about him either. For the record, I never voted for him.
• As one who would consider himself a Real Republican that is relatively new to the circle with respect to involvement, I would like to say that I got to participate in the county convention here in Cody this past January. It was my first time going ever. I was not able to make it to the caucus in December. I haven’t been able to make it to a precinct committee meeting. I have never been elected to anything. I have talked regularly with one of our county precinct committee women, and she was the one that got me on the list of alternate delegates. I guess that makes me a crony in your perspective. For the record, we knowingly disagree with each other on the abortion issue, and she still talks with me, and she encourages me to get involved where I can. She also believes in following the rules, and there are certain procedures for participation at caucuses and conventions (especially conventions). If you feel left out, get involved more, and talk with people that can help you do that.
• Yea, I hate it when grandparents are proud of their newborn grandkids too. If they happen to be a candidate for a major political office, and they want to use the occasion for a discussion of an issue, as long as the parents are OK with it, I’m fine with it, and I don’t recall Mr. Hunkins’ daughter or son-in-law complaining about it. I suppose Sen. Enzi was in the wrong for taking time on the Senate floor to brag abut the birth of one of his grandchildren?
• I met Chairman Parady last September. Seemed to me to be a fine gentleman; gracious; kind; outgoing. I like him.
• I think every Republican in this state is aware of the Democrat threat this year. All you have to do is the math (two Republican U.S. Senate Seats and One Republican held/open lone U.S. House Seat equals a lot of interest from the Democrats). Gary Trauner’s big hype in ‘06 was not being Barbara Cubin. Now his hype is that he’s not a party-line Democrat. Good luck with him going far with the national party (committees and so forth) if gets elected in November!
• Yes, I know, the Republicans are terribly un-unified. The Democrats are showing us what unity is all about and we should learn from it. I know, the Republicans are far from perfect, but they represent more of what I believe than the Democrats ever will. The reason Republicans are suffering hard times is that so many of them were elected on being conservatives (ahem, Real Republicans), and they failed to serve as conservatives. They went along with the tyranny of the then-minority instead of standing for their beliefs that got them elected. A bunch of Democrats came along and campaigned as conservatives and won. Some have abandoned their conservative platforms to advance in the party, but the situation is what it is. Now there is a certain distrust in the Republican party that needs to be dealt with. Just ask Sen. McCain.
• How can you have persistence without heart? Indeed, it takes heart to persist, even bravery. Sometimes the brain gets worn, but it doesn’t mean there’s no intelligence.

Conclusion: I’m still voting for Cynthia Lummis in the August primary; and if she wins that, guess who I’m voting for in November? Certainly not Gary Trauner.

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