1. If I sound like a cry baby, so be it. My hunch is I’m not the only one who was thinking the same way. Just frustrated. I suspect others who felt the same just weren’t compelled enough to gripe about it. Call it a “silent majority”, if you will.
2. Intraparty battles at the state level may be newsworthy, but again, it just seems like better “Get Local” material. If you say it has made national news, I’ll take your word for it. Myself, I haven’t seen it anywhere nationally, and I wasn’t counting The Washington Post links as “national news”.
3. Who’s side am I on? I like to think of myself on the side of having a better, more effective, influential RedState. A RedState that, at a minimum, carries the amount of weight and influence on the right that say, DK and TPM carries for the left. I always thought posts like this just reinforced the idea that we’re a disorganized minority more worried about in-fighting than anything else. *shrugs* Erick, it’s your website. You’re certainly free to do what you want with it. For my money, I like it here and enjoy posting to it. (You can read my history here, to know that much.) One word of advice, if I may be so bold: I wouldn’t be so quick to lash out at anyone offering constructive, albeit loud, criticism of what gets posted on the homepage here and immediately question there “loyalty” or what ideological side they’re on. Over time, I suspect that type of first response will get in the way of improving the site.
4. I’ll concede you weren’t requesting activism from the members, but it sure seemed that way from the post. If you weren’t seeking it, then I have to question why post it in the first place to the homepage? Just to gripe? OK, but I can think of a million things going on at the Hill and the White House that would be a better use of homepage space than that story. Oh well. Just have to agree to disagree.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I personally like receiving his e-mails. I feel excited about the RPV. I am looking forward to attending my mass rally in Fairfax County. I hope to be selected as a delegate to our convention. I am very glad that we will be having a convention rather than a primary.

If you are republican in Virginia and you do not know who the candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor are, they have yet to chosen. McDonnell and Bolling have announced for Governor and Lt. Governor and they are unopposed. There are three candidates for Attorney General. The state convention is in May.

Get active. Get informed. I get regular email updates from RPV. They also have an excellent website. http://www.rpv.org/

I am just an ordinary Virginia Republican voter. I have no desire for more petty infighting. Let us work at taking back Richmond and deal with Jeff Frederick at the end of his term. He has only been Chairman for 1 year from what I can see the party is actually improving. That is not to say I was impressed with what happen in the last election cycle.

I am however, unwilling to believe that we must get rid of Chairman Frederick when the 2006 election cycle was nothing to praise either. Was 2008 really the fault of the man who took over in 2008? I for one want to give him and the RPV more time to see if the changes coming about are an improvement. So far, to me they seem like step in the right direction.

For the first time in years, 2009 has seen competitive races in Northern Virginia. Let us keep our eye on the ball. Removing the chairman will prove to be a devise distraction when we have more important matters to contend with.

My assumption is that any other day his remarks would’ve been less than newsworthy. But he chose words and a forum that made him appear like a serious ignoramus. To the extent that this is emblematic of the other challenges Frederick has created for the Party in Virginia, I have to believe a state filled with so many talented and capable political people can do better than this guy.

I now have a specific action and point to make to my local party leader. Neither of which I would have done prior to reading this.

What other side of the story do you want to read about? I have read your past posts and you are quite critical of conservatives in general, and appear to want more moderate positions. That’s been working out real well….

I received a letter from him shortly after he became Chairman talking about how he had a “new vision” for RPV and was planning a brand new website and a more robust infrastructure. The new website arrived…six months later. Right before the election. And Frederick’s RPV ground game not only let us lose the Presidential contest for the first time since ’68 (that is not solely his fault, of course) but also lose VA-11, VA-02, and VA-05 – the last of which is simply unforgivable. There is no way Tom Perriello should have won that district. He has been verbal gaffe machine and despite Morgan Griffith’s protestations to the contrary, I believe he had a large hand in the collapsing of the deal that was going to give us back the state Senate. There is too much on the line this fall. We have a six seat majority in the House of Delegates and absolutely cannot afford to lose it. In truth we have a great opportunity to gain seats as well as take back the governorship, but I have my doubts as long as Frederick is in charge.

If I’m wrong, show me the goods.

Look at the percentages for presidential election years going back to 68 and you will see the decrease and it is dramatic.

On election night this year they will talking about two races and only two. If we lose Virginia again then we as a party are screwed going into 2010. I must admit I am appalled at the naiveté of your comment.

2007-2008

And here are the numbers from 2006-2007:

2006-2007

1. Virginia is the only swing state w/ state-wide elections this year. The Governor will have a huge impact on re-districting. What happens in this race will determine how the congressional lines are drawn.

2. Frederick is a power hungry egomaniac who does not care what is best for the party.

3. Since Frederick took over RPV, the GOP has enjoyed decreased fundraising, and increased election losses. He has broken nearly every campaign promise.

4. There are questions concerning his handling of the RPV money and funneling donations through his technology company, taking 7% off the top.

As a Virginia Republican I’m VERY concerned about this year and have zero confidence in having Frederick at the helm.

Jeff Frederick should do the right thing for once for his party, put his ego and pride aside, and step down, not blast our nominee for Governor.

Is the RedState homepage really the best place for state-level intra-party fighting to be discussed?

Yes, we do ourselves no good if we do not hold our own accountable.

I thought this is why we had a “Get Local” section. I don’t live in Virginia and I really don’t care if we capture their Governor’s race enough to be flooding the phone lines to b*tch about the RVP Chair.

The situation with the Chair has made national news. We are not asking anyone to call. We are expressing a strongly held opinion.

I always get the sense when I see posts like this that we’re only getting one side of the story anyways, and we’re supposed to get all ginned up and outraged and flood the phone lines over this kinda thing?

If you don’t like what we give you, educate yourself. We’re not playing fair and balanced, we’re playing our side. Whose side are you on anyway?

Excuse me while I take a bath now, cuz I’m feeling used and dirty.

(2) Frederick is really a trainwreck.