There are more than fiscal issues involved! I am not a fiscal conservative, or a social conservative, or a national security conservative, I am a conservative. There are issues of immigration, war on terror, judges, foreign policy and federal spending.

So, based on YOUR position, I should have voted for Scazzovo right!? There was the Republican. Not the 3rd party candidate and certainly not the Democrat.

If my choice is between a conservative and a liberal (whether of the democrat or RINO variety) I will choose the Conservative, but if my choice is a democrat or a RINO, I walk, MY VOTE is worth more to me than that.

So, I knew the consequences of my act last year. I accept the consequences of that act. I had hoped the GOP would learn that it can not ignore conservatives, it can’t offer up candidates that are worthless RINOs because, what else am I going to do…vote for the Democrat?

It is clear the GOP has not learned. It blamed Palin for costing McCain the election. It supported Scazzovo. Charlie Crist?

How is it being responsible to continue to support an organization and candidates that can’t or won’t support conservative principles? If winning is all there is, why bother worrying about principles – find the popular policies and push those, until the popularity changes to something else.

I abdicated my responsibility to supervise my government – I will not do that any longer.

Never mind…why bother….

And not to point out the obvious, but if the issue had been decided in a primary, Hoffman would likely have been selected, and Republicans would have been united. This is a mess entirely of the local party + the NRCC’s making.

By all means, get involved beforehand. Do everything you can to help nominate, and then elect, the best candidate possible.

But, in 2010, in virtually every case the GOP candidate will be a much better choice on fiscal issues than the Democrat will. If, out of spite/principle/a little bit of both, you then refuse to support the GOP candidate, you then de facto help to elect the Democrat. We all know what happens then.

By all means, do what you want. But, be willing to accept responsibility for what you do.

Just so we’re clear, bs: You honestly think that Redstate and its allies can achieve a, b, and c above (see the questions I asked to Erick) in enough time to win the Congress in 2010.

Now, it’s OK to say that you think that conservatism should be reenergized first, and THEN the Congress should be recaptured. I disagree wholeheartedly, because SOMEONE has to stop Obama from spending money our grandkids don’t have, and that someone is us. But, it is a fair point of view. Hard, but fair. And, I’ll have to grudgingly respect someone who’s willing to step forward and take responsibility for the hard choice. (“Yes, we are ready to give up our chances to win the Congress in 2010, and endure two more years of record-breaking deficit spending, in hopes of winning a bigger conservative victory in 2012.”)

But, IMO it’s wishful thinking to assert that we can “purge” the GOP of “RINOs,” remake it with new conservative leadership and still win in 2010.

Wishful thinking is for blogs, not reality.

Personally, I think you’re a hysteric, and way too silly for normal adult life. You probably feel the same about me, or worse—that’s fine with me.

You don’t strike me as a deliberate, thoughtful person. Too bad, because this is the time for deliberate, thoughtful people.

I tell you this because, in the title of your last post, you complain that you’ve told me things “numerous times.” I’m sure you have—but I’ve ignored them, because I determined your opinions to be worthless long, long ago. I don’t waste my time listening to advice from silly people, and I consider you one of Redstate’s silliest.

So, feel free to keep giving me advice, if it makes you feel good. But, you might want to spare yourself the effort.

In my original comment, I made clear that I agreed with many of you, in that the national GOP should recognize the mistakes it made with Scozoffava and do better next time.

But, it seems that most of Redstate wants nothing to do with the GOP party organizations. Instead you want them all to fall on their swords. I doubt they will.

I’ve asked what you’ll do then…but, in your case at least, I already know the answer. You’ll keep SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER!!!!

Enjoy irrelevance, Ace. It will be here sooner than you think.

Yes, Ace, responsibility is a drag—but it’s something adults willingly take on. Care to grow up and join the rest of us?

It’s one thing to take charge in your local party—it’s another to “purge” it.

Yes, I am a party man. I’ve walked neighborhoods, knocked on doors and collected poll watcher sheets for my local Republican Party.

I haven’t signed up as a precint committeeman, because I frankly can’t spare the time. Work, full-time school and a two-year old consume all my available time. I don’t want to sign up for a committment if I can’t devote the energy it demands.

One reason I’m reacting so strongly on this issue, is that I DO recognize the large amount of time and effort it takes to do politics well. Many people have labored thanklessly at the local, state and national GOP levels the past four years. I’m concerned that we’re so hell-bent on purging the GOP that we’ll sweep out the innocent with the guilty.

They’re not all bums, folks.

It is a LOT tougher for the union to tell a member they won’t take their case up. “Duty of fair representation” cases are expensive to win and exorbitant to lose, so the union would rather just take it to arbitration because it is cheaper and quicker. The last “DFR” I did for the employer was for a Corrections dismissal where the guy had already had a big suspension. We didn’t start until 9, took lots of breaks and a long lunch, and the union rep, the arbitrator and I had drinks in our hands before 5.

Conservatives didn’t have enough strength and we ended up with the weakest candidate we’ve ever ran to face off against Bill Clinton.

We need to get to work now to ensure we don’t face a split in 12.

I didn’t “get” how important it was to become a precinct committeeman until early in 2008 when someone told me that two-thirds of the slots were vacant in Maricopa County and that the moderates and conservatives were split about 50-50 and locked in a battle for the leadership of the Party. I just assumed that in “Goldwater Country,” the conservatives had everything under control. Boy, was I wrong.

I was relatively new to Arizona and just coasting along, working and raising the youngsters. I had been “politically active” over the years, in my mind, but never actually a precinct committeeman. I then also learned via Martin Knight’s postings here that about 50 per cent of the Party’s precinct committeeman slots nationwide were vacant on Election Day, 2008. Our Party went into the 2008 election cycle at half strength! No wonder we got our clocks cleaned. As Jed Clampett would say, “Pitiful. Pi – ti – ful.

Then when Teleprompter Boy and his cabal got elected, it just seemed so obvious that we conservatives needed to retake the Party from the grass roots. So . . . I started recruiting. Got a lot of, “I didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Party left me.” Amen.

But I have continued. Here, and wherever else conservatives gather. Conservative web sites. Tea Parties. Town hall protests. Etc. Even the Redstate gathering in Atlanta.

I was attracted to Redstate because it professed to be a place where conservative political activists gather. To me, the best way to be a political activist is to be “in” a political party as a voting member of the Party. That’s on the top of my priority list. Then, I do whatever else I think might make a difference in getting conservatives elected. I have no idea what percentage of active Redstaters are also active precinct committeeman. I have my suspicions.

I have literally been to Republican Party Club meetings where, when I’ve asked for a show of hands of how many people in attendance were precinct committeemen, less than ten per cent of the hands went up. And I’m being charitable. What’s the point? Worse, usually long-time Club members come up to me and ask, “What is a precinct committeeman?”

Our level of knowledge of civics is pathetic. I guess I was lucky. I had a full-blown semester of Civics in 7th grade. I attended Boy’s State. My dad was a precinct committeeman, a city councilman, a county board member, and the chairman of a county board. His brother, my beloved uncle who drove a truck from Normandy Beach to Berlin and fought in the Battle of the Bulge, was a small-town mayor. His other brother, whose dairy farm I worked on as a kid and who’s still alive, was a rural town clerk for decades. And I could go on and on. And yet, I still didn’t “get it.” I didn’t get how important it was to actually be “in” a political party.

“We the People,” that is, we the CONSERVATIVE people, have to get involved in party politics. Ace, I know you are and you get it.

As do many others here. Erick E. is an elected official. He gets it, obviously.

Posting at Redstate isn’t “getting involved in politics.” Not really. Sorry, it doesn’t get you a vote in the Party leadership elections. That’s just a fact.

I have this crazy idea that at some point in the near future being a conservative Republican Party precinct committeeman will be so “cool” that conservatives will good-naturedly fight for every opening.

Thank you.
ColdWarrior
www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com

P.S. I want everyone here to be able to say someday, “I was a conservative Republican precinct committeeman before being a conservative Republican precinct committeeman was cool.”