Mixed feeling for the GOP

First the bad news. Eric The Crook Hoplin (and that is how I will address him during his term) won for Deputy Chair. It looks like in order to be a rising star in the MN GOP you have to swindle elderly out of their money and then blame it on the elderly. Congratulations to The Crook.

Now the good news. Ron The Incompetent Eibensteiner lost.

There are people who have misrepresented the angst toward Ron. While bloggers like Residual Force failed to ever present why Ron should be given another term they slam the pro-principle side of the election. To quote RF:

I am worried about the party. Some one wise here just told me to be careful what I post. Damn that. We made a huge mistake today. Hostile take overs never go well. We have elected a guy who has insulted every elected Republican that matters. He refused to mention Mark Kennedy by name as the Senate Candidate. Sure the grassroolts is happy, but the elected ones now have an enemy at the helm.

Sorry, pal. You have it all wrong. This was not a hostile takeover...this was a take back by the principled side of the party. The mistake was electing The Crook Hoplin. I never heard Carey insult me, Marty or any of my colleagues in my BPOU. We are the ones who matter. The liars at the top are supposed to be the tools of those who elect them, not the other way around, pal.

The fact that Carey "refused to mention Mark Kennedy by name as the Senate Candidate" is a positive. He is repsecting the primary process. Ron didn't do that and he suffered for it. The elected ones only have an enemy if they continue to ignore the grassroots. That is as it should be. Ron's version was that the grassroots were only good for money and labor...not our beliefs and direction.

The angst against Ron is his incompetence as a Party Chair.
1) He did not support grass roots (and Hoplin's track record with CRs proves he does not either). They are both top-down dictators.
2) He did not take sufficient blame for the abject failure of 2004. He pissed away a great chance to win the Senate in 2002 because of a questioning of his top-down dictates by Dick Day.
3) He selected Hoplin (a crook) for his running mate
4) He has no respect for the primary process. As a party chair he should have no say for candidates prior to the primaries and should fight for all endorsed candidates the have an "R" behind their name.

It is not about "following the platform enough" it is about following the low-ranking people in the party.

Pawlenty has lost support for not flip-flopping on various positions as of late...not because of his adherance or lack thereof to the platform. He promised not to raise taxes and is finding ways to back around that. He had a very clear position on gov't stadium funding and has done a 180. He has flipped on the expansion of gambling (to my side, no less). For these flips we have lost faith in his ability to hold any principles.

Coleman...bah, I never supported him and I skipped that ballot. I could not stomach pulling the lever for either candidate in that election so I didn't. I have never been a Coleman supporter and never will be.

Message to Carey. Remember the lesson here. The grass roots is the party. You only are our hired coordinator.

Thank God that the GOP is back on the road to principles. Doing what you say and saying what you mean.