The Savage Republican

I got the attached email from a delegate to the State Convention this week.

" Dear 2006 Republican Friend,

You may have heard that a rogue candidate of a different political party will seek to use our convention as a platform to stage a publicity stunt to kick start her failing campaign for governor.
Like you, I hold our convention process in high regard and don’t wish to have any B-rate candidate, be it a Democrat, Green, or Libertarian, turn our party’s convention into a side show.

The non-Republican I am referring to is Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Sue Jeffers. There will be an effort later this week by her and her campaign to crash our convention, borrow our stage, and spew her platform. Before she plays her silly games, let me tell you a little more about this candidate from a competing political party.

Over the next few days, I will be communicating with delegates and alternates to our convention about Ms. Jeffers. But as prominent leaders of the Republican Party of Minnesota, I wanted to ensure you had an advance copy of my materials.

I have attached my letter and a handout detailing the differences between Ms. Jeffers' Libertarian Party and the Republican Party of Minnesota. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Finally, my apologies if you received this email more than once. "

The letter was sent by Michael Brodkorb of MDE fame. The delegate who sent the letter to me, said the following regarding Ms. Jeffers:

"While I don't subcribe to alot of Ms. Jeffers opinions or stances on the issues I think she should be afforded a chance to speak at the convention. I feel Gov. Pawlenty has been in need of a serious butt-kicking for some time now. I hope he wins in November and will work for his reelection but I have been extremely displeased with most of the upper ranks of this party this last year and trying to out DFL the democrats is not a platform I want to support. I want these people nervous because the wake-up call is long over-due. So count me out of your business as usual style of politics. I think pretending that our guys are doing just swell is the road to major defeat in November and I will not support or condone that position."

I happen to agree with the delegate in question when he states that our candidates are trying to "out DFL the Democrats". They ARE. Whether it be rewarding law breakers (the President's "Comprehensive Immigration Reform") to blocking off shore oil drilling, to voting to reward illegal behavior, or adding stealth tax increases to fund stadiums for professional sports teams, our elected Republicans are acting more and more like Democrats every day. This is something that Amendment X has railed about here, here, here, here and here!

I agree with Michael that Sue Jeffers should not be our Gubernatorial candidate, but not for the reasons that he states. I think her "poor me - the party is picking on me" attititude is a loser! If she thinks the tactics of the RPM are bad, just wait until she has to run against the meatgrinder that will be Mike Hatch's campaign!

My advise to Ms. Jeffers.....if you can't take the knock down drag out rumble that is partisan politics, stay home! Politics is a rough business and your personal life is dragged through the mud. You need to be able to ignore the push back, stand your ground and defend your issues. If you can do that, you don't need to play the victim card...the "they won't let me in to play" card.