MASON CONSERVATIVE

In Which I Agree With Mike Huckabee

which isn't a lot, I tend to think that Mike Huckabee is a bit of a flake, but in this case the former Arkansas governor is dead-on, every time I see someone like Tom Davis talking about getting rid of social issues as a bulwark of the party, it makes me cringe.  

Here's what I find: People that are social conservatives are also economic conservatives. But a lot of the economic conservatives are not social conservatives. Throw the social conservatives the pro-life, pro-family people overboard and the Republican party will be as irrelevant as the Whigs [the short-lived 19th century political party].

They'll basically be a party of gray-haired old men sitting around the country club puffing cigars, sipping brandy and wondering whatever happened to the country. That will be the end of the party.

Because the energy that is supplied for knocking on doors and working neighborhoods and getting out the vote, it comes from people who are passionate about human life and about traditional marriage. Those are the same people that believe in national security, less government and lower taxes.

I see people saying, "Well, we don't really want to get into these issues like life'." You do that and you lose the evangelicals, you lose the Catholics, you lose basically a whole lot of people who aren't even religious but through common sense know that that's a ridiculous position to take and call yourself conservative.

Conservatives aren't the evil boogeymen moderates tend to make us.  In actuality, conservatives tend to be more flexible in candidate selection, because we are the ones that always come out and vote.  For many of us, John McCain was  a second, third, or fourth choice but it was the conservatives that came out for him; it was the moderates that went rushing to Barack Obama.  And look at Senate recruitment this year . . . we are thrilled that Rob Simmons and Mike Castle could be our candidates in CT and DE because we know a DeMint can't win there, and we know the different between a Castle and a Beau Biden is both wider and worse than the difference between a Castle and a DeMint.  

Conservatives battle within the party vigirously, but we keep it in the party.  We stay in the party.  We don't tuck tail an run like a certain former congressman, who all but endorsed the Democrat candidate for the US Senate, we show up even when we don't get our way.  So to all those "moderates" who keep encouraging us to stay away from social issues, I say be careful what you wish for.  Conservatives don't jump parties, but they will stay home if you ignore them so I would heed the warnings of Mike Huckabee.  Its a simple formula to rebuild the party, let conservatives be conservative and let moderates be moderate, we can live with each other because we have before.  

The way to unite the sides is economic conservatism, and if there was ever going to be any sort of litmus test for the party, it should be this.  I'm not crazy, I know that to win a Senate seat in Delaware we need Michael Castle to do it, and I support him if he choses to run.  But what we can't have are economic heretics like Charlie Crist who chose to cheerlead with our economically reckless president for the sake of getting his state money to bail his ass out of the fire.  This party is big enough for everyone, and I just hope that the moderates will stop throwing shots at SoCons, because its misguided and does more to divide us than unite us.

Jim Moran WANTS Terrorists In Alexandria!

This is unbelievable.  

Rep. Jim Moran is now saying that its Alexandria's patriotic duty to put a giant terrorist target on the city by house terrorists from Gitmo.  Welcome to the wonderful world of one-party Democratic rule, hopefully two new independent voices on the Alexandria City Council can fight this, and hopefully we will have a governor (McDonnell), lieutenant governor (Bolling), and most importantly an attorney general (Cuccinelli) who will have the strength to stand up to the federal government put citizens of Virginia in direct threat of terrorist attack.

For Chairman, Pat Mullins

I've taken some time to decompress over the recent coup at RPV and mull over who I will support at the convention for RPV chairman.  My mood has gone from anger to almost uncaring at this point, as I've become convinced that as things stand now, RVP and state central is basically useless in Republicans taking back power in Virginia.  The closer I've gotten to the inner workings inside the party, the more its apparent to me that so much of state central and RVP is about little fiefdoms of power by people who care more about internal factions than the betterment of the party as a whole.  Not that their aren't people who care about the party in state central or in the RVP, I don't question their commitment but I question their focus.  

So on that slightly depressing note, I do endorse and do plan on voting for Pat Mullins for RVP chairman, mostly because of his background working as a unit chairman and the lack of quality of any opposition to him.  I simply do not understand how Bill Stanley could be an effective chairman coming from Russell County . . . nothing against Russell County . . . but we need a chairman who has experience in all parts of the state, and Mullins has that from being a unit chairman in both suburban Fairfax and rural Louisa.  From the people I know in Fairfax who know and remember Mullins, I hear nothing but positive things from activists all across the GOP spectrum.  So while what happened last month was a disgrace, its time to move forward.  Mullins seems low-key enough, conservative enough, and experience enough to try to sail this RPV vessel through this election.  

This Is The Bob McDonnell I Want To See

Money.

We need a candidate who will fight.  This will be a double-tough election for Bob McDonnell versus what any other Republican has had to deal with because the outgoing governor is not only a Democrat but DNC Chairman, and chief lackey to Barack Obama.  Even Gilmore wasn't this strong, because Gilmore was never a Bush insider the way Kaine is for Obama.

But this whole debate over where we send these monsters, these terrorists who want nothing more than to kill Americans, is an issue Republicans need to talk about more and more.  Its a reckless decision by Obama and the Democrats that is based on hatred of George W. Bush.  There is starting to be some bi-partisan blowback once these guys realized that these terrorists might end up in their district.  For Republicans to have any sort of shot at the future, we must be willing to stand up and say "no," to oppose the president just as the Democrats opposed the last president.  I will never ever allow a liberal or a Democrat to talk about unity and getting behind the president after the last 5 1/2 years of uninterrupted opposition to anything Republicans and President Bush did.

But for Bob McDonnell, this is the kind of candidate we need.  An aggressive candidate taking a clear stand and reaching out to find new issues to drive debate and get voters engaged.  I can't think of a better way to build on some of the momentum we have gathered in the 8th district than talking about Democrats placing terrorist, and with it a huge target, in Alexandria.  We need to poke and prod on Obama, Kaine, and the Democrats.  Issues are there, we just need to find the stones to talk about them and stop assuming people don't want a strong Republican Party.  There is an opposition out there, we just need to find people to lead it.

I've been worried about the direction the McDonnell campaign in a lot of ways, mostly because I see them trying to co-opt Democrat issues like "green jobs" instead of focusing on what we stand for.  Chances are people that are motivated by green jobs won't be voting Republican.  What we need to do is find our issues, and this is one of them.  McDonnell can't just run not to lose, or run on the old issues.   He needs to change the rules to the game, and this is one of them.  Nobody wants terrorists in their neighborhoods, and McDonnell is showing he's willing to stand up to this.

But I like they he's out in front of new issues, creating new issues to put Democrats on the defensive, and is taking a clear stand.  Keep running like this!

UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida

Hope And Change Has Come To Alexandria!

Their is still hope out there!  Frank Fannon and Alicia Hughes won election to the Alexandria City Council tonight, signaling that we are making incredible gains in Alexandria and in the 8th district (my district).  These elections are vitally important because they provide the party with depth, a bench, and potential candidates for future office.  This is a continuation of the low rumble of a Republican resurgence in Northern Virginia that started with Pat Herrity and Joe Murray's near wins, John Cooks win in Braddock District, and now this.

Couple thoughts come to mind . . . both Fannon and Hughes were endorsed by the Alexandria Times based on their belief in fiscal restraint and economy in local government.  I know some people who walked for Fannon so I'm glad to see he won.  

I wonder if this is the end of Brian Moran for Governor?  How can he claim to build a statewide victory when he's losing elections in his backyard . . . the bluest of backyards.  

A good night for Republicans.  It doesn't change the world, but it feels good to win in areas we aren't suppose too.  Now if we can just figure out how to win where we are supposed too there will be no stopping us.

I Wasn't Fair To Pat Mullins

I wrote yesterday that I am inclined not to be voting for Pat Mullins at the Convention as a protest to the way he was elected and to the whole sorry affair that preceded it.  I've decided that I wasn't being fair to Mullins, and that I will judge my vote based on his vision for the party versus whoever his opponent might be.  To all those who are angry about what happened these last few weeks, I encourage you to separate that from the Chairman election.  Lets let whoever emerges articulate their vision for the party and choose then.

Nevermind Website Banners . . .

A big hubbub was created during the Frederick Saga by many in the establishment of the party, including its organ Too Conservative, that Jeff Frederick had his face on the website's banner.  Heaven forbid that Republicans know who their chairman is, but as it is its over.  I had a source inside the State Central meeting on May 2 that passed along a interesting little tidbit.

Did You Know . . . that according to my source inside RPV at 115 East Grace St in Richmond, there is only John Brownlee literature!  None for Cuccinelli and none for Foster!  Outrageous, but not surprising because the same people behind Frederick's demise are behind Brownlee's campaign.  So I'm waiting for the proverbial nagging nabobs of negativity to explain to me why RPV would be taking sides in this race?  And if you think its an accident, your crazy.  

The Folly Of State Central

I promise you I trying really hard not to be "generic conservative Frederick supporter," or however the establishment wants to label us.  I really have no problem with Pat Mullins as chairman either, but its really hard to swallow the fact that SCC threw out a chairman elected by the party and installed their own choice without any consultation or approval of anyone in the party.  

Like I've tried to say before, this isn't so much about conservative vs. liberal, but who gets to actually run the party.  There are both moderates and conservatives who are just as dedicated to grassroots work and growing the party as the other.  What is going on here is a slap-down of the grassroots by the party establishment and its political leaders that control what goes on in those meetings.  

I just can't get past the idea that we are now expected to rubber-stamp State Central's choice, that they get to decide who runs the party and not the people - moderates and conservatives alike - who man the phones, knock on doors, talk to their neighbors, put out the signs, work back to schools, and man the polls.  Hell, I trust the guy who juts shows up to a rally or two more than these guys who have developed little fiefdoms of power that are just dragging this party down.  And sadly, it seems there is not much we can do but be good little Germans, let them tell us what to do, keep working hard, and in the end keep losing.

I hate to sound so pessimistic, but I was at the 08 Convention, and I took it seriously what I was doing and how I was voting.  State Central makes me feel like I don't matter, and I know a ton of people who feel the same way.  We find time in our schedules to be apart of this party, to be apart of the process of selecting our leaders and candidates.  And when we speak as a party, this den of thieves decide we aren't smart enough - not like the hacks and consultants that dominate the Establishment of this party - to know what we are doing.  So it has to be fixed.

Sadly, many in the party have been blinded to what is going on by the effective Jeff Frederick straw man these guys have created.  Like I said, moderates are as much apart of the grassroots as conservatives, but too many of them have fallen for the trick, for playing on their Frederick paranoia to fully understand what they have allowed to happen.  What has happened ins 200+ people have overturned the will of a party and a Convention with barely a whimper of opposition.  This is not what a party striving for a "big tent' should be doing, is it?  

Well Frederick is gone now, what excuse are the moderates and their mouthpieces going to come up with next?  How many more excuses are they going to find before they realize that blurring the partisan lines won't work, that trying to beat the Democrats on their issues isn't going to work.  We can't win without conservatives.  John McCain, the moderates main man, lost horribly in November because he does what all moderates do - try and fight on Democrats terms instead of forcing our terms and our vision as a pure contrast.  This is what it appears to me that so many of the High Republicans in power in Virginia, scared to be conservative and run on true conservative issues that win.  We think because Obama and the Democrats have won, we have to placate them and fight for table scraps.  When the Democrats where in the minority under Bush, they energized their base by opposing the president and eventually built up enough momentum to win back the government.  We need to follow that model.  But that revival cannot happen in Virginia so long as our party machinery spits in the face of the regular members, take out leaders that were elected by the party they don't like, and elect leaders that we have no say in.  

Right now, I'm inclined not to support Pat Mullins at the Convention based on principle, as a protest to the entire sorry and insulting ordeal the SCC has put many of us through.  At the Convention, I refuse to be a rubber stamp to a group that had no respect for the will of the party.  

Long Live Manny Pacquiao!

So I did end up getting the Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquiao superfight for Hatton's super welterweight title.  I didn't know it was possible for a two-round fight to be worth it for the price I paid, but it was.  Pacquiao was unlike anything I've ever seen, his hands were so fast and he was so aggressive.  What was even more impressive is that he's not the snarling, angry, trash-talking fighter.  He's a humble, religious, and quiet man who holds no grudges and even prays for the safety of his opponents.  But his style is as beautiful as it is violent, he comes at all angles, his handspeed is faster than anyone else, and the precision of his punches deadly.  He throws them hard, fast, on point, and the other fighter never sees it coming.  Ricky Hatton certainly never saw that left cross coming.  

Floyd Mayweather is coming back to fight Marquez in July, if he can get past that test we are looking at the superfights of all superfights:  Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs Manny Pacquiao.  

I would stay retired.