Apparantly this has never happened before, but a few members of the Republican National Committee have called a bizarre, special meeting of the RNC in order to hear the sundry candidates for their chairmanship debate something or other. This was at the behest of North Dakota Republican Party chairman Gary Emineth, who recently disclosed:
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what the public thinks; it matters what 168 of us think.”
That’s the 168 members of the Republican National Committee, the Gang of 168. These 168 people control the apparatus of the national Republican Party, and they’ve frankly made a mess of things. (From my home State of Pennsylvania, we have Republican National Committeeman Bob Archer, a Philadelphia candy maker who most recently trashed our party’s Vice Presidential pick, Sarah Palin, in the press.
If Gary Emineth wants to have a policy debate between candidates for an office from which they can neither enact nor effect policy, whatever. It might do us some psychological good to know that the head of the party’s apparatus believes what he should say. That said, I think the main problem is not who runs the apparatus. The problem is the Gang of 168 itself. Once we clean out the attic, we give the new chairman, who will be a conservative, people with whom he can work to build the party and to help elect more conservative Republicans to office at a time when our nation needs them. Badly.
Sure, I support Mr. Emineth’s proposal provided the Gangg of 168 vacate their offices immediately. They are free to seek reelection in well-publicized primary elections. This is the first time I can recall active political competition for the job of RNC Chair; let us take this opportunity to have such a competition for the committee itself. Remember, an off year primary is the perfect time for the grassroots to speak on behalf of their interests and their party.
(I will not here disclose whom I support for the chairmanship of the RNC, as I don’t want to associate him with my two-cents on this matter.)
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
Dan McLaughlin
Neil Stevens
Daniel Horowitz
The issue is the Mark...these individuals are selected by the verious state committees
AceInTX (Diary) Tuesday, December 30th at 2:52PM EST (link)there is no election for these individuals that the regular members can participate in.
As I've been saying for weeks now
Chance Haywood (Diary) Tuesday, December 30th at 3:04PM EST (link)This all starts at the local level. We have to stop worrying so much about the national committee. We can’t have much impact on it in the next two years but we can drastically change our local committees in the next 12 months. If you are as appalled as I was by how things went then actively involve yourself by seeking a committee slot.
In my case I’m going to seek to become an Assembly District leader in my county. If I managed to be elected to that position I would then be leading about 100 other committee people in my county. Not only would I be responsible for how this district is organized for elections I could possibly influence who those committee members select for a state committee position.
See where I’m going with this?
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And you, sir, are onto something good.
Mark Kilmer (Diary) Tuesday, December 30th at 5:28PM EST (link)I’m not ready to give up on the national apparatus, though. It has to be Republican or we will lack a proper apparatus, no matter who is the chairman.
Ah shucks
Chance Haywood (Diary) Tuesday, December 30th at 5:33PM EST (link)Thanks.
It isn’t that I’m giving up on the national committee. I’m just prioritizing the effort. The likelihood we can really impact the selection of this chairman is slim. However if we start at the base and build up we can impact it in a few years.
Remember all politics is local.
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I know some of you hate them
zuiko (Diary) Tuesday, December 30th at 5:37PM EST (link)But caucuses are the answer here. They give a chance for ordinary people at the grassroots level to get involved in party business. In a caucus system we get to vote on things like delegates, party officials and endorsements.
Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. – Milton Friedman
Emineth Trying To Open The Smoke Filled Room
rcov092 (Diary) Wednesday, December 31st at 12:41AM EST (link)Emineth acted to an attempt by Mike Duncan supporters, desparate to hang on to power to stage a littel dog & pony show of their own. The “Conservative Steering Committe” would then have a straw poll and pronounce whom among the current candidates is “conservative enough”
Emeneth, decidicng rightly so that we need an open, transparent process (just because of the sentiment expressed by Mark Kilmer) or we risk damaging the party asked Duncan for all RNC members (who will vote for the Chairman) to have a similar meeting.
Duncan refused, so Emineth used a never before used rule and got enough RNC members signature to require this meeting which Duncan set for january7th, just after the meeting by the Conservative Steering Committe”.
Is there any doubt that Duncan will get their nod as most conservative, if you do, look at the actiuon today, CSC founders Bopp and Yue (both Duncan Supporters) announced a motion by the RNC chastising Bush for caving in and “socializing” the financial system. I see this as nothing more than trying to prove the conservative bona fides of the current leadership and try to strenghten Duncans position. WTF were they in October during debate over the bailout? Maybe if they had found their bona fides back then, we might have a very different situation now. Bush may have supported the bailout, but it took Republican Congressman and Senators to make it happen.
My hats off to Emineth for trying to open this process. By the way I have talked to him about the quote and as usual, the MSM, seeing an opportunity to stir up trouble, quoted out of context.
“Not One Red Dime for the NRSC or NRCC till they stop trying to elect liberals”
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