It’s becoming clearer and clearer everyday that Republicans in the state of Delaware are becoming less and less a powerful influence than they once were. A clear sign of their cowering can be made by the fact that they feel threatened by maverick individuals within their own party who are seeking the respect and attention they deserve. I can name about half-a-dozen of these individuals off the top of my head, but for the sake of brevity, this post will be have a clearer, targeted message.
The Republicans had hoped to gain seats in the Senate and maintain their comfortable majority in the House. They gained nothing in the Senate and are rapidly losing seats in the House. Let’s hope no Republican Representatives retire in two years because The Blue Wave could easily take the three seats currently keeping the GOP in the majority.
So the Republicans have a problem. I believe some of the blame can be attributed to the fact that “Republican” is almost a nasty word these days; so fouled up by a belligerantly hostile Republican Commander-in-Chief that many Republicans are finding it hard to even support the man. Unfortunately, this means the good fortune for many local Republican politicians has been soured by the general attitude that citizens nationwide are feeling about the party.
However, an even greater argument can be made that certain individuals within the leadership of the Republican Party — be they politicians or rank-and-file party-folk — have been unwilling to bend with the times; that is, accept that their party must abandon some of the ways of the old and look to the future to guide policy and implement new ideas. Several totally unthrilling (and hand-selected) candidates were offered to Delawareans this year by the Republicans. The Republicans and Democrats both laid out their hands early on this year in backroom-deals that saw them endorsing candidates well before the primary. To the Democrats it didn’t really matter because they were expected to reap the rewards big. The Republican leadership, however, seemed to be operating on the cavalier attitude that they knew better than the thousands of registered memebers of their party. And that arrogance certainly didn’t gain them any points in an election season that was already weighted well enough against them.
And that arrogance has been called out in a stunningly damning anonymous letter from a Republican who wants his or her party to return to some common sense. Ron Williams discussed some of the contents of this letter in his column yesterday, though some of us in the Delaware blogosphere have known about it and its contents for a while now. Click on the image at the left to open up a pdf of the letter. In short, many in the party’s leadership have been thoroughly eviscerated in what can only be described as a militant missive meant to convey some strong feelings to people who should know better and who need to hear this message.
The letter writer is brutally honest, using words such as “conniving,” “deceitful,” and “ineffective.” And those are just the words used to describe Republican National Committeewoman Priscilla Rakestraw! Here is some of his/her pointed commentary:
Terry Strine: A failure at almost every level except fundraising.
Mike Castle: He is the real party chairman who has had a 20 year alliance with Tom Carper. Maybe his stroke will wake us up to get a replacement for him in 2008.
Jan Ting: Elitist and out of touch.
Charlie Copeland: Glib, insincere and cocky.
Wayne Smith:
The man who wanted “bastard” to stay in state laws.See Delaware 2006 for the truth.John Still: His own caucus barely trusts him.
Christine O’Donnell: Self-absorbed, delusional, and single issue.
In the end, the letter writer claims the Republican Party has done wrong by casting Mike Protack as the delusional fop in the party. The letter writer believes Protack is one of a few who’s actually offered fresh ideas on how the Republican Party can more fervently attract newcomers and retain their near-disenfranchised base that has been held hostage by Party leadership.
The writer ends with this sobering plea:
I have lived in New Castle County and I now live in Sussex County. I have won and lost elections and I have been a delegate for years. Please read and understand what I say and don’t spend a lot of time figuring out who I am. Our party is on life support, and we can’t wait much longer.
Sounds like someone needs to put this person in charge of something.
Republicans, have your say here!
Posted by Mike Matthews in First State Filth