Sunday, April 18, 2010

Itteh Bitteh Teah Parteh Committeh

Back when it was Pres. Bush Jr's finger on the trigger, the Lake County Democrats would count their precinct committeemen on the fingers of one hand. Stray anywhere west of I-94, and you couldn't find a Democratic committeeman to give the finger. Out of desperation the Democrats were crashing Dean For America Meetups to recruit precinct walkers. Your LakeCountyEye could've predicted the sad outcome. Instead of filling their ranks with dedicated ward heelers eager to knock on doors and drag voters to the polls, they got a sorry crew of couch slouchers who were more interested in gathering at flash mobs to whine about George W Bush than participate in anything that approached constructive political action. Lake County Democrats have only recently managed to turn things around, and to their advantage, by replacing their DFA slackers with Rahm's private army of paratroops. Your LakeCountyEye expects the County Dems to be the dominant political player for the foreseeable future.

Now it's the Lake County Republican's turn, who find themselves in the same unenviable spot the Democrats held those few years ago. And to your LakeCountyEye's chagrin, the County Republicans are making the same mistake the Dems made back then, all over again. Of course they'd be ill-advised to attend DFA meetings, but that hasn't stopped the County Republicans from searching for recruits at the moral equivalent of a DFA meeting -- at Tea Party rallies. According to the Chicago Tribune ...
Bob Cook, chairman of the Lake County Republican Party, said his organization was having some difficulty filling vacancies until they reached out to the tea party activists. Now, Cook said, he has filled nearly half of the 60 vacant precinct positions with those who are active in the movement.
Tea partiers rally, plan for bigger role
LakeCountyEye Ops consistently report your typical Tea Party rally is mostly a demographic who believes Pres. Obama is a Muslim from Kenya who wants to confiscate our guns.
Champaign mayor doubts Obama's citizenship
You don't need a calculator to know, that of the County Republican committeemen, a now sizable number are getting their information from FoxNews. Sure, Rumsfeld said you fight with the army you got, not the one you want. Nonetheless, your LakeCountyEye has to wonder just how many doors will Bob Cook's new committeemen knock for his down-ticket candidates? Your Regional Superintendent of Schools yardsigns don't do any good if they're never pulled from the shipping crates.

Cook has perhaps two worst case scenarios to consider:
  1. New Tea Party committeemen all stay home in October.
  2. New Tea Party committeemen knock on doors in October; inform voters that Obama is the Socialist Antichrist foretold in scripture & that the EndTimes approach.
Well, that's an exaggeration. Worst case scenario would've been if they had recruited the DFA slackers.

5 comments:

LC Truth said...

When you have a 300% increase in Democratic Precinct Committeemen in Grant Township, you know the Democratic Party is growing by leaps and bounds in Lake County.

Carl Nyberg said...

I don't necessarily agree that the Tea Party people are the root of the problem.

I suspect the root of the problem is that the Ronald Reagan vision of conservatism has run its course.

The movement has either 1. won the debate, 2. conducted failed experiments, or 3. the policy proposal is so radical it won't ever get implemented.

Republicans have nothing to stand for. They exist as a group of people who are outside the Democratic Party coalition. But they don't know what they stand for.

So they say things they hear from other people who are like them. But they don't apply much critical thinking to evaluate whether these things make sense.

Barney Baxter said...

hi Carl,

I agree the GOP's brand has gotten tarnished, their govt-is-the-problem mantra has lost much of its appeal.

But I think they have a pretty good idea what they stand for. The rank-and-file vote on their social values. And the party hacks work for the corporate interests.

-BB-

Crazy4glf said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Crazy4glf said...

Wasn't it nice of the former Sec. of Defense to essentially slap the troops in the face? Let's recall, this was not our reacting to an offensive by another country. This was a 'pre-emptive' strike where we chose to take our troops, put them at risk, and spend oodles of money. (Was the war self-sustaining, brief, and urgently necessary?)

Maybe more people would be aware of this comment if it wasn't for the mensa-award winning 'known unknown' comment.

This man was seen by the GOP as a leader despite his Nixonian ties and inability to motivate or handle a large governmental department. Also, one that reflects poorly on our great state.

Maybe it'll be Rumseld-Palin (Todd and Sara!) in 2012