Tom Gear: Out Of Line… And Apparently Off His Rocker

As everyone in Virginia politics knows, this weekend is the Republican Party of Virginia state convention. In the last week, a gnarled up, washed up crank of a former Delegate, Tom Gear (R-Hampton) has been pushing out emails about the Republican candidates for Lieutenant Governor. He apparently sent out his own questionnaire to all of them, and the questions were…not worded favorably. That is, except to Gear’s old friend from the General Assembly, Scott Lingamfelter. He made that one quite a bit easier.

Only three candidates responded. Those were Scott Lingamfelter, Jeannemarie Davis, and Susan Stimpson. His emails have had the title of “Taking (candidate name) To The Woodshed” in the case of those who didn’t respond to his questionnaire. He first attacked E.W. Jackson for his lack of experience… And his personal financial troubles. That’s rich, considering Del. Gear’s own sketchy financial problems. I bet he didn’t count on anyone doing a little research of their own, did he? He went on to attack Susan Stimpson, who in my judgment, fared pretty well in answering his survey and setting him straight about some pretty obvious distortions. He responded by attacking her:

she comes across as a “angry soccer mom”, in showng her disdain for the Transportation plan passed Susan turned on those that helped gain her seat in public office and that alone troubles me greatly. Susan Stimpson greatest problem is she has fallen in with the extreme Libertarian fringe of the Republican Party and these are the folks that have proven to be the downfall for our nominees.

This tells me where Gear is coming from. He wants the Republican Party of Virginia to keep doing what it’s been doing. How has that worked out for us?
He also attacked Davis for her answers, granted, she’s an easy target. And he attacked Pete Snyder for not answering, and as readers of this blog know, that’s no big trick either. He’s clearly out to boost Lingamfelter, and I have no doubt that’s how he got the email contact list he’s been pushing out this nonsense to.

The Republican Liberty Caucus of Virginia sent out a survey to every Republican candidate for statewide office. We didn’t attack anyone for their answers or failure to respond. This is politics at its worst. In sum, Gear is just trying to draw attention to himself and help Lingamfelter by trashing everyone else. He needs to shut his yap. Hard.

Pete Snyder Is A Fraud

“Oh, hi, here I am with my completely apolitical spouse, being a big political outsider!”

I’ve gotten the “plastic” vibe from him ever since he first came to speak to the Arlington County Republican Committee last year, after he was made the titular head of the RPV Victory operations by Mitt Romney and Bob McDonnell. But ‘Lovettsville Lady’ over at Virginia Virtucon has done some digging and exposed Pete. Not only is his campaign being run by a bunch of former Bill Bolling staffers like Marissa Pugmire, but he’s being bankrolled by out-of-state donors, one of whom is a former major Democrat donor. Even better, apparently he’s married to the deputy COS for Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri. Yes, the same establishment GOP hack Roy Blunt who, while in House ‘leadership’, arm-twisted good conservatives into supporting big government Bush garbage like “No Child Left Behind” and the bogus Medicare drug boondoggle. Well done, Ma’am.

Pete Snyder is far from the ‘outsider’ he claims to be. He will not be getting my vote for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, or for any other office, ever. You’re excused, Pete. “Bring the heat” back to the finance industry at Disruptor Capital.

Want to know why this country is going to hell in a hand basket?

I’ll tell you why. Because the current horde of morally corrupt, entitled bags of vinegar and water occupying your Congress that calls itself Republicans needs to be fed into a wood chipper. Feet first, so it hurts and so it takes longer.

But since there aren’t enough wood chippers, I’ll settle for concentrated efforts to destroy the careers of every last one of them. Primary them. Make them unemployed. Send them back under whatever rock they vacated.

A while ago, I bid a final goodbye to the GOP. I did so after the shenanigans they pulled at the convention.

First, they voted to amend the party rules to allow future presidential candidates to have veto power over who can be delegates from any state. Not the people. The people can’t possibly be trusted to elect delegates to the convention! No, presidential candidates – the ones running to gain power – the ones with the money and the clout – NOT the people – will choose delegates. And you can be sure that the snotty upstart supporters of Ron Paul, those crotchety TEA Partiers and other grassroots conservatives who want to limit the power and scope of government aren’t going to be invited!

Then, after the grassroots revolted, they reached a “deal” under which delegates who are bound to a presidential candidate that hasn’t bowed out of the race or released them to vote for another contender are barred from casting a vote for a different person. During this convention, the change effectively would mean a delegate bound to Mitt Romney could not instead opt to throw his or her support behind Ron Paul, who has not freed his delegates.

And now it appears they’re waging an outright war against the voters.

 As seen from the halls of power, the problem is that Republican voters think it’s OK to replace incumbent senators and congressman who don’t represent the views of their constituents. In 2012, for example, Republican voters in Indiana dumped longtime Sen. Richard Lugar in a primary battle.

This infuriated establishment Republicans for two reasons. First, because they liked Lugar and the way he worked. Second, because the replacement candidate was flawed and allowed Democrats to win what should have been a safe Republican seat.

So, according to Politico, the Washington team is gearing up a new effort to protect incumbents and limit the ability of Republican voters to successfully challenge establishment candidates.

That makes sense to those whose sole goal is winning a majority in Congress rather than changing the course of government policy. Seen from the outside, though, it sounds like the professional politicians are saying that the only way to win is to pick more candidates like the insiders. Hearing that message, the reaction of many Republican and conservative voters is, “Why bother?”

Interesting and instructive.

They think they are entitled to not just your vote, but to the Congressional seat to which YOU elected them.

They think you, their boss, the person whom they’re supposed to represent, have no right to fire them.

They think they know better than you do what is good for you, and if you disagree, that’s just too bad.

They forgot they’re supposed to represent you.

They believe that even though you elected them through a free and democratic process, you have no right to rectify your mistake the next free and democratic election.

They don’t care about this country.

They don’t care about the people whom they serve.

They care about re-election. They care about their health care benefits for life. They care about wielding power.

They care about themselves. Not you.

So instead of really examining why they are primaried, hated and opposed, the GOP establishment is going to wage war on the very people who trusted them enough to elect them as their government representatives.

Instead of addressing the concerns of the people whom they serve, they will work to make it more difficult for those people to remove them.

Instead of sticking to their principles, they protect those among them who betray those ideals, they protect their corporate cronies, and their allies in Washington.

And when called on the carpet by those who elected them they believe they shouldn’t be held accountable.

OK, GOP. You asked for it. You obviously think that we will vote for you no matter what, because we fear the alternative. You’re in for a rude awakening.

I will actively oppose every establishment candidate who gets on the ballot. I will encourage votes for his or her opposition, and if they win the primary, I will vote for their Democratic opponent, no matter how much of a douchebag he or she happens to be.

And I will actively encourage everyone I know to do the same thing. Primary the incumbent or vote Democrat. You will not see a single word of support from me, and not a single vote will go in your direction.

Hell, I’ll actively promote Democrats in opposition to you, and will encourage every single liberty-loving patriot to do the same thing.

You will not be rewarded with a vote. You push through your establishment cronies, and the Democrats will receive GOP votes.

And when this country goes down in flames under the weight of the Democrat socialist policies, you will have no one but yourselves to blame.

You will learn the meaning of grassroots, or you will go away. Far away.

You have been warned.

Good riddance, Bill Bolling.

We won’t miss you. Right out of the gate in his withdrawal announcement, he whines about the switch from a primary to a convention. Never mind that he was nominated for Lieutenant Governor twice at conventions. Never mind that he and McDonnell helped engineer the previous vote of the State Central Committee in favor of a primary specifically to give himself an advantage against Cuccinelli. Never mind that his political director, Marissa Pugmire, a Utahn Romney hack from the 2008 campaign who glommed onto Bolling after THAT ended in defeat, was openly dancing around at the SCC meeting after that vote was taken.

Then he plays the victim, talking about how the evvviilllll conservatives robbed him of “his turn” and Cuccinelli should have waited. Newsflash, Bill: EVERYONE KNOWS YOU AND MCDONNELL RECRUITED JOHN BROWNLEE  TO RUN FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL IN 2009 AGAINST KEN CUCCINELLI. You’re not fooling anyone. Ken has NO obligation to you at all. Stop whining.

Also, quit speaking as if the nomination was your personal sinecure. “…late last year Mr. Cuccinelli unexpectedly announced that he intended to challenge me for the Republican Party’s nomination for Governor.” As if you were the incumbent. This business with the establishment politicians lining backroom deals about who will run for what and/or wait their “turn” in exchange for support or whatever needs to end immediately. Ken Cuccinelli is everything you are NOT. Genuine. Popular with grassroots. Conservative. Unafraid to stand on principle.

Your weakness and pathetic petty jealousy were in plain view, when, less than 12 hours after your huffy little withdrawal statement, you did an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch earlier today and left the door open to a third party gubernatorial run, after demanding party unity behind YOU from conservatives:

His withdrawal notwithstanding, Bolling still believes he is the best person for the job, and appeared to leave the door open, albeit very slightly, to a possible gubernatorial bid as an independent candidate should a groundswell of support propel him back into contention.

“I think this does give me the opportunity to be more of an independent voice on a lot of the issues facing Virginia today,” Bolling said.

“I think there are Republicans who have concerns about Mr. Cuccinelli’s candidacy and Democrats who have concerns about Mr. McAuliffe’s candidacy, and there are probably a lot of independent voters who are looking and saying, ‘Is this the best that we can do?’ So we’ll just have to see how that campaign unfolds over the next few months.”

Do us all a favor, Bill. Get lost and stay there. You can start by resigning right now, since your party obviously can’t count on your loyalty with this kind of tantrum the first time things don’t go your way.

Romney, the GOP, and immigration

Those of you who know me know that I did not support Mitt Romney for President. This was largely because of the cheating that went on at the RNC in Tampa, which is all the more galling considering that Romney had the nomination well in hand; apparently his minions, like the odious Ben Ginsberg, felt the need to punish the grassroots so we have to kiss the ring of the establishment every time out in the future. Despite this, I voted straight GOP all the way down the ticket, and then returned to the Presidential ballot line, which I’d left blank for consideration. I TRIED to force myself to vote for Romney/Ryan… TRIED… but then I remembered how the establishment, “the adults in the room”, meaning K Street and the consulting and punditry class, were in the tank for Romney, Pawlenty, and Huntsman. We were told any other choice was tantamount to Zero’s re-election. We had nothing resembling a fair primary process; it was loaded in favor of the establishment candidates, particularly Romney. I then unhesitatingly filled in the circle next to Johnson/Gray and turned in my ballot. I’ve met Gary Johnson personally, a number of times, and he’s exactly the sort of guy we need more of in politics. I had no illusions he’d be elected (and have some disagreements with him on defense and immigration), but he was the best man for the job and the best candidate on the ballot.

That aside, I’ve found my opinion of Romney, the man, not to say the candidate or the campaign, improving since his defeat. Romney was right on the money with his comments about the “gifts” to minorities, young voters and other special interests and voter blocs that Obama gave out. As Ilana Mercer pointed out far more eloquently than I could hope to, the GOP establishment descended on Mitt immediately, talking of how he was wrong and insensitive, and that we must retreat on immigration, entitlements and a host of other issues and become more “diverse”. This is exactly wrong. We cannot compete with Democrat Claus. Even if we could, that would represent complete ideological surrender. People are mocking the photos of Romney pumping his own gas, but this was the guy we needed to see more of during the last two years.

The Republican party embracing “comprehensive” immigration reform will mean its defeat. The Roveian idea of Hispanics as natual conservatives is a pipedream, as Heather MacDonald, who did an extensive study for the Manhattan Institute on Hispanic voters, points out. To more directly rebut the establishment’s babble about immigration, here’s Mark Kirkorian.

We’re importing third world peasants who will vote for more government largesse and who will further Balkanize America. Build the fence wall, and enforce immigration laws, and encourage self-deportation, and end birthright citizenship. We simply can’t afford another course of action, either ideologically or fiscally. It’s just another example of why the “moderates”, the social conservative and the neocons all need to be driven from control of the Republican party.