Senate Resolution 919

Last week a Resolution was introduced in the Georgia Senate. While it is a little more diplomatic than the YR Resolution on a similar theme, the ideas remain the same. I did talk to one of the sponsors of the senate resolution about a week before it was introduced who thanked us for taking this stand. We thank the senate for the tough stands it takes everyday for the people of Georgia.

Senate Resolution 919
By: Senators Mullis of the 53rd, Carter of the 13th, Chance of the 16th, Thomas of the 54th and Hamrick of the 30th

A RESOLUTION

Expressing dismay at the actions of certain political commentators who engage in attacks on certain candidates; and for other purposes.


WHEREAS, this presidential election year has resulted in many candidates vying for the nomination of their parties´ respective nominations, and hard campaigning by all of the candidates has often been heated and passionate; and


WHEREAS, the give and take of politics is good for the American system of government in that it defines what candidates believe and their positions on the issues of the day and ultimately allows the American people the opportunity to make a reasoned choice in the person that they choose to lead this great nation; and


WHEREAS, America is not well served when the heat of campaign rhetoric spills over into creating disunity and dissension; and


WHEREAS, national political pundits and commentators along with talk show hosts in national and local markets have viciously attacked Republican candidates running in the various caucuses and primaries in recent months and, in so doing, have sown seeds of discord, contempt, disunity, dissension, and hatred among the members and supporters of the Republican Party to bolster their own careers; and


WHEREAS, this rhetoric is counterproductive and has served no purpose other than to cause many to lose the confidence and support of millions of their fans and Republican voters; and
WHEREAS, it is possible to agree to disagree and to express support for one candidate over another without engendering animosity as these political pundits and commentators have done; and


WHEREAS, locally based talk show host Neal Boortz is an example of one who can make his preference among candidates known and taking strong positions without taking on the mission of tearing down the other conservative candidates.


NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE that the members of this body express extreme dismay at the actions of political commentators who engage in vicious attacks on Republican candidates in the various primaries and caucuses and, in particular, on Senator John McCain and call upon them to cease such attacks and promote unity among the members of the Republican Party.


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is authorized and directed to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to the Republican National Committee.

Feedback: Mostly good, some just nasty

Since we passed our resolution calling on various named (Shawn Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Laura Ingraham) and unnamed radio talk show hosts (we would have probably added Glenn Beck and Hugh Hewitt if we'd thought about) to tone down their rhetoric, stick to comparing records, and let the best candidate win, we've recieved a good deal of feedback from Young Republicans, elected officials, and party leaders. While most of them have been very positive, there have been a few that haven't. The sad thing about the negative comments, most of them seem to be from the suppoerts of one candidate, Mitt Romney. Most of them felt like it was aimed at their candidate, ignoring the fact that not every talk radio host was a Romney supporter and the resolution called for YRs to rally around our nominee, regardless of who he is.

Furthermore, their comments continued to express some of the same language as many of the talk radio hosts we were calling on to tone down their rhetoric, a continuous attack against our own.

We passed this resolution because our concern was that the attacks were becoming less and less about experience and records of accomplishment (or lack there of), and more and more personal issues and falsifying records, deliberately misrepresenting facts and hysterically attacking those, who for whatever reason, have chosen to support one candidate over another.

Not all radio talk show hosts felt they had to eat their own to make the point for their candidate, and we praised those who did keep the debate passionate, but civil. Neal Boortz, who describes himself as a, "grumpy old fart" was one of the most civil to the other candidates in the race, pointing out flaws in the record and what they said rather than shouting about hysterical conspiracy theories (like Hannity was on Feb. 5).

Bill Bennett, author of the "Death of Outrage" is another one who understands that the ability to build party unity is essentual to beat back Hillary and/or Obama in November, and that a flawed McCain is safer for America than a perfect Hillary (really, do we need another Clinton too pre-occupied to be concerned about another Bin Laden?).

I personally am not crazy about John McCain. As a staunch conservative, there are things he's done as Senator that more than erks me. Add to that the fact that an unpleasant run-in I had with him 10 years ago gives me a personal grudge against the man, but, absent some act of God, he is my Party's nominee and I will put that aside because I know this nation cannot afford even two years of Hillary/Obama/Pelosi/Reid.

Our resolution was controversal from the beginning. It got only two decenting votes, but no time for discussion since the goal was to approve before the polls closed. There were two decenting votes. There may have been 2 more if there had been more time, but a Constitutional majority had been reached by the time voting was closed off. Either way, the resolution was going to pass. The two "nay" votes were AYR President and GYRC Co-Chairman Cameron Fash and Forsyth County YR Chairman Ethan Underwood.

At 6:01PM on Super Tuesday, the Resolution was posted on http://www.peachpundit.com/. By 6:30PM, there were almost 50 comments. On Wednesday, February 6, it was in the AJC.com Political Insider Blog and by Thursday, in a front page article in the AJC.

We also sent it out to our e-newsletter list. Out of nearly 400 subscribers, we had 3 unsubscribes and 2 new subscribers for a net loss of 1.

When I went to the AYR, BYR party to watch the returns come in, a few people commented negatively, but more had positive things to say about our decision. Many YRs, who had sent more years working for Republicans in Georgia than most of the others and remember days when we could not stop our in-fighting long enough to win anything in Georgia, heaped praise on what the YRs had done.

I also received an email from a Romney supporter, send before the polls closed, who lives in Southeast Georgia and has been active in the party for many years. She had no kind words for McCain in her email, but said, "Still the sentiment of your resolution is appreciated."

What we had done had spread to the State Capital by the next morning and I was greated with warm welcomes from our legislators and some of our senior party leadership who were at the Gold Dome for a Coverdell Leadership Institute event.

On the way to my office, I received a call from Chris Carr, Senator Johnny Isakson's Deputy Chief of Staff, who once more thanked the YRs for what we had done.

However, a few negative emails started coming in.

"The Republican establishment and the YR’s have done nothing but confirm the stereotype that liberals try to paint ALL Republicans with, that of being closed minded, backward, hicks who routinely try to stifle free-speech. Southern Republicans have proven to the entire world that they’ll vote for exactly who their Baptist Preacher tells them to vote for. There are some free-thinking Southern Republicans (friends of mine), but it seems as though the masses have been led into the sea by the Pied Piper, Mike Huckabee. Is Huckabee working for Billary? " wrote Stephen B. Lambeth, a Savannah YR who emailed me and several others. He continued, "In the end, I believe that Romney’s Mormon faith killed his candidacy among the Bigots… um I mean Baptists in the South."

A former SAYR who is now in Washington, D.C., Regina Kill wrote, "Young Republicans need to remember that if they truly want a good conservative elected, they can stop whining and passing resolutions and make the 30 phone calls/door stops they could have made while drafting, bitching about and 'resolving' this non-issue. This is embarassing."

Jason Kercheval, a member of the Atlanta YR Club wrote, "As a member of AYR, I am appalled at your ignorance of the 1st Amendment. Your politics smack of the very tactics liberals have become so good at. No bashing has occurred, only an attempt to get ALL of the facts out, not just the ones that make Senator McCain look good. This resolution does just as much, if not more, to spread disunion in the Republican Party as the people you choose to condemn."

However, most Republicans understand that disunity is not about what happens in the White House, but something that can hurt Republican candidates running at the local level, even ones who no good Republican could find any fault in.

A campaign manager for a candidate in one of those uphill battles against a Democrat incumbant wrote after hearing Cameron and I debate the Resolution with host Joel Aaron on WGKA radio, "Kudos for a superb job this morning. You and your visionariers deserve congratulations and support for your resolution that was offered. The points are well taken and brought forth at a critically important time for the party of Lincoln. The country is depending upon our success in November. Too often I find that we are a petty party, majoring in the minor. Simply put, you guys represent tomorrow and too many of us 'old dogs' are still stuck on yesterday. I say right on and thank you for your leadership. Right will win out in November."

Ruben Maestre, a Marine Cpl whose platoon the BYRs adopted when they were stationed in Camp Falujah, Iraq, stated after seeing the resolution, "I'm sticking with you. You are right. You can put my name on it."

One of my fellow Coverdell Leadership graduates in Middle Georgia said, "In the coming years, this resolution will mean a heck of a lot more than it does today. Don't back off."

Still, I was forwarded an email from a joint member of the AYRs and BYRs asking for a refund of her dues.

Young Republicans are supposed to be a training ground that prepares individuals for their future roles as the leaders of the Republican Party. As someone who served as a Vice-Chairman of the Republican Party of Georgia long before even joining a YR club, I have seen things from a slightly different perspective. As a YR, it's sometimes hard to shrug off some of the more outrageous comments, like the ones posted here, but you can almost forgive them when you remember the passion of youth.

When they are as old as Shawn Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter, it's no longer cute.

Georgia Young Republicans Denounce the Slash and Burn Tactics of Conservative Pundits

The Board of Directors of the Georgia Federation of Young Republican Clubs (GFYRC) has come together to strongly denounce and condemn the actions of Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and others for using their positions of influence to foment disunity and disharmony among the supporters of the various Republican candidates still in the race.

“It’s hard enough to reunite after a tough primary process,” said GFYRC Chairman Jason Shepherd. “But the over the top statements by these individuals, who many of us have looked up to for so many years, will make it much harder to build enough trust for the Republican nominee, regardless of whom he is, for the GOP to unite this fall.”

The Georgia Young Republicans who voted to pass the Resolution include supporters for every Republican candidate still in the race including Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Ron Paul, and Mitt Romney.

“This isn’t only about supporting one candidate for President,” said Shepherd, “But Republicans will also need to be unified to make sure we win close races up and down the ballot from State House and Senate to Congress. They talk into a microphone or TV camera with no consequences and it is us activists that must pay the price as we fight for our candidates precinct by precinct.”

The Resolution reads as follows:

Whereas: Political Pundits like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, and Ann Coulter, along with other talk show hosts in national and local markets, have viciously attacked Republican candidates running in the primary election; and

Whereas: Many of these same pundits have used their shows and their vast audiences to spread disunity among Republicans when we need to be uniting to face the greater threat to our national security and well being that is embodied in the Democrat candidates for President; and

Whereas: Despite all of these pundits invoking the greatness of Ronald Reagan, none of them have paused for a second to remember Reagan’s 11th Commandment; and Whereas: Each of the above named have, through their actions and words, lost the confidence of millions of their fans and Republican voters; and

Whereas: The members of the Georgia Federation of Young Republican Clubs are prepared to support our nominee, whether he is Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Ron Paul or Mitt Romney, against the real threat, the Democrat nominee; now

Therefore, be it resolved, this 5th Day of February, 2008, that the Georgia Federation of Young Republican Clubs strongly condemns and denounces the actions and speech over the past several weeks by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, and others for breeding contempt, disunity and hatred among the Republican Party in order to bolster their own careers; and

Therefore, be it Further resolved, that the Georgia Federation of Young Republican Clubs praises talk show hosts like Neal Boortz, who, despite making their preference known, have chosen not to make it their mission to tear down other GOP candidates.

Congratulations to all of our GOP Candidates on Super Tuesday

To Our GOP Candidates:

You made it this far and the Georgia YRs salutes your efforts to make America better. Regardless of the states you will or will not win, we know all of you will pull behind the eventual winner and nominee. Congratualtions to you all!