Political parties, contrary to some tea party rhetoric, are not monolithic entities that are impossible to infiltrate or persuade. They are made up of real people, often your neighbors. Yes, you might be shocked to find out that political parties often have offices that represent even specific neighborhoods.
As with any group of real people, especially those trying to influence policy, some will make mistakes. All will try to use their role to give their favorite candidates and causes a higher profile with other party members and voters. That’s not a bad thing, even if sometimes a few act pretty stupidly while doing it.
But there are a few who have an absolutely toxic view of their role and how they are there to tell people how to vote and what is best. They aren’t willing to argue the merits of a specific candidate or policy. That is what you have in New York.
Vinny Reda, the party’s vice chairman and the Rockland County committee chair, explained Tuesday that he believed Paladino’s campaign was a distraction.
“We very, very rarely have primaries, and I for one am very much against primaries. I find them very divisive,†he said.
“It’s true, it’s been difficult, which is why I think we had a light turnout all over the state,†Reda continued. “The Republicans just aren’t used to primaries. … People are confused, they’re getting mail from different directions, and that’s why they need the party organizations to set them straight and point them toward the endorsed candidates.â€
He believes it is his job to tell voters how to vote and “set them straight” rather than merely doing the work of arguing on behalf of their endorsed candidates. More importantly, he doesn’t even want to have a system where others can express their disagreement. That is truly a toxic view. The New York Republicans should chase that guy out of the party. Even if his endorsed slate did have better candidates, the fact that he’ll tell reporters he’d rather do away with primaries than be forced to defend or promote a candidate to voters based on merits means he needs to go. The position has gone to his head, so it’s time to cut it off. The power, I mean. Not his head.
Paladino was initially discounted as having no shot at the primary, then as it approached it turned out he was polling in a dead heat with the party’s anointed candidate, and then he wins by 18 points… You can’t blame an 18 points margin on “light turnout” or a people being “confused”.
People want change, and Paladino, for all his faults, is the only one who may actually deliver. For once in NY its not about who you know, and who endorses you…
Honestly, I think the real culture war is more between the Reda types and the rest of us, than between right and left or GOP v Democrat. That’s why it’s so intractable — it’s about personality types, not politics or finding solutions to problems.
He does have a point though. Primary elections are inherently divisive. Afterwards somebody has to try to put the party back together again. Since Reda is the party chair, he’s that somebody. I can’t blame him for not liking them very much.
On the other hand, sometimes things gotta change. If the party leadership doesn’t get with this or can’t reconcile the sides, then you have a primary. Somebody wins and this solves the problem.
Reda is one of the old fart Rockafeller RINOs who have run the state party into the ground. He’s just upset that the party bosses did not get their way on Tuesday.
Reda also leaves out the fact that he backed Steve Levy at the GOP convention, not Lazio. Levy wanted to primary Lazio too, but he did not get enough votes at the convention to do it.
In Utah, we have a now-unusual caucus system for nominating people into positions. Because things weren’t going the Party way (Bob Bennett, ahem), there’s been talk of going straight-primary.
This is the first year I participated in the caucus system. I like it a lot! And anyone who’s interested to participate in it is welcome to. It seems to me that whenever a certain candidate doesn’t get his way, he blames the system, and not himself.
A classic example: Democrats called George W. Bush to give Al Gore the win, because Al Gore got the popular vote; four years later, Democrats were hoping that Kerry would get Ohio, and win, despite not getting the popular vote.
Another example: After Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with cancer, they changed the Senate replacement process from Governor-appointed to Special Election–we don’t want Evil Mitt Romney, a Republican (gasp!) appointing someone. Lo and behold, Kennedy dies after Mitt Romney is no longer Governor, but a Democrat is…so we need to change it back, pronto! Otherwise, the voters might (and did) vote in a Republican.
I have concluded that, regardless of how imperfect our systems are, it is up to us, the voters, to implement our will. Tiny adjustments won’t change that one whit.
If we can’t schedule him an appointment with a certain Parisian barber, can we at least tar & feather him before running him out of town on a rail?