Clint Reed Promoted to RNC
It appears that Arkansas Republican Party executive director Clint Reed will be promoted to a regional position on the Republican National Committee. The state party lost all state-wide races this year by double-digit margins in a year that saw Republican setbacks across the nation.
Reed seemed to sound the theme that the guys at the RNC want to hear- that conservatives are the ones costing the Republicans victory. "We must be an inclusive party that is not relegated to fractional or regional ideologues," Reed said. "We've got to continue to broaden our base in central Arkansas, northeast Arkansas and southeast Arkansas."
An idealogy is simply a view of the world that allows for systematic and connected decision-making. Some are good because they reflect reality, some are bad, because they don't, but if an official really does not have one it is a near certainty that their polices will be chaotic and frequently at cross-purposes. But these guys who say they don't have an idealogy, they have an ideaology- and there is a reason they don't want you to know what it is.
The reason the guys in Arkansas lost is not because they were too "regional" and it certainly wasn't because they were too "ideological". It may not even be because of Clint Reed, although he didn't help any. It was because non-idealogical (read non-conservative) guys like Bush and Huckabee have ruled in such a way as to give people a bad taste in their mouths for Republicans, even people who once voted for the both of them like me. Our candidates in this state were operating with two millstones around their necks- it was not their idealogy, it was Bush and to a lesser extent Huckabee.
The guy at the top of the ticket came back into the state after being gone for years, and has now flown back to Washington less than six months after losing. Maybe that is what Reed meant by "regional candidates". You need guys at the top of the ticket who have lived the previous decade in the same region of the country that they hope to govern! The tone-deaf Hutchinson campaign continued to stress the close ties to the increasingly unpopular Bush administration. Their top-of-the-tickety candidate was a dignified and decent man, but he lacked perceived warmth. With all that against them, the business community saw they were in trouble, and the other side was careful to court them. Once the business community decided which way the wind was gently blowing, they put their money on the favorite and turned that wind into a howl.
Clint Reed seems to have one idea of why the candidates in this state lost, I just gave you mine. You decide for yourself which makes the most sense.
Any guesses as to who will fill his shoes?
Reed seemed to sound the theme that the guys at the RNC want to hear- that conservatives are the ones costing the Republicans victory. "We must be an inclusive party that is not relegated to fractional or regional ideologues," Reed said. "We've got to continue to broaden our base in central Arkansas, northeast Arkansas and southeast Arkansas."
An idealogy is simply a view of the world that allows for systematic and connected decision-making. Some are good because they reflect reality, some are bad, because they don't, but if an official really does not have one it is a near certainty that their polices will be chaotic and frequently at cross-purposes. But these guys who say they don't have an idealogy, they have an ideaology- and there is a reason they don't want you to know what it is.
The reason the guys in Arkansas lost is not because they were too "regional" and it certainly wasn't because they were too "ideological". It may not even be because of Clint Reed, although he didn't help any. It was because non-idealogical (read non-conservative) guys like Bush and Huckabee have ruled in such a way as to give people a bad taste in their mouths for Republicans, even people who once voted for the both of them like me. Our candidates in this state were operating with two millstones around their necks- it was not their idealogy, it was Bush and to a lesser extent Huckabee.
The guy at the top of the ticket came back into the state after being gone for years, and has now flown back to Washington less than six months after losing. Maybe that is what Reed meant by "regional candidates". You need guys at the top of the ticket who have lived the previous decade in the same region of the country that they hope to govern! The tone-deaf Hutchinson campaign continued to stress the close ties to the increasingly unpopular Bush administration. Their top-of-the-tickety candidate was a dignified and decent man, but he lacked perceived warmth. With all that against them, the business community saw they were in trouble, and the other side was careful to court them. Once the business community decided which way the wind was gently blowing, they put their money on the favorite and turned that wind into a howl.
Clint Reed seems to have one idea of why the candidates in this state lost, I just gave you mine. You decide for yourself which makes the most sense.
Any guesses as to who will fill his shoes?
posted by Mark Moore (Moderator) at Tuesday, February 13, 2007
3 Comments:
I fully blame Huck on Asa's loss. And while I do agree that President Bush didn't help any, it mostly was Huckabee's fault. Now we're stuck with Both Ways Lying Beebe for the next 4 years. The reason the Republicans lost nationwide is that they forgot their conservative principles and tried to "play nice" with a bunch of socialists. Then Pelosi and Co. told them all to out-conservative the Republicans just so she could get her power. Those Dems that ran as so-called "conservatives" were just pawns in Pelosi's political power game. And yes, Bush is a conservative. Not on everything (the borders namely, and over spending), but for the most part he is.
Jim Holt didn't lose because he was a conservative. He lost because he is an idiot. If this had been the best year ever for Republicans Holt still would have lost. People don't like him. They never have and they never will.
Arkansas is conservative, and people who campaign as conservatives win in this state. Jim's problem is that he is personally weird and completely unable to raise money. Holt is so weird that even David Sanders doesn't like him. (Sanders loves everyone)
Clint Reed did an outstanding job with what he had to work with. He understands the game and did more that anyone to help stop the bleeding last year.
Please dear God, let our next ED be as good as Clint Reed.
Thank you Clint for visiting and commenting.
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