Yours truly could scarcely believe his ears on hearing Matthews on WHLO Matt Patrick's show which was on location at Tea Day, Tax Day - April 15, 2009 in Central Plaza in Canton. Rather than doing an effective job of making the Stark County Republicans competitive, he's blazing bullets of bombast that cheered the ears of the right-fringers who dominated.
Not only was Matthews there, but so was, obviously, event organizer and Stark County Republican Party operative Jason Wise, Ohio Representative Todd Snitchler (Republican - 50th).
Wise was, on April 15, and continues to particularly insulting to rational people. To top it off, Wise has the temerity to tell a Repository reporter: “I’m just a normal guy here to educate the voters.” (Citizens at tea party sound off on the issues, Ed Balint)
Wise has been pushing hard the propagandistic (Wise's version of "educate) notion that these tea party events are not a Stark County Republican Party promotion. But rather a spontaneous grassroots movement springing from the bowels of a frustrated public.
There may be elements of non-Republican connected personages in Wise's portrayal. But not in the main. Wise is being disingenuous - at the very least.
Mostly, the teabagger movement is a creature of the Republican Party; federal, state and local. However, there are some "wise ones" (just not Jason Wise) in the Republican Party at all these levels who see the danger lurking in identifying with this group which seems to be, in essence, made up of "radical right types."
Astonishing was the appearance of state Representative Todd Snitchler at the April 15th event.
Why astonishing?
Snitchler, a lawyer, in one-to-one conversation seems fully collected and rational.
But he has to know that one is known in politics by one's associates. Snitchler is new to politics and has lessons to learn. And, if he has aspirations to move on from the Republican gerrymandered 50th, he is not going very far with a history of connecting with tea-baggers.
By and large, the SCPR has not taken the tea-bagger movement seriously.
Why's that?
Because as Williard says in his piece:
The far-right fringe should be embarrassed ... [and] its repeated actions clearly indicate it has no shame and no true understanding of the importance of civilized, thoughtful discourse.The Alliance Review did a nice piece yesterday which summed up the anti-using-one's-mind sentiment that ravaged the Tea Party Express crowd assembled in Canton on Wednesday, to wit (Signs of Tea Party times):
Real thoughtful stuff, huh? Why don't we all communicate with bumper sticker mentality?
Notice that the SCPR has pictured Stark Citizens for the Right to Vote leader Tom Marcelli. Stark County voting records show that he is a registered Republican. He may not be a party official or an elected Republican who supports the tea-baggers (a la Snitchler), but he too, in the opinion of the SCPR, is operating at the direction of the Stark County Republican Party leadership.
To sum it all up, the SCPR believes Stark County Republican Party chairman Jeff Matthews is intent on making the local GOP irrelevant to "we have a better idea" discursive politics.
If Stark County Republlcan Party Executive Committee does not intervene, then the Party becomes even less competitive than it is now. The political shrillness and insubstantiality of Wise et al is not going to play with most Stark County voters.
Is the Wise-led tea-bagger direction where sensible/moderate Stark County Republicans want their party to be heading in?
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