The Plot Thickens
Just a short update today on the Linda McMahon-Obama ad scandal.
Connecticut Republican State Central Members gathered in Madison Connecticut last evening for their quasi-monthly State Central Committee Meeting. Given the state of emergency sparked by the new Linda McMahon ad (a cross-endorsement of Linda McMahon and Barack Obama), Team Linda dispatched every one's favorite errand-boy, Justin Clark, to the scene to quell the screams of the angry hordes.
For twenty-five or so minutes, the embattled Clark attempted to explain away the the ad as nothing more than a good political strategy to attract independent voters. Clark claimed that Mitt Romney is too far behind in Connecticut to win the State, and that Linda is specifically using the Obama cross-endorsement strategy to attract [urban] voters. The crowd, incensed by his nonchalant attitude, met Clark's sales pitch with angry boos, and groans.
As the minutes wore on, the scene turned ugly. Two rival groups emerged in the room bantering back and forth; on one side you had those loyal to the Republican Party and it's Presidential Nominee, these whom we shall refer to as The Friends of Mitt, and on the other side - you have those who are (and always have been) in blind allegiance to Linda McMahon; we will refer to these people as Linda's Paid Minions.
In the front of the room sat Chairman Jerry Labriola, Jr. who in typical fashion, sat wide-eyed, mouth-agape, observing the comedy with nothing to say. He allowed Clark to ramble on incoherently as the crowd assailed him, and each other. At a time when the Republican Party faithful is looking for answers and direction from it's State Chairman, Labriola seems aloof at the helm, preferring to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the whole nauseating affair. "This too shall pass" - yeah, like a kidney stone.
Then Clark said something which surprised even some of the most veteran Republicans in the room. He said that Mitt Romney was not only aware of Linda's strategy, but endorsed the ad for airing. One state central member asked for some form of written confirmation from the Romney Campaign as evidence that Romney supports McMahon's ad strategy, and in response - Justin Clark told the crowd that they would have an email in their in-box by the next day (update: no such email has arrived as of this writing).
And if such a communication does arrive, let's hope that Chairman Labriola will live by the doctrine of transparency which he has so publicly advocated for in the past, and make it available to all Connecticut Republicans across the Nutmeg State. (After all, State Central is not a secret society, but a representative body of all Connecticut Republicans).
When upset State Central members demanded that the ads be pulled, Clark dismissed the requests and said that the ads would continue through Thursday. He also mentioned that robo-calls would then begin which will include Mitt Romney voicing support for Linda McMahon. Whether or not Clark was making things up on the fly to quiet the angry crowd is uncertain, but whatever the case may be, the night was ruined - and any sense of Republican unity that had been fostered in the late summer has certainly abated.
As an aside, staunch McMahon follower, and RNC Connecticut Committee Chairwoman Patricia Longo has posted the following comment on her Facebook page: "Have it from the highest sources that McMahon ad everyone is complaining about was ok'd by SRCC, Mitch McConnell, and the Romney Campaign."
If such a claim turned out to be true, Connecticut Republicans who've purchased Romney signs, bumper stickers, made phone calls, or attended, or hosted fundraisers, or even donated their hard-earned cash would certainly have a right to feel betrayed by both the Republican National Committee, and the Republican Party. And sadly this could lead to a large scale defection not just on November 6th, but well beyond this year's election.
The King's advice to Chairman Labriola, the Romney Campaign, Mitch McConnell, and the RNC is to set the record straight, set Linda McMahon straight, and give Connecticut Republicans a respectable brand they can be proud of.
I AM
THE KING
This original blog entry can be found at http://www.thekingsview.blogspot.com/
Disclaimer: This entry and others will be modified/updated at a future date. All entries are for the sole purpose of entertainment. This article does not imply endorsement of the candidate mentioned above, nor has this article been solicited for publication by any political candidate, campaign, or PAC.
Connecticut Republican State Central Members gathered in Madison Connecticut last evening for their quasi-monthly State Central Committee Meeting. Given the state of emergency sparked by the new Linda McMahon ad (a cross-endorsement of Linda McMahon and Barack Obama), Team Linda dispatched every one's favorite errand-boy, Justin Clark, to the scene to quell the screams of the angry hordes.
 |
| You can always count on Justin Clark to be on the side of the bad guys |
For twenty-five or so minutes, the embattled Clark attempted to explain away the the ad as nothing more than a good political strategy to attract independent voters. Clark claimed that Mitt Romney is too far behind in Connecticut to win the State, and that Linda is specifically using the Obama cross-endorsement strategy to attract [urban] voters. The crowd, incensed by his nonchalant attitude, met Clark's sales pitch with angry boos, and groans.
As the minutes wore on, the scene turned ugly. Two rival groups emerged in the room bantering back and forth; on one side you had those loyal to the Republican Party and it's Presidential Nominee, these whom we shall refer to as The Friends of Mitt, and on the other side - you have those who are (and always have been) in blind allegiance to Linda McMahon; we will refer to these people as Linda's Paid Minions.
In the front of the room sat Chairman Jerry Labriola, Jr. who in typical fashion, sat wide-eyed, mouth-agape, observing the comedy with nothing to say. He allowed Clark to ramble on incoherently as the crowd assailed him, and each other. At a time when the Republican Party faithful is looking for answers and direction from it's State Chairman, Labriola seems aloof at the helm, preferring to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the whole nauseating affair. "This too shall pass" - yeah, like a kidney stone.
Then Clark said something which surprised even some of the most veteran Republicans in the room. He said that Mitt Romney was not only aware of Linda's strategy, but endorsed the ad for airing. One state central member asked for some form of written confirmation from the Romney Campaign as evidence that Romney supports McMahon's ad strategy, and in response - Justin Clark told the crowd that they would have an email in their in-box by the next day (update: no such email has arrived as of this writing).
And if such a communication does arrive, let's hope that Chairman Labriola will live by the doctrine of transparency which he has so publicly advocated for in the past, and make it available to all Connecticut Republicans across the Nutmeg State. (After all, State Central is not a secret society, but a representative body of all Connecticut Republicans).
When upset State Central members demanded that the ads be pulled, Clark dismissed the requests and said that the ads would continue through Thursday. He also mentioned that robo-calls would then begin which will include Mitt Romney voicing support for Linda McMahon. Whether or not Clark was making things up on the fly to quiet the angry crowd is uncertain, but whatever the case may be, the night was ruined - and any sense of Republican unity that had been fostered in the late summer has certainly abated.
As an aside, staunch McMahon follower, and RNC Connecticut Committee Chairwoman Patricia Longo has posted the following comment on her Facebook page: "Have it from the highest sources that McMahon ad everyone is complaining about was ok'd by SRCC, Mitch McConnell, and the Romney Campaign."
If such a claim turned out to be true, Connecticut Republicans who've purchased Romney signs, bumper stickers, made phone calls, or attended, or hosted fundraisers, or even donated their hard-earned cash would certainly have a right to feel betrayed by both the Republican National Committee, and the Republican Party. And sadly this could lead to a large scale defection not just on November 6th, but well beyond this year's election.
The King's advice to Chairman Labriola, the Romney Campaign, Mitch McConnell, and the RNC is to set the record straight, set Linda McMahon straight, and give Connecticut Republicans a respectable brand they can be proud of.
I AM
THE KING
This original blog entry can be found at http://www.thekingsview.blogspot.com/
Disclaimer: This entry and others will be modified/updated at a future date. All entries are for the sole purpose of entertainment. This article does not imply endorsement of the candidate mentioned above, nor has this article been solicited for publication by any political candidate, campaign, or PAC.
9 comments:
King.....I know you have been a big supporter of Labriola from day one but this guy is an embarrassment to the party. He is in way over his head and the mouth open, dumb- founded look is his normal state. He has told too many people, including the media, different stories and there is no trust left from either the insiders or rank and file. New elections can't come soon enough!
Anonymous:
It's true I've been a supporter of Labriola from the beginning, but after all - everyone should give a newly elected Chairman the benefit of the doubt and get behind him. Unfortunately, the history shows that certain factions of the CTGOP undermined him from the start. To The King this made him a far more sympathetic character than he probably deserved. He's not perfect, but much better than his predecessors who in contrast to working hard behind the scenes like Labriola does, still spend most of their time bad-mouthing our Chairman everywhere they go to both State Central members and the public at large.
It's funny how the same people who sit around the bar squaking about "party unity" work so hard to destroy it. There is a huge difference between disagreement, and outright sabotage. This is the stuff that gets The King fired up!
Now while I don't like the way Labriola is handling the current crisis, he is at least a heck of a lot better than our last state chairman who publicly asserts that the way to "make blue red" is to align with our enemy, and surrender the election before it even happens. Imagine that? I'm going to assume that its just the alcohol talking, and nothing more. For no sober idiot would agree to a strategy that disenfranchizes an entire population of Republicans suffering under the current administration's hurtful policies. Cackling to oneself as witnessed at the Glastonbury event can be deemed a sign of insanity.
Then you have ex-Vice Chair Catherine Marx who is propagating Linda's bafoonery everywhere she goes. But she's a lot like Linda - devious but empty, still trying to figure out how to get the lego set out of the box. No doubt she has lofty ambitions for herself we are told. We recommend she open up a nail palor after this is done, and leave the politics to the well informed. We've seen how she let Nancy DiNardo attack our Party while she sat and watched, and did NOTHING! What a box of rocks.
Hey King we have over $100,000 in the Bank at the CTGOP with a new shinning headquarters with new,young, competant & sober staff. You will see Jerry everywhere in the State on fb and twitter cuz he cares about all the RTC's plus he doesn't need a breathalyzer or staff to drive him to events (or home from a bar). Labriola should be drinking heavy though trying to keep so many selfish, lazy,corrupt do nothings from sabotaging our brand worse than many have. Also we have volunteers working the Victory Headquarters that have raised a lot of $$$ for Romney Signs because of all the demand, and you wonder why there is outrage over Linda throwing our Presidential Candidate under her big ass Bus? No ones hammered Labriola worse than me on social issues but he can't come out any harder against Linda two weeks from the election. Her campaign is a car going 65mph on two wheels heading straight for a Jersey Barrier, hope she pulls out of it but most are pulling away from her calamity to avoid getting caught up in her post election crash accident investigation - "Officer the lady was just totally out of control in the back seat looking out the back window with a strange look of what's happening on her face just before her car went into multiple spins and crashed upsidedown, thank God no one was nearby"
I am not going to blame Jerry for the stupidity of Justin Clarke or Linda McMahon. First off, if Romney is go far behind in CT, why is he doing robo calls for Linda? Republican base only I presume? The fact is Justin Clarke should resign as CT GOP legal council.
To Mr King
I've never read your blog before but I have to say its awesome. A friend of a friend down here in Darien told my husbands brother about it. You don't pull any punches (of what I've read).
Regarding Linda's betrayal it bothers me to the point of outrage that she has made this ad and spent some of the money we donated to her campaign to do it with. My husband and I get sick to our stomachs everytime it airs.We feel so betrayed and embarrassed that we were so gullible. We want or Party our Vote and our money back, but in the real world we know that is impossible.Please Chairman Labriola publicly ask Linda to remove this ad, please, then at least we can have our Party back.
Mr & Mrs Hoodwinked
I direct everyone to read the New Canaan Advertiser's non endorsement in today's paper.They have summed up this entire farce of our Senate campaign quite succinctly. For the life of me, I will never understand the appeal of Linda McMahon...or this misguided belief that experience in a candidate is viewed so negatively. Would these same people ,if facing major heart surgery ,want an auto mechanic to perform their surgery? I think not. It may be an extreme example but it is fitting.For those of us familiar with Ms. McMahon's " inner circle" it is not surprising how her campaign has been executed....she is their cash cow....and they will use any means necessary to protect their " investment". Sadly, these are the same individuals who have gutted the state party to the point of near irrelevance .Chairman Labriola is a decent man.....however, he faces insurmountable odds as will the next chairman....I have no solutions to this unholy mess....perhaps the good that might come from the entire debacle ....may, and I stress may, be an extremely loud wake up call . We used to be a respected party....I fear those days are long gone.
See NC Adveriser editorial mentioned by Elliot above: http://www.ncadvertiser.com/14158/editorial-for-u-s-senate/
What did you expect, King? That Jerry Labriola was going to take off his skirt and stand up for the little people? He doesn't care about ordinary Reps, he only cares about hot-rodding around in his BMW on the donor's dime, and playing his keyboard.
Labriola has been playing the Party for a long time. After this week, both he and his AWOL vice-chairwoman should get tossed
Elliot...the problem with your argument I often hear is that the heart surgeon you refer to has a track record of success in the past. I would want him to!
In the world of politics, try this analogy: The 'experienced' heart surgeon would have the majority of his patients die on the table, or not even acknowledge they were sick as they died. Once the patient was dead your heart surgeon would then blame doctors from decades ago for not figuring out how to fix the heart on it's own. He would then slander anybody who claimed he didn't do his job and promise the gullible among us that he at least cared and was trying.
In my scenario, I'll take a surgeon with less experience who at least has a track record of success in other operations that the 'experienced' surgeon who has EVERY patient die.
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