"Steele-ing ourselves"

Like the old comic Eddie Lawrence used to ask; "What's the matter, bunky?" You say that you're not happy that the RNC Chairman didn't tell Sean Hannity that he thought the party could re-take a majority of the House of Representatives in 2010? You say that you're confused because he used to seem like a real 'go get em' kind of guy before he was elected? You say that you'd have liked to hear a little more "Mike London" and a little less "Al Groh"? (ask any UVA football fan what that means...)

Lost in this brouhaha is a qualifying statement that Michael Steele made right after the ill-fated, poorly received; "No, I don't think so." He said that he felt this way because he; "didn't know all the candidates, yet." I hate to say this to the faithful (But, I have been saying this to my radio show audience for some time before Mr. Steele's comments...); He's right. As Pete Townshend once wrote (in the Who's "Join Together"); 'It's the singer, not the song, that makes the music move along."

Can you name (without checking Wikipedia) the GOP chairman in 1979? Or the Democrat chair in 1959? Or even 1991? It was the CANDIDATE that inspired the community, not the party leadership. (BTW, the answers are; William Brock, Paul Butler and Ron Brown.) At a recent meeting, a local contractor said that he knew many young co-workers that are "prime candidates" for party membership; hunters, fishermen, Constitutional Conservatives, who showed little interest in joining the GOP. This is not an indictment of local chair Christian Schoenewald (who I count as a close friend, and a great party leader) or even Michael Steele (who I've met and thought he was much more inspiring than he's become lately), it just makes Steele's point about not knowing the candidate yet.

For example, here in my Virginia home there are 7 people, all with really interesting and diverse backgrounds, running for the GOP spot on the ballot to face Tom Perriello for the 5th District seat in the Virginia delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives. I bring them all on to my radio show every Friday to answer three questions and, more importantly I hope that their visits will inspire some of the citizens to 'join together' so I put all of their contacts out on my website so that listeners can volunteer to help.

Which one is MY favorite? Though I run the risk of being lumped together with Michael Steele, I don't have one, yet. I'm hoping that one will, by the June 8th primary, become that person that inspires Constitutional Conservatives like myself up and down the 5th District and sweep into the house with the new majority leadership. Maybe that's more like what Michael Steele should have told Sean Hannity.

For now, though, let's do what we can to help the Haitians.

"Thanks for all the Fish"
JT