That being said, he was asked at a Meet the Candidates Night why he was running as an Independent. His reply boiled down to the fact that the Utah Democratic Party wasn't so much an opposition party as it was a bunch of wimps.
I told him to give the Democrats another chance, because there's a new sheriff in town.
New Democratic Party chairman Jim Dabakis, fresh off a Democratic Party Bus tour down to the Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City, has embarked on a 1,147 mile tour of Southern Utah to talk about redistricting, among other things.
And this has the Utah Republican Party all up in arms.
Utah Senate President Michael Waddoups said he has no problem with Dabakis crossing the state to talk about redistricting — as long as that’s the only subject on the agenda.
“I hope he is going after it as a redistricting meeting,” the Taylorsville Republican said, “rather than Republicans versus Democrats.”
After all, you can talk about anything you want to, as long as you only talk about one thing, because heaven forbid any other issue comes up.
And, I really hate to point this out, but the Utah Legislature has 80 Republicans to 24 Democrats. It's hard for a Democrat to talk about the Legislature without it being a Republic vs Democrat thing.
Besides, it's been Republicans vs the People of Utah for a long time. It's nice to see the Democrats standing up to the Republican bully.
And, in a separate article, we learn that the Republicans have hired someone to follow Dabakis on his tour of Southern Utah with a video camera.
GOP Chairman Thomas Wright accused Dabakis of being “on the offensive playing ‘gotcha’ politics and taking personal comments out of context.” How dare Democrats play Offense! Don't they know that the best offense is a good defense? It's worked so well for the over the past decade! (OK, what the Democrats have been playing is more like special teams, but I digress.)
Wright also accuses Dabakis of trying to split the GOP in two. In reality, the GOP has been splitting itself in two for a long time. One only needs read the Utah Republican Party - Official Group on Facebook for proof.
Dabakis is simply pointing out that the "fringe elements" of the party are now part of Elected Leadership.
But, of course, Wright isn't trying to catch Dabakis saying something stupid. "We are just trying to hear what he is saying. We refuse to give him a pass, or simply accept what the media reports or what is posted on Twitter or Facebook."
I hope they are nice enough to post it on YouTube for other Republicans to see. And, well everyone else.
Now, Dabakis is more than willing to allow the camera, because he is not afraid of what he is saying, unlike Mike Lee last year.
“He’s a very genial and nice chap, and he has been at every public appearance,” Dabakis said. “I couldn’t be more thrilled that Republicans think that it’s worth videotaping everything I say.”
Awesome.
2 comments:
Let's be honest, Bob. When the UDP isn't practicing "gotcha" politics, it's about as effective as the anti-gravity society is at convincing us all that gravity doesn't work.
Sheriff? Hardly. Nerfherder? Likely.
I love that "Gotcha" is the GOP talking point on this. After all, the original "gotcha question" is "What magazines or newspapers do you read?"
Let's face it -- the GOP elected two fringe candidates to leadership positions. Obviously, a majority of the delegates wanted these people to lead them. They didn't get tricked into saying what they said.
Dabakis could have asked them what color the sky was, and the GOP would accuse him of "gotcha" questioning.
Post a Comment