Independents and Democrats speak out.
The Jackson County, Oregon Republican Party passed a resolution saying that Biden "was not legitimately elected," citing the movie 2000 Mules as "irrefutable proof."
Republican candidates are on the hot seat. Democrats didn't put them there. Republicans did. Party activists are on board the Trump train. They are trying to find heretics who are getting off it. Trump looks obsessed and wacko, but he still has his base of support. He has believers. His supporters are loud and clear. Republican candidates don't want to get crossways with those primary election voters. Some agree with them and take their chances in the general election. Some hide out. They mumble some kind of genial agreement without saying anything specific. Or some don't answer. The mumblers and hiders become, in effect, endorsers and enablers of Trump's election fantasy. The election denial is in plain sight, asserted by Trump and affirmed in resolutions published in local media. Overturning an election isn't so bad one needs to notice and object.
That creates a general election problem. Even reliably conservative media institutions and pundits are calling them out. So are their political opponents.
Randy Sparacino is a local Republican candidate for State Senate. His website says "Our founding principles are under attack." They are, but his website makes no mention of the attack on the Capitol nor has it been updated to mention his party's resolution and its attack on elections. Nor has he responded to my requests for a comment. Silence.
His opponent, the incumbent state senator Jeff Golden, is not silent. He wrote me:
With so many hot issues tearing us apart, we have to keep striving to listen more openly and give folks with different views respect and trust that they’re being honest and sincere. I can’t do that anymore when it comes to the so-called “stolen” election of 2020. With dozens of federal judges (many appointed by Donald Trump) agreeing after careful examination that there is literally no evidence of fraud, and with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, after a year of fraud claims, saying “we have no evidence, but we have a theory,” who can believe that the Jackson County Republican Party is acting in good faith with their flat declaration that the presidential election was stolen? I accept our deep disagreement on plenty of issues. I can’t accept this.
Golden
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| Krause |
His opponent is Democrat Denise Krause. Her comment was brief and direct:
It’s very sad that the GOP has lost all sense of reason. Facts matter.
Colleen Roberts sent a response which I quoted in full in a blog post yesterday. It said she doesn't always agree with her party but did not say whether she agreed in this case. She said the issue is moot even though her party just asserted it is not moot. I have invited her to give it a second try at a clear response.
Al Densmore is her opponent. He had once been a Democrat but had been a Republican for several decades. He recently became an Independent. He wrote:
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| Densmore |
I oppose the statement and resolution adopted last week by the Jackson County Republican Central Committee rejecting the certified results of the 2020 Presidential Election. Claims and lawsuits filed across the country asserting voter fraud sizable enough to change the outcome were all dismissed as baseless.
Continuing this argument damages our ability to discuss important issues reasonably and solve our pressing problems, local and national. It also undermines the work of our local and state elections officials. Our Republican County Clerk Chris Walker and her capable staff, already preparing for the November 8 don't need this kind of politics. It's the kind of politics that caused me to become an Independent.
Former state senator Alan DeBoer, a Republican, spoke out clearly in opposition to the GOP resolution. He received widespread, bipartisan praise. He wasn't asserting anything arcane or hidden. He said what every audit, every court, and Trump's own election security head and Attorney General said. Biden won. Was that so hard? Apparently, yes.
The resolution, and the public's request for a response, is only a "gotcha" dilemma for Republican candidates if the candidate is trying to have it both ways. If a candidate is trying to tell people still on the Trump train that he or she agrees, while trying simultaneously to tell the rest of the electorate that one is sane, responsible, and reality based, then it is, indeed, a dilemma. One needs to hide out. One needs to mumble. It looks cowardly and dishonest. If the candidate will lie to us about elections he or she will lie to us about everything.
Voters are owed the truth. Alan DeBoer had the courage to tell it. It is time for Republican candidates to step up.
3 comments:
What a dilemma, either say it was okay to try to overthrow a legitimate election or tell the truth. It’s not fair they should have to choose. Why can’t they just be for both.
I wonder how many of the people who say the election was stolen really believe it? If they do believe, they might want to expand their news sources.
In 2016, when Republicans nominated Trump as their candidate, Lindsey Graham observed, “My party’s gone batshit crazy.” This is just further evidence.
Not only are they crazy, but thanks to the party’s rabid opposition to sane gun regulation, they’re also armed and dangerous. Never was that more obvious than on Jan. 6, which the Oregon GOP officially declared “a false flag operation,” intended to make Trump and his supporters look bad (as if they needed any help).
There’s no reasoning with people who don’t believe in facts. The fact that we’re talking about one of our two major political parties doesn’t bode well for our democracy’s future.
"Cowardly and dishonest" seems to best describe the vast majority of Republican Candidates for any elective Office. I often disagreed with Mr. DeBoer on his policy stances, but never felt he was anything but honest. I found Dave Dotterers response to your column very disappointing, especially given his Military background, an arena in which Moral Courage is, or was, a line item for grading on Officer Efficiency Reports. Based on his response, Dave Dotterer seems to have abandoned whatever moral courage he had before retiring from the Military. Perhaps his years with Colleen Roberts and Rick Dyer have effected his principles, and not in a good way.
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