Talk of Thrasher as next Chairman means more doom for Flori-duh GOP
By Chris Ingram
The so-called “leaders” of the Florida Republican Party have all but anointed former big-bucks lobbyist and State Senator John Thrasher as the party’s next chairman. This of course follows on the heels of soon-to-be former Chairman Jim Greer’s fiasco of a chairmanship which similarly started with party bosses selecting him.
Now don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong John Thrasher.
That is, so long as you like the status quo (you know supporting people who got us into the mess our country and state are in today). Thrasher is a long-time politico known for “making deals” in Tallahassee. Deals are great if you’re a politician looking for money from the “deal supporters” and they work well if you’re the special interest, corporation, or secretive 527-type group looking to line your own pocket. Thrasher has extensive experience in this arena.
Mortgaging your children and grand-children’s future is also a proficiency of Thrasher’s and his ilk. This is done every time a politico votes to spend money on a program but doesn’t have a clue how he’ll pay for it. Charlie Crist, Barack Obama, Jeff Atwater, Nancy Pelosi, John Thrasher. Democrats. Republicans. There isn’t a dime’s worth of difference in any of them anymore. Well, except for the fact that the Democrats are more honest about how clueless they are when it comes to explaining how they’ll pay for things.
If you’re not a “true-blue” Republican – one who thinks it would be blasphemous to support a Democrat by giving him or her money for their campaign – you won’t mind the fact that Thrasher gave money to Democrat Alex Sink in her campaign for Florida CFO. Personally that doesn’t bother me. I’m through supporting candidates just because they have an “R” after their name. In fact, I actually voted for Sink because the Republican nominee was just another good ol’ boy picked by people who don’t care about our children’s future. I want good government not some career politico. I guess Thrasher does too (wink-wink) which would explain why he gave Sink money. But on logical grounds, there ought to be a rule that the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida can never have given money or voted for a Democrat. Oh darn! I guess that rules me out from running.
What Thrasher is not about is looking out for the interests of your kids or mine. While Thrasher and his big-business corporate-money types who espouse Republican beliefs may talk a good game, they are real pros at fooling people. Their bottom line is, well, the bottom line. You’ve met the type. They’re the financial contributors who toss out the coin to the GOP and its candidates but who would sell their mommas to the Democrats if they thought doing so would get them their next special interest tax break, zoning variance, or other influence. This explains why Thrasher the chairman-to-be gave money to Democrat Alex Sink. And it explains why the GOP is in such disarray. Voters have had enough of the party being lead by big-business sell-outs.
The grassroots of the Republican Party doesn’t know a whole lot about John Thrasher. This however is good if you’re John Thrasher. In an attempt to make him look like the next crown-prince, the party elders and big money men have unified to rally support for Thrasher before the serfs learn too much about him. Unfortunately most of those who will vote in the special election for Florida’s next party chairman in February are sheep. They’re the sheep in the legislature (who make up a solid block of votes on the state committee thanks to Charlie Crist), and they are the sheep who are state committeemen and women and county party chairs who drink the Kool-aid and do what they’re told or are just too chicken-you-know-what to ask any questions lest they be seen as rocking the boat.
But don’t get me wrong. These people are not all bad. They’re also really smart. Geniuses in fact. They’re the ones who overwhelmingly elected Jim Greer. Not once, but twice. Simply because Charlie told them to do so.
Thanks but no thanks. I’ll find my own way to the slaughterhouse.
In the meantime would Sharon Day (or someone else) please stand up?
Chris Ingram is the president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of www.IrreverentView.com. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, Front Page Florida, and National Review online. E-mail him at: Chris@411Communications.com.
This article appears in Jan 6-12, 2010.