Fletcher: Dear RPV, You’re Blowing a Good Thing.
I don’t write much about politics these days. Oh, I used to. In the early days of the Virginia blogosphere, we had some grand old times. But there was an era when I finally had to say, “I can’t defend these guys anymore.”
Pick your guys. Pick your issue. You’d probably be right about most of them.
I turned my focus to other things. You can follow me at The Write Side of the Brain if you’re at all curious.
A few months ago, Lynn offered me the opportunity to come back to Bearing Drift after a long absence. I’m still not writing much about politics. My focus tends to be Virginia, and folksy. I just no longer have the stomach for the snark that used to be my driving influence.
All that to say that I never stopped paying attention, and I often worked behind the scenes. A few times, I even opened the checkbook.
Don’t be impressed, I was never a high dollar donor.
I just closed it again. At least regarding official party contributions.
All it took was two emails, which clearly say, “Paid for by the Republican Party of Virginia.”
The one I received last week was just annoying, it read: “You have been identified as a Registered Republican. To maintain your REPUBLICAN status, click the link below.”
I get that they want me to contribute for the upcoming primaries, a whole different mess that someone else will have to write about. And maybe some will fall for it.
I just happen to know that Virginia is one of nineteen states that does not register according to party affiliation.
That’s Virginia Politics 101. RPV, and their apparently out of state writers, just failed.
The email that set me off, however, was the one I received Tuesday afternoon.
Granted, I’d been sleeping off sedation from a morning colonoscopy (all is clear), so I was already in a mood.
This one was a repeat of one that I received months ago. At the time I wrote RPV Chair Rich Anderson and said it was conduct unbecoming a party of what I thought used to be gentlemen and gentleladies.
I received no response. Perhaps because there was no need for a receipt.
RPV is selling officially licensed merchandise that says, “Joe Biden Sucks.”
Let’s not quibble over the sentiment. I’ve likely said that. And I’ve certainly had my fair number of chuckles over the “Let’s Go Brandon” phenomenon or even the “I Did That” stickers at the gas pumps.
Heck, in the day, I even sold some snarky stuff on CafePress.
Certainly, no amount of prompting by the Easter Bunny is going to redeem this Administration. Again, that’s another post better written by someone else.
But leave that to the grass roots. That should not be an official party message.
I am distressed that it apparently is.
Virginia Republicans had a historic victory in 2021. By any objective assessment, the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General, are doing astounding things. It’s beautiful to watch.
Likewise, all indications are that there’s a huge red wave coming in the fall.
Let’s not blow it from the cheap seats.
Let’s not ruin the message by spray painting childish comments on our middle school lockers.
When I was first involved in politics, I was young and naïve enough to believe that Republicans were “better than that.”
Don’t laugh. Our values and our creeds tell us that we certainly should be.
I’d like to think we could at least try to live up to them.