county council district 1: beating a very dead horse
I’m getting confused on the recent editorial in the Anderson Independent Mail’s editorial. The author insists that the issue raised by Councilman Bob Waldrep about a recent democrat vote by his opponent is not important.If you have been following the run-off campaigns of Bob Waldrep and challenger Raymond MacKay, you probably know about a post card that was mailed by Bob. The post card exposes the fact that Raymond voted in this year’s Democrat Presidential Primary and criticizes Raymond for filing for office in a Republican Primary a few weeks later.
I see this as a legitimate public record certainly allowable in a political race. I don’t live in this district, yet I know several voters in County Council District 1. Some are voting for Mr. Mackay, citing this recent vote makes no difference, and some are voting for Mr. Waldrep. Whether this issue is important is in the eyes of the voter. A voter can look at the issues brought up by candidates and judge for themselves. I don’t appreciate anyone telling voters to look at these issues, but for goodness sakes you are forbidden to look at those.
The interesting observation I see in the editorial is that the Anderson Independent sees this as a non issue and voters should disregard this as “meaningless”. If this issue is so meaningless, why has it been a news story in the Anderson Independent all week? Why has this one postcard dominated the news for the whole run-off ? I’m sure Bob’s campaign wished to bring up a single issue, then move on to others issues important to this county like transparency, wasteful spending, accountability to name a few. But many would rather beat this very dead horse (especially MacKay backers on the cocklebur blog here, here, & here) which by the way is their constitutional right of course. I’m certainly not criticizing Mr. MacKay’s supporters not letting go, just don’t quite understand it. They’re basically saying “This issue doesn’t matter, but we’re going to keep talking about it.”
June 20th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I agree Senator. The MacKay team should have left this alone. It has been a story for way too long. It probably will hurt the MacKay camp, because they have allowed it to dominate the race. We shall see on Tuesday. By the way, I vote in that district and I am voting for Waldrep.
June 22nd, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Kevin,
I cannot believe that you had the temerity to post such an offensive picture on your website. To say that it is sickening would be an understatement. You have revealed quite a bit about yourself this past week that I’m sure many who have voted for you in the past did not realize. Rest assured we won’t be making that mistake again even if it means crossing party lines.
You are relating to a race that doesn’t even involve you and in doing so you have broken the golden rule of politics: never tie your future to that of any other politician especially one as embattled as Bob Waldrep.
As to Bob’s wishing to move on to more substantive issues, his own activities give the lie to that assertion. If he were so interested in engaging in the issues, why did he send out but one single piece of mail (disregarding that pathetic letter which did not deal with any real issues)which spoke only of Mr. MacKay’s vote in the Democratic Presidential Preference Primary?
Are you so obtuse that you did not get the real message of the editorial or the postings on the Cocklebur and the AIM website? The reason many Republicans and Democrats alike were and will continue to be upset was not with Mr. Waldrep making Mr. MacKay’s vote public, although that was in extremely bad taste especially since he chose not to publicize the rest of his voting record of which we all know he had access to. You have failed to grasp the fact that the voters in this area are upset over the gall of the ACRC to vote to censure Mr. MacKay.
For your own sake, you better hope you give yourself better advice than you have given to your compadre Mr.Waldrep. For as Tuesday will show your horse is being sent to the pasture.
June 22nd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Kevin,
I’ve been watching the this site and the Cocklebur for some time and I’m struck by the emotion put forth from those who feel left out of the Republican Party. They’re quick to condemn that which they choose not to participate. They come to precious little Republican events, chide the events that they may attend and deride the actions of the many when it does not suit their agenda. They also jeer those in the minority when it calls for closer examination of their wants and wishes.
I doubt that “womanwithabrain” and others on the Cocklebur are really concerned about a dead horse or the direction of the local GOP. It may be as simple as a case of “penal envy”.
You see, although they may proclaim progress and vision as their motivation, their support for individuals such as MacKay, Preston and the recently defeated council members may acually be a phallic representation of lost hopes and desires for unattainable and lofty ideas impossible to achieve.
In such hysteria, they may illogically lash out at groups and individuals that seemed to have attain concrete goals and ideals. So, take heart Senator and local GOP, this psychosis is temporary on one target and will soon transfer to other targets such as the numbers of green M&M’s in a bag or the inability to touch one’s elbows together.
This to shall pass!!
Kevin, feel free to post this helpful thought onto The Cocklebur. The site had a nasty viris early on in it’s early stages and caused severe swelling and redness, so I won’t register again.
Sometimes a cigar is not a cigar.