There appears to have been a Tea Party coup at the Maine Republican Party's convention this weekend.Delegates reportedly jettisoned the proposed platform and replaced it with a Tea Party-praising document that everyone ought read.
[UPDATE, 5/11/10: I now have a full report with more details in The Christian Science Monitor.]
Among the planks of the Maine GOP's official new platform: sealing of our borders, a "strict adherence" to the second amendment, rejection of the UN Law of the Sea Treaty and the UN Treaty on the Rights of the Child, the promotion of "family values," a rejection of Cap and Trade, a freezing of stimulus funds and a prohibition on future stimulus bills, a "return to the principles of Austrian Economics," a removal of "obstacles created by government to allow private development of...natural gas, oil, coal, and nuclear power," a rejection of "the government takeover of healthcare" because "only market based solutions will solve the problems," elimination of the U.S. Department of Education, and a "repeal" of "any participation in efforts to create a one world government."
They also call for an end of "collusion between government and industry in the global warming myth" and "reassert the principle that "Freedom of Religion" does not mean "freedom from religion."
The Maine GOP leadership seemed completely surprised by the move, as evidenced by this video of the vote. The Press Herald asked party chair Charlie Webster if this represented a major ideological change; he responded "absolutely not" and asserted the new platform represents the values of working class Mainers. Gubernatorial candidate Peter Mills, quoted in the same piece, seemed to think otherwise. Some further background in the Kennebec Journal.
No word in the press on whether the Tea Party folks noticed their votes for presidential nominees will be meaningless under the proposed rules for the 2012 election cycle.
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MA 23, Florida, Maine, Utah - all of a sudden the GOP is going through a purification ritual that will leave a much smaller core that (hopefully) can't win too many elections. Where are Republicans like Charlie Crist and Bob Bennett to go? The Dem tent is big, but not that big. Can a center right third party be far off?
ReplyDeleteUGH! Because polarization is always a good thing, right?
ReplyDeleteI'm always stunned when people see extremism, any extremism, as a good move for their party. It's important to have some core beliefs, but seriously, you are going to exclude far more with this tripe than you will bring in.
As a centrist, I have really hard time dealing with the right or left, but moves like this simply push me farther to the left. When you are not willing to compromise and stick only to a narrow, radical viewpoint, you are an extremist. It's that simple. And I, for one, don't care for that kind of company.
The uneducated leading the uneducated has always been entertaining from the sidelines as long as you have a big ocean between you and the mob.
ReplyDelete