Tag Archives: Vermont GOP

The Enigma of GOP outrage

A campaign flunky for Don Turner has turned his righteous indignation toward the least likely senate candidate from Franklin County. Talk about choosing a soft target!

Isn’t it interesting that, attached as he is to the campaign of proud Donald Trump supporter and candidate for Lieut. Gov, Don Turner, Shayne Spence somehow managed to muster outrage over a tasteless joke made several years ago by Franklin County senate candidate Dustin Tanner. The fact that Mr. Spence proudly boasts of going to great lengths to ferret out a questionable tidbit speaks volumes about Mr. Spence’s own rather icky character, but that is beside the point.

What surprises me is that Mr. Turner’s prospects apparently are so dim that his campaign staff has nothing better to do than waste time “getting something” on a Franklin County novice who hasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell against the Franklin County Republican Machine, oiled as it is with outside donations from the likes of “hate donors” like Carol and Tom Breuer and the bashful Ms. Lenore Broughton.

The County Courier, predictably a water carrier for the GOP, leapt on the meager “scandal” like a starving dog on a rubber chicken, gleefully embroidering the story with feigned outrage. I can’t share a link to the mighty Courier’s two full pages of coverage, because there is none, but we’re talking molehill-to-mountain proportions. Slow news days can stretch into months for the Courier.

This leads me inevitably to ask, where was the outrage when disgraced Senator Norm McAllister stood credibly accused of multiple acts of sexual assault, including violation of a minor? Surely The VGOP and the County Courier could have mustered a little more sensitivity for the victims, all of whom were not only dependent on him for their economic survival, but also politically dependent on him as his constituents. Surely the weak exploited by the powerful makes for greater indignation than a sophmoric standup routine.

Republicans try desperately to avoid responsibility for their own all too frequent acts of gross misogyny, but whenever someone from the other side of the aisle transgresses, they are all over the outrage even as Democrats are manning up and taking their medicine.

Now repeat after me, Mr. Spence:

“Hey-hey. Ho-ho. Kavanaugh has got to go!”

GOP State Rep. “Burma-Shave Bob” Frenier will not seek re-election to VT House

Orange County GOP Rep Bob Frenier will not run for re-election. Frenier, an aggressive conservative newcomer from Massachusetts, entered Vermont politics with a splash and is now calling it quits with a bit of a thud. For his first race in Orange County he set his sights high. He challenged and lost to longtime incumbent Sen. Mark MacDonald (D). frenierburmashaved

He did manage to make a name for himself. Armed with a bucket load of money from the Koch-funded Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) he blanketed the rural county roads with a series of Burma-Shave style campaign signs with a misleading fear-mongering message about Medicare.

Following up in 2016, after winning a GOP primary write-in campaign, he took aim at and won a seat in Vermont House. However, Frenier beat incumbent Progressive Susan Hatch Davis by a razor-thin margin of just over half a dozen votes-in the final count. And that came after a bitter recount and several vigorous legislative debates about it in early 2017.

Now, not much more than a year later he’s thrown in the towel. The Valley News reports part of the reason for quitting his hard-won seat is his frustration with the recent passage of three gun regulation bills-all of which he voted against. “I thought it was an insult to traditional Vermont culture … and so was the coyote bill,” said Frenier, referring to a bill that passed the Vermont House that bans coyote-killing tournaments.

As a resident of Orange County I couldn’t be happier than to see him head down the road. But it sounds like Burma shave Bob may not be done making waves in Vermont politics. From the Valley News: he [Frenier] may try to bring a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of some of the legislation that has passed, and said it would be easier to do once he is no longer a lawmaker. No word at this early stage where he might get funds for such expensive legal actions-maybe his Burma shave pals at Koch’s RSLC.

But for now: Bye – Bye – Bob

VTGOP committee member: “people […] confused as to what the march is all about.”

twofacesGOP3When The Atlantic Magazine reached out to GOP state and national committee members for a reaction to Trump’s handling of the violent events at Charlottesville, Vermont Republican National committeeman Jay Shepard offered this contention about the white supremist riot: “In all mob scenes there are people who just happen to be there, who aren’t leaders of organizations and are just confused as to what the march is all about.”

Yes, who among us hasn’t been confused “as to what the march [a Nazi riot]   is all about?”Although, you know, for many people seeing marchers wearing white hoods and flying swastika flags might have been the obvious tell.

[…]The Atlantic reached out to 146 Republican state party chairs and national committee members for reaction to Trump’s handling of the events. We asked each official two questions: Are you satisfied with the president’s response? And do you approve of his comment that there were “some very fine people” who marched alongside the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis?  

The vast majority refused to comment on the record, or simply met the questions with silence. Of the 146 GOP officials contacted, just 22 offered full responses—and only seven expressed any kind of criticism or disagreement with Trump’s handling of the episode. (Those seven GOP leaders represent New Mexico, Texas, Virginia, North Dakota, Alaska, Massachusetts, and North Carolina.) The rest came to the president’s defense, either with statements of support or attempts at justification

Almost a year ago I compared the VTGOP’s mixed enthusiasm for then-candidate Trump to a “mullet” hair style. That is the 1970’s and 80’s haircut style (infamous by the 1990’s) showed the public one “thing” (face) in the front view, yet show a different style or “thing” (another face) in the back: “all business in the front and all party in the back.” In the case of the VTGOP’s emerging mullet, all good ol’ imaginary GOP moderation in the front and just totally Trumpism in the back.

Now the VTGOP is still styling the political equivalent of a “mullet,” i.e., a two-faced approach with Phil Scott sporting some neatly trimmed criticism of President Trump’s “very fine people” remark up front, and Committeeman Jay Shepard showing the rough side in the back. It must be the look they prefer while strutting around under the circus tent.