| Gillespie Communications Guru Trashes Conservatives and the Tea Party Listening to Ed Gillespie and his supporters, you'd think Ed was Tea Party before the Tea Party existed. Well, he did say that. Ed stated that his association with Dick Armey should be evidence enough. From a strategic standpoint, this is understandable. Gillespie has to win a nominating convention this summer and true conservatives tend to make up the majority of votes at conventions. So team Gillespie is obscuring Gillespie's lengthy career as a Washington lobbyist and consummate big government insider. The Democrats are aware of his lobbying and are already using that information to disparage Ed Gillespie at EnronEd.com. On a blog post dated February 17 and entitled "Tea Party Treachery," you will find these words from a Gillespie associate attacking, not the democratic opposition, but the nemesis of the Republican establishment, the Tea Party. The Tea Party is not my cup of tea. Everybody who reads this blog knows that fact. Some folks who like the Tea Party have actually stopped reading this blog because I have been so outspoken in my distaste for this rag-tag group of nihilists who are doing their level best to bring down the Republican Party. That's John Feehery – a Washington insider who Ed Gillespie hired to be his firm's top communications strategist. "John Feehery is one of the best communications strategists around, and he will be a great addition to the QGA [Quinn Gillespie and Associates] team," said Gillespie. Is it good strategy to malign a major voting bloc within the Republican Party? Conservatives and Tea Party folk are some of the best allies and hardest grassroots workers for the GOP here in Virginia. They are responsible for electing a majority of the Republicans who currently hold office in Virginia. But wait, there is more. Feehery is just warming up in his divisive diatribe: The Tea Party's champion in Washington is Ted Cruz… Cruz wanted to shut the government down in order to force the President to defund Obamacare. Obama was never going to eliminate his biggest legislative achievement. Not ever. Cruz gave a long speech to protest the fact that the President was never going to repeal his signature legislative achievement. He made D.C. listen, although most folks in D.C. probably only listened to the soundbites, like when he quoted from Green Eggs and Ham. Wow. Sounds like a Democrat impugning someone who actually came to Washington and honored his word to the people of Texas - stand up to Obamacare. Question for you Mr. Feehery – are all filibusters successful? It appears that for Mr. Freehery, pragmatism overrides principle. If a successful outcome is not guaranteed, do not attempt. Feehery's description of Cruz is not what we need right now in the Virginia GOP. But there was more than just this snarky attempt directed at Cruz. Feehery describes the reason the Tea Party is not his cup of tea: Some of the Tea Partiers focus on immigration. Others attack crony capitalism. Still others hate all government spending. Some think the Constitution needs to be rewritten, just as they call themselves constitutional conservatives. They hate common core standards. Hate Obamacare. Hate extending the debt limit. Hate reopening the government. Hate the NSA. Hate immigrants. Hate the establishment. Hate big corporations. Hate Labor. Hate the Federal Reserve. Hate foreigners. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate is a strong word and unfortunately used incorrectly and very unwisely by Feehery. Conservatives and Tea Party supporters remember in spite of attempts to "pull the wool" or schmooze. Even more disturbing, Gillespie's number one choice to lead his communications team thinks that if you aren't on board with endless government spending and endless debt-ceiling increases…then you aren't a Republican! Now, Ted Cruz might sing "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" when he is in the shower, but no matter what he sings in the shower, he didn't come up with any plausible alternatives when it came to increasing the debt, except for one. He didn't want the Democrats to be the ones who got blamed for increasing the debt limit. He wanted Republicans to share the blame. Why, you might ask, given that he is theoretically a Republican. After all, he once ran in a Republican primary, and that is how he got his voting card in the Senate. Well, because Ted Cruz isn't a Republican anymore. He is a Tea Partier. Is this Ed Gillespie's vision for our future? Are inaccurate assessments and disparaging comments about those who agree with you most of the time going to bring success in November 2014? Mark Warner will be difficult to beat even with a unified Republican Party. Comments like these from Feehery are despicable. If Feehery is allowed to spew his hatred of the Tea Party, forget about Reagan's hope for a Big Tent in 2014. The canvas will be pitched to the left of center and very few grassroots activists will be assisting in construction or helping to fill that Big Top on November 4th . A Republican Party that embraces endless spending, infinite debt-ceiling increases, and KICKS OUT any principled conservative who objects will grow smaller and smaller. Power when threatened attacks; sad that this attack is against those who sincerely agree with the Republican Creed of Virginia. As everyone knows, the company you keep speaks volumes about who you really are. That goes double for whom you hire to speak for you, your company, and your values. PS --- Feel free to read the article where strategist for Ed Gillespie trashes the Tea Party, conservatives and Ted Cruz here. Voters beware. Rev. Travis E. Witt Chairman, Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation & Fifth District Representative, Virginia Republican State Central Committee
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Mr. Chairman,
ReplyDeleteYou wrote to me this morning and after much consideration and a little fact finding I am replying.
When the highest leadership and spokesman for the Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation sends misinformation such as was propagated in your letter, although I take little pleasure in doing so I feel that I must reply.
Your first error is in your aspersive use of, “team Gillespie”, with all respect to your office let me say that such ambiguity is beneath you sir and it’s rather simple to see where such a letter is about to go.
I am confident that all official members of Mr. Gillespie’s campaign team stand enthusiastically behind his proven record as a conservative and friend of the Tea Party.
Next you continue on your trail of error by referring to a ridiculous article written by some blithering idiot as “words from a Gillespie associate”. Yet it is clear that there is no such association, neither claimed in the blog itself nor in reality as we all know a common fact that you must be ignorant of, and that is that Mr. Gillespie had left Quinn Gillespie and Associates three years before Mr. Feehery joined.
If you were already aware of this fact then it seems to me to be a shameful willful misrepresentation.
Perhaps it wouldn’t be so shameful if the negative politicking didn’t continue, and as painful as it was to continue reading your rant you continued on with more misrepresentation, “Gillespie’s number one choice to lead his communications team.”
Mr. Witt, have you lost your wits? Feehery is not even a part of Mr. Gillespie’s campaign and you blatantly make a false claim, “Ed Gillespie hired” him?
Ed Gillespie’s vision for the unity of the party and his intentional inclusiveness are seen in his comments at CPAC last week. When he participated in a distinguished panel discussion on Republican outreach efforts to minority communities Ed’s understanding of the need and his passion to engage cross culturally in the party are the very substance of the “Reaganite Big Tenter” that Ed is.
http://www.c-span.org/video/?318134-7/cpac-republican-outreach-minorities
As your diatribe finally comes to a close it seems to be the epitome of hypocrisy when you refer to what you seem to be so naturally a master of in your own letter, “inaccurate assessments and disparaging comments…are despicable”.
Yes they are Mr. Chairman, yes they are!
I am pleased to say that I continue to confidently support Mr. Gillespie.
Rev. MichaEl Hirsch