as witnessed and written by Steve Crites....
We were at our precinct caucus meeting at Hope United Methodist on Dayton at Belleview and Jane Norton (who lives in the next precinct south) came by to address our group. She stated that she is conservative in her stump speech to us, where she explained that she was a "fiscal conservative" based on her time in the state office and was a "right to life conservative and didn't support abortions."
She was then asked to address her "conservatism" by a constituent. He asked "Are you a conservative like Michelle Bachmann?" Jane looked puzzled and was a little taken back by the question. But the citizen asked her again, "Are you a Michelle Bachman Conservative though?", to which she replied "I don't know who that is. Please tell me who you are talking about?"
We all looked at her aghast, not quite believing that she was this disconnected, especially after she had just told us that she relates to the movement out here, but she never used the terms "grass roots" or "tea party" though - which I thought was interesting. We all were waiting for the punch line to follow like "Well of course I'm a Michelle Bachman Conservative. I love her. Speak to her regularly. Loved her speech at the convention and on the Capitol steps" But it never came. People started chiding her, asking if she ever watched Fox News and why she didn't know who Bachmann was -- considering she is a top Republican Congresswoman and is on Fox News and radio often.
Norton was definitely on her heels and then just started to back away, getting her stuff together, and was escorted out by a man, who I believe was her husband. Many of us sat there stunned in disbelief that this was a "chosen one" by the Republican Party and that she is so disconnected to what is being promoted out here at the grass roots level. Unbelievable...I just wish we were better on our game to really nail her down on this moment in political folly, but I think we were truly too stunned as to what we had just witnessed.
This woman is truly scary: should she get elected, it would be a sad day for our country, even if she is "electable" in terms of how the establishment Republicans see her.
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3 comments:
I was affraid this would happen. After listening to Jane speak a couple of times she does not sound convincing and appears to be more of the same. We need less of the same to take back our country.
Tom Wiens for US Senate!!
I was at a Senatorial candidate debate in Evergreen on Thursday the 25th of March. Jane wasn't present but Tidwell, Buck and Wiens were there.
When asked "What do you make of the Tea Parties? What should Republicans do to avail themselves of Tea Party enthusiasm?" they all acknowledged that the Tea Parties were key and that the Republicans had best take notice and change their ways.
Buck gave the most eloquent answer, suggesting that there are two tents, one comprising traditional Republicans, the other full of energetic Tea Parties. He felt the best thing that could happen would be for the old guard GOP to slide over to the Tea Party tent joining them in their shared ethic of small government, fiscal conservatism.
Kurt Bierkan, Evergreen
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