State Rep. Jonathan Dismang of Beebe is guest blogging at The Tolbert Report. In his post, “The Arkansas Republican Establishment (or lack thereof),” he bemoans the lack of a vibrant Arkansas GOP. He argues that Arkansas remains a one party state, and the efforts by the GOP in local areas can only be described as the beginning of a “Republican movement.” He believes that what the Republican Party of Arkansas needs is more people aspiring to be “established Republicans.”
Mr. Dismang doesn’t define “established Republican,” although he points to former Arkansas Rep. Asa Hutchinson as an example of what he means.
There is little argument: the Arkansas GOP is in bad shape. The state party chairman, Doyle Webb, has proven to be both ineffective and inarticulate. Barring a political tsunami, not one GOP candidate for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Auditor or State Land Commissioner in 2010 stands a chance of winning. You can credit that to good Democratic candidates, decades of party-building, or both. You can also credit it to a demise of ideas within the Arkansas Republican Party.
Which is why a lack of Republicanism is the hardly Arkansas GOP’s problem. No one – not here or nationally – understands what it means to be a Republican today. Reaganism, which ushered in a new generation of Republicans, was so badly tarnished by President George W. Bush that hearkening back to it carries little political value today. Compassionate conservatism, a catchy campaign slogan, devolved into punch line for late night comedians. Today, the GOP’s de-facto leader, Dick Cheney, has decided to preserve his legacy by insulting President Barack Obama and scaring the hell out of everybody, including Republicans, while the GOP shouts to No! to every policy idea generated by Democrats. It’s no wonder that Republicans in Congress have an approval rating of 17%, compared to 40% for the Democrats.
Fantastic Mr. Fox, 9) Public Enemies, 10) Inglorious Basterds. Since I submitted this list I saw Up in the Air (terrific), Nine (A dazzling mess), Sherlock Holmes (entertaining with too much CGI), Avatar (gorgeous and hyper-political) and It’s Complicated (a very funny Alec Baldwin).
Curtis Coleman Better Bring . . . Something – - UPDATE V (Coleman Speaks!)
Blogger Curtis Coleman, Republican U.S. Senate candidate in 2012, will speak today at the Central Arkansas Republican Club at 11:30 a.m. Super blogger Jason Tolbert of The Tolbert Report will be on hand with his flip cam, so Mr. Coleman better be on his best behavior. Remember what happened to state Sen. Kim Hendren with Mr. Tolbert showed up with his Flip Cam? Thought so.
An e-mail came in to The Think Tank yesterday indicating that Chris Matthews of MSNBC was talking about Mr. Coleman’s infamous southeast Arkansas comments. I can’t find the clip, but apparently he quoted Arkansas Democratic Party executive director Mariah Hatta on the air. Previously, Politico picked up Zack Stovall’s Arkansas News Bureau story.
UPDATE: Here’s the transcript from MSNBC.
UPDATE II: Here’s the video.
UPDATE III: Oh man, blogger Curtis Coleman fell into Jason Tolbert’s Flip Cam trap and goes on camera to clarify his “you need a visa and a shot to travel to southeast Arkansas” comment. If I counted it right his explanation was more than 3 minutes, involved a listing of every city in “southeast” Arkansas and the number of friends Mr. Coleman has from there. All of this to say he didn’t mean it the way it was interpreted. Of course, if you watch the entire video you’ll note that he does say this:
I could have easily said that in southeast Arkansas about northwest Arkansas.
I’m sure they’ll appreciate that.
UPDATE IV: Ben Smith of Politico picks up on Mr. Tolbert’s interview on his own blog.
UPDATE V: And yes, as I suggested earlier, Mr. Coleman must be dumb. He says so himself in Mr. Tolbert’s interview:
It is a thousand more times more likely that I am stupid than I am racist.