“You say you want a revolution,” warned John Lennon. Okay: those of us either conservative or Republican (there is a difference) are encouraged if not silently giddy over the prospects of “taking back” our government/nation/way of life from the Democrats. I was there in 1994 when the 104thers were elected, worked as a press secretary for one of them, and actually believed we were going to “change” things in Washington. We didn’t: in some ways, we made things worse. Well, at least Newt ended daily ice delivery to members’ offices.
But all is not well in Tea Party Land: not all of them deserve nor should go to Washington. One of them is already here, running against a black woman, Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton. The other is also running against a black woman, a real representative, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, also a Democrat.
Both of the opponents running against these two CBC (Congressional Black Caucus) members tout Tea Party connections, both are supposedly deeply religious, both are underdogs and both should and deserve to lose: badly.
Let’s start with Washington congressional candidate Missy Smith: this will be one Smith not going to Washington as she is already here and has been all her life. Oh, she can stay here, doing what she does, bragging on her web site that she has “lobbied Congress and demonstrated against Obama, Biden and the USCCB against the support of legalized child killing.” But she has no business being behind the wheel, steering our nation in the right direction. Why? Because her “political ad” is actually photographs of aborted fetuses. Here is her website, as well her grisly, dreadful ad currently airing in the Washington market (I will not bother to warn you how graphic it is as you can see from the cover page what’s going on).
The other is one Reverend Stephen Broden of Dallas, who said the other day:
“If the government is not producing the results or has become destructive to the ends of our liberties, we have a right to get rid of that government and to get rid of it by any means necessary,” Broden said.
Supposedly he was clarifying these previous remarks:
“We have a constitutional remedy here, and the framers said, if that don’t work — revolution,” he said in the speech.
Shades of Mao, when he said: “All things grow out of the barrel of a gun.”
The good Reverend Broden ought to spend less time nuzzling with that nutcase Glenn Beck and more time reading his Bible: “Vengeance is mine” said the good Lord and he didn’t need to retract or clarify his words.
We had one revolution, two wars with the Brits on our soil (“Beat ‘em in two, bailed ‘em outta two!” I always say), one horrible, horrible civil war, so we don’t really need any more wars on our land nor revolutions within.
As for the well-intentioned but bad results Miss Smith Ain’t Going To Washington:
Well, Missy Smith, I will put my pro-life yet anti-criminalization credentials up against either pro-lifers or pro-choicers alike. I’ve attended a dozen March for Life rallies, witnessed the late great Ronald Reagan speak to us from The White House when I was one of his young staffers, and I have personally counseled numerous women (including within my family) to avoid abortion at all costs. My father, the late Los Angeles Times columnist Nick Thimmesch, wrote some of the finest writings about abortion-related issues that can be read and he would be aghast. Read his famous article, “Our Grisly Human Fetal Industry.”
I also have an adorable eight-year-old daughter who I would not want to see this ad. The ad is running at times when kids can easily see them:
Monday, Oct. 25
NBC 3 pm Ellen Degeneris
FOX 3 pm Everybody Hates Chris
FOX 3:30 pm Everybody Hates Chris
NBC 6 pm Evening News
CBS 5 pm Evening News
ABC 6 pm Evening News
FOX 5:30 pm Evening News
Tuesday, Oct. 26
FOX 3 pm Everybody Hates Chris
FOX 3:30 pm Everybody Hates Chris
Wishing harm or shame on abortionists is similar to supporting the death penalty, which I oppose (except for traitors), and I will never support it even if the killer of my daughter is convicted and sentenced to death. I just don’t think government or political candidates should be in the vengeance business (see the aforementioned comment by God).
I oppose abortion at any time, in any form, for any reason, except to save the life of the mother (that’s right: even in cases of rape and incest), but I do not support this ad touted by Missy Smith, as it will change nobody’s thinking, mind or heart (see my column: “Mad Men Helps Make A Decision Over A Choice”). Rather, it will offend the very people we pro-lifers are trying to reach out to or change their opinion about abortion and is horribly abusive for children to see out of context. The money for the buy could have been better spent aiding a woman and her un-aborted child.
All in all: all Tea Party-inspired candidates, even if good, conservative Republicans, do not need to be elected given that so many of our new breed of candidates should do the trick. And we still have some great ones already elected (Congressman Mike Pence, Senators Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint). We should leave the likes of Missy Smith and Reverend Broden in the ash heap of political losers.
Nicholas Thimmesch II, son of the late Los Angeles Times columnist Nick Thimmesch, is a longtime media and communications consultant to numerous campaigns, government representatives and public policy organizations, serving in the Reagan White House as a staff writer.