Western Iowa Republican Meltdown - This is BIG! [View All]

I posted the following in the Iowa room, but this is big news for national discussion as well. As background, western Iowa is the base of the Iowa Republican party and the home of right wing Congressman Steve King. The split in their leadership could mean a third party or decreasing participation of large parts of the republican's base. Is this occuring in other areas?

<http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2006/11/09/news/local/8a289d14ebfbe8bb8625722100154c8e.txt>

A day after the Democratic sweep of the midterm elections, Woodbury County Republican Chairman Steve Salem had harsh words for his own party, lambasting the influence of the conservative Christian right wing. Salem said he coined a new phase: "You've heard of IslamaFascists -- I think we now have Christian fascists. What is the definition of a fascist? Not only do they want to beat you, but they want to destroy you in the process."

Salem said "if things keep going the way things are going locally and statewide, it is going to be more and more difficult for Republicans to recruit candidates. We have elements of the party who are moral absolutists, who take the approach that if you don't take my position every step of the way, not only will I not support you, but I will destroy you."

Continued Salem, "We have a number of factions within the Republican Party who are putting their own personal agenda ahead of what is best for the party." He said he tried to hit the topic head-on in the last Woodbury County Republican Party Central Committee meeting, to bring the sides together, but said it didn't get resolved. He said Republican volunteers were "having (their) arms twisted to make calls for Blanchard. The local approach seemed to be to do everything you can to help Blanchard."


This follow up comment says so much about what lies ahead for the R's in Iowa:

Duane Brown wrote on November 09, 2006 12:20 PM:
"There is that old tale of the emperor who wore no clothes. The problems cited by Stephen Salem are just as obvious. Mr. Hoffman, in stating that he was " …‘surprised’ by Salem's schism comments…” is either blind or in complete denial. Stephen Salem is dead on right. He was actually overly polite in his description of self serving factions in the Woodbury County Republican Party. As a member of the Woodbury County Republican Party Central Committee, I have plenty of first hand experience. One particular organization is trying to hijack the Republican Party of Iowa. If you don't agree with them 100% on every issue, they not only refuse to support you; they take active steps to destroy you including the use of innuendo and outright lies. When confronted, they will not debate openly. They will not debate and discuss issues with any opponent. They only throw bombs, often in the form of literature that does not identify, or falsely identifies the author(s). The problem with bombs is that they can destroy everything with their fallout, as was done in this campaign. "