After reading this piece by CR Vets concerning the Davidson release it is evident that the CRs are divided along two different factions with entirely different views on how the CRNC should be run and operates. This isn’t a simple misunderstanding this is a fundamental conflict, that won’t be wished away but by the end to the political operatives who have used the CRs for their personal advantage tarnishing all our names. I believe CR Vets are honest CRs who just fundamentally disagree with our premise of change, and because of that I have some thoughts and a challenge. There are good people on both sides, I know some of them they are my friends here in DC, but we fundamentally disagree on some things.

My first salvo is this:

Since the Gourley campaign is scared of debates, I, hereby, challenge Brian Mazanec or Bryan Shuy to a debate on the CRNC race and the future of the organization. I will go anywhere, anytime, to do it (as long as it won’t require me to fail out by missing a ton of classes ). Set the date, the time, the venue and I will be there. We’ll record it and then post it on SaveTheGOP (I will even pickup the bandwidth expenses). So how about it CR Vets?

Salvo #2:

Mazanec and the CR Vets crew who I think honestly believe in what they are saying and I think are decent folks are just wrong in where this organization needs to go. They have failed to grasp that for those of us who stuck our necks out for Michael it wasn’t about electing Michael chair so we’d have an ally in their to help our career ambitions so now we should pack it up and suck up to Gourley to cover our loses. No, we honestly believe that if this organization selects a man who williningly defrauded seniors then we have essentially doomed the organization and proven how morally bankrupt it is. This isn’t a fight about political alliances this is a fight for the ages so to speak. Even if Davidson ends up losing we will spend his two years networking and bringing down the corrupt political operatives who have threatened, coerced and otherwised made the CRs a giant joke. We will, from the ground up, send a new message of what the CRs can be if they refuse to sink to such disgustingly low levels. The problem does not begin with Gourley it goes way back before that, but it ends with us. It ends because no longer will we allow individuals to use the CRs to win points with state parties to get them future political appointements, get their buddies into congress in contested primaries, or threaten and coerce chapters over their rightful actions.

Salvo #3:

I challenge some Gourley supporter to explain how Gourley is not morally culpable for signing the letters.

Ball is in your court CR Vets and I look forward to the healthy and polite debate as soon as possible, this weekend, next weekend, whenever I am ready.

This letter was sent out by the Davidson campaign, commentary coming later tonight or tommorow but begin the discussion:

I decided to run for CRNC Chairman because I believed our organization needed a change in the tone and judgment of its leadership.

After seeing this organization from the inside during months of campaigning, I have become convinced more than ever that this change is necessary.

An election of this nature, when Republicans run against Republicans, is always difficult because friends become opponents, allies become rivals.

I knew that running against an incumbent regime with institutional advantage wouldn’t be easy. But my record at Berkeley and in California shows that overcoming obstacles is what I do best.

Throughout this campaign, I’ve seen first-hand that parts of this organization are downright rotten. Peripheries on both sides have been out of line. My supporters have been threatened. College Republicans, acting upon their conscience, have been intimidated and pressured by elected officials to repay political favors. Obnoxious lies about my campaign platform and about me personally have been spread. Offensive, gross, and pornographic caricatures of me have been posted on the internet.

The tone of the CRNC must change.

I firmly believe that what this organization needs more than anything right now is a robust exchange of ideas. My opponent has dodged and ducked debates. Healthy discussion has been stifled. Legitimate questioners of a fund-raising scandal that clouds our proud organization have been vilified. Responsibility is constantly passed, with no one ever being held accountable.

How can we promote debate on campuses when we can’t have it in our own organization? How we can support our President spreading democracy throughout the world when we don’t foster it within our own organization?

Debates are good because they challenge our beliefs, challenge our character, and challenge us to do more. Why does my opponent refuse to debate me on our vision for the CRNC? What does he have to hide?

Some fear that these changes might not be possible because my opponent claims to have the “magic number” of delegates. He is wrong.

As the letter from Mississippi proves, my opponent is exaggerating his support by padding his numbers with endorsements by outgoing state chairmen. Many states, like Mississippi, are being portrayed as supporting my opponent, when they will be voting for me in June.

The formation of a “unity” ticket to avoid a competitive election highlights everything that is wrong with this organization. We can no longer compromise our integrity, our ideals, or our organization’s future for the sake of convenience or political gamesmanship. I am not running for Chairman to be somebody; I am running to change this organization.

If I thought a “unity” ticket with my opponent would change the tone of the CRNC’s leadership, I would join it in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, I am one hundred percent convinced it would not. He is part of the problem, not part of the solution.

He wants to claim victory now because he knows that the longer this campaign goes and the more people that hear my ideas, the more support I will get. My opponent is afraid of losing. And he should be.

There are two months until our convention in Washington, D.C. A lot has changed in the past two months, and the next two will be just as dynamic.

We’re in this race to change the CRNC. And we will change it.

We’re in this race to lead this organization. And we will lead it.

We’re in this race to win. And we will win.

Sincerely,
Michael P. Davidson
Candidate for CRNC Chairman
www.YourCRNC.org.

Self-proclaimed Thatcherite and Friend of America, Silvio Berlusconi, is in Trouble. I have personally long been hopeful that his coalition would last and he would become the first Italian Prime Minister to serve out a full term. All in all, he has succeeded at becoming the longest serving head of state in Italy since Mussolini, but the chances of surviving until next year have dimmed, and for reasons I never would have expected. I am literally shocked that Rocco Butiglione, perhaps Europe’s bravest politician, has basically pulled the plug on everything and effectively handed the country over to Romano Prodi and the EU-nistas and communists.

Why care? Good question. The fact of the matter is that not only would the U.S. lose a vital ally in the War on Terror (echoes of Spain last year), but more importantly Italy is the last country in Europe that has a conservative movement alligning even somewhat closely with the American Right on issues of morality and social values. Losing that to the ever encroaching forces of the post-human EU is Not a Good Thing.

In another tremendously bone-headed move North Carolina is now considering granting in-state tuition to illegal aliens. Let’s hope it dies and if you live in North Carolina make sure to contact your State Senator and State Rep.

Apparently Bill Frist has agreed to be apart of a religous service urging the end to the filibuster’s use against “the people of faith”. Instapundit who I do not usually agree with on these type of issue is extremely concerned and so are other “independents.”

I have already said I oppose using the “nuclear” option because I think that it is against the nature of the Senate and I would proudly filibuster a crazy liberal judge so why should we tell them to do any differently. Yet this technique seems even more wrong headed. If FRC wants to demagogue about anti-Christian bias (which certainly exists) then let them but we should not indulge it in this way. We don’t believe in the culture of victimization and rail against this stuff all the time when liberals do it. I have osciliated between being a Catholic and an evangelical on multiple occasions so I have sympathy for the cause, but this is not the way to achieve it.

I am certainly no libertarian, in fact at times I fear them more than liberals, but this is just bad PR and bad policy. If anyone needed any more reasons to pray that Bill Frist is not the GOP nominee ‘08 here is another one.

The IRS is estimating that Americans spend 6.6 billion hours preparing their taxes. Now if we went to a flat tax or consumption tax that number would probably easily be cut in half if not 1/10th. Yet the liberals in the GOP and in the Dems want to keep the tax code complex so they can have the special interest loop holes for their buddies and help change American behavior through tax incentives.

I’m sorry but its time to put H&R Block and TurboTax out of business by scrapping this entire boondoggle.