Cannon Says I am “Harsh, Boorish”

I have been giving Chris Cannon the benefit of the doubt these past few months. I wasn’t willing to vote for him, but I was willing to give him the respect that should be given honorable people.

However, that respect is all over. No more.

I can’t believe it, but Chris Cannon has called me and those who joined me into voting for Jason Chaffetz “harsh” and “boorish.” Maybe the fact that I didn’t know what boorish meant is a sign that I am. But it is just plain rude to refer to people as such.

The sense that I am getting is that Republican leader ship is disconnected from it’s voters. Cannon’s comments are only a part of it. Apparently, as the article suggests. Bennett and Hatch are disconnected too. Oh, but that was a given.

However, LaVarr Webb agrees stating that these are only localized issues. If they are so localized how come President Bush has one of the lowest ratings in history, and why isn’t Cannon the first incumbent this year to lose his seat.

It’s time for the Republican Party to wake up. They need to realize that it isn’t just the far right wing of the party that is tired of their antics. It is the average citizen that wants to get back to the truly conservative values.

Before I close this, I have a couple of other thoughts. First, what is this that Chris Cannon is saying about not knowing who Jason Chaffetz is? If that is true, then no wonder he lost the race. How can you run a campaign against someone and not do your research? That is either an out-right lie, or Cannon is a complete idiot.

Finally, is it me, or does Chris Cannon sound like he is supporting the Democrat candidate? Maybe he is trying to imply that a vote for Chaffetz made it easier for a Democrat to win (which is true). But it doesn’t guarantee them a win.

I thought that Cannon had class. But it is obvious, that if he did, he lost it when he lost the race in the primary.

What Does Chaffetz’s Win Mean?

As with many of us in the grassroots initiative that helped to secure Jason Chaffetz the Republican nomination yesterday. We are on a high and very excited to see our candidate win. Like Jason, I thank Congressman Cannon for his years of service. Although Cannon didn’t represent me in everything, he did a good job in many ways.

Over this past weekend, I have been thinking about what Chaffetz win means. A lot of these thoughts were sparked by the Bob Lonsberry endorsement that I read on Saturday.

This column by Lonsberry really got me thinking that Chaffetz win could really mean a return to conservative
principles by the Republican Party. This is what I want. This is what we need. Our constitution has hung by a thread long enough. It is time that we start fighting for it in a real way.

Chaffetz’s win could be the start of this movement.

The Republican Party won in the Reagan Years because of our adherence to the core conservative values. Since then there has been a move to the center. I have assumed it was because they felt the centrist position will win. But it hasn’t done us well.

Chaffetz’s win send the message that we the party realize that. We want a more conservative front. We need to get back to the Constitution and fight for our freedoms.

Now is the time to take the Party (especially here in Utah) back to its conservative roots. The movement has started, let’s keep the ball rolling.

Bob Lonsberry to Endorse Jason Chaffetz

After yesterday’s post, I don’t know if I should be eating crow or claiming bragging rights on this. But Bob Lonsberry on Monday will be making an official endorsement of Jason Chaffetz on Monday through his web site and I am sure even on the Radio.

This has renewed my faith in Bob. I am not sure what brought about the change. But his article might give some clues:

Jason Chaffetz is a Ronald Reagan conservative. Chris Cannon is a George W. Bush conservative.

And that distinction is the difference which has divided and diffused the Republican Party and the conservative movement. A brief season of power corrupted the Republican Party and has now cost it both its influence and its soul.

…

Chris Cannon is part of the regime that failed.

And while he could easily serve out the rest of his life in Congress, and do useful work on a variety of issues, he would do so as just one more of the Washington compromisers. His infatuation with the process of governing has drowned out his commitment to cause.

It’s not that he lacks the courage of his convictions, it’s that he has grown unsure of his convictions. That suits him very well to fit in in Washington, where he is indistinguishable from the big-name Republicans who have endorsed him, but it leaves him oddly out of sync with patriotic and passionate work-a-day Americans in his district.

Chris Cannon is a Doug Wright Republican. Jason Chaffetz is an Ezra Taft Benson Republican.

Chris Cannon is a good man.

But Jason Chaffetz is the better choice.

As the Republican Party prepares for a season in the wilderness, Jason Chaffetz is a voice to cry in the wilderness. He is the man to stand in the well of the House, even if he’s only speaking to a C-SPAN camera, and preach the truth.

As much as I want to produce more of this. I really don’t have permission to print this much. I just use it to show that Bob has finally seen things the way that I do. While Chris Cannon is a good man. While he has served us well for the past 12 years. It is time that we get right of the Bush Republicans and return to the Reagan Republicans of yesterday.

This is awesome news for me. I hope that this is enough to get those fence sitters to realize like Bob and I do that this is about returning the party and this country back to what made us so great.

So, what made Bob change his mind. I honestly don’t know. I am inclined to believe that after interviewing both Jason Chaffetz and Chris Cannon yesterday (MP3), that Bob realized that principle mattered more than anything else.

My wife insists that it was because Bob read my post yesterday and I swayed him. I am inclined to denounce this assertion, but my stat counter makes it seem plausible.

	Num	City	Region	Country Name
	20	Salt Lake City	Utah	United States
	8	Mapleton	Utah	United States
	7	Orem	Utah	United States
	6	Orangeville	Utah	United States
	5	Rochester	New York	United States

Bob Lonsberry lives in Rochester, New York. So, these could very will be his visits to my site. Or more likely, it is a visit from one of his fans in New York. But it does cause me to wonder a bit.

What ever the reason, this is good news to me. I can listen to Bob now without feeling that he has compromised himself. Something, up until this week, I didn’t think that Bob would ever do.

Further, I am glad that the man I support for Congress has the support of one of the men I like to listen to on a regular basis (or as Bob likes to call us “friends”). I look forward to Tuesday’s vote. Because I believe that Chaffetz can win this.

Bob Lonsberry Sells Out to Chris Cannon

I am a huge Bob Lonsberry fan. I have listened to him since his first time on the air here in Utah. I remember when I first heard him, I thought that he was some 70-year-old retired guy that 570am was giving a shot.

Bob won me over when he started talking about the LDS church in a positive way. For as long as I can remember I never understood why Utah television and radio seemed to want to alienate 70% of its audience. And Bob finally opened up to this audience, and I felt welcomed.

I own one of Bob’s books, and I really want to get copies of the others. But I want them autographed like the first one. So, I haven’t been able to get to a book signing where I can buy them and get them signed at the same time.

However, I am deeply concerned with a stance that Bob has taken lately.

Bob has stated that he is supporting Chris Cannon. I almost lost my mind. I can’t believe that Bob has that short of a memory. I can’t believe that Bob feels that Cannon represent Utah (or more specifically the Third District).

But I believe that I know why Bob has sold out. Unfortunately, I don’t have any written proof, but I have audio. So, please forgive me for linking to a large MP3 file. But it’s the only thing I have.

About a week ago, Bob Lonsberry did and interview with none other than Joe Cannon, editor of the Deseret News and brother to Chris Cannon. Listen to the MP3 for a good interview. But the kicker is within the last few mintues of the MP3. At roughly 22:00 minutes into the Interview Bob mentions that KNRS and Bob Lonsberry are working on some sort of “relationship” with MormonTimes.com (a branch of the Deseret News).

Since this interview and even before, I have noticed a lot of “kissy face” (to use Bob’s words) towards the Cannon family. Bob has always been a little standoff towards Jason Chaffetz. I think part of it is that Jason really doesn’t do well on the radio. I don’t know why, but I have never been really impress with Jason’s interviews on the radio.

At first I suspected that Bob was turned off from Chaffetz inarticulate nature on the radio. However, I now have a new insight. Why would Joe Cannon finally be working with Bob Lonsberry. I know from listening to Bob for almost 10 years now that Bob has always wanted to write for the Deseret News. And now during this political season Joe Cannon shows interest in Bob.

Bob you are being played. And as hard as it is for me to believe, you are falling for it. Wake up and get out of bed with the Cannon’s. Not that they are bad people. Just understand that Chris Cannon has done a lot to get air time this past year. Something that he wasn’t interested in over a year ago.

It is frustrating to me. I like Bob Lonsberry. But part of the reason, that I like him is that I always felt like he was sincere. This is the first time that I can’t see the sincerity. I am just at a loss for understanding on this. Because the only reason I can see for Bob to support Cannon is that he is playing “kissy face.”

Macro and Micro Government Power

Michael Williams posted about his opinion on whether local governments should have the right to fine people for unkempt yards. And while, I think that a lot of these city ordinances are getting out of hand, I generally agree with him.

Simply put I like to divide the government into Macro- and Micro-level roles. The Macro-government is the federal government. The micro-government is typified by cities and towns.

the level of control they should be allowed to exert is directly related to the level at which they govern. The feds should be primarily worried about military, economy, and interstate relations. Their concern should be about the larger issues that truly effect our nation as a whole.

Cities can worry about such things as lawn length, dog licenses and neighbor relations. While I think that their should be some very significant checks on many of these ordinances, there is some room for them to consider such laws.

Another level that could be considered is Mid-level government. Counties and States have a concern for more mid-level laws like education and roads. Again we are looking at those items that fall between the federal government purview and the local government.

That is a very oversimplification of things. But I have been wanting to post about this for a while, so I appreciate the unintended encouragement from Michael Williams.

Is the Race between Chaffetz and Cannon Really Tight?

Okay we all know that the Deseret News’ cheif editor is Chris Cannon’s Brother, Joe Cannon. And we are all confident that Mr. Cannon would never let his paper show bias towards any candidate, right? (wink, wink, nod, nod).

However, their recent news article on polling shows that bias again in two ways. As with all polling done by Dan Jones and associates, their polling numbers are outrageously low.

For this politcal survey Dan Jones managed to poll a whopping total of 203 potential voters. To see this total look at this lovely graphic and read the parenthetical phrase at the bottom. It is interesting that nowhere in the article do they mention the 203 number.

I will give them credit for sharing the +/- 7 percent with us. But what few people understand is that +/- 7 percent is directly related to the number polled. Had they polled another 200 or even 800 individuals the could have had a +/- 5 percent or +/- 3 percent, respectively.

Sure if the results would have remained 39-37 (for Cannon), then it would have still been too close to call. However, we won’t know because the polling was incomplete.

The second issue is that they polled independent voters and said that would be the key to Chaffetz winning the race. While the numbers here are still suspect. That isn’t the key problem for me. The problem I have is that they fail (complete neglect) to mention that Utah has closed primaries. This is something the Mr. Bernick is aware of, because he wrote a piece about this 2 years ago. Ooops. This point is mute moot. I completely missed it in the article. But I am still suspicious about the stats.

If you are an Independent voter, you need to register as a Republican. Why would Bernick and his editor not mention that in their article? Perhaps, they don’t want the independent voter to register to vote. Perhaps, They would like to keep the status quo.

If you are an independent and you want to see Chris Cannon out, don’t wait for the general election. It is very likely that our next Congressman will be decided on June 24th and not in November. Register yourself to as a Republican, even if you feel like you have hold your nose while you do so.

If you are an independent and you want to see Jason Chaffetz win, then now is the time to act. Go to your county clerk’s office or website and register as a Republican. It is the number one way that you can show your support for Mr. Chaffetz.

To me this is just another blatant example of poor politcal reporting by the Deseret News and another example of the main stream media trying to influence the vote. Don’t let their lack of reporting this properly influence you and your decision.

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Here is a list of counties in the Third District and how to register (or renew your registration as a Republican):

Salt Lake County Voter Registration

Utah County Voter Registration Q & A (form - pdf)

Juab County Clerk’s Office (email)

Sanpete County Clerk’s Office (scroll down for voter information and this form - pdf)

Millard County Clerk’s Office (Just use the same form as the other counties)

Sevier County Voter Registration Information (form - pdf)

Beaver County Clerk’s Office (form -pdf)

One More Thought about the Convention

I know that it is well passed. And this post is probably going to be boring to most, but it concerns me greatly. So, I need to write about it.

First of all, from what I can tell there are supposed to be roughly 1200 delegates at the convention from the third district. And I understand that sometimes it is difficult to fill every position, but I find it hard to believe that they couldn’t fill 120 of those positions.

That is 10 percent of the positions went empty before the voting even started. Only 1080 delegates voted in the third district and this is amazing to me. I haven’t been to convention before, but it seems to me that this is either a sign of why grassroots doesn’t work, or a sign that the Republican Party is struggling.

More frustrating to me is those who had their credentials and left. I understand that there are some who had very good reason to leave. And perhaps these fall down numbers are within that range. But simply put. We need to have more dedication to our party.

For the second round, the delegates who voted dropped to 1046. We lost 34 delegates. That’s roughly 3% of the original 1080. Now maybe most of those were the Stone Fonua and Joe Ferguson crowd. If so, that tells me that they really aren’t party people but candidate people, and their precincts need to be more aware of who they elect.

Then for the third round we had drastic drop of 12% from the original voting total. I would have to assume that the major of these people were Leavitt supporters who were too upset to vote for either Chaffetz or Cannon.

How can you do that? You represent your neighborhood. You hold a responsibility to vote for them. If 24 of you would had stuck around and voted for Chaffetz, he would have won. If all of you had stayed and voted, then Chaffetz would have needed 85 of your votes to win.

Sure, I am not sure that Jason could have got those 85. But when people think about it. If they didn’t wanted Cannon over Chaffetz, then they almost handed Chaffetz a win. If 15 more people who supported Cannon in the last round had made the same decision as those who left, then Jason would have won.

I just can’t believe that there were 126 good reasons to leave the convention early. I had to get home to my family and take care of things at home. I know of at least one candidate who had a dance recital he needed to take his children too. But both of us stayed for the last vote.

I guess, I shouldn’t be too surprised about this, but the second district had 368 people drop out.  That is 35% of the original 1046 who showed up to vote in the first place.  I just don’t understand it.  We need people who are more dedicated.

Okay, you can criticize me for having left after the third round and not staying to deal with the bylaws of the party. But I had to draw a line somewhere. If I didn’t have so much going on these next few weeks, and had more time with my family I would have stayed. Not a good enough excuse, but at least I stayed to make the decisions that I believe my precinct was interested in.

I will do my best to be to the 2009 meeting and vote on all of the bylaws and other issues that are presented before us. I just can’t understand how 126 people couldn’t stay for 1 more hour.