The Piedmont Chronicles
~ est. 2010 ~
[State of GA]
[Newton Co.]
Greetings, Readers.
I've been discussing for some time now about the upcoming Georgia Republican Party State Convention that will be convening in Athens, GA. I talked about the main election of that convention for the right to be Chair of this political party. Alex Johnson, the Liberty-wing and TEA-party guy, vs. John Padgett, the sitting Chair and the establishment pick. I mentioned the dynamics and compelling story-lines involved with this:
"In which was thought to be a foregone conclusion of seeing the incumbent Chair, John Padgett, easily winning reelection, the dynamics have appeared to change. Young Liberty-wing and TEA-party darling Alex Johnson, an Atlanta attorney, has recently gotten the endorsement of WSB's Erick Erickson and is now basically being given 50/50 odds by most state politicos and watchers. It's a classic juxtaposition - old model vs. new; establishment vs. grassroots; older fella vs. the young buck...very compelling stuff. As an aside, I know Alex and think a lot of him."
So, along those lines, and in light of the Peach Pundit write-up that was published today, I'd like to discuss, analyze, and expound on a few things:
First off, I either personally know and have at least met everyone who signed off on the Peach Pundit thing with the exception of the lovely Jessica Szilagyi (I should be meeting her this weekend and am very much looking forward to it). If fact, two of them - Aaron and Jason - happen to be pretty much two of my best friends, but I'll have to disagree with them.
To me, there seems to be some other stuff at play here. As I mentioned earlier, there seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Alex would probably hit about 40%, like he did last time, and that would be that. But then things changed. Eric Erickson came out on WSB and said he was supporting Alex. Then, a good number of the "in-betweeners" started to say that they thought it was time for a change. Then the one and only Bill Simon broke a story that had been circulation on the GA GOP grapevine for some time that the financial situation of the GA GOP was pretty dire and that there seemed to be legitimate concerns about the decisions and actions of the sitting Chair.
And I just can't help but to wonder if there are folks who should probably be supporting Alex but since they would have to change their tune or...come around, as it were, that might make them look like they were wrong and had made a mistake and weren't maybe the all-knowing, super-politically-savvy thinkers, watchers and politicos that they all might think they are, or at least should be. Pure speculation on my part, and remember folks - most of the time I have no idea what I'm talking about. Just pullin' stuff right out of the backside. Just playin' all the hunches and rollin' with the punches, no? Just takin' it as it comes, shooting from the hip, and making it up as I go along this merry, crazy ride.
But make no mistake - my associate and I will be rolling into the CC Friday evening. We'll be imbibing copious amounts of distilled spirits and will be drinking glass-bottle Mexican Cokes and smoking a lot of cigarettes. And lots of Varsity - I think we'll take every meal from there for 36 hours straight. We're going to be right in the damn vortex - we will see where it takes us...
I just happen to think that there's something special and very important going on right now. As the old saying goes - national reflects state and local, and state and local reflects national. We've got some exciting stuff going on at the Federal level - there seems to be some hope with a fella named Rand Paul. Perhaps we need someone on the ground here at the state level who can help to facilitate this transformation of a freedom renaissance. I don't think it's John Padgett...
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