Lesser of evils, again
Utah Republicans may control the state, but you've got to feel for them in the soul-rending choices they have to make in their primaries.
At last weekend's state convention, GOP right-wing lunacy has once again thrown Congressman Chris Cannon into a primary. Now, normal Republicans will have to sort things out. I doubt anyone in the Third District really likes Chris. Ultra-conservatives see him as a sellout and the rest accept him as the GOP's crazy old uncle who keeps slipping out of the attic.
But he keeps g
etting re-elected because the ultra-right wing convention delegates always offer up an option that is even worse. (It goes without saying that, for Republicans, crossing over to vote for a Democrat in the Third is unthinkable.) Remember John Jacob in 2004, who insisted that Satan was meddling in his campaign?
This year Cannon faces Jason Chaffetz, a one-time multi-level marketing executive and Jon Huntsman's former chief of staff. Chaffetz left that "dream job" in 2005, insisting he was not fired. Public service, he explained, just doesn't pay enough (as Huntsman's chief of staff he got $118,000) and interfered with his family life. Apparently, being a congressman leaves more quality time for the kids.
Chaffetz's NuSkin selling experience comes in handy in playing the Utah County heartstrings: Jason's a BYU grad "committed to the constitution... and dedicated to conservative principles." He likes to end debates by saying, "God bless America and God bless you." (I hope you weren't eating when you read that.)
The reasonable choice, Juab County polygamy fighter David Leavitt, was knocked out at the convention and threw his support to Cannon. Chris, who has been through this scenario so many times before, gave a backhanded endorsement to Leavitt, former Gov. Mike Leavitt's brother:
At last weekend's state convention, GOP right-wing lunacy has once again thrown Congressman Chris Cannon into a primary. Now, normal Republicans will have to sort things out. I doubt anyone in the Third District really likes Chris. Ultra-conservatives see him as a sellout and the rest accept him as the GOP's crazy old uncle who keeps slipping out of the attic.
But he keeps g
etting re-elected because the ultra-right wing convention delegates always offer up an option that is even worse. (It goes without saying that, for Republicans, crossing over to vote for a Democrat in the Third is unthinkable.) Remember John Jacob in 2004, who insisted that Satan was meddling in his campaign?This year Cannon faces Jason Chaffetz, a one-time multi-level marketing executive and Jon Huntsman's former chief of staff. Chaffetz left that "dream job" in 2005, insisting he was not fired. Public service, he explained, just doesn't pay enough (as Huntsman's chief of staff he got $118,000) and interfered with his family life. Apparently, being a congressman leaves more quality time for the kids.
Chaffetz's NuSkin selling experience comes in handy in playing the Utah County heartstrings: Jason's a BYU grad "committed to the constitution... and dedicated to conservative principles." He likes to end debates by saying, "God bless America and God bless you." (I hope you weren't eating when you read that.)
The reasonable choice, Juab County polygamy fighter David Leavitt, was knocked out at the convention and threw his support to Cannon. Chris, who has been through this scenario so many times before, gave a backhanded endorsement to Leavitt, former Gov. Mike Leavitt's brother:
We expected Leavitt to come out ahead, but it's better to be in a primary with Chaffetz than Leavitt.I don't know if the average Third District voter agrees.
2 Comments:
How they manage to continue to find people less competent than Chris Cannon continues to astound me. You would think that they would have used them all up by now. Yet again Mr. Cannon gets to move into a primary looking like a totally sane middle of the road politician running against some ultra conservative nut-job. How? The idiots in the Utah Republican Party don't have a clue as to what their constituency is willing to swallow.
It's hard to call Jason an ultra-conservative since he is a former Democrats and also ran Huntsman's gubernatorial campaign. Many folks are concerned about Cannon and his less than stellar efforts in Washington DC. Cannon is a fan of the corrupt practice of earmarking as long as it is Republican earmarking, not Democrat earmarking. Many delegates were looking for anyone but Cannon to support.
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