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Monday, May 19, 2008
Rich Galen :: Townhall.com Columnist
Thnk Globally, Act Locally
by Rich Galen
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What was the biggest suprise of Election Day?



On Friday at noon I was the guest speaker at the regular monthly meeting of the Republican Communications Association - the organization of press secretaries who work for GOP Members of the US House of Representatives.

After an extremely lengthy (and, I suspect, extremely boring) recitation of my background as a press/communications/media person we got into the meat of the thing and I pointed out that, unless they happened to be the communications director for the Republican Conference, they had one job and one job only: To put their boss in the best possible light for the voters in his or her home District.

I reminded them that in every town and in every neighborhood of every city at 10 AM every weekday morning the judge, the real estate broker, the banker, the owner of the department store and the guy who owns the factory on the outskirts of town get together to discuss and/or solve the issues of the day.

"Let Newt Gingrich (R-GA) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Mullfave Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam (R-FL) and the rest of the leadership worry about the grand theories of this election," I said. "Your responsibility is to be in touch with your District office and know what those guys at the 10 O'clock coffee klatch are whining about."

The saying, "all politics is local" is attributed to former Speaker Tip O'Neill (D-MA). Even if someone else said it first, it is still an enormously powerful driver . Or should be.

The three-straight losses by House Republicans in open seats which had previously been held by the GOP proves the point.

In two of the three - Louisiana and Mississippi - Republicans ran ads against Barack Obama.

The national press corps misunderstood the meaning of the fact that the GOP candidates lost after these ads, thinking that means anti-Obama ads won't work in the fall in the race against John McCain. Continued...
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About The Author

Rich Galen has been a press secretary to Dan Quayle and Newt Gingrich. Rich Galen currently works as a journalist and writes at Mullings.com

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(7 comments so Far)
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Reply # 1
Date: May 20, 2008 - 10:22 AM EST
Lie to the People
They have been lying forever. This is all politicians and both parties.

I would love to see the day when they don't lie.

Most people are not engaged in politics, basically they don' give a rats rear end. That's why Obama has come so far so fast.

Ferraro said he was an empty suit, he is, big Sombrerro no cattle. But he is close to getting a lot of cattle
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Reply # 2
Date: May 20, 2008 - 9:55 AM EST
TH & Losing the Debate
As I write this at 9 a.m., there are only five comments to Galen's piece, the first two are from people who are passionate, negative & slightly off-target, and the oldest dates from 20 hours ago (so this thread is largely finished).

Now it is reasonable to suspect that _most_ TH readers are at least somewhat passionate about politics, or they wouldn't be reading this stuff. And when there is a sense that one's cause is getting trounced, there should be some depression / frustration / negativity.

But those negative passions are overriding reason. And once our behaviors become irrational, we will hurt ourselves. Mike, Wolfie, and Retired Geek hurt their own cause (unless, of course, they are really just plants from MoveOn.org traveling under false colors.)

Mike, for example, is so obsessed with an ex- (notice; ex-) Representative from Georgia, that he risks seeing his Oregon district go to some Democrat who will promise to do something about the local stray dog problem.

Thank heaven for people like Lisa who post thoughtful replies. (And I enjoyed the humor in RandomThoughts' "typos".)

But TownHall in general needs to pay more attention to the effects it has on perceptions of the conservative cause. I think it was Nietzsche who said, "In every movement, there are some so fanatic as to defame their cause." TH's comment spaces seem to be attracting them.
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