2010 Michigan Republican State Convention

Yesterday (August 28th) at the Michigan Republican State Convention and motion was made to enter a second nominee for Lieutenant Governor; Bill Cooper.
The night before, the tea parties of Michigan had it’s own meeting to discuss the candidates among themselves to see where the people of these groups were headed with their voting.

Several days before the convention, I had asked if everyone was “comfortable” with Rick Snyder’s pick for Lt. Governor, Brian Calley and if not, lets have people through out some names so we could see what was available.

The name Bill Cooper came up many times, so Don Jakel of the Independence Caucus said he would talk with Bill see what we could do.

Bill accepted our offer and gave a speech at our tea party meeting.

The following day at the convention, the motion was made, seconded and then it was to be put up to a vote. The Republican Party stated that we would do a show of hands vote, which we of course loudly rejected to, first off because there were over 3000 in attendance and we were in an arena-seating situation and then to top that off, all the delegates were scattered in among alternate delegates and guests so who could decipher which “hands” were legitimate voting delegates.
Next the republican’s leaders decided we would have them stand… like this would be better count.

As we waited for the Republican Party to decide on how to handle the situation, Bill Cooper took to podium and proceeded to back out of the nomination.

Now a few things came immediately to mind; what did the Republican Party offer him to back out? And then apparently, he was not the man we thought he was.

Now my question to Bill is, what the hell happened here? I believe we have the right to know.

I should also mention that from my vantage point in the arena, I felt he had a strong chance of winning this nomination.

Another little bit of information on this convention; we had to wait two hours in line outside before we cold be signed in. The republican committee blamed the Breslin Center management for the delays stating “it was OK for a basketball game or concert” but not for a political convention of party delegates.

The Republican Party stated over and over again how excited they were about the number of delegates we had, but from the way they kept ramming things through before we had a chance to react and the way the we were inconvenienced, I got the feeling they were much more happier when there were only a handful of delegates that they could control.

The Tea Party had brought in a record number of delegates and we had an agenda that we wanted to fulfill. We are fed up with the business as usual and the old boy network in our government. These was a learning experience for us and believe me, the next convention will be different.

Republicans v/s Democrats

If a Republican doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one.
If a Democrat doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a Republican is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat.
If a Democrat is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a Republican is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.
If a Democrat is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a Republican is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A Democrat wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a Republican doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Democrat’s demand that those they don't like be shut down.

If a Republican is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.
A Democrat non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced.

If a Republican decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.
A Democrat demands that the rest of us pay for his.