Go Ed!
A few weeks ago, hunkered down at my laptop in my hotel room in Jacksonville, Florida. I was exhausted from seven hours of travel and a time change. But I had to take a moment to recognize Ed Martin’s commitment to all the best the Republican Party stands for.
Ed is determined to expose the GOP establishment’s willingness to do anything to destroy grassroots insurgents. Thad Cochran’s forces in Mississippi threw ethics, morality, and decency to the wind in their quest to stop a Tea Party candidate from unseating the 128-term Cochran.
So I can’t tell you how proud I was when I saw this Daily Caller article by Missouri GOP Chairman, Ed Martin. He explains why he wants the GOP to censure Barbour:
I’ve been asked why I’m involved in Mississippi. I’m not. I’m involved in Missouri, where the use of racist political ads is a common Democratic campaign trick. The most relevant was in 2004, when the George Soros-funded 527 organization, America Coming Together, distributed a flyer with an image of a black man being hosed by a white fireman. The text next to the image linked U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft (a Missouri Republican) with an effort to keep African American voters from the polls
While a Democrat has acknowledged placing some of the racist ads in Mississippi, Martin points out that Henry Barbour–a Cochran crony–has dirty hands, as well.
In Mississippi this June, Henry Barbour’s PAC funded ads by a man named Bishop Crudup with the same lie. Using images from the Civil Rights era, one Barbour flyer states that the “Tea Party intends to prevent you from voting.” The flyer was heavily distributed to black neighborhoods in clear echoes of the Soros-funded message against Republicans in 2004. The Democrats and their operatives with bylines in the media regularly accuse Republicans of voter suppression. This is the first time in my experience that a Republican has done so.
When Tea Partiers see such despicable behavior from big-name Republican establishment figures, we worry that we were used in 2009 and 2010. For the record, we delivered the House to the GOP that year, denied Obama a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
Here’s Ed’s specific action:
I have filed two resolutions for the RNC members to consider at our meeting this week. One censures Henry Barbour for his role in the race-baiting ads. The other censures any Republicans who were involved in the racist ads. I hope my fellow RNC members consider this serious matter carefully and state forcefully that we will not tolerate racist conduct by any of our members.
Ed Martin will need our support more than ever. Please don’t confuse him with the Republican establishment. His noble fight for justice in Mississippi shows his mettle.
Go, Ed!
UPDATE: ConservativeHQ has a great story on Ed’s noble effort