Posted on 02/04/2008 9:14:16 PM PST by RonPaulLives
Angry at Republican leaders, Chris Thieneman said that he'd end his campaign for Congress, quit the GOP, and support Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY, 3rd) in his bid for re-election. Thieneman's primary opponent was former U.S. Rep. Anne Northup, who is running to regain the 3rd District seat she lost in 2006.
Thieneman has accused GOP leaders -- including Jefferson County Republican Chairman Jack Richardson -- of conspiring to get him out of the race to assure Northup of the nomination. Thieneman, a former University of Louisville and pro football player, said that the GOP establishment were pressuring him to quit. He said Larry Cox, U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell's top aide in Kentucky, "threatened" him by telling him a race against Northup would get "nasty." Thieneman cited, as proof of continuing attempts by McConnell to get him out of the race, a voice mail message Cox left for him later that day.
Thieneman said Richardson has been working to keep him out of the race since last summer. He told David Toborowsky, the son-in-law of Republican state Sen. Dan Seum, that he was disenchanted and would quit the race. Toborowsky said that he understands why Thieneman is upset and stands by him, "although I might have handled it differently," he said. He blamed Republican leaders for chasing Thieneman out of the party. Toborowsky said he was caught off-guard by Thieneman's announcement that he would leave the party. But he said many south-end conservatives feel ostracized by party officials.
"How do you play a football game if your own team is tackling you from behind and clipping you even before you get on the field," Toborowsky asked.
(Excerpt) Read more at wave3.com ...
I feel like I am trapped in the bizarro world Free Republic. People going on about candidates they admit would be lousy President’s and a “blame America first” Pacifist who’s foreign policy resembles Bill Clinton’s....without the muscle!
I am going to go to sleep, pretend this was a bad dream and then return to the real world where those very “special” little men will be lucky to get 10% tomorrow.
yep ... this happens pretty much all over (the rats do it as well on their side).
I’m calling whiner also. A senator opposed him, roughly. Boo. Hoo.
He was getting outgunned, contested primaries can get very nasty. It’s a general rule that the lower the level, the nastier the fight (think intra-family squabbles).
He was running against a former incumbent, no doubt one that had more organization up and down than he.
Politics IS a power struggle. If you win, you must build - and even fight - for it. If you win, your team wins, you get to build more, the other team loses. This goes for both inside and outside party battles.
This ex-football player forgot how you have to fight for something if you want it bad enough.
And perhaps now we can guess why.
Well shucks, from reading the first part of this post, I thought it was about a run for Congress.
But apparently it was about a football game after all...
How "independent?"
You gonna vote for OBama - that sort of "independent?"
Or are you gonna vote for the GOP "lesser of two evils" but whine about it the whole time?
That what you call "independent?"
More and more lately it is the conservatives that are the RINO’s and the party continues its’ slide leftward.
I have no idea how good a “conservative” this man was, nor do I condone chasing people out of primaries.
On the other hand, Ann Northrup is no RINO. Her 2005 ACU rating was a 96. We can’t be pushing so hard for ideological purity that a “good conservatives” would back some liberal democrat against a republican with a 96 ACU rating.
So it sounds like something else is going on, and I don’t like it.
Are you drunnk or just stupid?
I will do everything I can to defeat Hillary including voting for Obama in the primary and the Republican candidate in the general election.
Now go find someone sober and have them explain that to you.
Thanks for the ping. I’ll be changing my registration to Independent after the primary. I’ve had it with the Republican Party. Mitch McConnell, John McCain & George Bush can all kiss my big fat a$$.
From reading the article, I don’t see where anything done to this guy was so terrible. The recording just had a guy who wanted to talk to him before he did an interview on the radio. So what??
Maybe the establishment was pushing for Northup to be the challenger. So what? Being a conservative means overcoming obstacles. As long as he had money, what can the republican establishment do? If he wanted the seat he should have kept on campaigning, not whined.
I agree about his assertions about the RHINOs from John McCain on down are trying to hijack the party away from the conservatives. However, in his instance it does not sound like that is what is happening. Mitch McConnell is one of our better conservative senators and a good leader. I don’t see him endorsing McCain, though I’m sure he’ll probably support him if he’s the nominee.
When did Thieneman become a Republican? One would think that a former Democrat who saw the light and joined the GOP would be unwilling to go back the the Democrats and endorse the ultraliberal RAT Congressman Yarmuth just because Kentucky Republicans believed that a 5-term Congresswoman who barely lost reelection in 2006 would make a stronger candidate in 2008, but I guess that Thieneman’s “conversion” wasn’t exactly St. Paul on the road to Damascus.
Conservatives should pay no heed to the childish Thieneman and wholeheartedly support Congresswoman Northup in her quest to win back the only Southern congressional district north of South Florida to be won by a Republican in 2004 despite being carried by Kerry that year (President Bush got 48%). Congresswoman Northup may not be a perfect conservative (although a 96 ACU rating in 2005 put her prett close to one that year), but she’s as close to one as we can get that has proven she can win a House race in Louisville.
I did so last summer when they were trying to force amnesty down our throats.
And I use their stamp to remind them of it every time they solicit me for contributions.
That was one of the stranger events of the election cycle. A similar one happened in Missouri back in 2000, when Kansas City Councilwoman Teresa Loar lost the Republican primary to then-state Senator Sam Graves, then endorsed the Rodent candidate and even John Kerry.
Oh, well.
Er excuse me, Northup a RINO? I dont think so... She’s a solid conservative, and as good as the third district can reasonably hope for, having held the seat since 1994.
Thieneman however, is sour grapes and a party traitor, for selling out over being derailed by party organization, party supports who it thinks has the best shot at winning..
Savage was discussing the idea of a nationalist party earlier... however I think we need to work within the GOP, retake it from within... Third party, short of superceding one of the existing parties, has ZERO chance of winning, and may do more harm when a good Republican comes along...
Thieneman is not a conservative. I can assure you of that.
Well, if he ever was, not anymore after that stunt. He sounded like a bonafide nut.
It’s nice to hear some voices of reason. Thieneman would know that the local Communist-Journal would be all over a story like this, which they were. It was like Patton saying, “Ike won’t let me invade France, so I’m going to join the Nazis”. No one who is a “good Republican” would lift a finger to help Yarmouth.
Setting The Thieneman and Francene Record Straight: by Jack Richardson
Setting the Thieneman and Francene Record Straight
The recent dust up by Chris Thieneman, aided by his friend and talk show host Francene, was a shameful exhibition of a grown man throwing a public tantrum and a media personality who curiously allowed her friend days of unfettered access to one of the largest radio stations in this area to spew his venom without any accountability to the truth. How much free media did Francene give Thieneman and how much would that cost a real candidate? Moreover, Francene, a sensationalist pretending at journalism, ran roughshod like a drunken driver over the line of slander again and again. Here are some meaty facts to put on the bones of this story, which Francene and Thieneman were careful to avoid.
Mr. Thieneman has a history of party switching when he doesn’t get his way. He did so in 2002 when he was a Democrat. At the invitation of the Jefferson County Republican Chairman, Jack Richardson, yours truly, Chris Thieneman was asked to join the Jefferson County Republican Party in 2006. He did so and supported nearly every measure that the Jefferson County Republican Party Chairman and the leadership proposed. It was hoped that with some maturity and exposure to the political process Mr. Thieneman would someday become a good candidate for elected office. Current events proved that wrong.
In May 2007 Mr. Thieneman decided to run for Congress at or near the same time that Erwin Roberts, another member of the Jefferson County Republican Party Committee, decided that he would run. Both were considered good potential candidates and were advised, in writing, by myself that no partiality would be shown to either. Mr. Thieneman replied, “Thanks.” Sadly, Mr. Thieneman, in his tirade and tantrum, which Francene was all too eager to promote with total disregard for the truth, failed to mention that fact.
Mr. Thieneman subjected himself to the automatic removal clause of the party rules, due to his excessive absences. He never wrote a letter of resignation or requested reinstatement. More importantly, Mr. Thieneman NEVER uttered one word of dissatisfaction as to the operation of the local Republican Party, but rather when present endorsed and supported with his vote, all leadership initiatives. It appears Francene could care less about the facts, but then when was Francene ever concerned about anything but Francene, much less the truth?
Mr. Thieneman, having disappeared from the committee after August of 2007, reappeared wanting to run for the 14th District Metro Council Seat. In spite of his having absented off the committee, the committee began the preparation of Thieneman’s walk sheets to assist him in his campaign. Then Mr. Thieneman drops his bid for the 14th District seat and re-launches his bid for the 3rd District Congressional seat. So here’s Mr. Thieneman’s history in a nutshell, he begins as a Democrat and switches to Republican. He then decides to join the local Republican Party Committee then absentees off. During his time on the committee Thieneman decides to run for Congress, then without explanation withdraws. Thieneman then flirts with a run for the 14th District Metro Council seat and then withdraws. Thieneman then re-announces for the Congressional seat. Dizzy yet? Sit down, there’s more to come. Last week Thieneman was a Republican and Yarmuth was the guy to beat. This week Thieneman is a Democrat and Yarmuth is ok with him. Who in their right mind could trust anything Mr. Thieneman says, except Francene, of course?
Somehow we are expected to believe from Thieneman and Francene that the Republican Party leadership is bad and doesn’t care about people. What’s the truth? Well, you didn’t get it from Thieneman or Francene, who obviously have other agendas at work. They seem more interested in getting people to react on emotion and sensationalism and not on fact. The truth is that for years a small group of zealous individuals whose lives revolve around attracting attention to themselves, have embarked upon an endless campaign of lies and deception to cover up the truth of their agenda. This crowd wants control of the party and many tend to mirror the temperament of Mr. Thieneman. The tragedy is they mislead many well intended Republicans angering them with the notion that somehow the local party is being taken over by radical elements of the left. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This is for the intended purpose of motivating them to act in a way that they would not, if they knew the agenda of those like Mr. Thieneman. The local party is proudly cast in the image of Ronald Reagan, Mitch McConnell, Anne Northup and many others who have earned the respect and good will of Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike.
Be careful not to be misled by the deceitful whining and divisive tactics of a few who can only succeed upon getting well meaning people to act upon misinformation and lies.
The local Republican Party is in good hands and has seen much growth and success over the last few years. We will continue our growth and enjoy victory again in November.
Jack L. Richardson, IV, Chairman
Jefferson County Republican Party
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