Anchor Rising: Rising in the Phoenix

May 14, 2009

Rising in the Phoenix

Marc Comtois

The Phoenix's David Scharfenberg took the recent Tea Parties as indicative of something and looked into how the right side of Rhode Island--both overtly partisan like the RI GOP and RIRA and non-partisan, grassroots organizations like OSPRI & RISC--are working toward changing the political landscape in the Ocean State. Oh, and some blogger gets a mention, too.

"The important thing right now," said Justin Katz, Anchor's blogger-in-chief, "is to build that structure so when people say, 'I've had enough,' there's somewhere to go."

If we build it, they will come. We HOPE. But maybe there is just a little more waiting to be done. One more chip to fall before those on the outside can rise like the, ah, phoenix.

GOP leaders say one of their chief frustrations is that the public pins the state's fiscal woes on the Republican governor when authority is actually centered in the Democratic-dominated legislature.

But if the blame game is paramount in tough times, suggests Jennifer Lawless, associate professor of political science and public policy at Brown University, the Republican Party's weakness could actually turn into a strength.

"Ironically, the best bet for the Repub-lican Party might be a complete Democratic sweep of statewide office," she said, "because then there's no one else to blame."

Hm.

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"GOP leaders say one of their chief frustrations is that the public pins the state's fiscal woes on the Republican governor when authority is actually centered in the Democratic-dominated legislature. "

And whose fault is that? Where is the state GOP getting the word out on what the Assembly is doing vs what the Gov does? Where is the marketing? If the GOP believes that people care enough to form an opinion and place blame, then they should be out there telling people what is going on and where the blame should lie.

"Ironically, the best bet for the Repub-lican Party might be a complete Democratic sweep of statewide office," she said, "because then there's no one else to blame."

That is the best reason to vote for Liz Roberts. You don't get much more "RI Democrat" than her.

Also, I noticed in the Scharfenberg article, he wrote:

"So it was with some alarm that the denizens of Smith Hill watched a couple thousand partisans descend on the Capitol last month for a fervent tax-day rally against government spending."

Partisans? Using that word in an article about Republicans? Is he saying it was a Republican rally? Gotta love the little keywords that Phoenix writers use for their slants.

Posted by: Patrick at May 14, 2009 11:48 AM

Wow, despite their somewhat left-of-center reputation, a surprisingly well-balanced article from the Phoenix. The Projo could learn something from them.

PS Thanks for the RIRA mention. The RIRA website is http://ri-ra.org . The Ocean State Republican is our blog.

Posted by: Will at May 14, 2009 12:03 PM

Will, That's just me showing my blog bias! -Marc

Posted by: Marc at May 14, 2009 1:18 PM

With the number of Rebulican like democrats in the General Assembly who cares about the name they give themselves. The so called brand of Democrat has already suffered with the election of these right wing legislators masquerading aas Democrats.

Posted by: Phil at May 16, 2009 5:32 AM