Kansas 2nd District Representative Steve Watkins has had an off-the-wall week:
Last Thursday evening, the Kansas Republican Party set up a conference call among various officials to discuss Watkins.
The topic?
Well…no one seems to want to say.
But to put it…diplomatically…many on Twitter — again, not exactly a place with footnotes and fact checkers — have said that the rumor is that it is an…Anthony Weiner type of situation.
But, there has been zero corroboration of that publicly.
The Kansas GOP has not confirmed the basis for the call.
And Watkins himself states that there is no “there” there.
Let me get this straight…. I have to deny a resignation that no one called for. Got it. Done. K, going back to work. See you in November.
— Rep. Steve Watkins (@Rep_Watkins) August 23, 2019
I suppose we could dissect that Tweet like a 7th grade grammar teacher to try to figure out if he was actually denying something or not, and which “November” he’s talking about.
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But things steadily got worse.
At a small Town Hall in Topeka, Watkins got questioned about his vote on the “Violence Against Women Act,” and Watkins challenged a constituent’s stated assumptions on the bill. Looking at his notes, he stated that he voted against the otherwise good bill because of various “poison pills” in it.
When asked what these were, obviously not knowing the details, Watkins said he’d kick out a release on it. (To date, that hasn’t been done.)
So, a few points on this:
- At this point it’s very easy to knock Watkins. But note that at least he is going out and doing these Town Halls. Not every member is doing these, and it’s tough to be 100% coached up on every debate point that can come up.
- He should have been coached up better on this. Gun control is the top issue in all of these Town Halls now, and if someone had the thought to list “poison pills” in the talking points, they should have actually listed them as well. It didn’t seem like Watkins had put in his homework on this.
- If you haven’t seen it, contrary to what some are saying, this was pretty tame stuff as far as town hall “debates” go. Keep in mind, this is a room full of people who are hostile to one person. It goes with the territory though. You have to be able to do these, or you shouldn’t be in the office.
But the optics were terrible.
- Watkins was on the defensive.
- He didn’t have answers to basic questions.
- A staffer jumped in to save him.
Alas, Watkins’ week was about to get much worse.
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Former Governor Jeff Colyer — who made multiple news flurries over the previous days announcing a new gig at Georgetown U. and stating that he won’t run for U.S. Senate, — came out and hammered Watkins.
With a third blow to the first-termer, Colyer stated that State Treasurer Jake LaTurner should run for Watkins’ seat, so that the seat can stay in GOP hands.
Yowch.
Some have immediately asked about Colyer’s motivation for this. Since the release, he has left it to his spokesman, former Gubernatorial staffer Colton Gibson, to give a few responses.
Gibson noted that, “we’re talking about electability here.”
Which makes sense…if one was in on that GOP conference call last week.
Because otherwise, Watkins, while not being a prolific fundraiser or “coalition builder” as Colyer put it, probably isn’t under water in his district.
Sure, he had a very close General election, but he was running against the former Democrat Gubernatorial nominee with huge name ID. In the meantime, Watkins is still in a Trump-leaning district, and doesn’t have any major stumbles or scandals……
Or does he?
Could those “in-the-know” be a little more certain of a potential scandal? Could there be something that is barreling down the road and this is an attempt to right-things before everything goes ass-over-tea kettle for the party?
That explanation seems to make a little more sense than whether a sitting Congressman in a favorable district is “electable.”
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And others have noted that a LaTurner candidacy for the House loosens things up in the Senate race. Giving LaTurner an alternative other than simply getting out of the Senate race and going back to Topeka, is a plus.
And then a less-watered-down Senate primary makes it less-likely that the top Name-ID will run away with a plurality.
Boy, that’s some many-level chess moves there, eh?
Then again, someone as intelligent as Colyer probably doesn’t make a move like this unless it is really worthwhile, and could have many repercussions.
In the end, Dr. Colyer could…
- Save the 2nd District for the GOP
- Help to ensconce LaTurner in a great gig
- Make it that much harder for Kris Kobach to win the Senate nom (in case Pompeo doesn’t run)
- Potentially save the Senate for the GOP from a Senator Sebelius (who could conceivably beat a Kris Kobach, but might have a tougher time against Susan Wagle or Roger Marshall).
Of course, if the sh*t doesn’t hit the fan on some sort of Steve Watkins scandal, it could instead simply make for a messy primary.
So there’s that…
But it sure as heck isn’t boring.
In the meantime, maybe the Watkins office should issue that poison-pill release. Just because the boss said you would.
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Magazine hatchet-job on Pompeo misses basic facts while making awful accusations
The New Yorker is famous for its pithy cartoons that don’t actually make you laugh. (Remember when Elaine Benes drew one on Seinfeld?) But it also dives into jounalisming from time to time. This time it leaves the bustling streets of Manhattan to go to Wichita to explain how racist Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is.
Oh, you didn’t know Mike Pompeo was racist? Well, first of all, he works for Donald Trump, so that puts him at Level 2 Racist. But you see, tangential racist is not good enough for the scrounging, thorough reporter from the New Yorker.
No, she will accuse Mike Pompeo of being Level A-1 Racist, and will even do some half-assed research to prove it.
In this article in The New Yorker, writer Susan Glasser begins by quoting an unnamed “Former American Ambassador” that Pompeo is “like a heat-seeking missile for Trump’s ass.”
Well then.
Good to hear that the country’s diplomatic corps has an air of decorum and etiquette.
Then again, this likely top-dollar campaign contributor doesn’t have the nerve to actually state their name, but hey, what a quote!
And the article goes on to point out that (horrors!) Pompeo was a Marco Rubio supporter in the Presidential Primary. Yes, the exact same story that Tim Alberta told in the recently published American Carnage, and as Alberta described on Jonah Goldberg’s The Remnantpodcast.
And she says that Pompeo’s business career wasn’t as successful as he says it was. But that’s all relatively forgivable stuff, right? Business and politics.
But what is unforgivable is being a racist. And Glasser has the goods!
Or does she?
She states that in Pompeo’s 2004 campaign for Kansas’s 4th Congressional District, the Pompeo campaign “tweeted praise for an article” that was racist against his opponent and that “a supporter bought billboards urging residents to “vote american—vote pompeo.””
Well, here’s the lowdown (easily found by a simple Google search): On the Twitter post, it was a campaign staffer, of course, who manned the Twitter keyboard — and deleted the Twitter post after one hour. The campaign said it was inadvertent, and in any case, Pompeo personally phoned his opponent, Raj Goyle, the next day and apologized.
But you didn’t see that in Glasser’s article, did you?
And the “supporter” who “bought billboards”?
No.
This was a guy who had his own digital sign, above his business, that he used to put digital images up for candidates he likes. The Pompeo campaign had no control over this guy. And oh by the way, the guy took the image down after he was questioned about it.
So, staffer with dumb Tweet, where Pompeo personally apologized. And some guy with a digital billboard.
That’s it. That’s the controversy.
But how does The New Yorker‘s Susan Glasser define it?
“Pompeo ran a nasty race.”
So feel free to swallow the rest of the magazine article dipped in just a tad more than a grain of salt.
And you wonder why the the trust in the media is at nil these days?
Because of hit-pieces like this, disguised as journalism.
Oh, and if you, Journalist, insist that Mike Pompeo apologize for anything and everything Donald Trump says, then you must step up and condemn garbage like this.
We will all be waiting…
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