by Andrew Walden

Democrats across the nation are on the ropes as Americans turn against Obamacare, taxes, and failed "stimulus."  Unemployment and debt race to the top as Obamanomics drives everybody else to the bottom.  Terrorism is again rearing its ugly head and the President shows only weakness.  Obama's numbers are in the tank and continue to decline.  Congressional Democrats are jumping overboard like rats from the proverbial sinking ship and Democrat Congressional candidate recruits are dropping out as analysts debate how large GOP gains will be this November.

In these hard times, where could the liberal LA Times still find defeatist Republicans whose utter demoralization could provide its lefty readers a quick peep at a political porn show to numb their pain?   

The small dissident group known as Hawaii Republican Assembly, that's where.

In a January 9 article, "Lonely times for Hawaii's Republicans", the HRA losers who masquerade as conservatives provide a last glimpse at the image of Republican defeatism liberals foolishly dreamed they would be seeing forever after Obama's 2008 victory. 

Republican Assembly supporters begin by talking as if nobody wants to be around them:

Many Democrats ran unopposed in the last election because Republicans couldn't persuade anyone to run against them, (Julia) Allen said.

"Who wants to go out there and lose?" said Allen....

Saying you're a Republican in Hawaii "is like saying you're a leper," said (Mike) Palcic....

Of course even the simplest mind knows that such an attitude becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Even a third or fourth rate political consultant can tell you that candidate recruitment starts with leadership--projecting a winning attitude within a Party focused on enacting reforms which address voters' top concerns.  That is the only basis from which to recruit community leaders as candidates.

The good news for Hawaii Republicans is that this is a heavily slanted article.  The LA Times managed make it through with nary a mention of Governor Lingle, Lt Governor Duke Aiona, or Congressional Candidate Charles Djou.  Their reporter appears to have sneaked around Oahu without interviewing anybody outside the HRA fold.  They seem to have made it into State GOP Headquarters, but the only quote from GOP Chair Jonah Kaauwai comes from a speech he delivered last year.  For perspective, they go to convicted felon Keanu "Perfect Title" Sai, now a KCC political science professor.   

In liberal Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown is within reach of winning Ted Kennedy's former Senate seat.  Closer to home, Republican Charles Djou is the leading fundraiser in the upcoming Congressional special election.  Duke Aiona has assembled a winning team to lead his ground game.  And Hawaii Democrats are ripping each other to shreds. 

It was Djou who came forward to hear from Honolulu voters on the health care issues which confront the nation as Hirono, Abercrombie, Akaka, and Inouye hung back.  Only Djou has stepped forward to question the wisdom of building a rail transit system with money the State doesn't have.   

But none of this perturbs the nabobs of negativity and their facilitator at the LA Times:

Perhaps Allen and Palcic can keep running because the two, who have lived in Hawaii for 31 years, have a laid-back attitude about defeat....

Exactly the problem.

The next ingredient in the sure-fire recipe for permanent defeat?  Point your fingers at the voters and blame them for not accepting you.  Or pretend the electoral system is undemocratic so you never will have a chance anyway.  Whatever you do, make sure not to ask yourself any questions about how to improve your message.  From the Times: 

In March, Allen, Palcic and a few other aggravated Republicans created the Hawaii Republican Assembly, which aims to "reverse the political fortunes of candidates who support republican principals." (sic) Its leader, Paul Smith, who has also run for the Hawaii Legislature and lost, said at the time that "Hawaii seems more like a dictatorship than a republic" because of the long reign of the Democrats.

Reverse the fortunes?  Based on the loser mentality presented in this article, an outside reader would logically conclude that the HRA is working to make sure Republicans lose even more elections. 

"People say, 'I'm a Democrat because my parents were,'" said David Chang, who is running as a Republican for a state House seat in Hawaii.

"You don't even hear the word 'Republican' in Hawaii," said a volunteer at party HQ ....

After those twin dollops of morbidly fatalistic defeatism, the next step is to imagine your opponents to be a lot stronger than they really are:

The Democratic domination is being pushed further along because of Obama, Republicans say. Thousands of previously unregistered voters participated in the 2008 election because of the native son. 

The vast majority of participants in the Democrats 2008 caucuses were already registered voters.  Those voters were an annoyance to the clubby Democrat insiders and their internal balance of power games.  Many were simply pushed right back out of the party after caucus voting.  Democrats got new Party members from the already-registered secular humanist crowd, but they did not get substantial new voters from the unregistered. 

Voter turnout in 2008 was actually lower than 2004 by 0.7%.  Comparing 2008 to 2004, voter registration increased by 6.4% and total number of ballots cast increased by 5.3%.  Both of these figures are commensurate with natural population growth and the continuing influx of mainland retirees, who--being older--are more likely to vote.  Hawaii voter participation remains among the lowest in the nation--meaning that there remains a large untapped pool of non-participating voters whose disinterest is likely caused by the lack of political choices. 

In Hawaii conservatives actually outnumber liberals 29% to 24% according to Gallup's annual survey.

But losers are not perturbed by facts.  The final step to certain defeat is to say things which make it clear that you have absolute brittle contempt for the voters:

"People who voted for Obama didn't know what he had to say," Allen said.

"People think that all you need to do to be president," Allen said, "is to know how to bodysurf."

Nobody will ever win an election by campaigning against the voters.  If Hawaii Democrats paid people to pretend to be Republicans, they wouldn't be able come up with anything worse than that.  But the image is false.  Mike Palcic was the last place candidate for GOP Party Chair--getting only five votes at the 2008 GOP State Convention.  And this article certainly shows why Hawaii Republicans reject him.

(LINK>>> LA Times: "Lonely times for Hawaii's Republicans")