Snoozefest: The Decline and Fall of California’s State Republican Party

by Chris Cooper

My column this week for Synch Chaos is about the decline and fall of California State’s Republican Party.

As a crack shot intern/reporter for Synch Chaos, I see the problems with today’s Grand Old Party establishment. It’s more of a snoozefest with even the candidates asleep at the wheel.

I went to a fundraiser at a private home in Pleasanton. The food was terrific and the people there were ones I had known for years. But, with the election being ninety-seven days away, was anyone talking about the issues important to the voters? Not really, and I am surprised at that.

I was cornered by a man who asked my thoughts on the high speed rail bond project and I told him “Well, it’s more like a pork spending project that we don’t need and can’t really afford. It’s going to be taking a lot of bonds out of the treasury and also a lot of money away from the treasury too that could pay down California’s debt.” He thought I was right on about all of that.

I told him, let’s get serious about medical care for seniors and others who need it. Let’s put people back to work, let’s fix the economy and let’s put an end to the guest worker programs. Let’s put an end to putting Prop 30 (a sales tax measure) back on the table for this election.  I told the man this was just a snoozefest that we were attending. He asked what makes it a snoozefest…It was more like a love fest gone wrong.

There was a candidate for District 7’s Senate Race whom no one was really speaking to, and then the candidate for Congress from Livermore was so bland that he basically had nothing to offer. It seemed that people were just hanging around him because he needed company. The poor candidate just kept looking at his salad and seemed to realize that maybe he was too bland a candidate to really make a difference.

Now, what does this guy do for a real living to make it through his day? Let me tell you, the guy is a used car dealer out in Livermore.

No one was paying attention to the issues. No one wanted to discuss the issues. Everybody was just there to eat food and re-hash the same arguments that we have up in Sacramento and the same arguments from the past presidental campaign of 2008.  No candidates were asking for any volunteers. Not offering any yard signs or even trying to recruit or register volunteers.

The host of the party, whose name I won’t use, looked like he was bored to death himself. He kept going out on the back patio grilling up more food and the more I ran into the host, he kept yawning. He saw this was a snoozefest too, and even the guests were bored. People were talking about their kids’ soccer games or their wives’ jobs or their husbands’ jobs or the baseball season and the cost of the 49ers’ new stadium.

Nobody was even talking about defeating President Obama. There was not even a mention of the Mitt Romney Campaign in the Bay Area.

Which is just as well, since Mitt Romney basically is out of touch with this country. Mitt Romney represents Bain Capital and the investment firm that he started, and for which he outsourced jobs overseas.

And then he promises to have real jobs here in the United States! Should he get elected? He wants his Mitt in your Pocket.

Now, who would you rather have for president: Mitt Romney from Bain Capital or Barack Obama?