It's (Back) On. Lew Has his Knickers in a Bunch

Well, Lew has been reasonably civil the last couple of months, concentrating his vitriol for the most part on the proper target, the Democrats.  He has been rather snarky to fellow Republicans and conservatives on his facebook postings, but since that's hardly a journalistic forum, and frequented for the most part by his sycophants, we at the Watch have pretty much let that slide.  Everyone has the right to be an idiot, we just provide counterpoint when you do it under the guise of responsible journalism.

Two months ago, this website unilaterally disarmed, feeling our mission had been accomplished to highlight the disruptive and destructive "news" that was being promulgated by the "Clark County Conservative" blog site. We took no pleasure in chastising and correcting an old man in the one thing that fills his days with meaning, but the level of inappropriate vitriol coming from his pages was being picked up by the local Democratic News Network (a.k.a. The Columbian) and being promoted as real news/journalism when it was nothing of the sort.  It was destructive and counterproductive to the very goals that Lew himself sought. 

We felt that we had succeeded, because after the welts healed, Lew seemed to be publicly more responsible in his demeanor, and that was all we could hope to ask for.  Unfortunately, it appears that the lesson didn't stick.

In Lew's latest missive, he starts out with a very well written and highly appropriate chastisement of the electorate and the low voter turnout on Tuesday.  All of his points in the first 12 paragraphs were spot on and appropriate, and we applauded his sentiment. Then Lew went off the reservation with this one:

"And we see it when a strong Republican candidate is undermined behind the scenes by party operatives in favor of an inexperienced novice because someone carries a personal grudge against the stronger candidate. Waving pom poms to a High School cheer isn’t what is needed to stand up and defeat special interests."

A little background here.  Carolyn Crain and Lew Waters have been solid supporters of each other for the better part of a year, at least.  In 2012, the local Republican party with Establishmentarian Ryan Hart at the helm, gave Carolyn a perfunctory $500 from the party coffers - half of what they supported Liz Pike with.  Short of the max, it's unknown whether this was because they lacked funds or just didn't believe in Carolyn's candidacy.

When the Clark County Republican party reorganized under new, grass roots conservative management in 2012, Carolyn lost in her bid to sit on the party executive committee. She took this personally, and the word is that in the social gathering afterwards, she and her cadre sat away from the general group and loudly and rather obnoxiously disclaimed the lack of political aptitude displayed by the majority of PCO's for rejecting the bid of such an obviously qualified person as herself to sit on the committee.  It wasn't very graceful, or very pretty.  Since then, Carolyn has perceived a rift between her and the party leadership which has interfered with her ability to use her prodigious political acumen to the benefit of the party (I'm not being sarcastic here.  Carolyn Crain's knowledge of the political landscape can best be described as encyclopedic).  This inability to gracefully accept a defeat and continue working with fellow Republicans has soured the good will of many Precinct officers towards Carolyn. 

Lew, being the outsider, has a visceral hatred for Ron Paul, and incorrectly identified the realignment of the Clark County Republican Party as a nefarious plot by Ron Paul supporters to undermine the very fabric of American society. The fact that Ron Paul supporters are the minority caucus of the new party, and that none of Ron Paul's more loony ideas have anything to do with local government haven't influenced Lew's incoherent condemnation of the Clark County Conservative movement at all.  We at The Watch find it ironic that a blog entitled "Clark County Conservative" condemns fellow conservatives because they're too conservative.

So Lew and Carolyn became natural allies going into the 2014 election season. Carolyn's bid to challenge incumbent Jim Moeller in November was complicated by the entry of Lisa Ross into the race.  Carolyn and Lew were apparently confident that this wouldn't be a problem, until Tuesday night when Lisa Beat Carolyn handily by more than 8.5 percentage points.

Lew lacks the analytic skill to understand why this happened, so he incorrectly (as usual) came up with a conspiracy theory and blamed "the party" for "undermining" Carolyn.  Now, I'm looking at the public funding disclosures for the candidates, and I don't see a single financial donation from the Republican Party for Lisa Ross.

Carolyn's hubris was such that she scheduled a victory party for August 7.  Lew went, and his public comment was:



Come on, old man, how much class would it have shown to show up and rub Carolyn's face in her defeat?  You really need a social reality check.  Did it ever occur to you that there might be another victory party going on - a real one?  Had anyone of the group you condemn been there, no doubt you would have responded, "The new R3publican's showed up to rub her nose in her defeat.  No class."  So there really is no winning with you, is there?  Do you think people are really that stupid, that they can't see your nonsense? Please try to stay relevant in your dotage, Lew.

The challenge I pose to Lew and Carolyn Crain is to suck it up and have the grace to congratulate the victor and promise your support to help them win in November.  The kind of petty, childish bickering and panty wringing Lew is engaging in right now is why Conservatives regularly lose to liberals, who at least know how to get along with each other, no matter how out of touch with reality they are.

Carolyn Crain set a personal goal to knock on every door in the Legislative District in her candidacy.  Lisa Ross certainly didn't.  How did that "undermining" take place, Lew?  It sure is easy to cast insinuations and accusation. Now, old man, present your evidence or  shut the hell up and retract your slander.  What "undermining" took place?  Was anything done that was unethical or illegal? Are you saying that the precinct officers were supposed to support Carolyn, even after she so roundly condemned them for not giving her a seat on the committee?  People have the freedom to choose and support the candidates they want, Lew.  The Clark County Republican Party isn't the establishment any more, and we don't promote candidates because it's "their turn."

I'll tell you what happened, Lew, based on what I've heard just talking to people, and what has been reported to me by PCO's who have been canvassing their precincts.  People who knew neither Lisa or Carolyn voted overwhelmingly for Lisa.  She just pencils out better on paper with her education and experience.  Those who knew Carolyn broke 50-50.  One PCO reported that one voter said, "I know Carolyn, and she's crazy!"  Carolyn is brash and outspoken, lacks grace and comes across as a bull in a china shop. 

Please stop with the "more qualified candidate" bullstuff, Lew.  Carolyn has just as much legislative experience as does Lisa Ross - Zero. Lisa was elected three times in 2012, to our County convention, to the State Convention, and was one of our 3 delegates to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, where she caucused for Rick Santorum.  I don't recall Carolyn being involved with any of these. On that basis alone, I would say Carolyn is the novice, not Lisa. It's unnecessary to label Lisa as an nonviable or marginal candidate just because you backed the loser.  Lisa's viability was determined by the only measure that counts on August 5th.  Get over it. You can take your marbles and go home to pout and be seen as a pissy old establishment has-been, or you can act like an adult and get behind the Conservative on the ticket and try to help us win in November.  Your choice.