RECENT SUCCESSES by Kansas Democrats are drawing some attention on the national political scene.
Last week, The Politico, a new online newspaper with a big readership on Capitol Hill, published an article pointing out that Kansas is no longer the safest place for Republicans to run for office.
The article said that last week’s announcement by State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins that she will seek the nomination to oppose Rep. Nancy Boyda in 2008. That means that Jenkins will find herself in a primary fight with Jim Ryun, the man Boyda unseated in an upset victory last year.
Ryun has already said that he intends to run again.
Why is Republican Jenkins stepping in Republican Ryun’s road? Because they are not members of the same political party.
Jenkins is a moderate Republican. Ryun is an extremely conservative Republican — the sort of Republican who thinks of people like Jenkins as moles for the Democratic Party. In Kansas, the split between the two wings of the party is so deep that they have effectively become two parties. The extreme conservatives reserve a special venom for their dealings with moderates.
The moderates, on the other hand think the only way to save the Kansas party’s soul is to break the conservatives’ power and force them back into the fringes of the state’s political life.
This may be a revelation in Washington, but in Kansas, it just seems like business as usual. As we have said here before, this split among Republicans has effectively turned Kansas into a three-party state and made the traditional Republican majority a thing of the past.
A Jenkins-Ryun faceoff in August 2008 will do nothing to heal the party and is likely to leave the winner damaged beyond any hope of mounting an effective challenge to Boyda.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
So bitter is its division that the Kansas GOP cannot present a united front on any issue of importance. Increasingly, work gets done in the Legislature by coalitions of moderates of both parties or conservatives of both parties. Republicans have become incapable of effective action without the cooperation of Democrats.
Any party that finds itself in that position can no longer claim to be the dominant political force in the state.
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Posted by situveux1 (anonymous) on April 9, 2007 at 3:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Extreme conservatives huh Patrick? I guess you needed to say that a few times to make sure people understood their the ones that need to be hated. More balanced reporting by the Gazette. Thanks for telling me what to think.
Posted by wifeandmother (anonymous) on April 9, 2007 at 4:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Situveux1, why are you complaining about Mr. Kelley when Jim Ryun proclaims himself extremely conservative.
Maybe you are the one with "extreme" prejudice?
Posted by situveux1 (anonymous) on April 9, 2007 at 4:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Because Mr. Kelley isn't referring to Ryun as an extreme conservative, he's referring to anyone who identifies themselves as conservative as extreme. Did you not get that he's talking about three parties, not three candidates?
He makes this clear by making the reference twice. Maybe you need to read the opinion piece before commenting. And maybe you should read up on the meaning of the word "prejudice." Seems like that a favorite for liberals; if you disagree with me than I'll just say your racist/prejudiced/etc...
Posted by wifeandmother (anonymous) on April 9, 2007 at 4:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Who said I'm liberal?
Regarding your comment, "Did you not get that he's talking about three parties, not three candidates?" Yes, I got it and journalists who are considered conservative and liberal have commented the Republican party is fractured right now, also.
May you should breathe deeply a few times and chill out!
Posted by GaryLukert (anonymous) on April 9, 2007 at 4:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
As a Democrat (and, yes, Democrats suffer from some of the same Extremes in their own party), I very much welcome the Moderate Republicans as reasonable to work with.
Seems to me the Conservative Republicans have the attitude..."...either my way or the hiway...". On the national Scene about 13 years ago, the same thing happened to the Democrats in Congress. The extreme liberals just ran over people.
The Democrats paid the price, which I alsl believe has hurt our country deeply...as the Republicans then ran wild---so much so, the Republicans then got tossed out.
Although a Democrat, I strongly support my State Representative, Don Hill. I believe Don looks at most issues from a what is best position. Not, how his vote will Support or not Support the party.
Posted by wifeandmother (anonymous) on April 9, 2007 at 5:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree, Gary. Good points!
Posted by jasonc_22 (anonymous) on April 9, 2007 at 6:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
what good is a newspaper if it does not share opinions? he isn't telling you how to think, just offering an opinion, a persepective..which is exactly what the Opinion page is for.
Posted by i_am_the_batman (anonymous) on April 10, 2007 at 8:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
thank you jasonc_22, I think a few people forgot that this is the opinion section of the website.
Posted by mythoughts (anonymous) on April 10, 2007 at 9:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree with Gary and the Batman. Whatever happened to reasonable discourse (or spell check?) ...Too much hate in the world...
Posted by situveux1 (anonymous) on April 10, 2007 at 5 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"May(be) you should breathe deeply a few times and chill out!"
I see, so you call me prejudiced and I'm supposed to "chill out."
With sense like that, no wonder you all love Don Hill.
You can also love the millions of dollars in tax increases he's voted for as well.
As a Democrat I should expect you to love Don, he is a Democrat. Oh, he may put a "R" behind his name come election time, but once that's over, he's all Democrat.
By the way mother, thanks for admitting that Patrick referred to conservatives in general as extreme and not just Ryun. Very convenient of you to change subject to avoid the real issue I brought up at first...that the Gazette has a clear slant in their opinions and I find it offensive that they would classify any group of people as "extreme" based on one candidates positions.
Posted by wifeandmother (anonymous) on April 10, 2007 at 7:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Situveux1, please re-read what I wrote. Hopefully you will see I did not write anything remotely suggesting Mr. Kelley refers to conservatives in general as extreme. Frankly, I've met the man and I don't believe that is his point of view at all.
Why do you keep hammering at this opinion piece? Do you really think you are going to change someone’s mind with your incoherent ranting?
Posted by situveux1 (anonymous) on April 10, 2007 at 7:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Why do you keep responding to me?
The problem is you can say what I have posted is "incoherent ranting," but many who read this are agreeing with me, which is why you need to keep responding.
By rereading the original piece, anyone can clearly see the second reference of "extreme conservatives" is grouping everyone together.
As I said before, I don't think that is appropriate for any newspaper. If you're okay with that, then great, say so, but to deny that Kelley has grouped conservatives into an "extreme" group and purport that he only references Ryun in this manner is just silly and not supported by the wording of the article.
The problem is you got called on it and now are trying to name call your way out of it.
So instead of supporting your argument with quotations or evidence from the article, you resort to first calling me "prejudiced" then tell me to "chill out" and now I'm "ranting incoherently."
You may have met Mr. Kelley and choose not to believe what he has written in black and white. However, I take what he has written at face value.
I believe he meant every word.
Posted by wifeandmother (anonymous) on April 10, 2007 at 7:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I will waste no more time on you.
Posted by situveux1 (anonymous) on April 10, 2007 at 8:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good call.
Posted by jasonc_22 (anonymous) on April 11, 2007 at 5:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
wow....situveux1
in the end..it was an opinion piece..and certainly NOT the Gazette telling people how to think...it was Patrick Kelley offering an opinion. It can be your opinion that Kelley's column was wrong or bad..but, what you call for in your first post: "more balanced reporting" from the Gazette isn't right...this wasn't reporting at all.
It was Opinion.
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