If you asked Phill Kline I probably represent the prototype supporter of his candicacy for Johnson County Prosecutor. Considering all the phone calls and mailings I received I know I was targeted on a get out the vote effort.
I have consistently voted and supported pro-life and culturally conservative candidates. In addition, I have been very much a law and order type guy. I'm a male, professional, upper middle class, college educated.........low tax, high personal responibility guy......you get the picture.
So why couldn't I support Phill Kline?
Phill Kline lied when he told people that if appointed to fulfill this term that he wouldn't seek re-election. I think he thinks people have a short term memory and forget this fact. He barely addressed it in his campaign. I wanted a real explanation for changing his mind and he never provided it.
He is a divisive figure. He is hated by so many Johnson County republicans and all democrats holding onto only the core of the conservative republican vote. I like to win and I don't think Phill Kline can win in the general election. We, in the conservative wing of the party, need to realize that controlling the party will not get us general election victory. We have watched this occur now in Johnson County as well as for Governor. It is an embarrassment that in a staunchly conservative county we have a Democrat in Dennis Moore representing us in Washington. This blood is strictly on the hands of the ultra conservatives/pro-life radicals in Johnson County who insist on putting up candidates that are to the right of Rush Limbaugh. If we put up the right candidate Dennis Moore is beatable. Continuing to support people like Phill Kline will not get it done.
He tried to run a dirty campaign. The ends do not justify the means. He went negative against Steve Howe and I think it is bad form to go dirty in the primary. It is selfish because if you don't win you've potentially damaged our candidate for the general election. Check out the sound bites from Hillary Clinton that McCain is using against Obama if you don't believe me. He rallied the support of people outside the county to do his dirty work, raise money, and would have definitely been beholden to them.
He became a one issue candidate. Kline allowed himself to be defined by this struggle to a single issue and allowed it be defined as a fight against Planned Parenthood and a fight against abortion rights instead of struggle to bring sexual predators to justice which clearly has better appeal to all voters. This was a huge strategic error in that 50% of people support abortion rights and everyone hates a sexual predator. There is some bad stuff going on at Planned Parenthood and had there been a prosecutor with more character and more respected in the community he might have been able to generate the public support he needed to wage the fight. I consider it a major opportunity lost and in the end he may have strengthened Planned Parenthood. Howe has promised to review the case and prosecute it based on the law.
He spells his first name like an idiot. Who the hell spells Phill with two "L's". That is ridiculous.
In the end Phill Kline was a deeply flawed candidate and those issues just can't be overlooked. I'm tired of losing ground to democrats and Kline represents another loss. I wish Tim Golba, Mary Kay Culp and their crew would wake up and smell the coffee. We aren't going to win putting up these losers. I would rather have a moderate republican than a liberal democrat. It is about building a coalition of support and as long as we simply cling to the little core of remaining conservative republicans we will continue to lose. Jill Stanek states on her blog she was personally on hand when Phill Kline flip flopped and decided to run. Jill is from Chicagoland and is a big mover and shaker in the pro-life movement. It bothers me and I feel bad that Phill duped these people from outside the county to help him. Phill Kline lacks the character to be in the position of enforcing Johnson County law with any credibility.
I have consistently voted and supported pro-life and culturally conservative candidates. In addition, I have been very much a law and order type guy. I'm a male, professional, upper middle class, college educated.........low tax, high personal responibility guy......you get the picture.
So why couldn't I support Phill Kline?
Phill Kline lied when he told people that if appointed to fulfill this term that he wouldn't seek re-election. I think he thinks people have a short term memory and forget this fact. He barely addressed it in his campaign. I wanted a real explanation for changing his mind and he never provided it.
He is a divisive figure. He is hated by so many Johnson County republicans and all democrats holding onto only the core of the conservative republican vote. I like to win and I don't think Phill Kline can win in the general election. We, in the conservative wing of the party, need to realize that controlling the party will not get us general election victory. We have watched this occur now in Johnson County as well as for Governor. It is an embarrassment that in a staunchly conservative county we have a Democrat in Dennis Moore representing us in Washington. This blood is strictly on the hands of the ultra conservatives/pro-life radicals in Johnson County who insist on putting up candidates that are to the right of Rush Limbaugh. If we put up the right candidate Dennis Moore is beatable. Continuing to support people like Phill Kline will not get it done.
He tried to run a dirty campaign. The ends do not justify the means. He went negative against Steve Howe and I think it is bad form to go dirty in the primary. It is selfish because if you don't win you've potentially damaged our candidate for the general election. Check out the sound bites from Hillary Clinton that McCain is using against Obama if you don't believe me. He rallied the support of people outside the county to do his dirty work, raise money, and would have definitely been beholden to them.
He became a one issue candidate. Kline allowed himself to be defined by this struggle to a single issue and allowed it be defined as a fight against Planned Parenthood and a fight against abortion rights instead of struggle to bring sexual predators to justice which clearly has better appeal to all voters. This was a huge strategic error in that 50% of people support abortion rights and everyone hates a sexual predator. There is some bad stuff going on at Planned Parenthood and had there been a prosecutor with more character and more respected in the community he might have been able to generate the public support he needed to wage the fight. I consider it a major opportunity lost and in the end he may have strengthened Planned Parenthood. Howe has promised to review the case and prosecute it based on the law.
He spells his first name like an idiot. Who the hell spells Phill with two "L's". That is ridiculous.
In the end Phill Kline was a deeply flawed candidate and those issues just can't be overlooked. I'm tired of losing ground to democrats and Kline represents another loss. I wish Tim Golba, Mary Kay Culp and their crew would wake up and smell the coffee. We aren't going to win putting up these losers. I would rather have a moderate republican than a liberal democrat. It is about building a coalition of support and as long as we simply cling to the little core of remaining conservative republicans we will continue to lose. Jill Stanek states on her blog she was personally on hand when Phill Kline flip flopped and decided to run. Jill is from Chicagoland and is a big mover and shaker in the pro-life movement. It bothers me and I feel bad that Phill duped these people from outside the county to help him. Phill Kline lacks the character to be in the position of enforcing Johnson County law with any credibility.
Phill Kline lacks the character to be trusted with the job. Clearly the press was no friend to Phill Kline but he had he been above reproach they would have nothing to report. Reports and investigations about him not showing up for work on a regular basis, providing and claiming a false Johnson County residence which is a legal requirement for holding the job was pure sleaze and made him untrustworthy. KCTV 5 did an interesting investigation working to document his time in the office and demonstrated that he and his wife were really still living in Topeka......his kid is enrolled in Topeka schools. Republicans with ethical and character issues really piss me off and don't deserve our support.
I hope this is last we've heard of Phill Kline in public life.....the last gasp of his life on the public dole. Like I said in a previous post......look for Phill Kline to make a fortune working with the national pro-life interests on a national scene. He has become a hero to them. Read Jill Stanek's blog at http://www.jillstanek.com/ and you'll see what I mean. She describes him as heroic.
I hope this is last we've heard of Phill Kline in public life.....the last gasp of his life on the public dole. Like I said in a previous post......look for Phill Kline to make a fortune working with the national pro-life interests on a national scene. He has become a hero to them. Read Jill Stanek's blog at http://www.jillstanek.com/ and you'll see what I mean. She describes him as heroic.
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4 comments:
Interesting commentary. I think there were too many flyers and phone calls. My daughter works at the post office and she said they were all pissed at the additional mail..lol..some lost votes there.
I hope the new guy keeps his promise to finish the investigation of PP.
As usual, more tripe from a win-at-all-costs moron.
None of what you say is supported by FACT.
Get me the quote from Phill Kline where he promised not to run.
You can't find it because he didn't "promise" not to run. He said he didn't intend to.
There's a huge difference between lying and changing one's mind. Never did Phill Kline "promise" he wouldn't run for office.
You're just using it, like so many others, as an excuse to support a weak candidate in Steve Howe so that you can protect your party and to hell with principle.
Divisive figure? So what? Obama's a divisive figure. So is John McCain. That's just more BS.
He tried to run a dirty campaign? Prove it. What EVIDENCE do you have? Some mailers that came to your door talking about what a screwup Steve Howe is?
It's one thing if he ran a dishonest campaign, but I sure hope you're not that much of wimp that you can't tolerate a little scuffling in the primary over factual information.
Kline ALLOWED himself to become a one-issue candidate? Oh really?
As in, he chose to be defined by abortion? Are you kidding me?
No, moron, Phill Kline didn't choose to be defined by that case...in fact he spent at least $83,000 in campaign funds running on everything he's accomplished except for that case.
It's all you milquetoast conservatives who claim to be pro-life but who are afraid to stand up for the issue that caused Kline to stand alone and be defined by the issue.
Where the hell was Sam Brownback, "Mr. Pro-Life Presidential candidate?" Cutting a deal with moderates, throwing Kline under the bus, so he can be governor in two years. A shrewd political move to be sure, but he wimped out just like you did.
The spelling of his name made you vote against him? Right. Whatever. That's just more of you being an a-hole, not Kline.
Deeply flawed candidate? This isn't anything different than the other reasons you've already tried to float. Again, lame, gutless, victory at the expense of principle thinking.
Kline lacks the character to be trusted? Here you cite the KCTV5 story, which was panned by critics as so over the top and inaccurate as to not even be worth mentioning.
But for the sake of discussion, I'll let you know that the producer of that show, Sam Zeff, was fired three days after it aired because it was such a bomb. Hell, The Pitch Magazine poo-pooed the KCTV5 story.
I'll leave you with this...I personally guarantee that Steve Howe will NOT win the election. He simply doesn't have what it takes to be a leader, he was a lousy candidate, and Rick Guinn is going to tragically mop the floor with him in November.
K2,
It is so lame to call me a moron but I'll post it anyway. It is so typical to resort to personal attacks and name calling when you don't like what you hear. My thoughts ARE supported by fact as much as your defense of him is supported by fact.
I didn't write that he PROMISED he wouldn't run, I said he told people he wouldn't. So you are going with that "depends what the definition of "is" is"? Sounds like Bill Clinton. You are splitting hairs here. He changed his mind because national pro-life people came to town and asked him to run. To me I NEVER saw an explanation of why he "changed his mind". Show me where he did. I got at least 5 mailers and a dozen phone calls on his behalf where he had the chance to explain himself.
My evidence that he ran a negative campaign is in the flyers I received from groups created to do his dirty work and keep him at arms length from it. Why not just talk about what you bring to the office and what Howe doesn't?
One issue....clearly it is naive to think that he didn't mobilize the RTL folks for his campaign. They did his dirty work so his official campaign pieces didn't have to. Read the RTL blogs if you want the evidence. All the phone calls were focused on him being pro-life and taking on PP.
So you think I'm afraid to stand up for what I believe huh regarding life? I'd rather spend my time engaging people and changing their hearts on the precious nature of life and use my own life as an example rather than taking the pathetic shortcut of only engaging the political process hoping to legislate people's lack of morality and saying we've done enough. I have a child that was born with significant and serious disabilities so I get the chance everyday to show that I've stood for life. When others have prenatal testing so they can confirm if they have a perfect child we proclaimed by our actions that all life is precious and God given. Friend, I live my belief in life everyday. Everytime I hold my child and someone asks the coded question, "Did you have prenatal testing done" I get the opportunity to share that I think all life is precious and valuable and God given. I get to tell them God makes no mistakes. Talk is cheap. BTW, so how is the RTL strategy working for you?
Yes, I think he lacks character. Sorry, but he isn't a guy I'd want to go into business with. Just because he is pro-life doesn't make him a good guy.
Making fun of how he spells his name is just an attempt at humor...lighten up Francis. It is just a blog.
Maybe you are right that Steve Howe will lose, I don't know for sure. But I know that for now we have Phill Kline out and that feels great. Talk about win at all costs....I'd say that is all the RTL crowd who would rather have a sleazy guy like Kline than someone of good character. By putting up candidates that can't win in the past few elections you've help put more liberals in office than Nancy Pelosi. The fight for life is bigger because it a culture war not just war to change a law. Congrats. Way to be strategic.
Travel,
My sincere hope is that Steve Howe will win, review and prosecute the case, win and show the world that PP violates the law by providing late term abortions AND protects sexual predators from prosecution when they get underage girls pregnant.
Postal workers.....that is another subject....I try to never complain when people want to give me more business. I need all I can get. LOL....that is funny.
Thanks for posting.
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