“Uncommitted” is a word that would normally be repulsive to me. It makes me think of people who follow fads, can’t quite define what they believe and refuse to take a firm stand for anything.

But in the context of the Louisiana State Republican Convention, “Uncommitted” has a meaning that differs from the norm.

In early December, I began to feel that I needed to place my name on the ballot as a candidate for a delegate seat at the February 16, State GOP Convention. I had serious reservations about every single GOP Presidential candidate, as every one of them had the baggage of liberalism, some with so much that they did not, and still do not look any different from the Democrat candidates.

I felt that if elected as a delegate, in some way, large (or more likely small), I could be a voice for conservatism in the GOP. I could be a voice that said to any presidential hopeful, “Do not abandon the conservative principles upon which the GOP was founded, and do not attempt to dilute the conservative written platform of the GOP which clearly champions positions of being pro-family, pro-life, supporting a lower tax burden for the struggling middle class, free market capitalism, and a strong national defense - just to name a few.

I’ve read both the State GOP Platform and the National GOP Platform. There isn’t a liberal precept to be found in either document. The GOP Platform is the polar opposite of the Democratic Platform, which supports a welfare state, abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy for any reason, class warfare, a “United Nations” military, a redefinition of marriage, and government control from the cradle to the grave. There’s more. Read it for yourself.

By the beginning of January, I had discovered that I wasn’t alone in my desire to see the GOP stay true to conservatism. I found that there were many people across Louisiana who shared my passion, a number of them right in my own back yard. We didn’t agree 100% on every single issue. But the differences were not enough to prevent us from running as a “ticket”, supporting one another toward reaching the common goal….making it to the State GOP Convention as voting Uncommitted ProLife ProFamily delegates, and possibly moving on to the National Convention as delegates.

Fifteen of us ran, and 12 of us were elected as delegates. In fact, statewide, of those who ran on the Uncommitted ProLife ProFamily ballots, 77% of the Uncommitteds were elected. (See vote breakdown mid-way through related post HERE.) Many were common folks like me, with no money to campaign, no expensive in and out of state phone banks, no political machine to turn out our vote.

But we won. We won because we took the time to make literally hundreds of personal phone calls to our friends, our neighbors, our classmates, our church families. My own calls took an average of 10 minutes each. And at last count, I had contacted over 200 people. At one point I almost lost my voice. (Hey, as long as I still have a keyboard!)

But it was thrilling to educate people about the process of how Louisiana decides which presidential candidate will get its delegate votes at the National GOP Convention. Every person I spoke with who was a registered Republican, was grateful to have the opportunity to come to the caucus and be a part of history. And those not registered as Republicans expressed time and time again that they wished they would have changed their party affiliation in time to be able to vote for the Uncommitted ProLife ProFamily slate.

How refreshing at the caucus itself to see the average Joe, from every age group and background, arrive at the caucus location to participate. Neither country club Republicans, nor smoke filled rooms, nor political machines would rule this night. No, this night belonged to the people who cared enough to come out to participate.

Many came to support Romney, McCain and Paul. But more came to support the Uncommitteds - they knew we weren’t standing on behalf of a candidate, we were standing for shared conservative beliefs.

I cannot see the future, and I have no idea what is going to happen at the state GOP Convention. No doubt the pressure will begin quickly upon the Uncommitteds to commit themselves to McCain, or Romney, or maybe even Huckabee or Paul.

Hopefully, the Uncommitteds across the state will see the wisdom in waiting until after the Louisiana Primary, and after Super Tuesday, to decide whether to commit to a candidate, or to remain Uncommitted until the National Convention.

I do not pretend to know the best course. I can only assure the many friends who voted for me that I do not take lightly the trust they placed in me. I do not know who I will end up supporting, but I can promise everyone who cast a vote for me that I will not abandon the principles on which I ran, and on which I stand.

P.S. The delegates could sure use your prayers!

[Thursday, January 31, 2008 1:00 p.m. - Many of the internal links in this post go to the State GOP Party web site. The web site is down for some reason, as is the web site www.prolifeprofamily.com. Not to worry, hard copies of the District Results are available, as are the hard copies of each District list for the Uncommitted ProLife Profamily slates. It may take me a couple of days, but I’ll have the hard copies uploaded - just in case the state web site stays down. Thanks for your patience!]

The lines along their forheads were furrowed, and their faces showed years of wear, exposing an age that was likely approaching twilight years. Their posture was impeccable, and their demeanor respectful and polite. Some of them wore caps with military insignia. Others did not. But each one had eyes that were steely and determined, and each one approached me asking where they could find a ballot with the names of the John McCain delegates - each proudly stating that they wanted to vote for a fellow soldier.

They along with hundreds of other citizens filled the halls of the Century Tel Center last Tuesday night at the Louisiana Caucus of the 4th Congressional District, purposed to vote for delegates who represented their pick for the GOP Presidential nomination, or for delegates who were not committed to any specific candidate.

I was present at the caucus running as an Uncommitted Pro-Life Pro-Family delegate, not committed to any candidate, but totally committed to the conservative principles for which the GOP stands. And although many folks would call me an idiot, every single steely eyed vet who asked me for help, I took straight to the folks who were distributing the McCain ballots. It was an honor to assist them, and the least I could do to say, “Thank you for serving our country.”

Approximately 30 minutes before the voting ended, Alan Seabaugh, who was also running on my same Uncommitted Pro-Life Pro-Family slate came to me in great distress asking if I had seen the McCain ballots (McCainDistrict4.pdf ). As he handed the McCain ballot to me, I could not believe my eyes. Of the 15 delegates listed specifically as McCain supporters, SIX names from the Uncommitted slate had been used on the McCain ballot. My friend was livid, telling me that he had never given anyone permission to use his name on such a ballot, and indeed that turned out to be the case with the other five Uncommitteds whose names were placed on the McCain ballot as well.

Interestingly, only the highest profile names from the Uncommitted slate were used on the McCain ballot. Those names included Ronnie Broughton (recent candidate for State Representative), Alan Seabaugh (recent candidate for State Senate), Trent Newell (Newell’s name was used with Barrow Peacock’s delegate number, and Peacock is a candidate for State Rep District 6), Rick Edmonds (prominent local pastor), Brian Wooley (Shreveport City Councilman), and Bill Kostelka (Bossier Parish School Board member).

I was sick for Seabaugh because at that late hour, he had no way of defending himself against the scam. But I was even more sick thinking about those precious veterans who had been deceived by the McCain campaign into thinking that they were voting for McCain delegates only - when that simply was not the case.

There is a bit of justice in this however. When the votes were tallied, in District 4, every true McCain delegate lost. And every Uncommitted whose name McCain used on its ballot won.

The McCain campaign should have to answer as to why they misused those names. Were they hoping to get their other 9 delegates elected by riding the coat tails of the six Uncommitteds that were placed on the McCain ballot? (Voters could select up to 15 names.)

Or could it be that the McCain camp knew that the Uncommitted Pro-Life Pro-Family slates throughout Louisiana were highly organized and kicking into high gear their grassroots get out the vote, and would likely handily win in most of the districts?

And with the Uncommitted names on the McCain ballot, when the votes were tallied, the shameless McCain camp could then claim that “their” slate of delegates won. It appears as if this is precisely what the McCain campaign did. And he’s still doing it in press releases on his web site.

McCain not only hijacked names in District 4, but in District 5 as well, and possibly in other caucus locations. McCainDistrict5.pdfMcCainDistrict4.pdf

I do not have the McCain ballots which were distributed in Districts 1, 3, 6, & 7. If any of my readers can get their hands on the ballots, I’d appreciate a copy! But I don’t need the McCain ballots to prove that McCain did not win the Louisiana caucuses.

Here are the telling caucus results (the top 15 in each district were elected):

District 1 Uncommitted ProLife ProFamily wins 13 seats

District 2 Uncommitted PLPF wins SEVEN seats. McCain wins 6.

District 3 Uncommitted PLPF wins ALL FIFTEEN seats. McCain wins ZERO.

District 4 Uncommitted PLPF wins TWELVE seats. McCain wins ZERO. (SIX Uncommitted Names used on McCain ballot, all SIX Uncommitted Names WIN seats.

District 5 Uncommited PLPF wins EIGHT seats. McCain wins ONE. (FIVE Uncommitted Names used on McCain ballot) ( McCainDist5.pdf)

District 6 Ucommitted PLPF wins TWELVE seats.

District 7 Uncommitted PLPF wins ALL FIFTEEN seats.

Here’s another way of looking at the numbers. These are the percentage of delegate seats WON by the Uncommitted PLPF slate in Districts 1-7: 85%, 46%, 100% 80% 53%, 80%, 100%. The average was 77% of all delegates seats going to the PLPF slates.

Perhaps the Shreveport Times whose headline last Saturday read, “McCain Wins State GOP Caucus“, should run a new story with a new headline…”McCain Loses GOP Caucus”, or perhaps “Huge ProLife ProFamily GOP Caucus Win Sends Message to Presidential Hopefuls - ‘Don’t Abandon Conservatism’ “.

The McCain camp underestimated voters across this state, especially in the 4th and 5th Congressional Districts where we know for a fact that Uncommitted names were hijacked. What McCain’s camp didn’t seem to factor in is that Louisiana is a CONSERVATIVE state, and John McCain is not a conservative candidate.

The bottom line is this. The Shreveport Times should, (but probably won’t) run a corrected article. And whomever is responsible for the deceit in McCain’s camp should apologize, first to the Uncommitted PLPF delegates whose names were used without permission for the McCain ballots, many of whom feel that their integrity has been impugned by appearing to have lied either about being uncommitted or about being a McCain supporter.

But the biggest McCain apology is owed to those dear veterans of whom I spoke at the beginning of this post. They arrived at locations around the state to vote for the delegates of their war hero, and a “fellow soldier”. They weren’t at the Century Tel or other locations to vote for Uncommitted delegates. They took the deceitful McCain ballot thinking that they were voting strictly for McCain delegates.

They were all deceived, and by my definition, betrayed.

From the Center for Individual Freedom

“When the stimulus package was first proposed several days ago, the American people were told that TAXPAYERS would get REBATES of up to $800 for individual taxpayers and $1600 for married couples.

But now, according to the Associated Press, $28 billion — that’s 28,000,000,000.00 — will go to people who never paid taxes in the first place!”

Full story HERE.

Poignant. True. HERE.

MaddChatter has a post listing just a few of Mike Huckabee’s flip flop positions. Think about it. Which Mike Huckabee do you support?
Post is HERE.

VTR doesn’t control the ads that appear on the right side of the site pages. They are randomly selected by Google AdSense based on key words from posts. I noticed one this morning that advertised abortion services in Arizona. I went to their site and saw the extremely generic description of the “procedures”, especially noting that they perform abortions UP TO 17 WEEKS.

The baby above is a 17 week gestation baby. That is “choice”.

VTR reader and fellow blogger Madd Chatter will be blogging from their post in Washington D.C. as they attend the annual March for Life. It has been an astonishing 36 years since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion through all nine months of pregnancy for any reason whatsoever. Conservative estimates put the number of babies killed at over 40 milion.

Most abortions are done during the first trimester (12 weeks). This video starts at 8 weeks. Please come back over the weekend and read Hatter’s observations and insights from D.C. Thanks!

Twelve or so years ago, Rush Limbaugh was interviewing a caller concerning her unwaivering support of President Bill Clinton. After Limbaugh spent several minutes enumerating President Clinton’s lies, half-truths, and ruthless abuses of power, the woman finally blurted out, “Yes, those things are true, but the facts don’t matter!”

Although my kids were 6, 8, and 10 at the time, to this day, they laughingly remember the Limbaugh caller. This past weekend, I thought about the Limbaugh caller, and how she reminded me that there are so many people today just like her who are supporting presidential candidates with a similar blind eye.

Case in point, Mike Huckabee. It is no secret that Huckabee has misrepresented truth and had serious errors in judgment, yet his supporters turn a blind eye and defend Huckabee as though “the facts don’t matter”.

This past weekend, I engaged in a “debate” thread with a well-known and respected national Christian author regarding the author’s defense of Mike Huckabee. Responding to my comments, the author defended Huckabee, saying that Huckabee’s actions and statements must be “taken in context”.

I asked the author if the “context” of Huckabee’s decision to release a convicted rapist really mattered to the families of the victims whom the rapist went on to murder AFTER Huckabee pardoned him from an Arkansas prison. The author did not respond to that point.

On Sunday, blogger Madd Chatter sent me an email in response to my back and forth with the author. Chatter had sent the author Chatter’s own comments to the thread, copied his letter to the author and sent it to me. (The author has not posted Chatter’s letter as of today’s date). Here is the Chatter comment dated 1/6/08:

“It is easy to dismiss criticisms of a candidate as being “biased” and “taken out of context”. Many, if not all, of the contradictions are verifiable and in context.

Mike Huckabee is building quite a record of saying things that are not true. One example is from last night’s debate when he told Mitt Romney that Mr. Huckabee supported the surge in Iraq before Mr. Romney, when in reality, there is a video clip of an interview with Mr. Huckabee on MSNBC [01/24/07] where the interviewer states that Romney supported the surge. Mr. Huckabee responds saying he’s not sure if he supports the surge yet. This could be an honest mistake for Mike Huckabee, but it is an inconsistency.

Another example is taken from Mike Huckabee’s own campaign website. It states that Mr. Huckabee supports “and have always supported passage of a constitutional amendment to protect the right to life.” In 2006, Mr. Huckabee stated, “[I] think Roe v. Wade is based on a real stretch of Constitutional application — that somehow there is a greater privacy issue in the abortion concern — than there is a human life issue — and that the federal government should be making that decision as opposed to states making that decision.

So, I’ve never felt that it was a legitimate manner in which to address this and, first of all, it should be left to the states, the 10th Amendment, but secondly, to somehow believe that the taking of an innocent, unborn human life is about privacy and not about that unborn life is ludicrous.”

Both examples were in the full and complete words of Mike Huckabee, not taken out of context. Both examples are verifiable, and I have provided the links. Say what you will, but these are in Mr. Huckabee’s own words. The wrongdoing is not on the part of these “internet sources” hell-bent on Mr. Huckabee’s demise, but in Mr. Huckabee’s continuing to promulgate these inaccurate statements. He has not offered to clarify these criticisms and has not given reasonable explanations. He did not “stand up for defenseless children” by prematurely releasing rapists and murderers from prison only to rape and kill again.

Acknowledging one’s faults is a good step toward becoming a better person, but when it comes down it, I’d rather have a president who has a proven record of making the right choice the first time around rather than a president who apologizes for his faults and tries to do better next time.”
—————–

My final note. I do have immense gratitude to this Christian author for his books, which have had such positive impact upon my own life. I have even taught a complete study of one of his books in a Sunday School class.

I just wish when it comes to his (and many of my evangelical friends’) support of Mike Huckabee, “the facts” would matter.

Can they top this? No way.  In the words of my LSU daughter, “They aren’t Golden!”  Geaux Tiger Band!

[From UK Telegraph]

“Jin Yani’s waters had already broken when China’s abortion police came for her. They took her to a nearby abortion centre, injected her unborn baby girl and removed the body two days later.” More of this sad story HERE.