147 Comments
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Chris Bray's avatar

Moments after hitting "post," I have received a reply from the Riverside County GOP, offering to put me in touch with Jackson's likely opponent in the general election. Score one response.

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

I betcha you could win in that race. Serious

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Chris Bray's avatar

The guy who will be on the ballot against Jackson in the general can win it. Hoping to talk to him soon.

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

But seriously Chris thank you for what you do. CA is not a lost cause if more folks would take the time to do just as you did with this.

It's got to come from the ground. I see no other way out there.

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

Nice!

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Arne's avatar

That could be an interview to put up here.

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Scott Poole's avatar

You should update your post itself, no? Not everyone reads the comments.

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The Ungovernable's avatar

I'm sure his people will be in touch with your people.

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FT's avatar

encouraging to be sure.

Happenstance on the timing with respect to this substack?

If not, then Id hate to think the party is that lethargic and unthinking. But hate is a strong, or maybe not even the correct, word.

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devoalan's avatar

Corruption is a much better descriptor.

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

You Mr. Bray are the Republican party in CA as far as I can tell...or so it would seem...

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mileytheduchess's avatar

But I suspect he is a white Christian nationalist, and we ALL know about those people!

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

SUPER-DUPER ULTRA MAGA DOMESTIC TERRORIST RACIST SCIENCE DENIER?

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devoalan's avatar

You left out election denier.

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

Oh shoot...how could I forget!

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mileytheduchess's avatar

One of those, too. The threat levels are stacking up, methinks. And I actually contribute to this character, so Big Bank knows my sin.

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mileytheduchess's avatar

Yeah, one of those.

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Phillip Badger's avatar

The Democratic Party doesn’t exist either. Not any more. It’s some grotesque perversion of what it used to be. I’m out. Now I’m just into common sense and truth. Parties don’t mean crap any more. They’ve abandoned the humans. They’re their own monstrous amoral entities now.

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Chris Bray's avatar

I don't disagree with that.

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John Geis's avatar

Lindsay Graham sold out on this latest omnibus for 6 earmarks in SC. Scumbag.

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mileytheduchess's avatar

He is a weird little f****t, as Doug Casey would say.

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devoalan's avatar

Faggot. It’s ok to say here.

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Phillip Badger's avatar

He’s also the biggest most evil

warmonger in DC. Pure evil.

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mileytheduchess's avatar

Apparently there is no way to pry him out of the Republican machine here in SC. Both of our senators are crap. When I heard that Tim Scott endorsed Lisa Murkowski, I didn't vote for him, either. No matter - he's in as long as the machine wants him in.

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Phillip Badger's avatar

That’s because actual democracy doesn’t exist in the US.

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mileytheduchess's avatar

Not the choosing part, no. And where Dems control the apparatus, not the voting, either.

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Rose-Marie Fiske's avatar

Bootlicker

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Tardigrade's avatar

That's exactly my feeling too.

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vladROBOT 🪱's avatar

Indeed, Phillip.

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SimulationCommander's avatar

.........cashes the checks for putting on the Generals uniform.

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Chris Bray's avatar

Exactly.

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Brian Nelson's avatar

Had the same analogy in mind.

Who is the Dem's Meadowlark Lemon?

bsn

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Bruce Stone's avatar

The repubican party has been a dead letter in Kalifornia for decades. Don’t ever confuse the repubican party(ies) anywhere as a party who cares for us everyday honest, law abiding, responsible, tax paying citizens

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Tardigrade's avatar

Neither party cares about everyday citizens.

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Steenroid's avatar

NM is just as bad if not worse.

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Judith's avatar

Unfortunately that is a true statement for the entire country. Their focus seems to be only on the large cities in a state. And I understand that actually but they haven’t been effective there either. Frustrating to say the least. Good luck to you. Praying for PURPLE to turn RED.

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Randy Farnum's avatar

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” H.L. Mencken

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John's avatar

Republicans remind me of some Little League parents. They complain about how things are done, could be better, or how other people are doing things the right way. But, they never manage a team, become an assistant coach, or even volunteer to hit ground balls or throw batting practice.

To imagine they would sit on the board or be president or even umpire a game is impossible.

What you’re doing is very uncommon. Most people don’t look into things. Reading lawsuit information is tedious. Reading history and how it relates to current events, and then making it relevant to people is time consuming.

It’s harder than doing nothing…so they don’t don’t.

California Republicans are used to losing and being a powerless minority. They are like the parents sitting at the top of the bleachers: do-nothing whiners.

Thanks again for another great post. I appreciate your work and look forward to it.

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Randy Farnum's avatar

Silly bear, you think there are two political parties?

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Chris Bray's avatar

Not really, but there's a shadow with a name.

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Bill Lacey's avatar

Wait? The Republican Party is a political organization? I thought it was a fund raising charity for the unskilled, unmotivated and otherwise unemployable in our society. Gee.

In my own defense, I'd have probably been aware of this earlier if said political party actually, you know, tried or something.

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Chris Bray's avatar

"The purpose of an organization is what it does."

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

Oh but they do try...and they're masters at it:

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

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Yuma's Freezing's avatar

Every. Single. Time.

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Meth Bear's avatar

Had a similar thought reading the original post. I figured this was a case of A) the party is making a half-hearted effort because they’ve given up on California or B) the party is throwing in some support, likely in the form of an overpaid consultant using the same playbook they’ve used for 30 years.

Either way, the result is shuffling around a few million dollars so they can cruise to 48% of the vote in a district they could/should win

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Lon Guyland's avatar

Repubicans don’t want to win — that would mean they might have to actually do something. They would rather get all the perks but not have to work.

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John Geis's avatar

“Republicans…might have to actually do something.”

The failure to repeal Obamacare after 7 yrs of demagoguery was proof of that.

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Rose-Marie Fiske's avatar

I agree. They are useless. My own EastBay GOP is more active

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Kevin Krause's avatar

Masquerades as the opposition while getting enriched while doing so.

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Freedom Fox's avatar

Like Aarnold playing the role of a Republican. Actors and politicians are one and the same. They just appear on different stages.

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CB's avatar

To succeed as an actor or politician, you must be able to fake sincerity. Seriously folks, no joke.

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Brian Nelson's avatar

Bro, I don’t believe you’re in Cali—this article must be about republicans in Washington state.

bsn

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AndyinBC's avatar

Or, in virtually ANY state in this formerly great Republic.

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John Geis's avatar

In its defense, Tennessee is pretty well run.

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Madjack's avatar

We need a new party. The Patriots party.

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

I like the sound of it!

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BloatedWarthog's avatar

Sounds good, but, please, no Neil Diamond music.

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Madjack's avatar

Just “Sweet Caroline” boom, boom boom!!

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Sarah Reynolds's avatar

Chris Bray for California Assemblyman!!! Seriously, I would support your campaign for any office. We need more non-psychopaths in elected positions of authority.

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Mark In Houston's avatar

Chris,

Your bright light and investigative research and implications on this are stunning! Great work!

At the same time - it is beyond belief and discouraging that the CA GOP is that asleep at the wheel to let this out of control narcissist have another term and work his way up the Dem leadership of the CA State Assembly. Glad to know that you did receive at least one response from the CA Riverside County GOP. Please keep us informed about this "race".

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Beezy Steder's avatar

This isn’t just a California problem. Apathy will be the death of western republics.

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AndyinBC's avatar

Exactly! Future historians, (assuming there IS a future), will identify apathy, or terminal complacency, as the root cause of the demise of the richest, freest society the world ever knew.

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John Geis's avatar

"Eight Stages of a Democracy"

1) Bondage to Spiritual Faith

2) Spiritual Faith to Great Courage

3) Great Courage to Liberty

4) Liberty to Abundance

5) Abundance to Selfishness

6) Selfishness to Apathy

7) Apathy to Dependence

8) Dependence back to Bondage

Sir Alexander Tytler – 1787

We’re somewhere in stage 6 or 7.

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AndyinBC's avatar

Great quote JG.

Close - I'd put us a little further down our slide to perdition - perhaps between 7 and 8.

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