A
Message to ALL Republicans
This
message is to ALL Republicans—establishment, fiscal conservatives, RINO, social
conservatives, moderates, ultra-conservative, Trumpers, and never Trumpers.
On
November 7th, 2017, Virginia’s political complexion changed from
purple to blue. On November 8th, all the Monday-morning quarterbacks
were out in force with full-throated criticism of Ed Gillespie. I am not going
to counter the critics except to say that Virginia ran a rock-hard conservative
for Governor in 2013, and we came up short in that election too.
To
all the arm-chair quarterbacks out there, instead of picking on the quarterback—and
forgive me while I torture the football metaphor—we should be trying to figure
out why the Republican Team can’t win games (elections). Politics, like
football, is a team sport. And, politics, like football, is a full-contact
sport. To put check marks in the win column, we all must subordinate our
personal agendas to the team game plan. If we all play for individual records,
we may make it to the Hall of Fame, but we will never get to the Super Bowl.
If
you want to wins games (elections), here are some football basics to live your
political life by:
#1:
If your favorite quarterback (candidate) doesn’t get the starting job
(nomination), suck it up and start playing for the starter. As the old saying
goes, “You gotta dance with the girl who brung ya.”
#2:
If the starting quarterback doesn’t throw well, but can run the ball, then
adjust your play to maximize your QB’s effectiveness.
#3:
No quarterback can win games if the linemen don’t block, the running backs
fumble, or the receivers don’t run their routes as planned.
#4:
No quarterback can win games if the defense can’t stop the other team from
scoring or controlling the ball.
#5:
You will never win any games if you don’t show up at the field on game day to
play (vote).
#6:
Sometimes the other team’s players are bigger (population), stronger (money),
and faster (cleaver). You will have losses on the field and in life. Winners
pick themselves up, don’t pout or cry, and get back to the hard work of learning
from their mistakes and becoming better.
If
Republicans want to win, then let’s start to act like were on the same team, improve
our skills, work out, come to practices, show up on game day, act like we want
to win, play our hearts out, and win one for the Gipper.