GOP Challenges are Everyone's Challenges

On Sunday, Nebraska State Senator John McCollister challenged the Republican Party to, well, to #BeBest. 

His plea came in the aftermath of the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, with the El Paso incident looming large, given the shooter's alleged anti-immigration, white supremacist 'manifesto;'  I haven't looked for it online, and won't, so I can't speak to it directly. 

Here's what McCollister posted on his Facebook page:

As you might imagine, his post caused a ruckus, in Nebraska and elsewhere, with pros and cons (probably not literal cons, but you never know) chiming in. Many thanked him for his candor, including more than a couple who wrote about leaving the Rs within the past couple of years; you can randomly connect some dots there and you'd be right, based on the comments. And on the other hand, many people thought he was out of line and that Democrats are to blame for all the evil in the world, including racism because Rs are not racist, Ds are. 

But it was this response to McCollister that sort of sums everything up. It's a press release, tweeted by the Nebraska Republican Party, in which Executive Director Ryan Hamilton suggested McCollister change his registration.  

John McCollister has been telegraphing for years that he has little if nothing in common with the Republican voters in his district by consistently advocating for higher taxes, restrictions on Americans' Second Amendment rights, and the pro-abortion lobby. His latest false statement about Republicans should come as no surprise to anyone who is paying attention, and we're happy he has finally shed all pretense of being a conservative. 

And, Hamilton made a generous offer:

I am happy to send a change of voter registration form along to his office so he can make the switch officially, and start, for once, telling the truth to voters in his district.

Note that the official response doesn't address the point McCollister was trying to get across -  unless you consider calling it "false" to be addressing the point. And regardless of your opinion on Trump and racist comments and white supremacists, McCollister's statement was relatively factual. 

Trump did talk about shithole countries, and he did tell four women of color, three of whom were born here, to go back to where they came from, and it is also true that he is a prolific liar, although it might not be entirely accurate that he lies more than he tells the truth. And of course, we all know the Rs are the party of Lincoln, and many Republicans are better than this.

McCollister is also correct that Republican senators and representatives, certainly those who serve us in the US Senate and House of Representatives, look the other way when Trump and others in the party misbehave, particularly when it comes to issues of race. They've been seen physically scurrying away from reporters, in fact.

Based on the response of the GOP chair, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that it may also be true in Nebraska that elected officials turn a blind eye when the president says what he says, does what he does, allows what he allows at rallies, and so forth. And I don't think it's a very long limb, either, if the response is any indication.

So, let's compare what happened in Nebraska with what Republicans are dealing with in Ohio.

In a deleted post, state Representative Candice Keller (who lives about 30 miles from Dayton)  complained about liberals blaming the wrong things after mass shootings. And then she pointed a whole lotta fingers at where the blame really lies. Take a look:

And here is how some Ohio Republican officials responded:

• Jane Timken, the state's Republican Party chair, said "Our nation is reeling from these senseless acts of violence and public servants should be working to bring our communities together, not promoting divisiveness." She called for Keller's resignation, calling her statements "shocking and unjustifiable."

• Todd Hall, chair of the Butler County Republican Party (where Keller is running for the state senate in 2020) said that this was a time for "prayer and reflection" not Keller's comments, adding "some want to politicize these events, and I cannot condone such comment and behavior."

Interesting, isn't it? Two states, two GOP elected officials, two different takes on the state of things, and both end with a rejection of the person's ideas. 

The question is, which version of the GOP will win out in the long run?