Still Republican after all these years.
Years ago as the Immediate Past Chairman of the California Young Republicans, I attended something called YRLC. Last weekend, during the Southern Regional Leadership Conference (SRLC) I saw many of those same folks at a reunion held in the Isaac Hayes lounge in Memphis, Tennessee. You know your crowd is serious about their politics when we're still at the bar 15 years later.
Sadly, one alone went missing when Audrey Merkin suddenly passed away just a week before we could all be together. At SRLC, a grown up version of YRLC, there was Roman Buhler greeting arrivals in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel. With Roman there were two items to discuss: remembering Audrey Merkin's passing away and acknowledging the long planned career move to put Kevin McCarthy into Bill Thomas' congressional seat.
A girlfriend has groused that my entire political frame of reference is defined by my Young Republicans' experience. It's true. For that matter, so far the 2008 Presidential race is more like a YR campaign than not.
What YRs learn fast is that (1) strong regional alliances can be overtaken by raw talent, (2) paid delivery services for voting delegates easily overwhelm an event, (3) good speechmaking presentations are always overshadowed by the bar's circus scene (with apologies to Chris Matthews and his fabulous live-from-Memphis MSNBC broadcasts), (4) good operatives commit public acts of political suicide AND (5) we're never too old to be this silly (with apologies to the Peabody Hotel's duck pond for renaming it a "No Cheney Zone.")
God bless Audrey, we will miss her for she understood what powerful politics can come from youthful silliness, public displays, circus scenes, day trips and surprising friendships.
Congratulations Kevin, welcome back to the national scene.
Years ago as the Immediate Past Chairman of the California Young Republicans, I attended something called YRLC. Last weekend, during the Southern Regional Leadership Conference (SRLC) I saw many of those same folks at a reunion held in the Isaac Hayes lounge in Memphis, Tennessee. You know your crowd is serious about their politics when we're still at the bar 15 years later.
Sadly, one alone went missing when Audrey Merkin suddenly passed away just a week before we could all be together. At SRLC, a grown up version of YRLC, there was Roman Buhler greeting arrivals in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel. With Roman there were two items to discuss: remembering Audrey Merkin's passing away and acknowledging the long planned career move to put Kevin McCarthy into Bill Thomas' congressional seat.
A girlfriend has groused that my entire political frame of reference is defined by my Young Republicans' experience. It's true. For that matter, so far the 2008 Presidential race is more like a YR campaign than not.
What YRs learn fast is that (1) strong regional alliances can be overtaken by raw talent, (2) paid delivery services for voting delegates easily overwhelm an event, (3) good speechmaking presentations are always overshadowed by the bar's circus scene (with apologies to Chris Matthews and his fabulous live-from-Memphis MSNBC broadcasts), (4) good operatives commit public acts of political suicide AND (5) we're never too old to be this silly (with apologies to the Peabody Hotel's duck pond for renaming it a "No Cheney Zone.")
God bless Audrey, we will miss her for she understood what powerful politics can come from youthful silliness, public displays, circus scenes, day trips and surprising friendships.
Congratulations Kevin, welcome back to the national scene.
posted by Dr. Dora @ 8:17 AM
1 Comments:
At 9:05 PM,
Bruce Wood said…
This ol' world is just a little dimmer without Audrey. Her laughter and sparkling personality were a delight. I just recently learned of her untimely passing. We both attended San Diego State, she was active in "my" College Republican club and she attended my wedding to my college sweetheart. Debbie and I will miss you Audrey. --- Bruce Wood
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