Posted on 03/19/2002 2:14:15 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Ah, primary season. There's nothing quite like it. The mudslinging, the angry responses in debates, and yes, the upsets in the races where the "expected winners" don't come through in the end. This primary season has already been more hopeful than many had thought.
In Illinois it's primary day. We will find out today what ultimately will be the case. All these things aside, primary season remains one of the most exciting and one of the most underrated portions of the electoral cycle.
On March 5, in California of all places, an outspoken conservative defeated a liberal establishment candidate in the GOP race for governor. At one point Bill Simon trailed the former popular mayor of Los Angeles by as many as 40 percentage points in the polls. As close to the election as two weeks out, Mr. Simon was 30 percentage points behind.
But what happened next was truly amazing. Bill Simon, a conservative pro-life businessman, beat his opponent. And he beat him handily! Winning by a margin of nearly 20 percentage points, Bill Simon, overnight, became a household word.
And as news spreads about the win that the California conservative was able to pull off, people across America who are pro-family begin again to see that we can and will win.
In Illinois another prime pro-family story is brewing. The establishment candidate has bought into the emerging lie that moderation is the only way he can win. As a result, Jim Ryan, our current attorney general, expects himself to be coroneted today.
Because its "his turn," because he looked the other way when the current governor had so many indiscretions with how he executed his office, and because he feels that he may not always be healthy enough to make a run for governor, he believes that he is "owed" this season as governor.
The GOP in Illinois has been a bit of a divided party of recent years. While the national platform remains strongly pro-family, the way some local Republicans have tried to influence Illinois politics has shown little difference between them and their Democratic contemporaries.
The pro-family voters in Illinois, it appears, have had enough.
The man who believes he "deserves" to be governor has not worked to earn the vote of pro-family people in Illinois. He has avoided debates and forums with brazen haughtiness. He has at every turn avoided any discussion on the issues most important to the pro-family voters in Illinois.
In the last TV debate (one of the few he actually made it to), he was asked three times to answer a basic question on abortion. He took every chance to talk about anything other than that. He hemmed and hawed and by the end of the debate he had said nothing.
His primary appearances to the voters have come through TV commercials. Thirty seconds of dishonesty – with no rebuttal. What an ideal format for the attorney general.
Voters know that Jim Ryan at one point claimed to be "pro-life" and "pro-family." Voters also are learning of his record.
Voters are learning that Mr. Ryan knew that as the attorney general of Illinois, he could have single-handedly ended the practice at Christ Hospital of allowing babies who had been born by surviving abortion to be left to die in the hospital's soiled utility closet.
When being faced with this very issue at one of the early forums with conservatives, he looked me square in the eye and said, "There was not enough evidence to move forward." Nurses who were already on the public record knew differently – but why would Mr. Ryan want the truth to get in his way.
Voters know that Mr. Ryan once claimed to be "pro-family." Voters are learning, however, that he once signed a letter in support of a proposed change to Illinois legislation that would have given the broadest privileges yet to the 2 percent of the Illinois population that is homosexual.
When asked on repeated occasions why he signed the letter, he refused to recant it and vowed he would not be moved on that issue.
Mr. Ryan is pro-gay and he is pro-death. How, then, does he get around these obvious facts when dealing with pro-family voters?
His plan was simple – choose not to say anything. Choose to remain coy until elected, then feel free to spring forward on legislation that weakens the families of Illinois.
The bad thing is his plan would have worked. It was foolproof. Just get by the primary and then outspend your Democratic opponent in the fall (someone, incidentally, you really didn't look that much different from).
But there was one small problem.
Pro-family voters had already been treated like a soiled tissue and tossed aside by the current Republican governor. The ire of those of us who raise children and don't wish them to be socialized and indoctrinated into the mantra that there is no morality are now more aware of Mr. Ryan's methodologies.
Hence the coming of Patrick O'Malley, a state senator whose conviction has been present in all of his years of public service.
At one of Christ Hospital's earliest protest/prayer vigils, Mr. O'Malley was there, not passing out campaign literature but praying – praying that their brutal practice of allowing babies to die without life-saving intervention be stopped. I know because I was there and observed him.
He has also introduced legislation that just passed out of committee last week to the state Senate to try and outlaw this specific practice. For much more on the Christ Hospital issue and Mr. Ryan and Sen. Patrick O'Malley's role in it, please see some of my columns from weeks passed at www.wyll.com.
Today's the day. The media are telling us to vote for one candidate. I'm telling you it's all about trust! Trust is something that must be earned and is so easily lost.
Mr. Ryan has lost the trust of the public, at least those who are concerned about the issues that face the family – taxes, abortion, parental consent, gay rights and children. Mr. O'Malley has consistently – especially in the face of opposition – stayed true to those core convictions.
Will Bill Simon's victory in California "ring" the sound of wins for other true pro-family candidates across America?
In Illinois, Patrick O'Malley is roughly 20 percentage points behind in some polls. Let's see ... according to the Bill Simon rule of thumb, that puts O'Malley winning by about 30 percentage points!
Ain't primary season fun?
What more could be said of the integrity of this man? The more I hear about this man, the more impressed I am.
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