Dick Wadhams talks to CNN and explains why he’s tired of the "nuts" in the Tea Party
Click here to view this media You’ve probably heard about how Dick Wadhams, the chairman of the Colorado Republicans, told the world that he couldn’t take being a Republican official anymore because of the nuts in his party. Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dick Wadhams dropped his reelection bid on Monday, and fired some parting shots at the Tea Party and the hard-line conservatives he thinks are hurting the party’s electoral success. “I have tired of those who are obsessed with seeing conspiracies around every corner and who have terribly misguided notions of what the role of the state party is while saying ‘uniting conservatives’ is all that is needed to win competitive races across the state,” Wadhams wrote in a memo to the Colorado Republican State Central Committee obtained by The Denver Post . He joined CNN’s Parker Spitzer show and explained to Kathleen why he is leaving in a little more detail. He did try to soften the blow on his party PARKER: Now to politics. It finally happened. A Republican Party leader has gotten so fed up with the party’s antics and he says he’s not going to take it anymore. Dick Wadhams is the chairman of the Colorado Republicans, but today he went rogue. He announced he’s not running for a third time because, and I quote, “I’m tired of the nuts who have no grasp of what the state party role is.” He joins us now from Denver. Welcome, Dick. DICK WADHAMS, CHAIRMAN, COLORADO REPUBLICAN PARTY: Hi, Kathleen. Nice to be with you. PARKER: It’s great to have you here. So I’ve got to ask you, Dick, what took you so long? WADHAMS: Well, I had four great years as state chairman of the Colorado Republican Party. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. And you know, after four years, it’s time to do something else. PARKER: What pushed you over the edge? What was the final straw? WADHAMS: You know, Kathleen, we had a lot of chaos in our governor’s race to say the least, this past election, where we had somebody nominated who proved to be not a great candidate, whose resume was exaggerated. We had Tom Tancredo enter the race. It was quite a mess. Had a lot of activists who initially where accusing the state party of cutting back room deals, nominating candidates, which was not true. We had a very free and open and fair nomination process. And then when our candidate eventual nominee that they supported collapsed, the accusations were made, why didn’t you take care of him to begin with? Why did you ever let him get this far? Well, you can’t have it both ways. Parker goes on to try and be as gentle as she can and he responded in time. What was interesting in this interview was that Wadhams feels social issues won’t matter in the 2012 election because they want to WIN!. PARKER: Well now, Dick, are you saying that you think social issues are going to take a backseat this time around? WADHAMS: I think the social issues will always play a role in our nomination, but I also know what the American people are concerned about in any poll I’ve seen are the fiscal standards of our nation. I mean, people are concerned about the debt and the deficit. They’re concerned about the overreach of power by the federal government. And I think those are going to be the issues that will define our nomination fight and also the general election in November of 2012. And so while social issues are important, and always will be in the Republican Party, we are virtually a pro-life party, but on the other hand, I think that the focus will be on fiscal issues in this coming campaign. Has he seen the new Republican legislation that’s so incredibly barbaric to women on the issue of choice? During the August health fare town hall fiasco’s, social issues weren’t supposed to play a role at all in it except it did. The religious right got its freak on lead by Bart Stupak, which almost killed the HCR bill over federal funding for abortions. He lost his job over it so never let them fool you. Yes, tax cuts and free markets will be at the top of their agenda, but they want you to turn away from social issues so they can blindside you with under a minute to go in the game.
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Dick Wadhams talks to CNN and explains why he’s tired of the "nuts" in the Tea Party
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on February 10, 2011. Filed under