In 2006, I had the noted displeasure of working with the Colorado GOP. Unhelpful, uncoordinated, and with the notable exception of one staffer directly attached to our slice of Colorado, unsophisticated at best.
And pretentious as hell.
So I shed nary a tear watching “Mr. Wadhams” — as he insisted he be called by others (I kid you not) — get the boot at the Colorado GOP:
In ending his reelection bid, Colorado GOP Chair Dick Wadhams isn’t hiding his frustration, illustrating the lingering disagreement among Republicans in the state following a disappointing election cycle.
“It really came to a head this past weekend, maybe a few days before that,” Wadhams said of the timing of his decision in an interview with Hotline On Call Tuesday afternoon. “And then frankly, I had grown weary of activists, both new and old that seemed to have a conspiracy theory around every corner.”
When pressed for specific examples, Wadhams mentioned both the gubernatorial and Senate races, beginning with former Republican gubernatorial candidate Josh Penry (R), a once rising star who ended his bid in late 2009. Some had charged that Wadhams was responsible for his exit.
“The rumor was that I forced him out of the race,” said Wadhams, who denied the charge and said he was excited about Penry’s candidacy but had to remain neutral in the primary.
Of course, Virginians will remember him not only for Wadham’s disastrous handling of the 2006 re-election effort for then U.S. Senator and presumptive presidential nominee George Allen, but for chewing out the Washington Post in his equally inept handling of the “macaca” incident:
Mr. Wadhams, an itinerant political hit man known for his nasty attacks on opponents, told Republican leaders in a memo sent over the weekend that the Webb campaign and the media had ganged up “to create national news over something that did not warrant coverage in the first place.”
He continued: “Never in modern times has a statewide office holder and candidate been so vilified.” In other words, Mr. Allen is the victim — not the 20-year-old student whom he mocked with an insulting, possibly racist slur in front of scores of chortling supporters and demeaned by saying, “Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia!”
Slick move, moron.
This is one political obituary I hope is stapled to every freshman political novitiate’s forehead. Being boorish only gets you so far in this business. You can push small papers in South Dakota and Colorado, but when you come East… you tread carefully. A little respect in politics goes a long, long way.