I spent the weekend at the CA GOP convention. I had heard that there was a move afoot by a wealthy “Republican” to strip the party platform of the pro-marriage and pro-life planks. Rumor was, that this gentleman, Charles Munger, paid people to support his watered down version of the platform. Since I live in San Deigo, and the convention was in LA, I went to keep an eye on things. I brought with me a couple of family members and ITAF grads. I did some “real time” posting on my facebook page yesterday. Here’s the summary.
The full platform committee voted to preserve the pro-life and pro-marriage language that has been part of the platform for some time. Interestingly enough, the argument for the new platform was not, “let’s take out the life and marriage stuff.” The argument was, “the old platform doesn’t have enough about jobs and the economy.”
Well, Mike Spence (see below) took care of that argument. He pointed out that the platform has plenty of support for free markets and job creation. It also has plenty about the social issues that matter so much to so many people. He pointed out that Prop 8 was a winning proposition, supported by groups like blacks and Latinos who are not normally Republican constituencies. He argued that the GOP should not back away from a winning proposition, right at the moment when some minority communities are starting to think Republicans care about something that matters to them. (My interview with Mike Spence should be posted on the Ruth Institute podcast page soon.)
The platform was preserved by a vote of 66-50, with 4 abstentions.
This sarcastic column from August gives you a taste of Mike Spence’s views on the platform:
To the assembled liberal politicos in the room opposing a real definition of marriage made complete sense. The CRP wouldn’t want to associate the party with the language of Proposition 8. That would be a bad idea. IT WAS APPROVED BY VOTERS! It won majorities in minority communities. It got more votes than our candidates. We can’t mention we agree with voters that would be madness.
See the stupid party is alive and well.