Carl DeMaio Unfazed by Dirty Tricks

On Thursday night, my wife and I attended an event with City Councilman Carl DeMaio. The event was actually a mayoral fundraiser for big wigs with whom I normally do not rub elbows. We attended this event because Carl took the time to call me and invite me himself. Being a humble blogger, this was shocking and refreshing.

Upon arriving, a firetruck was parked out front and a group of mayoral candidate Bob Filner (D) supporters were gathered around with protest signs. The Filner supporters attempted to break up the DeMaio fundraiser by calling in the fire department. They claimed that the room was beyond capacity. This was not true, but the point of the dirty trick was to punish anyone who hosts a Republican fundraiser. When we arrived, the firemen were lecturing the Democrats that the response to their complaint was a waste of tax money and may have cost lives in an emergency.  I am pretty sure the part about wasting tax money went right over their heads, but they were dispersed and sent on their merry ways by the fire department.

The event was nice.  The Butcher Shop hosted the event which featured several tables of delicious finger foods and desserts. Carl gave a short but rousing speech and graciously thanked everyone for attending.

Councilman DeMaio sat at the table with a group of us toward the end of the dinner and shared political war stories. He relayed a story about fighting for books to be put on reserve at the college library as a poor college student. Carl discussed his role in fighting for the little guy in several settings and mentioned that "if someone isn't mad at you, you aren't doing anything." The most interesting stories were about the lengths the local public employee unions go to stop reform. The tax raising story of Prop D. is an example of how the unions operate in San Diego.

Carl DeMaio is running for mayor and winning. He is winning among Republicans. Carl is leading solidly among independents. Most informatively, Carl is only eight points behind Bob Filner among Democrats. These numbers were according to Councilman DeMaio. I look them up and found only this SurveyUSA Election Poll #18958, but the specifics are not as important as Carl's follow-up statement: "I want to win among every group."

As a tea party member engaged in the struggle to save our country, I cannot agree more wholeheartedly! We cannot just want to win. Beating the other guy is important in the competition of ideas, but we are all Americans. We believe in the founding ideas of this country. There is no reason that like minded Americans cannot agree on core issues of freedom. Our goal should be to win the hearts and minds of the people we are trying to save from certain economic and personal ruin, and not just prove our point.

Some people are miseducated and brainwashed by the one sided culture war and "reeducation system." That I grant, but most Americans do not want our system to collapse in order to be "fundamentally transformed."  Most Americans just want to have a decent life and be left alone. For that to happen, we need brave people who want to reach across the ideological rift despite occasionally having fingers bitten off.

Personally, I sometimes blow a gasket when miseducated, uninformed and deceptive leftists float their propaganda. They look at politics as war and the first rule of war is deception. It is upsetting.  Remember that irrational people look to make rational people irrational through incendiary tactics. We need to love the struggle and maybe even turn the other cheek.

Andrew Breitbart knew they were lying, but he kept having fun. It seems Carl DeMaio also understands this. DeMaio is smart, charismatic, his energy level is high, his commitment is unwavering and he enjoys the fight. I am glad he is on our side.

Post Script

Another attendee of the event mentioned Delphi Forums: The Bully Pulpit  as a place to exchange and debate ideas. It might be a good place to practice reaching across that ideological rift without losing a finger (carpel tunnel not included).