I've known Brent for a long time, now. At least 15 years. I believed in him enough to work for nothing on his campaign for prosecutor, but that didn't work out all that well for a wide variety of reasons I could, but won't, go into. I, personally, defended him and fought for him against the voice of record, for the very people who are wearing out kneepads in front of him now.
Boy, was I a sucker, or what?
In fact, multiple sources have told me that Brent was practically despondent a few months ago that no effort was made to get HIM the appointment to the vacant 18th District seat.... months after the Party acted against Boldt.
Odd, isn't it? A few months ago, Boger was desperate to become a state representative under the same banner he's now pissing on, and the Boldt situation had no impact on his considerations... THEN.... so why engage in this kind of crap NOW? A deal of some sort, perhaps? Jockeying for a presumed McKenna appointment of some sort?
Like myself, Boger was a target of the left, including this very newspaper. Now that he's effectively turned his back on anyone to the right of Lenin, of course, he'll be resurrected in their eyes. Fellow leftist Larry Smith, for example, babbled:
Larry J. Smith · Top Commenter · Council at City of Vancouver
If Brent came out in the other direction, does anyone reading this think it would even have been a story?
And more importantly, would democrat Larry Smith have called his position "honest and candid?"
Of course not. It's only "honest and candid" when people like Smith agree with it.
Boger's had a tough couple of years, in a lot of ways. But he's lost touch with what Republicanism is, and his departure is probably right for all concerned.
Here, I'll take a moment to point this out: Boger has not come close to being treated as harshly as Marc Boldt... even thought Boldt has deserved everything he's received and a great deal more for the corruption he's engaged in as commissioner.
Even so, Boldt at least makes the effort to stick with the GOP... even when it's a GOP that's made it clear they don't want him.
What does that say about Boldt? But more importantly, what does it say about Boger?
Much of the GOP hates me as much as they do anyone who doesn't see eye-to-eye with the establishment... an establishment that produces leftists like McKenna, Dunn and Finkbiener. Clearly, Boger believes that we must support any and every candidate, regardless of how liberally unresponsive they are... no matter how much they mirror democrat party planks in their philosophy as they effort a campaign designed to out-democrat the democrats (and how, for example, has that been working out for McKenna?) as long as they have an "R" after their name.
Brent and I have done battle with each other over that issue. In the article, Brent asks "'What makes you the repository of Republican orthodoxy?" I ask him the same question. he obviously believes he is.
The result? He picks up his football and goes home, failing to stay and fight it out for what he believes in.
Staying and fighting takes courage. It takes integrity. It takes guts. It's hard work. It's can and frequently is quite painful. And the end result?
There isn't a day that goes by when I do not despise those who view their judgment as superior to our own... or the corruption that can and does bring. My faith is in the people... not the arrogance of the establishment that Boger has been a part of for long past a decade.
And now, these things, which are quite cyclic in nature, seem to be turning against him. So, what does he do?
Brent Boger is a symptom of the Mainstreamer disease... and contrary to the democrat thrill that Brent achieved tonight along with holding Marc Boldt absolutely unaccountable for turning his back on his constituency... as if he actually "had obligations outside the Republican party," and those "obligations" and Republicanism are somehow mutually exclusive; like Boldt's efforts to silence us on the CRC and ram this scam down our throats was one of those "obligations" instead of a democrat tenet... where his Republican base is not only to be ignored, but to be pitied.
Brent's actions tonight just go to provide justifications for the PCO insurgency... as Boger is, apparently, everything they say he is. Is that what he's set out to do?
Mainstreamers are, essentially, democrats. The dichotomy here, however, is that Brent Boger has abandoned the GOP that he had so long failed. He was enamored of the GOP enough to run under it's banner just two short years ago... when it suited him... and to be furious that he hadn't achieved the appointment to the Legislature (One wonders: would he have been "principled" enough to make this stand if he HAD been appointed? I doubt it.) but now? Well, he doesn't need us, and he's got that non-partisan gig going on, so what better time to dump those of us who busted our asses to get him elected in the past?
So, Brent, thanks. Thanks for proving me right about you and your sort.
Enjoy your life of avoiding taking principled stands as you sink into the existence of political anonymity you so richly deserve.
I am not surprised... I never liked him. The first time I heard him speak, was to group of us PCO's. Condesending and arrogant.
ReplyDeleteSo Boger drifted off to the Left.
ReplyDeleteDived head first is more like it.
ReplyDeleteHe's an episcopal church member what do you expect????
ReplyDeleteHey Liz with friends like this who needs enemies ????
ReplyDeleteJust wondering...
ReplyDeleteHow can a government worker on government pension nearing retirement be a conservative????
He's not Brent finally came out of the closet.....
Brent says Liz Pike is a mainstream Republican.
ReplyDeleteAnna Miller says Liz Pike is a conservative Republican.
Who is right?
Interesting question.
ReplyDeletei was pondering that yesterday as I was digesting Boger's efforts generally to throw the county GOP under the political bus and his efforts to toss Pike under there specifically.
At this point, it all points to what I refer to as the lifeboat syndrome.
Brent, in the role of Eeyor from Winnie the Pooh, is now bobbing along in a political lifeboat in the middle of an ocean by himself. And how horrific is that?
So, he wants someone else out there in the metaphorical boat with him.
In this instance, Pike claims to be conservative and has established her conservative cred enough for me... and I was one of the early doubters.
But Liz is unique in that she had the guts to face me directly, something only Liz and Joe Tanner have done directly, and she has worked to address those concerns I may have had to the point that I know endorse and support her.
Further, there's a good chance that she's going to like being a state rep. If she is anything other then what she's claimed to be, that could be a short-lived gig.
So, in direct answer to the question, you have unsuccessful candidate and former Republican Brent Boger making a judgment that it seems he knows little about, versus the assurances of Liz Pike, who appears to be everything that Boger is not and never will be.
So, which is it?
I believe that Pike has become a more defined conservative. Pike knows she's not operating in a vaccum... and to label Pike as anything BUT conservative makes as much sense as labeling Boger as anything but a leftist toady.
This is the 1-8. If Pike, who will be under the microscope even blinks in any way that could be confused with Boger's more democrat tendencies, then conservatives will line up to get a shot at her in 14.
Boger is over in elective politics... or, likely any other kind, since his effort to damage those who have the temerity to disagree with his democrat view on the way out will never, ever be forgotten... or forgiven.
It was just a few short months ago that Boger was chomping at the bit to get the appointment for the vacant House seat from the party he now so thoroughly despises.
And that speaks for itself.
He has "left" (no pun) before but kept a list of active Republicans and continued to call and ask for information and favors.
ReplyDeleteNot this time! Not after he gave the Columbian a front page bashing of the party that welcomed him, and trusted him, and rewarded him.