Thursday, October 14, 2010

Grant Woods: Thomas Jefferson vs. Lindsay Lohan

Posted By on Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 10:29 AM

Yesterday, Salon.com published a letter written by Republican Grant Woods, under attack by his own political party for endorsing Democrat and attorney general candidate Felicia Rotellini. The letter is to Rob Haney, the chairman of the Maricopa County Republican Committee, addressing Haney's attempt to strip Woods of his party voting priviledges.

Woods is a former attorney general, who served from 1991-1999. His letter is part of Salon's The Year in Sanity campaign. In honor of The Daily Show's Rally to Restore Sanity, Salon is accepting nominations from readers on people they think deserve to be honored for their sane behavior this year. To read Woods' letter and get more info on the Sanity campaign, go here.

Here's a bit of the letter to Mr. Hankey, er, Mr. Haney:

According to you, if there was a hypothetical race between Thomas Jefferson, Democrat and Lindsay Lohan, Republican, I could not endorse Jefferson over Lohan. With all due respect, I knew the AG's Office better than you, and I know that Felicia Rotellini is the superior candidate in this race. I endorse her wholeheartedly.

I recognize, however, that your rule is your rule. So I will not be surprised if you suspend my "voting privileges" at County Republican meetings. I put my name in for precinct committeeman at the request of my neighbors and was pleased to be elected with the most votes of the five candidates running for four spots. I'm sure my neighbors did not expect me to toe your party line. I am disappointed that I won't be able to vote on your important resolutions on "issues" such as secession from the union and the never-ending pursuit of the President's birth certificate, but I will get over it.

By the way, you have spent most of the past decade publicly condemning and working against many of our Republican elected officials, including our last nominee for President of the United States. It seems like this is more damaging than an endorsement. Maybe you need another rule.

And while you are at it, I would propose a rule of my own, one that I have followed throughout my life: All members of either party should try to do the right thing and never ask another American to put blind allegiance to any party over their allegiance to their state and country. If I could vote, I would vote for that one.