GiN on KLKN TV: Tea Party Movement Impact In Nebraska

By Shelli Dawdy

Lincoln’s KLKN TV contacted me Friday, requesting an interview regarding recent developments in the primary elections. The reporter, Stephanie Costanzo, informed KLKN had done a story everyday this week on the tea party’s impact and they were looking for the local perspective. Did the successes in other places in the country provide any momentum to the Nebraska tea party movement?

You can check out my answer in the interview video. Channel 8 generally does a good job on these stories (outside of calling GiN “Nebraska Tea Party”). I don’t have to be too concerned about getting taken out of context, which I appreciate.

What didn’t make TV are the points I made about how Christine O’Donnell’s victory in Delaware and some of the other challenger victories in some of these later Republican primaries are not only hopeful, they are indicative. There is a very necessary and almost cosmic struggle taking place - thank the Good Lord. At least some voters in some places realize that the Republican Party is just as much our problem in so many ways as the Democratic one.

What I did not say…

The vitriol coming out of the Republican Party immediately following the realization that O’Donnell had picked off their RINO candidate was shocking even to someone like myself, who didn’t think they could be surprised by the tactics of party-powerful types.

Announcing there would be no support for their own party’s nominee was something I couldn’t have predicted. I don’t know what was more heartening; O’Donnell’s victory or the backlash Wednesday morning when common sense Republicans across the country started pouring their wrath down on the RNC’s heads.

What else “hit the cutting room floor”? Tuesday’s victory in Delaware, and others, show that this is not about President Obama or the Democrats. People are tired of politics as usual; they are fed up with politicians.

Finally, to support my claim that we can have more impact within Nebraska than on a federal level, I briefly explained how many Nebraskans worked hard to support the passage of the Sovereignty Resolution. There was a large turnout to the hearing for the resolution and a persistence in maintaining contact with Senators.

If we focus our energy on local government, it does have an impact.