Back to the Future

220px-Robin_Hayes,_official_109th_Congress_photoIt’s like 2012 ALL OVER AGAIN.   With all of these Saines saints of the Republican Party praising the return of Robin Hayes to the North Carolina party’s top post as a victory for “unity” and “the grassroots”, let’s harken back to his performance from the 2012 convention in Tampa and some of his most memorable lines: 

” […] If you don’t remember anything else, remember this: Always support your leadership.  If you think I’m being heavy-handed, I am. […]”

Says the man who cheered the deposing of the duly-elected chairman of the NCGOP.  And we can’t forget: THIS:

“It is my intention as your elected chairman to vote this delegation with the leadership against the minority report. If there are a majority of you who are opposed to doing that, raise your hand. Mitt Romney does not want that to happen. You’re for Robin, or you’re against Robin. If you’re against Robin, raise your hand.”

*Feel the unity, y’all.*images (5)

Hayes acted like it was a surprise this weekend that he got nominated.  YET, he read from a PREPARED speech.  He also got publicly called out by Lee County vice chairman Jim Womack: 

The man who led the formal defense of Hasan Harnett, the North Carolina Republican Party chairman who was removed from office Saturday, says that his words are being “twisted” by Robin Hayes, the state GOP’s new chairman.

Members of the nearly 600-member executive committee, which voted to oust Harnett, were instructed not to talk about the substance of what amounted to a behind-closed-doors trial held at the McKimmon Center on the North Carolina State University campus, an agreement that Jim Womack said he had been willing to abide by.

But Womack said the words he used to defend Harnett have been twisted by Hayes, a former congressman and who had served as party chairman in 2011 and 2012, in public comments made after Saturday’s meeting.

“It was a kangaroo court that removed our chairman,” Womack said.

Harnett was out of town when the executive committee removed him and has not offered public comment since the action.130219_womack_034

Hayes made the remarks that incited Womack to break his silence shortly after the meeting ended during an interview with WRAL News and The News & Observer.

Referring to Harnett, Hayes said, “He did not have the background, the experience and the leadership skills that come from being immersed in the process over a number of years. The person who was speaking on his behalf said that in the beginning (of the meeting). I’m just repeating what is own people said.”

Womack said Hayes mischaracterized what he had said, making it appear as if he were critical of Harnett’s background.

“We didn’t elect the typical inside-politics leader,” Womack said, explaining why Harnett appealed to the grassroots activists who buoyed his bid last summer.

Harnett, he said, was chosen on a pledge to be more responsive to the grassroots and change the way the party operated rather than his facility for chairing meetings or dealing with the party’s various committees.

“What we elected was a person who was popular for his advocacy around the state,” Womack said.

None of that, Womack said, was meant as a criticism of Harnett or should be taken to imply that the now-former chairman wasn’t up to the job.

Womack said Hayes might have been piqued by evidence that showed Harnett was a better fundraiser than Hayes. Regardless, Womack said, Hayes was bucking the rules of the very meeting that brought him back to the party chairmanship.

“I call for his immediate resignation,” Womack said.[…]

Yeah, Hayes is inspiring unity.  He’s bringing together and solidifying a whole lot of pissed off people.