Saturday, August 10, 2019

Oconee County Republicans Are Told Women Will Play A Crucial Role In The Party’s Future

***Two Of Three Speakers Focused On Women***

Women are crucial to the future of the Republican Party, two of the three speakers told the attendees at the June meeting of the Oconee County Republican Party.

Tim Echols, Public Service Commission vice chair, called on the “gentlemen” in the audience to help young women get “credentialed,” saying that the Democrats–particularly in the 2018 primaries–demonstrated the ability of female candidates to win elections.

Brant Frost, 2nd vice chair of the Georgia Republican Party, had a different calculus.

Frost said the “future belongs” to the Republican Party because “Christian and conservative women” have more children than “Democrat women” and the gap will result in dominance of the Republican Party in 20 or 30 years.

“They forgot to reproduce,” Frost said.

Ginger Howard, the Republican National Committeewoman from Georgia, gave an upbeat presentation, saying the Republican National Committee has given the state “the financial resources that we need” to be successful in 2020.

The Oconee County Republican Party did not meet in July, and the next meeting is at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 26 at the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce. Speakers are to include 10th District Congressman Jody Hice, Labor Commissioner Mark Butler, and Oconee County Chamber of Commerce President Courtney Barnardi.

Echols On State Competitiveness

Echols, who lives in Athens, told the group that Republicans cannot take for granted that it will continue to hold every office in the state.

Echols

“It is very important for all of us in this party to continue to help get females and young people in positions of authority--power--so we can credentialize them,” Echols said.

“You know what I mean by that,” he continued, “getting them into a position that others respect so they could begin to go up the ladder.”

Echols said men should champion women in the Rotary, at the Kiwanis Club, and in the party itself.

“The constituency out there is moving in that direction,” he said, “and if we’re not paying attention we’re going to lose our majority.”

“As we meet young women in particular who are pro-life, who are pro-gun, who are all the things our party stands for,” Echols said. “Let’s find a place for them to serve.”

Young People

Echols said “there is a lot of cynical young people out there. You go into any class at the University of Georgia and, I’m telling you, there’s a lot of cynicism out there.

“There’s a lot of very liberal kids,” he continued. “And if we’re not careful--we’re not careful--we’re not doing what we can do to educate them. What the values that our party stands for. We’re going to wake up one day and we are not going to be in the majority.

“And it won’t be any fun,” Echols continued.

Echols then shifted his conversation to the work of the Public Service Commission.

Coal And Solar Energy

Echols said Georgia is about to spend $6 billion on coal ash mitigation.

He said the ash is in ponds, but the federal Environmental Protection Agency wants those ponds to be lined, and they are not.

“Environmental rules are continuing to make coal more expensive,” he said, “now that the coal ash stuff is with us in terms of the cost of moving it.”

The state soon will close five old coal plants, he said.

“I don’t think we’ll ever build another coal plant,” Echols said. “I don’t think that will happen.”

Solar is the “cheapest form of energy we have right now,” Echols said.

Howard Update

Howard, from Atlanta, is one of three state members of the Republican National Committee.

Howard

She told the gathering at the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce in Watkinsville that the Republican National Committee has invested $300 million in data since 2013.

“Our data is far better than anybody’s,” she said, and state candidates have access to those data for their election efforts.

“We are 100 percent behind our president,” Howard said. “We are 100 percent our Republican candidates.

“We are raising the money,” she continued. “We’ve got the data. And we are working on voter registration.”

“I really do feel like we have all of the tools in our tool chest to win,” Howard said.

“We had a really big scare this last fall in Georgia with Stacey Abrams getting to be so close in that election,” Howard said, referring to the gubernatorial race won by Brian Kemp with a 1.4 percentage point margin of victory.

Frost And Freedom

Frost, from Coweta County southwest of Atlanta, began his comments by talking about his view of freedom.

“There is not going to be a singular moment when we say, Wow, we’ve won and now we can go home,” Frost said.

“The struggle for freedom is like walking up a down escalator,” he said. “If you ever stop, you slide backwards.

“Freedom is not the natural human condition,” according to Frost. “Slavery, feudalism, doing what the man tells you.

“That is the natural human condition. So we have got to remain vigilant,” he warned.

Voter Registration

Frost said the Republican Party traditionally has “shied away” from voter registration in the past.

“Our voters were, frankly, smart enough to go register by themselves,” he said.

In addition, Republican voters are now spread through rural areas, making it “hard to get people to register when they are living miles apart.”

The Internet has made it easier to register voters, Frost said, and efforts will be made to go around the state with a computer and register people via the Internet.

Social Media

Frost told the audience he wants them to use Facebook and Instagram and Twitter as well as another site called allsocial.com, which he said is more receptive to conservative posts.

“The media thought they had 2016 in the bag,” Frost said. “And then, after the election, they took a year just thinking it was a bad dream,” Frost added, laughing.

“And then, when they realized it wasn’t a bad dream, they did a post op and they said, How in the world did it autopsy?

“They came to the conclusion,” according to Frost, “that it was because conservative viewpoints were being presented by alternative media, on YouTube, on Facebook and on Twitter, and they said, Never again.”

Frost contended that the Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have altered their search algorithms to make it harder for people to find conservative posts.

“The chief goal is to wage guerilla warfare in the social media world,” Frost said. “We have to be able to disseminate information in our own circle of influence,” he added.

Criticism Of Democrats

Frost told the group that “Democrats have abandoned everything they used to believe in.”

Frost

Twenty years ago, Frost said, “Republicans were the party more or less of middle class and upper class White people and businesses.

“Democrats were the party of working class Whites and minorities," he said.

The Republicans “had Cubans,” Frost said. “We had Asians in the Republican Party. So it was pretty diverse.

“But the Democrats have basically become the party of four cities–Hollywood, San Francisco, New York and Washington, D.C.,” Frost said.

“They have become the elitist club of the various pet projects of the elitists in those four cities who are almost always trust fund babies.”

Frost referenced Anderson Cooper of CNN as his example of a Democrat.

“Look at them. People like Anderson Cooper,” Frost said. “White as can be. Where’s the diversity there?”

Women And Fertility

“The other side has a culture of death,” Frost said. “We have a culture of life.”

Frost claimed that “Christian and conservative women have a 35 percent fertility advantage over Democrat women. And the more conservative a woman is, the more likely she is to be married and have a lot of kids–three, four, five, six kids.

“And the more liberal and leftist a woman is,” Frost claimed, “the less likely she is to even be married and have any children at all.

“You cannot sustain a movement without families,” Frost said. “Thirty years from now, 20 years from now even, that rate will be so amazing that you will see an explosion, a reawakening just like you saw in the 1970s with the Jesus movement.

“You will see an awakening of traditional values,” Frost said. “It is already beginning to happen.”

Frost said “they” have lots of things, such as control over the institutions, the universities and Hollywood “But they forgot to reproduce. They forgot to have babies. And we didn’t.”

“In 20 years, we’re going to inherit those institutions,” Frost said. “These institutions are going to have a sharp swing to the right. Nobody’s going to know why. But we know why. We had the kids and they didn’t.

“The future belongs to us, folks,” Frost said.

Reaction To Presentations

Attendees asked questions of all of the presenters, sometimes interrupting their comments.

All presenters received strong applause.

At the end of Frost’s presentation, Steven Strickland, Oconee County GOP chair who was presiding at the meeting, said “That was amazing!”

Strickland pointed to Sarah Bell, who was recording the meeting for me, and asked: “You going to give that video tape to Lee Becker?”

“Quote for him,” Strickland said. “They forgot to reproduce. Use that for your Oconee Observations blog.”

Three key takeaways, Strickland said to laughter. “They forgot to reproduce. All social. And yes, we want the data.”

Video

The video below is from the June 24 meeting of the Oconee County Republican Party.

I was out of the country. Bell recorded the video at my request.

I obtained the video from Bell shortly after I returned to the country early in July, but I put off writing about the meeting until now to catch up on other Board of Commissioners and Board of Education meetings I had missed and to write about meetings that took place once I was back in the country.

Bell estimated that about 30 people attended the meeting. She said she did not make a count.

Echols began speaking shortly after the meeting started, but his comments were interrupted so the group could have an invocation and then pledge allegiance to the flag.

Echols resumed his talk–and repeated what he had said earlier–starting at 5:55 in the video.

Howard started her comments at 28:08 in the video.

Frost began his comments at 46:42.

19 comments:

Dan Magee said...

Four Women County Commissioners in the county's history.

Oconee was founded in 1875.


My pet rock is more intelligent than Brian Frost. That was truly embarrassing, as was Stevie Strickland at the end of the meeting. Bless Your Hearts.

Anonymous said...

ronald reagan says 'good luck' with passing one's party to one's children.

it appears we're moving to a white, male gop, and a more inclusive democrat party; that's certainly what this comment points out. this can't be good for the gop or our country.

but african americans in georgia have a higher birth rate than whites (60.1/57.6 per thousand).

hispanics are growing the fastest, at 80 per thousand; 2/3 vote democrat.

i assume 'we have the data' means knowing how to avoid a wide turnout, and instead suppress some areas.

when our democracy depends on who has more children or who has 'the data'than who has the best ideas and policies for the country as a whole; when one-person/one-vote and majority rule lose in the electoral college, it means something is wrong.

Brian Crawford said...

Okay ladies, who wants to volunteer to be Ofbrent? I hear he's very fertile. UNDER HIS EYE.

Pam Davis said...

WOW...and not in a good way.

Brian Crawford said...

Hahaha, crucial role...as breeders.

Zippity said...

Yes, I think Mr. Frost belongs in another century and I wish I found him funny.

And, yes, it will cost a lot to deal with coal ash and, of course, there will be no more coal plants and solar will rule in GA. I guess the GOP is finally catching up with the Dems on energy (but of course, how can they follow Mr. Trump on this since he is also in the last century or maybe even further back where women are concerned).

Kevin O. said...

This is a textbook example of how white supremacist/nationalist thought is normalized in American culture. A primary White supremacist/nationionalist mandate is to marry a "white woman" and have "many white babies", in order to preserve numbers and cultural dominance. This is the same exact talk. But he'll swear up and down that he's not racist. And he really thinks he isn't, again, because of how this culture has normalized this kind of thinking.

HarryA said...

Mr. Frost represents a small, vocal group and is actually similar to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) NY. Outlandish, intemperate, simplistic and having no basis in reality. I'm sure his sister isn't complimented by being a "breeder" classification. As a life-long Republican, I can't apologize for Brant Frost's stupidity, nor do I wish too. Let him hem and haw, but he is not welcome into MY Republican Party, thank you.

Anonymous said...

It's just laughable. Do they really believe all that they say? Have they just decided that facts and truth don't matter since Trump is President now? He used Anderson Cooper as the proof that the Democratic party is really white and not diverse? It's just insane.

Pam Davis said...

Thank You Harry A. If only more Republicnas were like you we could all get along and get productive things done.

Pam Davis said...

Mr. Frost has never been in a foxhole, on the front lines, in a hurricane or in harms way reporting the news. Yes, his mother was Gloria Vanderbilt. He adored her. He neither needed or took any inheritance. Anderson NEVER used or uses the Vanderbilt name. He is an extremely hard working, brave journalist. Brant Frost..walk a mile in his shoes before you make unfounded accusations. You would not last a minute on the ground covering a story under gun shower in Afghanistan. If Mr. Frost is employeed, it is not reflected on his website. He also does not mention being married. If he is going to procreate and insure in 20-30 years all people will be Republicans..he better get started. Surely there is a Stepford wife out there for him. Just because Republicans make babies..it does not mean they will follow their parents politics. My father was a lifelong Republican. However, none of his children are...or grandchildren. We loved him..just disagreed.

Earl McCorkle said...

The liberals have spoken!

Lee Becker said...

All,
This post has resulted in higher readership than is usual and more comments than are usual. I have not published three comments that attacked Frost in personal terms rather than disputed what he said.
Lee

Earl McCorkle said...

Both political parties have idiots. The conservative just has less!

Earl McCorkle said...

Anderson Cooper is a joke and unreal in life and principles!

Anonymous said...

Higher readership should be expected when it makes state or national news. Wonder how many of the comments are local?

Earl McCorkle said...

Pam is great spam!

Anonymous said...

You made FARK, that's why. https://www.fark.com/comments/10522377/Frost-said-future-belongs-to-Republican-Party-because-Christian-conservative-women-have-more-children-than-Democrat-women-the-gap-will-result-in-dominance-of-Republican-Party-in-20-30-years

Oconee Democratic said...

Thank you for giving political commentary and coverage in Oconee County