Dayhoff Westminster Soundtrack: Senator Joe Getty’s Tampa convention report

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Senator Joe Getty’s Tampa convention report – part one

By Kevin E. Dayhoff, Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Last Thursday, September 20, 2012, Senator Joe Getty, R-Carroll and Baltimore Counties, shared insights, pictures, and anecdotes that he had gathered from attending the recent Republican National Convention in Tampa Florida.

At the pre-election breakfast, September 20, in Westminster, Senator Getty also made some observations about the upcoming general election in Carroll County,

Several hundred attended the early morning presentation, including four of the five Republican Carroll County commissioners, Haven Shoemaker, David Roush, Doug Howard, and Robin Frazier.

Maryland Delegate Justin Ready, a Republican from Carroll County, and a rising star in the Maryland General Assembly, attended, as did Senators E. J. Pipkin, R-Maryland Eastern Shore and Allan Kittleman, R-Howard County.

Many in the audience appreciated the comments of District 8 congressional candidate Ken Timmerman.

It was especially delightful to see former Maryland State Senator and retired Circuit Court Judge Ray Beck in attendance.

Senator Getty’s thoughtful and well-prepared program included a narrated slide show of his experiences attending the convention.

He began, in part, with a series of pictures documenting a media bias incident which involved an unpleasant interaction between members of the Maryland Delegation to the convention and CBS News of the contemporary ‘Gotcha Media.’

“About 30-seconds,” into former Massachusetts’ Governor Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech, a reporter for CBS News, stationed in the aisle by the Maryland delegation pronounced prophetically into microphone that Governor Romney had failed to rally his base support… had failed to rally the convention behind him…

As Senator Getty explained, she said this just seconds after he had begun his speech. Louis M. Pope, a national committeeman of the Maryland Republican Party, who was seated essentially right beside the reporter, objected loudly.

“You can’t say that,” Mr. Pope announced…

Unhappy over the unplanned challenge to her carefully prepared script, written well in advance of Governor Romney’s speech, the reporter loudly responded and bit of an unpleasant exchange followed.

I experienced, first hand, several examples of blatant, in your face, media bias at the Republican National Convention in September 2008 at the “Xcel Energy Center” in St. Paul Minnesota.

Find my Tentacle coverage of the 2008 Republican National Convention in TheTentacle.com here: Friday, September 12, 2008, “A Little Convention History,” and Thursday, September 11, 2008, “Eloquent Prose – Excellent Friends,” and here, Wednesday, September 10, 2008, “The Four “E’s” of the GOP Convention.”

I’m here to tell you, that to explore the concept of media bias intellectually – or emotionally is one thing. But until you have actually witnessed media bias, you cannot fathom how upsetting it is to see and hear it with your own eyes and ears. There is something so fundamentally unfair – so un-American about it that it shakes you to your very core.

As for the current presidential election campaign coverage by the major elite media; no matter what the situation or the scenario, just like the CBS reporter in Senator Getty’s example – the story has already been written with all the Democrat Party talking points included – all the reporter needs to do is cut and paste and press print…

Moreover, the elite media will cover for each other and the president. So, for those out there wondering how can the CBS reporter get away with that behavior? The answer is, because she can. No organization or individual in the elite progressive media will challenge a colleague or hold each other accountable for their dereliction of professional duties and responsibilities…

For some additional perspective of Senator Getty’s presentation last Thursday please understand that Senator Getty remains, along with Maryland Senator David Brinkley, R-Frederick County, and Senator Kittleman, among the most-respected elected officials in Annapolis.

Perhaps Senator Kittleman best explained the significance of Senator Getty’s keen observations, “Joe Getty does not get up to speak in Annapolis unless he has something to say… He always does his homework and he knows the issues…”

Last Thursday, Senator Getty’s informative presentation was positive. Nevertheless, there is a “sense of urgency in this election,” explained Senator Getty. That is the … “most prominent theme there and in discussions with people at home - people are” worried…

“On a more positive note, “Gov. Matt Mead of Wyoming also spoke to Maryland Republicans about the leadership that America needs NOW - This country has a lot of problems. We need leadership, not in 4 a years, or 8 years… We need it now…”

“The toughest job of the convention,” said Senator Getty, belonged to “Ann Romney, the wife of Mitt Romney. She had to offer a personal view of her husband's career with being overly sentimental or superficial. She did an excellent job and energized the entire convention floor.”

As for Ms. Romney’s speech, Senator Getty remarked, Gov. Mead shared with us his wife’s opinion about Ann Romney's speech the prior evening: “It was a message to the women of American and I needed my wife's perspective - as the first lady of a state, she has never heard anything better than Ann Romney's speech.”

“Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey who implored the audience to elect Mitt Romney as the candidate with the experience to create jobs, ignite the private sector economy and restore America's greatness. He was very blunt: US needs an adult conversation… That Obama should quit the pandering… America needs strong leadership…”

At this point in the morning, I was already quite sad that I sat-out this convention due to a series of scheduling conflicts. And I felt this way long before Senator Getty shared his observations of Paul Ryan’s, the Republican candidate for vice-president and currently Wisconsin 1^st congressional district Representative - and Governor Romney’s acceptance speeches - which we will cover in another column soon.

Until then, please understand that now more than ever, the old adage; do not believe everything you read in the newspaper has never been truer…

I’m just saying.

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