“Wait, WHAT?!?? Republican Party officials displaying common decency and scruples?” Apparently, yes.
The situation could still change, but for now the San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that Patrick Little, a misogynist and fulminating anti-Semite, was denied entry on Saturday to the California GOP Convention being held this weekend in San Diego, and escorted by security off the premises.
As previously reported on DailyKos, Patrick Little, who has no experience in public office and whose website is soaked with anti-Semitic, anti-Israel screeds and “policy proposals,” nevertheless scored second place (18%) behind Senator Dianne Feinstein (39%) in a recent poll conducted by SurveyUSA of 520 likely voters. Among voters in California’s Central Valley, he virtually tied with Feinstein (28% to 29%), and among voters self-identifying as (sarcastic finger-quotes) “conservative”, he polled at 42%.
However, Cynthia Bryant — who is not just some delegate, but is executive director of the California Republican Party — was having none of it, and personally told him to hit the bricks: “But you’re not welcome here,” she said after Little identified himself as a Republican and tried to register at the convention. “There is no room for that kind of speech here.” Bryant further explained that, as a private organization, the GOP can exclude whoever it chooses.
Little reportedly didn’t take the rejection well:
As Little was led from the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina he was “kicking and dragging an Israeli flag on the ground,” said GOP consultant Luis Alvarado, who witnessed Little’s removal. “That doesn’t represent our values.”
So, in the spirit of positive reinforcement: Kudos, please, to Bryant and Alvarado, who did and said the right things — the American things — today.