Trib: A look at Idaho GOP’s F words

In his Friday Cheers & Jeers column, Opinion Editor Marty Trillhaase of the Lewiston Tribune gives JEERS to … Idaho Republican Party Chairman Steve Yates:

As his party gathers at Nampa for its state convention, consider the theme: “Faith, Family, Freedom … Firearms!”

If you’re not for faith, family or freedom, you might want to turn the page.

Firearms?

If you’re looking for an incendiary slogan, why not “Faith, Family, Freedom … Fetuses!”

Is the Idaho GOP saying you can’t be a Republican if you agree with 14 attorneys general in this country who want to unshackle the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention so it can figure out a way to prevent gun deaths in this country - most of which are suicides?

Do you fail the GOP litmus test if you support smart gun technology that would prevent anyone other than the weapon’s owner from firing it?

Heaven forbid any Idaho Republican would question handing over concealed weapons permits to anyone, anywhere and at any time.

And what would an Idaho GOP convention be without the usual cornucopia of oddball rants waiting to be adopted as resolutions or platform planks? There are a couple of good ideas - such as toughening up Idaho’s Sunshine Law or renouncing bigotry, racism and xenophobia. But most of them read like this:

• Affirming that ” … carbon dioxide is not a pollutant that should be regulated, but is rather an essential compound … Cyclical weather patterns, including temporary cycles of regional or global warming or cooling are the providence of God and can not be altered or regulated. …”
• Endorsing Utah state Rep. Ken Ivory’s American Lands Council agenda of acquiring ownership to the federal lands within Idaho.
• Interfering with the success educators and the Idaho School Boards Association have achieved in helping transgender students in the public schools.
• Tearing down Idaho’s constitutional wall of separation between church and state so that Bibles can be crammed down the throats of public school students.

Mr. Chairman, if you’re looking for another “F” word, may we suggest … “Fringe”?