Bloggers at Bearing Drift, led by Brian Schoeneman and Shaun Kenney, have decided to apply the famous Saul Alinsky tactic of “Pick a target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it” in order to frame her as a racist and use her proximity to RPV Chairman John Whitbeck to tar him.
As Rob Kenyon pointed out yesterday, most of Shaun and Brian’s nasty little handiwork is really in the name of using Jeanine’s “racism” to tar conservatives and overthrow the party’s State Central Committee and return to power the consultant class, thereby refilling their bank accounts.
There is of course more to it than that, and its personal. Let’s just finally get all the cards on the table here. John Whitbeck sent out a statement of support for John Guevara in his race for Sully supervisor against Schoeneman, and he dismissed Shaun from his lofty perch as RPV executive director. One guy lost out on political office, the other lost out on political power. That’s what this is about.
Forget racism, immigration, and all of that other stuff on the periphery. They seized on a comment by Jeanine that is not racist, chose to make it sound racist, and then proceeded to define Jeanine as racist … all in the name of taking down a common enemy. Think about this way, if you are observing this fight on social media or the blogs, ask yourself who is calling Jeanine a racist and trying to take John down? More than likely it’s someone who either has or wants to make money off of the party.
Those who lost their lucrative power first tried retribution through slating. Now, after Dave Brat defeated Eric Cantor, a lot of people lost a lot of money and the retribution is out-and-out slander and personal destruction. Forget about the pseudo-intellectual name dropping and Facebook linking of Burke, Bastiat, Buckley and whatever other intellectual they read last night or the sudden discovering of terms like Hmong and cuckservative that nobody had ever heard of before…this is about taking back power for the sake of having it. The conservative grassroots wants to win elections and effect change, the establishment just wants to make money.
The case of Brian Schoeneman is actually more egregious than that of Shaun Kenney. To Shaun’s credit, he has been harping on immigration for some time, even before this recent unpleasantness. Brian, on the other hand, seems to have found a convenient fight to further his grudge. The main crux of Brian’s endlessly long posts is that we need to speak to each other differently and grow the party. And yet, in Sully district in Fairfax County Republicans nominated a Mexican-American candidate (over Brian) and he has remained, sadly yet predictably, silent about him. The reason John Whitbeck issued a statement of support for John Guevara is because he wants to expand the party’s identity and show all communities that we can represent them. He was doing exactly what Bearing Drift has accused him of not doing. Brian, the self-appointed Southern Poverty Law center of Virginia blogs, hasn’t done anything to help John Guevara for Sully supervisor. Pat Herrity has, Barbara Comstock has, and just about everyone in Fairfax County has. Brian has not. Is it because John is Mexican? Inquiring minds want to know.
The point is the standard Brian endlessly drones on about is one he himself has ignored. If you are truly going to set yourself up as the police of the party on racial and minority outreach, wouldn’t you endorse a Mexican American running in your home district that beat you fair and square? Why hasn’t that happened? Of course Brian isn’t a racist, but I bet it doesn’t feel good to see someone say that about you without basis. And if Brian (and Shaun) truly were fighting for what they say they are, expanding the party and winning minorities, why hasn’t Brian or anyone at Bearing Drift highlighted this new Hispanic Republican running in a part of the state we need to reach out to the most? Supporting and publicly endorsing Guevara seems like something you would do if you wanted to truly expand the scope of the party. BD is a statewide blog; I’m sure he could use the exposure and perhaps even a link to his fundraising page. I mean, it’s the least you can do for a guy that puts on Facebook that he just finished writing checks for candidates.
This is a classic case of do as I say, not as I do and it exposes Brian and Bearing Drift’s sad agenda right now. If only they could just be honest and tell us all what we know to be true. John Whitbeck dismissed Shaun from power, kept Brian from power and his supporters are many of the same that backed Dave Brat who cost a lot of people a lot of money. And not for nothing, but did we miss all those statewide elections won in the last decade? All those minority voters that we won when the Cantor people were in charge? We are being lectured by people who, while in power, never actually accomplished anything that they are attacking Whitbeck for. The hypocrisy is mindblowing. Conservatives hurt the party and drive away minorities, except in Brian’s own home district where he refuses to publicly support and work for a Mexican-American candidate that is rebuilding the local party and appealing to minorities.
Keep this in mind the next time Brian and Shaun make up a new racial slur out of the blue to attack John Whitbeck and RPV with.
52 comments
I know there are hurt feelings and fundamental differences in opinions; however, the big winner will be the Virginia Democratic Party if this feud keeps up. The sound of Governor Herring is not pleasant to me and it should not be to any regulars at TBE or BD. Please for the sake of the Commonwealth, agree to disagree on some issues, shake hands, and work to get good conservatives elected.
I would think this blog,which has criticized so many Republicans, would be able to discuss criticism without vitriol and conspiracy theories. I was willing to give John a long honeymoon period, mostly because I was never thrilled with the job the previous Chairman did. Regardless, fundraising is anemic and communications are downright amateurish. “Outstanding job”?? C’mon. At best, you can say he’s not running on all cylinders yet. Par. Not outstanding, and that’s ok.
If Bearing Drift has a big anti-Chairman conspiracy, I must’ve been left off the CCs. Everything BD has written is true editorial criticism of the chairman, no less valid than Republican criticism Bull Elephant has made its standard product.
Criticism here of Bearing Drift puts The Bull Elephant very close, if not over, the hypocrisy line. Quit bitchin’ and whining. You’ve attacked a lot of Republicans in your two years of existence. Your “good of the Party” talk now is pretty hollow.
Seriously?? Your blog is routinely calling Jeanine a racist (even though the whole “Hmong Racal Slur” was debunked), and trying to imply that anyone who doesn’t shun her is a fellow racist. Your blog is calling anyone who doesn’t support amnesty a ‘nativist’ that should be purged from the party. That’s not vitriolic?
Don’t you think it’s just a BIT coincidental that the criticism of John Whitbeck started the day after Shaun Kenney was let go? Before that I can’t remember the last time the leadership of RPV got so much ink about anything. Now, however, there is one blog, and only one blog, dedicated to pouring over every little thing being done at RPV, criticizing every little thing that’s going on. Obsess much, guys?
Seriously? Yes.
Exactly.
Mr. Beer your writing is sloppy at best and sinister with bad political tactics at worst. You insinuate Schoneman is a racist by omission, then say “I’m not SAYING he’s a racist, I’m just pointing out things that might make you think so”. Whereas I’m quite capable of reading Ms. Martin’s own words, which are not racist by omission or silence, but actual bigoted attacks. BIG difference, and your tactic to “show Schoneman how that feels” by attempting to throw him under the bus ring very hollow. As for being a “standard bearer” on immigration, the fact that one hasn’t spoken about it before doesn’t mean we nullify all this person’s critiques about racism, bigotry, hate mongering etc, with a counter attack that says, ” you didn’t heap praise on the guy who beat you in a race and he happens to be Mexican so, HA! We can ignore you” . Let’s be real–you’re DEFLECTING. Badly.
Its delicious to watch the drifters scramble to immediately respond. And by delicious I mean pathetic.
Mr. Beer your writing is sloppy at best and sinister with bad political tactics at worst. You insinuate Schoneman is a racist by omission, then say “I’m not SAYING he’s a racist, I’m just pointing out things that might make you think so”. Whereas I’m quite capable of reading Ms. Martin’s own words, which are not racist by omission or silence, but actual bigoted attacks. BIG difference, and your tactic to “show Schoneman how that feels” by attempting to throw him under the bus ring very hollow. As for being a “standard bearer” on immigration, the fact that one hasn’t spoken about it before doesn’t mean we nullify all this person’s critiques about racism, bigotry, hate mongering etc, with a counter attack that says, ” you didn’t heap praise on the guy who beat you in a race and he happens to be Mexican so, HA! We can ignore you” . Let’s be real–you’re DEFLECTING. Badly.
lol….”sinister” dun dun duuunnnn
I blog for Bearing Drift so let me preface my statement. I don’t think it appropriate to ban someone from commenting from a post they are being attacked in.
Those guys ban people all the time. And Schmoman will fill up your comment section with his baloney. The moron doesn’t quit. Tell your buddy Schmoman that it was delightful to see him lose that election/
Bless your heart. You chose poorly.
I have not been blocked on either site and boy I let loose on some republicans & democrats.
And believe me I have personally lambasted some , just look a the Campbell County slating.
Thanks, MS. Martin
Free speech is alive and well at TBE and this site is open to invoking thought.
At TBE they will discuss the issues with you.
Being open to knowledge is good if you are not in the know you are out of the loop.
Brian S. has been a good communicator on the issue I always discuss , Va jobs , illegal employment , illegal commerce and illegal immigration.
Remember that some are the 47% independent as Mr. Wood had written.
Ok Bearing Drift Left moron… why was Jeanine banned from posting on your stupid website… Your buddy Kenney attacked her personally the other day. Doesn’t she get to respond?
Why don’t you go back and write some more about how driving out the nativists from your party is going to win you elections! Yes there will be you and Kenney and Schmoman. Hey buddy guess what… the Chamber of Commerce doesn’t care if your establishment Republican party wins… they are perfectly happy to support Democrats. I am sure they gave Terry Carpet Bagger Mac a ton of money for his election.
What a difference six months makes, apparently.
“…most of Shaun and Brian’s nasty little handiwork is really in the name
of using Jeanine’s “racism” to tar conservatives and overthrow the
party’s State Central Committee and return to power the consultant
class, thereby refilling their bank accounts.”
Except that Brian is a union lobbyist, not a political consultant. And even if he were to try and revitalize his past ventures into political consulting, his electoral track record isn’t going to get him any business. So much for that theory.
“Forget racism, immigration, and all of
that other stuff on the periphery. They seized on a comment by Jeanine
that is not racist, chose to make it sound racist, and then proceeded to
define Jeanine as racist … all in the name of taking down a common
enemy.”
That’s right, “forget” that Jeanine Martin has made herself a veritable political lightning rod with her incessant, caustic commentary. Even if one were to indulge in your theory that “hmong” was totally fabricated, the spirit and intent in her use of the term was unmistakable. It was a comment that was meant to harm others, to assert her polarity in a time where polarization in the Republican Party is a point of distinction.
“Brian, the self-appointed Southern Poverty Law center of Virginia blogs,
hasn’t done anything to help John Guevara for Sully supervisor. Pat
Herrity has, Barbara Comstock has, and just about everyone in Fairfax
County has. Brian has not. Is it because John is Mexican? Inquiring
minds want to know.”
Tell us, Chris. What should Brian be doing? And what has Guevara asked Brian to do? Even if one were to indulge in your theory that Brian is deliberately not helping Guevera, it’s because he’s a sore loser. Not because Guevara is Mexican-American. Brian is no Greg Letiecq.
” John Whitbeck dismissed Shaun from power, kept Brian from power and his
supporters are many of the same that backed Dave Brat who cost a lot of
people a lot of money.”
Why does everything come down to Dave Brat? Oh right, because he’s a political messiah…
xcept that Brian is a union lobbyist, not a political consultant. And even if he were to try and revitalize his past ventures into political consulting, his electoral track record isn’t going to get him any business. So much for that theory.
Your boy is a union lobbyist? Maybe he should be a political consultant for Bernie Sanders?
I’m glad someone explained this.
I won’t say anything negative
about it. I’ll just say this, I hope that the blog rights itself and
gets moving in a good direction again because its contributors are very
smart and entertaining. Even when I disagree with them (which is often) I
have enjoyed their collective writings and razor sharp wit. It’s only
been in the last year or so that they’ve lost their way, it’s not too
late to fix. The blog has been very good for the Commonwealth overall,
in my opinion, even if I do disagree with the most of the time, and I
think they’ll get it together.
This article is a great example of “Pick a target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”
that actual made me laugh
This Brian Schoeneman guy sounds like a cuckservative.
Go read his drivel on Bearing Drift. He is a lobbyist for a labor union by day.
His website seems to be non stop shilling for open borders.
Non stop… And calling anyone who opposes amnesty, open borders, limitless immigration racists. It is like you are talking to a liberal.. well you are…
I do not think that he is for labor unions , just maritime unions. Shipping from China is lucrative.
Trump will cut those imports therefore shipping that is where MR. Schoeneman will loose nothing more.
What did Haliburton make in Gulf War logistics ?
I stand with Jeanine Martin and John Whitbeck. John Fredericks
Thank you John!
Why post this when Brian S is banned from commenting? He’s unable to respond, which makes this a one-sided conversation. For all the vitriol, you, Steve, Jeanine, Jamie et al are all able to respond to anything posted. The same is not the case on TBE.
Brian bans people all the time from his Bearing Drift blog.
That butt head banned me. Well I did call him and Kenney Eric Cantor’s boot lickers after Cantor lost. They were so upset at the time that I can understand it. Their meal ticket was gone.
Say did Kenney win a state wide election as chair? Must have been a long time ago. And all that talk about driving out nativists didn’t seem to win him the vast immigrant vote. Wonder why?
Right. I was banned from BD for how many years? Was it two or was it three or maybe four. Brian knows very well why he has been banned.
Past tense? BD has been around for more than ten years, you’d have to check with JR on that one.
And to my knowledge, Brian doesn’t, nor does Steve, who confirmed that TBE policy is not to ban people for comments they disagree with. Nor does my brother, who was also banned for no legitimate reason, other than you disagree with him.
He does. He just banned me for disagreeing with him. He lied and said they were banning people who post under pseudonyms, but lo and behold, there are still all kinds of people over there who are not posting with anything that one would consider a real name.
Bottom line on BD, agree with Brian, do not criticize him, or he will ban you under whatever new rule he wants to come up with.
Good for you. That nasty little piece of work banned me because I was tearing his positions apart on BD. I lasted all of about three days.
His excuse? I don’t post with my real name.
Why don’t you respond to Jeanine who was banned from your lousy little Chamber of Commerce website? You attacked her the other day there… Kenney did and very personally. Go back to driving out the Nativists you moron at Bearing Drifting Left. I am sure that all those poor immigrants are dying to vote for your country club Republican party… idiot.
I am also banned from Bearing Drift. They like to silence dissent over there. I called out a hit-piece on Dave Brat for what it was and I got banned for it. But at least Brat crushed Cantor, so in the end it was worth it. I feel kind of bad for the Drifting Left guys seeing as to how they wield so little influence over Republican Primary voters. “We just landed the big fish! (Kenney consulting firm brought on to help Cantor) Brat is a liberal. Cantor will win by 30 points….” Yea that worked out real well.
Considering he just banned me from Bearingdrift for disagreeing with his liberal posts, I find the fact that he is banned here to be particularly hilarious and a major case of cosmic comeuppance!
Very Good Sheow! as Ed Sullivan used to say (showing my age.)
I was wondering what they were on about. Now it all makes sense. Chairman Whitbeck is doing an outstanding job and it’s remarkable to see people so eager to see him fail because if he fails, so goes our party. Shoeman and Kenney are more focused on revenge than the good of our party and how the Democrats would destroy our lives. Narcissists – try thinking of someone other than your own pockets for a change!
If Whitbeck was doing a great job, RNC would not have had to come in and take over last month.
How did your little pendejo Kenney do? How many state wide elections did he win? If not for the Tea Party nativists which you PC Liberals despise, your itty bitty Chamber of Commerce cocktail party wins nothing.
Then write about Whitbeck, DJ. Don’t hide behind nonsense to settle personal scores. First Whitbeck was blamed for not doing Shaun’s job. Then he was attacked for starting his new job with the debt Shaun left him. Then he was attacked for not raising enough money. When he raised enough money through an unprecedented outreach program by RPV, he was attacked for HOW he raised the money. Then he was attacked for the DPVA having more money via passthroughs. He was attacked for holding a 2016 convention (which then never happened). He was attacked for backing Guevara and on and on and on. In fact, the only thread between the majority of the BD posts from Brian and Shaun on anything related to RPV or Virginia politics is the obsessive consistency to attack the guy who dismissed Shaun and supported Brian’s opponent.
So if you want to talk about RPV and John Whitbeck’s performance as chairman, that’s fine. Your a contributor at BD, write something up and lets get after it.
That’s just patently false. John Whitbeck got the RNC to give help to Virginia! He should be lauded for that! The RNC hasn’t taken over anything. John Whitbeck talked them into giving support to our candidates this year and next. John’s getting more funds and people into Virginia from RNC! Your spin is truly stunning and nothing close to the truth.
So the Chairman should have said “Hey, RNC – take your field staff and beat it! We don’t need help this year or a hand in setting up for next year’s Presidential race.” ??? It’s not like we are a swing state or anything :/
Have you seen his horrible fundraising totals? He raised 90% of the funds from Curtis Colgate and Pete Snyder. What I he doing with his time?
I think the leadership should wear the fact that some donors have stopped giving as a badge of honor.
The issue is the party needs money to run. Its fine if they don’t want to take The Bollings factions money. But someone has to pick up that void.
Even without money I don’t see how anti-grassroots factions win this. Big donors won’t decloak and start taking on local grassroots, and that’s the only way they get the votes they want to change leadership. Absent that, the grassroots hydra just grows more heads.
Agreed. Spot on analysis. Well done. I will put it simpler than you have stated here. As far as Brian goes it is really simple, Brian is a twit. As far as Shawn goes , he simple has a drawer full axes to grind. Shame on him.
Thank you for writing this. The coordinated attacks were very transparent for people who follow what’s been happening, but “new” observers might not know all the back channel discussion and motives.
Its been HUGELY obvious that Team Drifter™ is using anything they can to undermine Whitbeck. They absolutely cannot stand the fact that their influence and power is waning, to include the loss of political machine money. It’s actually repulsive to watch.
Except that a slew of candidates, elected officials and SCC people who supported Whitbeck and Whitbeck himself all repudiated Jeanine’s racism. Not sure how that’s ‘designed’ to undermine Whitbeck.
Oh sorry, I thought that you were informed on recent happenings. Head on over to that other blog and read several of the last recent stories to learn more about what’s going on.