Gray Delany and Zach Werrell are household names to activists in and around Virginia’s now infamous 7th District. Once again, these two young gunslingers have teamed up to write an account of the campaign that shocked a nation, humbled the Washington Elite, and inspired grassroots activists from Hanover, Virginia, across every county and district within this United States of America. It was their campaign that energized an entire nation of grassroots activists to pressure their representatives, as if even the most sacrosanct amongst them were no longer invincible, for change. Today, not only have we seen the defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor at the hands of Dave Brat, but we’ve seen the surrender of Speaker of the House John Boehner at the hands of a nation.
How to Bag a Rino, by Gray Delany and Zach Werrell
Their story does not begin with a brilliant idea and a full proof plan. If you are expecting a secret formula, innovative fundraising ideas, or a genius way to start from nothing and start strong, then you don’t know the story of Dave Brat’s bid to challenge the seat of the third most powerful Republican in Washington D.C. This is a story of will, not genius.
This is a story about the vision (and a commitment to that vision) by those within Dave Brats’ inner circle. This is a story about the most active activists, committed beyond anything we’ve ever seen before – average citizens, abandoning their day to day for the taxing life of campaign operatives. And most importantly, this is a story about a candidate that actually was what he was, was what he said he was, and was what his district desired.
John Grisham, eat your heart out.
Now a Congressman, Economics Professor at Randolph Macon, Dave Brat, is everything conservative and libertarian activists have been asking for. This campaign could not have been fought with just anyone. After reading this book, I realize that you need more than just principle and philosophy, you need to be qualified. Dave Brat was qualified.
Furthermore, if you are living in a district, and hoping for change, but you have no network of patriotic and committed grassroots activists… forget it. None of this would have happened without them. If you want to know what it takes, as citizens in a district, to create change, real change, then you need to read this book and understand how instrumental the average citizen is in bagging a RINO.
Finally, the third component, and the reason why these two young twenty-somethings are able to write this book – you need simplicity itself: truth. You need to tell the truth about your current representative. You need to tell the truth that has been denied to the people living under establishment rule and rhetoric. Make them defend the truth, because the Eric Cantor’s and John McCain’s and John Boehner’s cannot defend themselves in the light of reality.
So if you find yourself in Arizona, Arkansas, Ohio, or Illinois, and you’re wanting to Bag a RINO of your own, you need to read this book. You’ve got to find a qualified candidate – of course that’s important. However, years before you do that you need to build an army of activists, who understand the inner workings of the Republican Party, and who understand the importance of every angle. Then you need to use those activists and that qualified candidate to run on philosophical and realistic principles and policies, in order to create the contrast you already know to exist.
For those of us who simply served as satellites around Dave Brat’s campaign, blowing on the embers of a fire that would rise to the attention of the national media, we’ll never forget the moments that lead to the victory. Virginia Right! was there. We believed. In fact, Tom White called the election, days before the first vote was counted. I even promised that the 7th District would send Dave Brat to Congress. Why? Because I met the men and women of the 7th District and I met Dave Brat. I know greatness when it talks to me. I am an admirer of so many people that I’ve met, that were it not for this book, I would never have known how instrumental they were in the greatest political victory in modern times.
But let me say this – because this is the most important thing – if you really want to Bag a RINO, you’ve got to find a qualified candidate. Dave Brat didn’t just defeat Eric Cantor. He has demonstrated himself to be the most principled Republican in Congress. You’ve seen him on FOX News, you’ve seen him on CSPAN, and you’ve probably seen him or read about him everywhere else. Why?
Unlike all these “TEA Party” candidates we elected to the House and to the Senate that joined the establishment, accepted the money, and became willing pawns in the corruption which is our Federal Government, Dave Brat, Congressman Dave Brat, has not wavered.
This book could not have been written, but for the fact that Congressman Dave Brat has not been a disappointment. The intelligence and character and understanding of economic and political philosophy that made Dave Brat the candidate that inspired me to start writing publicly again, are the same characteristics that made him the right David to defeat Goliath.
What Gray Delany and Zach Werrell have laid out in this book is indispensable wisdom for anyone looking for real representation in the House of Representatives. Read this book Virginia! Read this book Maryland! Read this book America! You want real change? You need to realize how hard it is to have, how hard it is to offer, and how hard it is to win. This is the playbook. This is the story. This is the book that every family frustrated by the hypocrisy and dishonesty of their Representatives in Washington DC should read, Democrat or Republican.
So tonight, not tomorrow, (or if you are reading this tomorrow, then today, not Thursday), pre-order How To Bag a RINO: The Whiz Kids Who Brought Down House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Learn the importance of truth in politicking.
Originally published at VAright.com