By PETE KALINER

(Fri., Oct. 25, blog) — 

After his appearance on Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” program Wednesday night, we really aren’t any closer to understanding why Don Yelton would go on the show when he knew he’d be mocked and made into the poster boy for stupid, racist, redneck Republicans.

(This is part of a long, rich history of Democratic attacks on Republicans as stupid, corrupt, or both.)

After spending three hours talking with Yelton yesterday (plus our conversation three weeks ago about his appearance on this show), I confess I still don’t see what he thought he would gain, nor do I see what he thinks he DID gain.

I tried to prepare Don for what was coming, when he dropped by the NewsRadio 57 Cent Lunch Special at Arby’s this week.

I don’t think he realizes how his racially charged comments sound, nor does he realize that the many people who disagree with those comments are now accused of agreeing with him by a leftist political and media machine.

Drop by any of the national publications that have focused on Yelton’s story (as if he were an actual leader of the GOP at any level), and you’ll see how easily the left takes Yelton’s words and stuff them in the mouths of every Republican.

It was completely predictable, of course, making him more than he was.

Yelton was billed as a mouthpiece for the party and someone who knows why Republicans in the General Assembly REALLY passed all the voter law changes. But Yelton was a precinct chairman. For folks who don’t know, these are ridiculously easy posts to attain. You, basically, show up.

Yelton won his chairmanship by a vote of 2-1, thanks to his wife being with him.

Once you get this post, you are part of the county Executive Committee. There are hundreds of members. He is not a GOP “official” in any honest understanding of the term.

But these facts don’t matter. 

The liberal Huffington Post called him a spokesman (he’s not). Leftists are urging people to vote him out of office (he doesn’t hold office) and celebrated when he got ‘fired from his job’ (he resigned his volunteer position).

Yelton’s history with the Buncombe GOP (and the Democratic Party before that) is tumultuous. Talking with him yesterday, he obviously thinks he settled some local scores.

What was gained?

Which brings me back to why Yelton agreed to go on the show if he knew all this is what would happen (which he says he did).

I kept asking him yesterday whether the argument in favor of voting law reforms benefited from his appearance. Or whether the conservative philosophy was advanced.  He acknowledged they were not.

He admitted that probably nobody else benefited, except him.

And the Democrats, of course, who are fundraising off him.

I think Don enjoys tweaking the local Republican leadership. And maybe he wanted to make things uncomfortable for Buncombe GOP leaders (who threw him out of his precinct chairmanship position last year). 

But I actually don’t think he went into the interview with that motive.

As simple and obvious as it sounds, I think he just wanted to be on TV.

Don has been battling some serious health problems for a very long time and I think that’s part of it. When a person approaches the end of his life, I think that person tries to ensure he or she left a mark. I think Don thought this might be his best opportunity to do so.

And he did, at least for the next few news cycles.

Also, just like Todd Akin with his infamous “legitimate rape” comments, Yelton’s racial rhetoric probably doesn’t get a lot of pushback from people in his personal social circle.

It’s why I say: an unchallenged idea is easy to hold. I think Yelton is having those ideas challenged now. Unfortunately, he is forcing people who don’t hold those ideas to defend themselves from the same attacks.

And it doesn’t appear he understands that.

(Thurs., Oct. 24, blog) — 

Yelton Is The Face Of NCGOP?

The TV show featuring the most trusted news man in America came to Asheville recently to do a story on the raft of voting law changes adopted by the Republican-led General Assembly.

Yes, I’m talking about the Comedy Central channel’s “Daily Show!”

Seen as the arbiter of all truth among leftists, the “Daily Show” informs a lot of Democratic voters’ opinions on current events and politics. Over time, the program’s mocking has grown more focused on Republicans than Democrats.

I don’t understand why anyone except a leftist would go on the show, given the sole intention is, in fact, mockery.

So, imagine my disbelief when I heard that local activist Don Yelton was going to be interviewed by the “reporter” Assif Mandvi.

Yelton, a former Democrat who became a Republican and was then kicked out of his positions in the Buncombe County GOP, somehow became the spokesman for the NC Republican party.

How did that happen? Shocking!

I’ve been told the “Daily Show” reached out to Buncombe County Democrats — but not the local GOP.

How strange! It’s almost as if the comedic value would be undermined by a legitimate debate, or something.

It makes you wonder how the Daily Show become aware of Don Yelton? Of all the people in North Carolina to discuss the voter ID law, the Daily Show happened upon Yelton. Pure luck, I guess.

A few weeks ago I asked Don about why he would sit for this interview in the first place - given the Daily Show is in the business of mocking conservatives. Don said he wanted to take the fight to the liberals, and the Daily Show is what liberals watch.

But you saw exactly what I predicted — there was no substantive argument about the issue. The editing of hours of discussion was distilled down to the most racially-charged soundbites to reinforce what leftists believe: that the GOP is a bunch of race-obsessed racisty racists.

As I told Don, he was not the best messenger for this issue and he has helped undermine the legitimate arguments for the voting law reforms in North Carolina.

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Pete Kaliner hosts a talk show from 3 to 6 p.m. daily on WWNC-AM (570).