After the political firestorm he has weathered since his recently aired interview with “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” Buncombe County conservative gadfly Don Yelton said Oct 25 that he is —  and will remain — a Republican.

 “I’m not leaving the Republican Party because they need to have at least one member who has the guts” to stand up for the party’s principles, Yelton told the Daily Planet in a far-ranging and lengthy interview. “I believe in the principles, not the party. That’s why I am staying with the party.”

He added, “I’ll just keep on doing what I’ve been doing. People, as a whole, are tired” of the posturing and political correctness that are commonplace among Republican leaders He termed the situation “political bullcrap.”

Further, Yelton asserted, “Thank God I didn’t compromise and apologize — that’s supposed to make everything OK,” but it does not.

So why did he even resign as precinct chairman? Why didn’t he fight to retain his posts till the bitter end?

“I resigned because — to tell you the truth — if they (Republican leaders) were not going to support me,” it would be pointless for him to go through the ordeal the removal process.

Yelton then asked, rhetorically, “Why not just do the right thing, and not worry about doing the ‘correct’ thing?” Too often, he said,  it is a matter of “there goes that worry thing again.”

Regarding his “Daily Show” appearance, he said that, “eventually, it’ll have a positive effect.” He also said that “it’s important that people speak their minds” and “eventually, it’ll cause people to realize these things,” most notably Republican Party principles.

As for the the fallout from his remarks labeled by many as racist on the Oct. 23 television comedy show, Yelton said, “My comments were my comments.”

While he admitted recognizing before the interview that ‘The Daily Show’ is a comic parody,” Yelton said it “zeroed in on the racial issue — and they’re (the Democrats) are raising money off me. They’re using it (his comments) to try to unite the base.”

He added, “At the same time, (libertarian-leaning WWNC-AM talk radio show host) Pete Kaliner and the Republican Party act like it was a serious interview... What should have happened is Henry Mitchell (Buncombe County GOP chairman) and Claude Pope (state GOP chairman) should have called me and asked what I said” instead of simply accepting what was widely reported and asking for his resignation.

So is he upset with the Republican Party?

“Yes,” he replied. Yelton said if Mitchell and Pope had been doing their jobs, he would have resigned earlier and avoided a lot of animosity in all directions.

Yelton also asserted that, two years ago, he was “illegally removed” from my precinct chair, as “enumerated in party principles that (former BGOP chairman and former state GOP vice chairman) Tim Johnson found.” In his appeal of that BCGOP decision, Yelton said he did not feel he was dealt with in an open and fair way by state GOP officials.

He later repeated his admonition from “The Daily Show” that the “N-word” only can be used acceptably by blacks and not by whites. “That’s a double-standard,” Yelton said, and he is sticking to his contention. He asserted that those who disagree with him on the issue are afflicted with political correctness.

 Yelton also said “The Daily Show” incorrectly reported that “I was a state (Republican) executive,” when he claimed he clearly explained to Aasif Mandvi, the reporter who interviewed him for the comedy that “I was a lowly precinct chairman” for North Buncombe County, where he lives.

Yelton said he did Kaliner a favor by announcing his resignations on Kailiner’s show. At the same time, he noted that he chastised Kaliner for his criticism of Yelton’s decision even to be interviewed for “The Daily Show.” 

Yelton said he said, “Pete, you are giving the power to the ‘Daily Show.’ You’re more interested in proving you’re right” than looking at Yelton’s impact from a more objective standpoint.

As for his remarks on “The Daily Show,” Yelton said he sees too many lazy Americans — and no difference between blacks and whites, or other races — in that aspect.

“I don’t see blacks as any different from anyone else,” he said.

One of his closest friends is Tim Johnson, whom, he said, called Yelton after “The Daily Show” controversy and resignations, to console him. He said he also received similar calls of support from several other black friends, including H.K. Edgerton of Asheville.

A long-time member of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, Yelton said he has built a reputation as a strong supporter — politically as well as financially — of the group that is billed as ‘the largest Christ-centered, multi-ethnic, and Republican ministry in America.” (Johnson, a former Buncombe County resident, is its founding chairman.)

Further, Yelton noted, “When I said (on ‘The Daily Show’) that I was going to kick Democratic butts,” he was referring to the fact that “Democrats have been in control (in North Carolina) for 150 years.

“The truth is, the voter ID law is making sure that the person who votes is allowed to vote.” Instead, he said the Democrats “are putting their spin” on his remarks to imply that he wants to surpress legally eligible people from voting. He said that is not his stance.

“The Democrats want anybody and everybody” to be able to vote, presuming that most unqualified voters will cast their lot with the party of entitlements that will benefit them, Yelton said.

Regarding his critics referring to him as a long-time local “gadfly,” Yelton said he takes that as a compliment because it is the same term that was once applied to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who, Yelton noted, has been respected among thinkers through the ages.