Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Establishment Republicans: Physician heal thself!

Forty million words have been written in the last eighteen hours about Christine O'Donnell's upset of soft core moderate Mike Castle in the Delaware Senate primary last night.

Among those words I have not seen from any Republican establishment figures is a call for other establishment figures to suck it up and support the party nominee. 

Locally we have been treated to a parade of establishment types ranging from Mike Reagan to Haley Barbour, each demanding that fiscal, constitutional and social conservatives (about 80% of the party) need to pipe down, follow the leadership and stand in line to support the liberal top of our ticket here in Iowa.  Of course, such demands beg the ultimate question of why?

If the answer is party loyalty then is that ideological promenade not designed to be bidirectional?  Where are the party traffic cops when the conservative wins?  Who appears to tell the disgruntled "mods" (an overwhelming statistical minority in the GOP) to "suck it up" and enthusiastically support the conservative winner?  Des Moines and parts near by have recently seen Mark Rees and Jim Gibbons, the former publicly (at least courageously) and later privately (as is the way of the Des Moines oligarchy), have refused to support Brad Zaun.  Where are the party leaders to publicly admonish these prodigal sons. 

If the answer is something other than party loyalty then have we not just witnessed a display of nothing more noble than pure economic and political self interest? Such selfishness is not the clay upon which a long term coalition can be constructed.

Maybe we will see a similar parade through the streets of Dover.  Thus far, not even Mike Castle's bitter and graceless public refusal to support the party nominee roused Haley or Mike to deliver the kind of public admonitions about Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment and our duty to defeat Democrats to the wayward and apparently ignorant masses of Republicans.

10 comments:

RF said...

As a D, I’m a bit torn about the stuff going on with your party and the direction it’s taking. In many ways, I’m concerned about the nuttiness taking over your party. On the other hand, the more nutty folks you get into Congress this year, the better it’s likely be for us D’s in the long run. The short term pain for long term gain thing.

I guess one thing is for sure. No playing Billy Joel’s “Captain Jack” at the O’Donnell events… ;)

Anonymous said...

most of the issues break down around 70/30. 70% of Americans disagree with Obama and the legislative agenda of the democrats. On every single issue polled, republicans are trusted more than democrats.

That would, by definition, put the democrats in the nutty category, um kay?

We've all learned what your party was taught. We know about Alinsky. We know the Politics of Personal Destruction, first employed by Bill Clinton, was an Alinsky tactic.

We know name calling is just your little game to play against your opponents. We know how Progressives love Mao and believe that power must be taken by force. We just laugh at you now. The name calling is so silly and transparent.

So, how do you feel about straight up Marxism? Coons, Reid's "pet" describes himself as a beard wearing communist. That seems very extreme to the average Joe. Is Communism/Markism a good thing or a bad thing?

Anonymous said...

Karl - The Architect - and all his students in architecture don't realize they are dead men walking. Karl admits he made a mistake by advising W to stand down and not defend his decision making.

Leaving the field that way ended up giving us 2006 and 2008. Karl brought us Obama through that decision and we ain't listening to him and his ilk anymore. They haven't won a race since how long using those tired old "vote for me because I grew up on a farm" campaigns? Sheesh.

Rove got his ass handed to him. Bye Bye Karl.

Anonymous said...

Joe Biden is the seat we are fighting for. Joe Biden who had to step down from his first presidential run because of plaigerism. Joe had the super crazy idea of partitioning Iraq into three countries. Joe thinks JOBS is a three letter word. Joe thinks Obama is "clean and articulate" for a black man.

Harry Reid thinks Obama is so cool because he can turn his "black dialect off and on" and most recently described referred to Christine Odennells opponent as his "pet".

Who is nutty?

RF said...

Well, in my book, those who freak out about Billy Joel’s “Captain Jack” are nutty.

We do live in interesting times. D’s are unpopular because the economy is in the dumps. As a result, their proposals – which they openly campaigned on and won – are not popular. But when you look at the polling a little more in detail, R’s and their ideas/proposals/priorities are even less popular than D’s. Nevertheless, voters are going for R’s. Not logical, but that’s what happens when the economy sucks and you have the power.

the truth said...

RF - what proposals would those be? Every poll I've seen focusing on the issues shows more support for Republican ideas than Democrat. You can't just make stuff up!

RF said...

The latest one was about repealing the tax cuts for the wealthiest.

You really should broaden your horizons and pay attention to other news sources besides Fox, Rush and the conspiracy websites.

Eldon H said...

RF

At last count, 31 Dems were for extending the tax cuts for the top brackets. Why? They realize that is who does the hiring, and maybe lower unemployment. It is a trade off, jobs or taxes. More jobs do bring in more taxes. It worked for Kennedy and Reagan.

RF said...

Eldon,

In real life, nothing is as black and white as "trade off, jobs or taxes." Certainly not a minor change in the top tax bracket. There was plenty of hiring and new jobs going on in the 90's with the tax rates the smart D's are advocating for now. However, a nearly a decade of the current tax rates has brought us a net loss of jobs.

In addition, I assume you will never have the nerve to claim you care about the deficit. R's talk a good game when it comes to that, but they are never in favor of actually advocating/voting for policies to achieve that goal. Every credible economist realizes we will need both cuts in expenditures AND tax hikes of some sort to get our financial house in order. In an effort to be fair and balanced, I have to give Mitch Daniels credit for understanding and admitting this reality. (Which surely ensures he will not be your party's nominee come 2012.)

The Deplorable Old Bulldog said...

rf, Cpt. Jack was heroin in the song.

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