Posted by
flagwaver on Wednesday, April 29, 2009 9:33:44 AM
By this point everyone and his brother is talking about the Specter switch and what it means to the GOP and the future of the Party. The media has gone to the usual suspects, Snowe, Collins, and Graham to tell them what they want to hear about the demise of the GOP. They are saying that the GOP is not 'big-tent' enough; that it is being dominated by conservatives; that 'moderates' are being forced out, and that ideological purity is a hinderance to electoral success.
But a couple of things strike me when listenening to the whiners out there braying about the direction of the GOP, and giving their prescriptions on how to change the Party going forward. First, what GOP have they been a member of since 1989? When Ronlad Reagan left office, the 'moderates' in the Party officially took control of the apparatus again, and have held power ever since! Look at the people who have served as President or had the GOP nomination since Reagan left the scene: George H.W. Bush, Robert Dole, George W. Bush, and John McCain. Not a conservative among them, including the alleged 'compassionate conservative' himself, G.W. Bush. So where is this group of conservative bully-boys the 'moderates' are so afraid of? Look at the leaders we have had to deal with in the Congress, and point out the conservative to me....I'll wait, and if you can find me one strong conservative voice that the GOP congressional power brokers didn't try to silence, please add the name in the comments section.
Second, why is striving for a consistent ideology such a bad thing? To be totally honest, I respect the Democrats at this point a whole hell of a lot more than I do the GOP because if there is one thing the Democrats do well it is enforce the Party ideology among its members. Very rarely are you going to see a prominent Democrat doing the types of things that John McCain spent 8 years doing to his Party and his president and not pay a serious price for it. Joe Lieberman, Independent from Connecticut is exhibit one on this issue; when Lieberman decided that he was going to buck the Party and side with President Bush on the Iraq War, the Democrats summarily drummed his butt right out of the Party, and were threatening to strip him of his place on the committees he served on. Now I am not saying that such draconian practices are the way to go, but at least the Democrats let it be known that there are times when Party unity is a must, and if you break that unity you will be dealt with. The GOP NEVER does things like that, which is why McCain can go all 'maverick' because he got his tender feelings hurt in 2000, Graham can be McCain's loyal lapdog, and Snow/Collins can basically caucus with the Democrats on every issue...and never hear a discouraging word about it!
In all honesty, the Specter defection now gives the GOP the chance to redefine the Party and its goals, and to marginalize the members who spend all their time voting as Democrats and running as Republicans. If that means that Snowe and Collins feel the need to switch parties, then fine...I'll even fly to DC to hold the door open as they leave, if they want me to. But this should be the time for us to actually move the Party back to the right and fulfill the talk of a right-wing takeover of the Party. And now is a time for conservative Party leadership to emerge and let it be known that disloyalty and disunity are no longer going to be accepted practices within the GOP; either stand together or stand alone. Finally, it is time for conservative voters to let their representatives know that we the people are no longer willing to tolerate the usual practice of rewarding the people who turn their backs on us after garnering our votes by returning them to office.
And one last thing: I know that many have been uninspired by Michael Steele, but I personally loved his response to the news that Specter had officially changed parties. He immediately called it for what it was, simple personal political preservation and dispelled the notion that Specter was trying to create of it being some noble decision, driven by personal conviction. Specter showed himself for what he truly was yetserday, and Harry Reid revealed what a turncoat he has been for the last three years, and Mr. Steele called him on it publicly. For that he gets a big HURRAH!!! from me!