I am always fascinated by people who don't think like I do, and I lurk and read at conservative blogs often. I am just as mystified as ever, but I trudge on hoping for that glimpse of insight that will enable a breakthrough in the dialogue between us.
The Specter party switch playing out on conservative blogs gives us a unique opportunity to get a glimpse into the conservative mindset, as they debate among themselves the wisdom of moving more to the center or remaining "pure".
Pat Toomey wrote at Townhall a couple of days ago:
Republicans might be in the minority, but that doesn’t mean they have to be completely powerless. It doesn’t mean they have to relinquish the country’s economy to a left-wing agenda. But in order to protect American taxpayers, Republican leadership in the Senate will have to make sure the so-called moderates don’t wander off the reservation every time Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., comes calling.
So does that make it McConnells fault? Hmmm. I wonder when Mitch is going to respond. Toomey continues:
If the GOP cannot unite, then the stimulus bill will not be the only defeat Republicans will snatch away from the Democrats.
Gosh I love the sound of that sentence. Of course it's no real surprise that the President of the Club for Growth thinks that republicans marching in lockstep with them is the answer. But what do other republicans think?
Rich Galen writes:
So, the net result of the former head of the Club for Growth's self-serving entry into the Senate race is to force Specter to caucus with the Democrats, allowing Reid to have a filibuster-proof Senate. Specter will probably win as a Democrat and the Republican seat is lost for the foreseeable future.
The Purity of the Party is improved, but at what cost - to the Republican Party and to the Country as a whole? If this keeps up the GOP will not be the minority party, but a minor party.
Yep, the writing is on the wall. Unless republicans stand up to the bullies at Club for Growth, the growth is going to go the wrong way. I think "Club for Shrinkage" has a nice ring to it. Club for Purity? Club for Irrelevance? Wart on the butt of the south? Wait, I intended to be serious here.
Matt Kibbe disagrees with Rich. He says:
The strategy of cozying up to the liberal machine and hoping for the occasional table scrap was that of the content Republican minority during the early nineties in the days before the Contract with America. Fortunately, bold leaders like Dick Armey and Newt Gingrich chose not to buckle. They held Republicans together, took the fight directly to Democrats, and by standing on limited government, free market policy they were rewarded by the American electorate politically with control of Congress in 1994.
Wow, that worked out well. All that limited government and free market policy got us the worst recession in a very long time. Hey dufus, thats why we voted for CHANGE!
Ah, and last for today is what may be the last republican realist. Matt Towrey writes:
The truth is that the Republican Party is reeling and there appears to be no immediate hope that it can steady itself, much less launch a new offensive that has much of a prayer of being effective.
And one of the comments after this piece (which I suspect was written by an undercover Kossack) says:
"The current political climate shows the shallowness of a percentage of the voting public."
You're right there, Pal. When we choose people like Sarah Palin, Plumber Joe, Michelle Bachmann and Miss California as the face of our party and our resident intellectuals, we definitely have a long way to go.
As for hate, we're already learning the lesson. Michelle Malkin and Rush are the hare Royalty, posters on TH are learning the language for it as we speak.
In the past 2 days, I've read such brilliant suggestions on TH as 1. Obama spent all the TARP money buying Spector; 2., A suggestion that Obama started the flu in order to get
Sibelius approved (because he loves killing little babies, of course) and 3 - Democrats are just evil pigs out to destroy the country.
Now THAT'S s picture of hate, you're absolutely right.
It took eight long years for Democrats to dig out of the hole we were in. It took the grassroots active participation, it took progressives speaking up, flogging what seemed to be dead horses, pointing out the flaws in our own leaders and holding their feet to the fire.
It took a massive GOTV effort, giving till it hurt and then giving some more. We did it not because we wanted a return to power, but because we love our country. We got emails from right-leaning friends nearly daily proclaiming "America, love it or leave it". We love it and we stayed. We fought, we bickered amongst ourselves but with a shared common goal to enact a progressive agenda to save our country from the greed and corruption of the Bush Administration. We cared about health care and the war in Iraq. We cared about torture and the soul of America. We cared about the environment and the future of our children.
Republicans, you have to care. You have to care about more than power. Truth has its own power and when your speaking it people recognize it. When you actually CARE people see it. That is the real success of President Obama. He actually cares.
All of the vitriol you spew shows your real agenda. Like a toddler having a tantrum when he doesn't get his way, it shows how spoiled you are. How entitled you feel. What it really shows is that you don't care about anyone but yourselves.