REPUBLICAN ESTABLISHMENT: WILL THERE BE ACCOUNTABILITY?
By
Larry Pratt
November 12, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
The
November 3 elections showed that President Obama and his statist allies
in Congress have set off a political tsunami.
It seems to be obvious to all who were watching (supposedly the President
was not, if you believe anything the White House says) that the huge
reversal of Democrat and Republican margins from 2008 to 2009 in Virginia
and New Jersey were an amazing reversal. Virginia in 2008 went 53 percent
for Obama, but a year later only 41 percent went for Democrat gubernatorial
candidate Creigh Deeds. In New Jersey, Obama's 57 percent became Democrat
Governor Jon Corzine's 45 percent.
Much of the GOP sweeps in Virginia and in New Jersey resulted from independents
returning to the GOP fold - an identification they had surrendered when
they could not stomach the big-government records of President Bush
and the Republican Congress.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared the night a victory because the
Democrat won in the special congressional election to fill a vacancy
in NY-23, and similarly in CA-10. Of course, she did not discuss the
fact that the CA-10 seat had already been held by a Democrat.
More disappointing is the unwillingness by some of the Washington, DC
Republican establishment to admit what happened in NY-23. The Republican
loss there was in fact a Conservative and pro-gun victory.
Republican bosses in NY-23 chose an amazingly leftwing Republican, Dede
Scozzafaza (to call her a Republican in Name Only – RINO –
is an insult to RINOs). Scozzafaza was rated the third most liberal
of all the members of the NY Assembly. She has been endorsed by the
Working Families Party, an Acorn-spawned entity. When people in the
district began to learn how much of a leftist the GOP candidate was,
her support began to head into the tank.
Gun Owners of America Political Victory Fund, along with a number of
other conservative political committees, endorsed Conservative Party
candidate Doug Hoffman. Other endorsements came from prominent talk
show hosts and leading Republicans such as Sarah Palin.
The race in the last month became a two-man contest between Hoffman
and Democrat nominee Bill Owens. On Thursday before the election, Scozzafaza
withdrew, and on Sunday she endorsed the Democrat – after having
received nearly one million dollars from the National Republican Congressional
Committee (NRCC), the political committee of the House Republicans in
Congress.
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This
was the conservative victory. A total unknown forced out a completely
unacceptable Republican nominee and almost won the seat. Hoffman –
and conservatives and pro-gunners – made it clear that without
them, Republicans better get used to being in the minority.
This was embarrassing not only to the NRCC staff, but to its chairman,
Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas (a conservative pro-gun congressman) as
well as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Republican National Committee
chairman, Michael Steele. Gingrich and Steele claimed – and continue
to do so even after the election! – that choosing Scozzafava was
a decision that had to be respected because Republicans should respect
local party decisions.
That argument does not fly. Erick Erickson has written on RedState.com
that numerous sources have told him that the outrageous decision made
by the 23rd district’s eleven county chairmen (the ones who selected
Scozzafaza) was pushed by the “professionals” on the NRCC
staff. They were convinced that the failure to win the special election
in another NY congressional vacancy was because a man rather than a
woman was the candidate. They are not concerned that the man, Assemblyman
Jim Tedisco, was a RINO. So, naturally, they were not concerned that
Scozzafava was beyond RINO.
When Ford introduced the Edsal automobile, it was met by car buyers
with a yawn -- and it was quickly discontinued. When VHS beat out Beta
for the video player market, Beta was also discontinued.
Now that Michael Steel and Rep. Pete Sessions (and their staffs) have
been shown to be catastrophically wrong, will they step down? If they
really believe that individual responsibility is a key to the success
of capitalism and a free society, they should be making public their
resignations.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (the NRCC counterpart in
the Senate) seems to have gotten – and acted upon – the
election memo. Senator John Cornyn of Texas had been pursuing a parallel
strategy for defeat as his House counterpart. For example, Cornyn had
bestowed the NRSC’s endorsement (and a fundraising advantage)
on Florida Governor Charlie Christ who is running for the US Senate.
Christ is the Arlen Specter of the South – a purebred RINO.
Immediately after the returns came in from the November elections, Cornyn stated that the NRSC will not be getting involved in U.S. Senate primaries. He has said that financial support will no longer be given to candidates in primaries, although he has not said if they plan to continue making endorsements -- which are signals that the establishment sends to donors as to which candidates they would like to see the grassroots support.
What
does all this mean? If you want to advance the pro-Second Amendment
agenda, contribute to the Gun Owners of America Political Victory Fund.
Sorry, Sen. John McCain’s love of restricting your First Amendment
rights means that you have to be a paid member of GOA to contribute
to its Political Victory Fund.
Go here to
join Gun Owners of America.
� 2009 Larry Pratt - All Rights Reserved
