2010-05-14
GOP Establishment in Washington Losing Control of GOP
Coming from Indiana, it may seem like an ironic statement that the Washington establishment is losing its effectiveness and ability to control the Republican Party. After all, they hand picked former Indiana Senator Dan Coats to run for US Senate against conservative candidates who were running for months before anyone even thought to mention his name. But I believe it's true. Just look at the evidence.
In Florida, the National Republican Senatorial Committee got behind Governor Charlie Crist more than a year before the primary, but the more conservative Speaker of the House in Florida, Marco Rubio, surged and forced Crist out of the Republican Primary, sending Crist on an independent run suicide mission to destroy Rubio by sacrificing his own political career.
In Utah, the 18-year incumbent Republican Senator Bob Bennett failed to make it to the third round of voting at the Utah GOP Convention, which will keep him off the Utah Primary ballot. This despite the fact that US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Utah's favorite out-of-state-son Mitt Romney endorsed him. Romney actually introduced him at the State Convention. In Utah, each party has a nominating convention and there are three rounds of voting until one of the candidates reaches 60%. Each round of voting features fewer candidates. Bob Bennett came in 3rd in the second-to-final round, eliminating him from the final round of voting. The convention was split between Tim Bridgewater (OLD LINK REMOVED: His website now points to a pornographic site) and Mike Lee, causing a primary for US Senate on June 22.
In Kentucky, the national Republican Party had rallied around Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson for US Senate. Yet, Ron Paul's son, Rand Paul is looking like he's going to win the primary pretty easily. And if you're wondering, yes, Rand Paul has inherited his father's mental defects. I guess idiocy can be genetic. Grayson's campaign actually documents some of the idiot things Rand Paul has said and done: randpaulstrangeideas.com (Dead Link).
Even here in Indiana, Dan Coats won the primary, but he won with only 40% of the vote. The other 60% was divided mostly by conservative Republican Marlin Stutzman and Ron Paul-worshiper John Hostettler. Had either of those candidates dropped out, Dan Coats would not be the nominee in the Hoosier state.
So, across the country, the people are fed up with the incompetent Washington leaders of the Republican Party and they're revolting against their moderate policies and ease in endorsing liberal Republicans with money before conservative Republicans without as much. That's great, right?
Ehhhh....
Okay, I know I haven't exactly been pro-establishment since 2005 when Bush-McCain-Graham advocated for Amnesty for illegal aliens. That's five years I've been protesting how our party was being destroyed from the inside out by the bozos that are currently running things. For all practical purposes, I should be tickled silly. If I ever go back to Washington, I can't wait to knock on some doors and say, "I told you so!"
The problem I have is that we need an establishment. Preferably a less corrupt, more conservative establishment; but an establishment nevertheless.
Take a moment and look at what's starting to happen. In 2008, Ron Paul was absolutely obliterated by the Republican voters. They wanted nothing to do with him. Now, that hasn't changed. Ron Paul still rightfully scares the crap out of 40% of the Republican Party and there's another 40% who would laugh him out of the room. Yet the minority of Republicans that make up his supporters and sympathizers (considerably less than 20% because there are still people who don't care or don't know him) are having a tremendous amount of luck getting their guys into the spotlight.
GOP Primary voters aren't voting for these lunatics, but rather, are voting against the Washington Establishment because, after all, their impression of the establishment is that it is as corrupt as all Hell. There may be some exceptions, of course, but the perception of the people in this instance is pretty much spot on.
When you have candidates like Marlin Stutzman and Marco Rubio, that's great. When you have candidates like Rand Paul and John Hostettler, on the other hand, it's significantly less great. In fact, it's down right dangerous. Although I by no means think Hostettler is as dangerous or crazy as Rand Paul, the fact that he associated himself with the radical libertarian faction of the party could have spelled disaster. It still might in Kentucky down the road.
Yes, we all want limited government. No, the establishment hasn't done a good job of seeking that. That isolates the fiscal and libertarian conservatives. That's no good. But guys like Ron and Rand Paul are going to do the exact polar opposite by isolating the social and national security conservatives by 2014. That's even worse because they combine to form the vast majority of the Republican Party. Rand Paul might win in 2010, but by 2016, these Ron Paul worshipers are going to put us right back where we are now - divided and defeated as a party.
Actually, I'm not blaming the Paulers for this. They're simply taking advantage of the mistakes made by the corrupt Washington establishment. That would be like listing a cause of death as a common cold when, in truth, the victim had a crippled immune system caused by full blown AIDS. Like any good immune system, the National Establishment is supposed to weed out and ostracize the certifiable lunatics while promoting the growth and prosperity of promising, energetic conservatives. Instead, they perverted the system with money and made themselves completely worthless and hated in the process. It's now gotten to the point that they can't do their job of weeding out bad candidates because they've supported bad candidates and tried to weed out good candidates both now and in the past.
The generation John Thune, Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio, and Sarah Palin now have the responsibility of trying to find ways to reform the establishment that they're hopefully going to inherit in the years to come. The process of weeding out bad candidates is of the utmost importance to the Republican Party and the conservative movement in America, and the failure to do that job effectively now is going to have long term consequences for the health of the Party in decades to come.
