Tim Pawlenty took a major swing at the GOP leadership today by endorsing Conservative Party member Doug Hoffman over GOP rival Dede Scozzafava in an election for the U.S. House. Pawlenty has joined other prominent members of the GOP including Sarah Palin, Fred Thompson and the always fair and balanced New York Post.
Pawlenty explained his maneuver, “we cannot send more politicians to Washington who wear the Republican jersey on the campaign trail, but then vote like Democrats in Congress.”
So, why would the some of the Repubs jump ship to support the more conservative candidate? Well, I believe Doug Hoffman says it best:
I’m running for Congress because I sense the America I love is being taken away from us. I want to tell Washington: No more bailouts. No more taxes. No more trillion dollar deficits. That’s what I’m fighting for.
My opponents have bought and paid for $876,000 in TV ads. I urgently need to raise $125, 000. Immediately.
My opponents are a liberal Republican who voted for gay marriage (twice) and was endorsed by ACORN. And a Nancy Pelosi Democrat. Defeating them comes down to one cold, hard fact – money.
In 1980, I helped Lake Placid with our Olympics when the US beat the Russians in hockey – the same year Reagan was elected. It’s time to send Washington a new message now.
Hoffman is obviously trying to strike fear into the hearts of his constituents, which is the typical (possibly only) strategy of the conservatives. He accuses his Republican rival of having ties to ACORN and voting for gay marriage two times. His only accusation for his liberal rival is that they are a “Nancy Pelosi Democrat,” which I am not sure what he means. But this election is not about Liberals vs. Conservatives, this election is about watching the Republican Party implode because of their multiple personalities.
We have GOP hero Newt Gingrich, the NRA, and U.S. Sen. Susan K. Collins, R-Maine, and Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Fla backing Dede Scozzafava for Congress. So, why is there so much confusion among the Repubs over this election?
Newt Gingrich sums up his argument:
When I became Speaker of the House it was in part because we swept the 1993 elections. Three of the four Republican winners that year were moderates – significantly to the left of the conservative Republican base: Riordan was elected mayor of Los Angeles, Whitman as governor of New Jersey, and Giuliani as mayor of New York. George Allen, a conservative, was elected as governor of Virginia.
The cumulative weight of those four victories set the stage for recruiting that enabled us to have our candidates pick up 53 seats the next year and create the first Republican majority in 40 years.
The choice in New York is a practical one: We can split the conservative vote and guarantee the election of a Democrat in a Republican seat in a substantial loss of opportunity. Or we can find a way to elect someone who has committed to vote for the Republican leader, has committed to vote against all tax increases, has committed to vote against cap-and-trade, and is a strong ally of the NRA.
In order to stop President Obama and the Democrats in Congress, I would rather see Christie win in New Jersey, Bob McDonnell win in Virginia, and have the Republican, Dede Scozzafava, win the special election in NY-23 so that election night in 2009 is a devastating defeat for the Democrats.
We have the Republican Party courting a socially liberal and moderately fiscal conservative in Dede, similar to a Bob Dole type. But, Pawlenty and Palin do not like that type of Republican; they would prefer a “real Republican” like Hoffman to win. A leader who won’t back down to Obama and his attempt to turn us all into gay-loving, communists.
It is becoming more and more clear, as the days go by, the Republicans will not be around for much longer. They have sold themselves to the extreme conservative minority in this country, people who pride themselves on their religious intolerance, gun rights, and by telling government to “stay the fuck out” of whatever they are doing. The once proud and powerful Republican Party followed the cheap tricks of Karl Rove in order to win close elections against Al Gore and John Kerry. Now they are suffering the consequences.
The Republicans are realizing their worse fears, the Democrats have control of the house, senate and the executive and the conservatives are stuck bickering with themselves. I foresee two distinct parties, one of the ultra-conservatives like Hoffman and Palin, and one like the moderate conservatives like Newt and surprisingly, Pawlenty.
A moderate Republican Party that can listen to debate, that prides itself on intelligence and rational thought. A party that is fiscally conservative, but does not hide their anti-tax pledges by increasing fees. A party that will not tolerate bigoted bias in their constituents and propaganda by their allies.
The GOP has yet to reach the precipice, but it will come. What will the fiscal conservatives due when the unproven and budget ignorant Sarah Palin gets the nomination?
What will the wing-nut conservatives, like Palin, think when a moderate pro-choice, pro-universal health care Republican like the Mormon Mitt Romney gets the nomination? They will protest and exclaim their support for another leader and the schism will begin.
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