Finally, a voice of sanity in the Republican Party and of all people, it's Hugh Hewitt. In the Weekly Standard, he issues a warning to his fellow Republicans:
Fast forward four years. The Democrats have convened in late summer in Cleveland to nominate former Virginia governor Mark Warner and Senator Barack Obama. It is the third night of the convention, and the Democrats have chosen as their keynote speaker...Arlen Specter. Or Olympia Snowe. Or Chuck Hagel. Or some other GOP big who has grown disgusted with his or her inability to have any influence on Republican deliberations. So they have bolted, bringing a message that their party breached its pledge to govern with the interests of the entire country in mind.The prevention of just this sort of scenario is at the core of the debate over Senator Arlen Specter's rise to the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee. A national party would welcome the visibility of a member whose views are not always--or even often--in step with the majority's ideology. A national party intent on a generation of authority would avoid the mistake Democrats made when they drove every pro-life official from its leadership ranks.
Parties do have to agree on some non-negotiables. For Republicans that list includes a commitment to battle obstructionism in the judicial confirmation process, but it ought not to include a loyalty oath on every nominee. I and the vast majority of Republicans are pro-life, but I know there aren't enough pro-life votes in the country to empower a governing coalition.
George W. Bush collected around 59,750,000 votes, about 3.5 million more than did John Kerry.
What percentage of Bush's votes were pro-choice, I wonder? Thirty? Twenty? Ten?
Even if it is only 10 percent, those 5.7 million votes provided Bush with his margin of popular-vote victory. Should the first action of the new Senate be the announcement that pro-choice Republicans will not be trusted with power?
He's absolutely right. In their zeal to throw the infidels and heretics out of the party, the hard right is going to end up overplaying their hand, overestimating their strength and screwing themselves over.
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I'll read the whole thing in the morning, but, preliminarily, it's the Weakly Standard. Something like WorldNutDaily ;-)
BTW, who is this Hugh Hewitt? Another talk-show-host wannabe?
He's absolutely right. In their zeal to throw the infidels and heretics out of the party, the hard right is going to end up overplaying their hand, overestimating their strength and screwing themselves over.
Please, Ed... It's almost like this is a fatal mistake. It's not.
I have watched enough college football to know where the momentem is swinging, and it's not for our side.
Also, as a poker player should know... When you are short stacked, wait for the opponent to make the mistake.
BTW, who is this Hugh Hewitt? Another talk-show-host wannabe?
Yes, he's a Christian right talk show host.
Please, Ed... It's almost like this is a fatal mistake. It's not.
I think it could be, at least in terms of the primary goal they have of retaining power long term. I certainly hope it's a fatal mistake, at the very least.
>>In their zeal to throw the infidels and heretics out of the party, the hard right is going to end . . .screwing themselves over.<
Um, OK. Good. Let's not stand in their way.
LOL carpundit. Thankfully, I doubt Karl Rove reads my blog.
Of course, the good thing of all this is that it drives a stake into any plans that Schwarzennegger has of being president! The Republicans will not be able to even *think* about a pro-choice candidate.