September 21, 2010

Hey, GOP Establishment, there's no 'RINO' in TEAM.

I respect people like Charles Krauthammer and Karl Rove. They have brilliant minds and are right about various topics most every time. But as establishment conservatives, they are wrong on O'Donnell to a point of excess. Karl Rove on Sean Hannity's show the other day reiterated that he was for the Republican (hey, how about using her name in that context Mr. Rove?) and then followed it with the biggest BUT in politics.  Krauthammer gave O'Donnell a 1 in 10 chance of winning the Senate seat. If you think that, fine but don't say it in public. You back the Republican and if she loses you have a real weight behind your I-told-you-so. In the meantime you don't run your own play because you don't like the play the coach called on third down. You run the play the coach called. 


By continuing this attack on a candidate that the people of Delaware have chosen you are damaging more than just her chances in a self-serving exercise of proving you are right (or perhaps keeping to the old boys of the GOP code). There will be some pretty serious unintended consequences here.  Sure, the GOP is riding high now electorally, but the Democrats are right - you haven't been entirely forgiven for the politics as usual of the last decade.  

People still don't trust the GOP yet and it's not just about spending. Spending you can prove after the election and you've got two years to make your case. But for other issues like trust and the whole insider image - you are not helping the GOP cause by lambasting a winner you didn't want to win.  You are in fact damaging the brand by saying 'we know far better than you do'. How different is that from Democrats? (That's a rhetorical question - it isn't any different).  Think about long term consequences guys. This is detrimental to 2012 and one bad move here out does any goodwill you may have garnered by supporting any other Tea Party effort or candidate.  Why? Because good news does not make headlines like bad news does. 

I'm not picking on Rove and Krauthammer specifically by the way - they are just two convenient and obvious examples of establishment GOP displaying a bunker mentality here, deserved or not. 

I understand the concept of wanting the most Republican bodies possible in the Senate, even if some of them have to be RINOs. I volunteered to do get out the vote calling for Scott Brown even though he would inevitably turn out to be a soft Republican. There is a certain need for that. So I'm not speaking without an understanding of your points and a little credibility on it. There is a certain logic to your point of view. 

I also understand the Buckley concept of putting forward the most electable conservative. But the primary is over now. The choice has been made. Now you need to swallow your frustration at having lost a potential Senate seat gain and do everything you can to help get  it back into a winnable state. If you aren't on the team you aren't part of it. You need to get on board or get out of the way. We all want the same thing - more conservatives. If we aren't playing as a team we won't win much of anything. 

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