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rfmcdonaldThis article by Adan Nagourney and David M. Herszenhorn appeared in The New York Times today, dealing with the position of the Republicans after Arlen Specter's defection.
That last bit makes me chuckle. I guess that the Republicans have their own purs et durs, too.
Halfway Down the Danube's Doug Muir suggests that, based on the patterns of the past few decades, come the net midterm Obama is unlikely to continue to command as large a Democratic majority in the Senate as he does now, if a majority at all. That certainly seems possible, especially if the economy doesn't pick up by said midterm election. If, though, he can make it work ...
I'd really like the Republican Party to follow the Christian Democrats down towards, well, a happily non-militaristic sanity. If not, well, the wilderness has fit worse groups better.
With consensus growing among Republicans that the party is in its worst political position in recent memory, some conservatives applauded Mr. Specter’s departure. They said it cleared the way for the party to distance itself from its record of expanding government during the Bush years and to re-emphasize the calls for tax cuts and reduced federal spending that have dominated Republican thought for more than 30 years.
“We strayed from our principles of limited government, individual responsibility and economic freedom,” said Chris Chocola, a former Indiana congressman who is head of Club for Growth, a group that has financed primary challenges against Republicans it considers insufficiently conservative. “We have to adhere to those principles to rebuild the party. Those are the brand of the Republican Party, and people feel that we betrayed the brand.”
But Republican leaders in Washington argued that Republicans would be permanently marginalized unless they showed flexibility on social issues as well as economic ones.
Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said he would seek to recruit candidates who he thought could win in Democratic or swing states, even if it meant supporting candidates who might disagree with his own conservative views.
Mr. Cornyn said he was taking a page from Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the last head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, who led his party to big gains by embracing candidates who, for example, opposed abortion rights or gun control.
“If you think about it, Schumer has been very good at this; I complimented him this morning in the gym,” Mr. Cornyn said, adding, “Some conservatives would rather lose than be seen as compromising on what they regard as inviolable principles.”
[. . .]
Saying that their party should do more to draw economic contrasts with the Democrats, several Republicans said Mr. Specter’s departure was in effect a purification rite for the party that would make it better able to make its case to the public.
“I’m not hurt by Arlen Specter walking away,” said Michael Reagan, the son of former President Ronald Reagan and a conservative talk show host. “At least now the party doesn’t waste money supporting someone who does not support the party.”
“It’s interesting that people say the right has taken over the Republican Party — but no one can say what we’ve done,” Mr. Reagan said. “We’ve been closeted for the last eight years; it’s time for the right to come out of the closet.”
That last bit makes me chuckle. I guess that the Republicans have their own purs et durs, too.
Halfway Down the Danube's Doug Muir suggests that, based on the patterns of the past few decades, come the net midterm Obama is unlikely to continue to command as large a Democratic majority in the Senate as he does now, if a majority at all. That certainly seems possible, especially if the economy doesn't pick up by said midterm election. If, though, he can make it work ...
I'd really like the Republican Party to follow the Christian Democrats down towards, well, a happily non-militaristic sanity. If not, well, the wilderness has fit worse groups better.
