Posted on 06/30/2004 9:38:32 PM PDT by Reagan Man
Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo is in big trouble with the GOP leadership. And just what, you may be wondering, is his great sin? "Team America," a political action committee originally founded by Tancredo, worked to unseat Representative Chris Cannon, a liberal Republican from Utah, by supporting Matthew Throckmorton, his challenger in the Republican primary.
Chief among those organizations caterwauling about the actions of Tancredo is the liberal "Tuesday Group," a coalition of approximately thirty liberal Republican House members whose goal is to steer the party to the left. Hiding under the cloak of a grossly distorted rendition of Ronald Reagan's "Eleventh Commandment" ("Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican"), the Tuesday Group is now expressing concern that party conservatives are finally making efforts to strike back.
Apparently, undermining the conservative agenda by abandoning the party at key junctures during the legislative process is perfectly fine with these Republican "centrists." But any discussion of such matters by conservatives, who have tired of seeing their party abandoning its principles, is strictly taboo. By such hypocritical assertions, these liberal "Trojan Horses" hope to continue dominating party politics from within.
Of course Ronald Reagan never intended for his "Eleventh Commandment" to be arbitrarily invoked as a means of allowing liberalism to spread, unchecked, within the ranks of the GOP. Rather, it was supposed to prevent the sort of backbiting and mud slinging within party ranks, which can ultimately undermine the credibility of the entire party.
House Majority leader Tom Delay, a longtime champion of conservatism, has found himself in the middle of this row. Seeking to maintain a cohesive Republican majority, he is promoting themes of "team spirit" and "comity" among party members. Delay even referenced Reagan's "Eleventh Commandment" in a meeting with Tancredo in which the Colorado Congressman was apparently warned to change his ways and endorse a unified party, or face retribution within Republican circles.
Unfortunately, such rhetoric fails to deal with the fact that it is the Republican liberals who regularly undermine party unity by voting with Democrats at critical junctures. With such people constantly placing the philosophies of liberalism ahead of traditional Republican principle, the only manner in which even a facade of "unity" can be maintained is for the entire party to shift to the left. This, of course, is precisely the strategy of the liberal Republicans.
Tancredo's major issue of concern is unchecked illegal immigration and the resulting compromise of America's borders. Hardly a miniscule "pet issue" of a fringe constituency, the immigration problem goes to the very core of maintaining America's national integrity and heritage. Little else of GOP principles or goals can be regarded as significant in any way, as long the party remains indifferent to the invasion of the nation's borders by a flood of illegal immigrants who, as soon as they are able to do so, will vote against such things. Yet, major forces within the GOP are once again actively working to insure that at best, the Republican counterpart to Democrat plans of opening the borders will only amount to a watered-down version of the very same thing.
By supporting truly conservative Republican challengers, Tancredo's PAC hopes to specifically target key players of the open borders advocacy for defeat during their respective state primaries. While it is not entirely clear whether or not Tancredo is still officially participating with the work of the PAC, his political ideology remains consistent with that of its members. Tancredo realizes that threats to the future of the nation are no less virulent when advanced by so-called "Republicans," than when spawned by their traditional advocates, the Democrats.
Tom Delay has, in the past, shown himself to be extremely principled, with the one notable exception being his support, under severe White House pressure, for an education bill that was essentially crafted by Ted Kennedy. He knows that if his party persists in its claims to uphold both high and low standards, only the low standards will prevail. Though presently striving to remain within the boundaries of party loyalty, he is surely aware that, as a principled conservative, his own future is no less threatened by the underhanded actions of the "moderates" than is Tancredo.
For Delay and Tancredo, whose differences are far outweighed by their political common ground, the most pressing matter is to maintain the party according to conservative principle rather than allowing the "centrists" to reinvent it in the image of the Democrats.
LETS ALL VOTE FOR KERRY. That way we will get more stephen breyers and ruth bader ginsburg types. We are definitely better off with bader ginsburg instead of o'conner.
Thanks for the info.
Well, isn't that nice.
"And in that heat? Man, it's torture (and not panties on the head kinda torture). Seriously, I need to invent the spell check that picks up homonyms.
"
LOL. That's my favorite homonym error. Pointing it out is all in good fun.
Thinking its "just the GOP leadership" thats pissed off with this guy is telling.
I never said it was "just the GOP leadership". You did. LOL Obviously there are malcontents like yourself, who are also pissed at Tancredo.
So, not only didn't you read the article, you didn't read my posts. Either that or your reading comprehension skills are woefully inadequate to engage in serious debate. OTOH, fabrication is a tactic right out of the liberal playbook.
Frankly, you sound confused. Take a time out and come back when you're rested.
40%??
The bloody-minded Puritans on this thread find a 96% ACU rating to be too far Left for them.
Reagan selected two "RINOS" (I HATE that term) as his VP candidates - Schweicker and Bush. BOTH were pro-abortion at the time. BOTH were considered liberal Republicans.
Reagan also nominated O'Connor.
So I guess Ronald Reagan was an unprincipled closet RINO who sold out the Conservative movement by supporting all of these RINOS / sarcasm off.
Then we have the nuts who think Dubya is only "slightly better" than Kerry on defense. Right, and Britney Spears is only slightly better looking than Helen Thomas.
My favorite is the desire for a two-party system that contains the Republican Party and the Constitutional Party. It must be nice living on Fantasy Island. The Constitution Party has how many members in Congress? 100? 50? 10? 5? 1? um --- ZERO -- which is exactly how much relevance they have in 2004.
It's Dubya v. Kerry. Anyone calling themselves a Conservative who does not support Dubya this year is IMHO deserting the field in the face of the enemy, a traitor to the Conservative movement, spitting on the memory of Ronald Reagan, willing to risk the national security of our country by handing it over to Lurch and the loony Left, and a CINO to boot.
Ronald Reagan was above all else a very shrewd and practical politician. He denounced those on the Right who were so concerned about ideological purity that they didn't even get half a loaf. If Kerry gets in, not only won't we get half a loaf; we'll lose loaves we already own.
So because I am not as conservative as you are -- and I vehemently disagree with you supporting Tom Tancredo now that he is in alignment with Pat and Bay, who want nothing more than to destroy this party -- you're saying I should have a say in the GOP?
What you said!
Is that what's going on here? If you disagree on ONE ISSUE you're a liberal and need not try to voice your opinions?
Absolutely! And now that I know he's in cohoots with Pat and Bay, I'll pay no more attention to his supporters!
Er......I meant to say Reagan Man thinks I should have NO say in this party!
A few of the "true" conservatives keep telling me I should vote for a flaming socialist liberal like Joe Hoeffel
Go Figure
The first two, yes.
I can't tell from your posts -- you aren't FOR illegal immigration are you? And it should be the #1 issue for ALL conservatives. It will destroy this nation inside of a generation.
I've seen many 'moderates' take this pearl of wisdom from Reagan out of context to defend the GOP, who would rather switch than fight lately.
Actually he was describing his tactics when the crafting legislation.
Reagan certainly never surrendered his principles before the battle was even joined, a favorite tactic of 'practical' republicans.
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