Conservatives sitting out 2006 hurts the GOP’s right, not the RINOs

National Review ^ | 05/15/06 08:39 AM | Jim Geraghty

[isaiah55version11_0]

Please read the whole thing before you start flaming.

[theDentist]

On the other hand, you can vote for them, and they can then continue ignoring you for another two years.

[The_Victor]

Please read the whole thing before you start flaming.

Good GOP reality check. No flame from me.

[SShultz460]

Good Stuff from Jim.

Thanks, I'll reconsdider Shrugging Atlas this year

[308MBR]

The GOP "leadership" should have thought about this before they started legislating and spending like socialists.

Let the RINOs have the GOP. They have already taken it over.

[rhombus]

Sorry, I don't feel ignored. I didn't get all the candy I wanted but I sure as heck felt MORE ignored by liberals (not to mention demonized too).

[cripplecreek]

Allowing millions of new democrats to flow across the border won't exactly help the GOP either but they've already chosen their scapegoats.

[Buffalo Head]

Right on! It's such a shame that too many 'conservatives' would rather be 'right' than effective in politics.

[rhombus]

but they've already chosen their scapegoats.

Huh?

[prion]

Okay, maybe Chafee goes down. But you've lost how many solid conservatives to remove this one guy?

I can't decide if this is disingenuous or merely clueless, but it certainly makes me look sideways at the rest of the argument.

There's a good chance Chafee goes down if conservatives show up this time, since he's got a Republican primary challenger. His best chance is for conservatives to sit out the primary but show up in droves, hold their noses and vote for him in the general election. Does that sound like a plausible scenario?

[xzins]

There is something bad broke in the system used by the Senate, in particular. Basically, once they get into office they are accountable to no one for 5 out of 6 years.

The silly traditions (rules) of the Senate are stacked against decision and solidly in favor of procrastination.

[JamesP81]

The problem is that we have this iron-bound party system. The RINOs are doing what they are doing with the blessing of the RNC, and people know this. The perception among the public, therefore, isn't that they are punishing specific republicans, but that they are punishing the whole party for not doing what it promised.

Right or wrong, if the GOP doesn't get its head out of the sand over immigration they are toast, and protestations to the unfairness of it are going to do nothing. We can't deal with the world the way we wished it was; we deal with as it really is.

This whole situation is the best argument for term limits I've ever seen.

[TomGuy]

Vote for the same, you'll get more of the same, whether party or politician.

American needs a vast change, and neither Dem nor Pubbie Party offers it. Both have moved further and further to the left, to bigger government, to more government, to more government control.

The GOP is showing its historic true colors as the party of big-business (and screw the little guy).

[L.N. Smithee]

In other words, Geraghty sez: Forget fiscal responsibility, forget immigration reform, forget paring bureaucracy, forget rejecting cronyism. Rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it.

Thanks, Jim.

[justshutupandtakeit]

No voice of SANITY can expect to receive any response but howling absurdities from the "base". Once the baying-at-the-moon pack starts to run it is hard to stop.

[Brilliant]

I think they way you cast a protest vote is to vote against the incumbent in the primary.

[rhombus]

We can't deal with the world the way we wished it was; we deal with as it really is.

Honestly, I'm not sure that is the case with Conservatives these days. They want what they want and they refuse to compromise. That's a good action when you have majority opinion on your side and this is indeed the case with SOME issues that are important to Conservatives. However, that is NOT the case with ALL the issues that are important to Conservatives. Refusal to compromise is not dealing wht the world as it realy is.

[G.Mason]

"If I want a more conservative government, I get it by electing the more conservative of the two choices, even if he isn’t as conservative as I would like. I do not get it by sitting on the sidelines and pouting, and letting the less conservative guy take the reigns of power."

History does not back up this assumption.

People traditionally sit back until it becomes obvious that a drastic change needs to be made. Hence the French Revolution, our own Civil War, etc..

I, for one, will listen tonight. What is said, and not said, will determine my participation in any further election nonsense.

I'm afraid reality is beginning to set in on this tired old voter.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Conservatives sitting out 2006 hurts the GOP’s right, not the RINOs

Isn't that the point? After the elections, they can gripe louder.