Posted on 08/25/2012 12:09:20 PM PDT by kreitzer
Prediction: If the GOP establishment doesnt follow Republican Rep. Todd Akins example with a big, fat apology to Akin the whole party goes down in flames come November.
I dont mean every Republican will lose, but there is great political peril in not sealing the hole in Republican armor that has opened in Missouri and instead permitting it to remain a Democratic pressure point. Further, for the good of the country (the mantra accompanying the party-wide chorus of pleas to Akin to drop out of his U.S. Senate race), Republicans must resume funding Akins viable campaign ASAP, after cutting it off in a mad fit of political pique. Finally, every one of them the party standard-bearer, party bosses, congressional delegations, allied pundits should come together for a group smack on the head, as in, What were we thinking?
I cant recall anything in public life more widely craven and uncalled for than the open panic and bullying set off across the Republican Party by the first replay of Akins perplexingly ignorant interview comments on rape and pregnancy. The veteran conservative lawmaker, former engineer, former businessman and grandfather of eight recanted these remarks. He apologized for them.
But as the left began to bay for blood over a Republican and, by preposterous extension, Republican Party it hopes to smear as anti-woman, Republicans across the board, incredibly, joined in. Rather than jouncing Democrats back into some semblance of decent behavior with a firm, party-wide reality check comparing a dumb comment about rape from one among their ranks with, say, accusations of actual rape against Democrats two-term hero, Bill Clinton Republicans obligingly cut off their own noses and handed them to their political opponents.
The headline in the New York Times this week said it all: GOP is pressing candidate to quit over rape remark. Funny how we never, ever saw anything similar in the 1990s, when bombshells about Bill Clintons serial sexual harassment and assault of women were a common occurrence. Something like: Dems pressing president to quit over rape.
Didnt happen. In fact, far from pressuring the former president into a quiet post-presidency retirement, the Democrats are spotlighting the overexposed sexual reprobate with a center-stage role at their upcoming convention. There, Clinton will officially re-nominate Barack Obama for president.
What else can we expect from the party that still lionizes Ted Kennedy, the late Massachusetts politician who notoriously left a young female campaign worker to drown in a sinking car rather than get help? Just as serial sexual improprieties perpetrated by Bill Clinton dont count in Democrat-land as anti-woman, neither does Kennedys unconscionable behavior at Chappaquiddick. Both men not only remained in office, they remain the Democrats ideal.
A muddled, recanted remark about reproductive biology, however, puts a Republican one or two steps away from Hitler. He must be shunned by decent society, his whole career destroyed, the primary votes he won nullified, to expiate his sin.
Worst of all is the Republican Partys unified acquiescence to this illogical, unjust and amoral equivalence. In fact, without the GOPs lockstep, take-me-to-your-leader obedience to the Democrats rigged rules, the pitch of this controversy would have died down already. Without the Republicans vigorous enforcement of the lefts double standards, Akin would probably still be facing favorable odds of winning the Missouri Senate seat.
But no, which is what deeply concerns me. Indulging ginned-up, hack hysterics is not the behavior of a leader or a winner. Worse, accommodating unjust attacks on a solid citizen in the name of practicality or the greater good is a very dangerous precedent, as totalitarian history tells us. Thats why the GOP needs to rethink Missouri and make amends with Akin before moving on. Otherwise, I fear that in its vital quest to prevent Barack Obama from winning a second term, it wont be moving anywhere.
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And what's the outcome you're looking for? A liberal Senate?
I'm looking for a Senate in Republican hands, able to repeal Obamacare and all the rest of the Obama's "progress".
That outcome is more likely with Scott Brown representing Massachusetts than with his opponent. Thus, since I vote in Massachusetts, Scott Brown gets my vote. If you have a better idea, let's hear it. Else, stifle your insults and STFU!
I'm a realist. I realize the New England definition of a conservative Republican is going to be different than the definition of “conservative” in the deep south, or in many parts of rural America. Obviously Scott Brown is a lot better than Teddy Kennedy and I'm not disagreeing.
Please recognize that in some places in the United States, Scott Brown would be considered a liberal and would have trouble winning a Democratic primary for local office.
If Scott Brown is the most conservative senator you can elect in Massachusetts — and he probably is — then good for you, and thank you for your contribution to helping move the Senate into a more conservative direction.
However, don't blame those of us in more conservative places for wanting to elect people who represent our communities. I'm not saying you're doing that, but some people in the Republican Party are, and that is not helpful.
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