May 15 2008
When Will The “True Conservatives” Wake Up To The Damage They Did?
The purity wars inside the GOP are doing what many of us feared and predicted, decimating the GOP as America dumps the “true conservatives” and goes with conservative democrats. Those are the choices we have seen in the last 3 special elections: Far Right verses Left of Center. America chose Left of Center.
Why did America do that? Probably because they are tired of the far right testing their purity and clamoring all the time about who the best, most pure conservatives are, while damning those lesser conservatives – which are at times called ‘moderates’ (best said with the nose up in the air), many times ‘RINOs’ (Republican In Name Only), and on some issues ‘traitors’. America has decided that the ‘true conservatives’ are too difficult to deal with and are going with the conservative democrats or moderate republicans instead.
Rush Limbaugh tried to say the other day that the GOP dumped on the conservatives (of course all the true conservative ranting and name calling over issues like immigration is not dumping, it is politics). Actually conservatives, at least the ‘pure, true’ conservatives of Hannity and Levin and others, are not being dumped on. American voters are simply dumping them – period. Sorry Rush, but that dumping feeling is Americans telling the far right they went too far. That feeling of rejection is not because people are mean to the far right, it was because the far right became too caustic and heated and started on their purity rant, which left voters cold and looking elsewhere.
Note how all the ‘true conservative’ presidential candidates failed in this year’s GOP primary. The ‘true’ conservative’s worst enemy has became the party standard bearer. That was a message to the far right. The fact the conservative movement is growing and succeeding on the Democrat side of the aisle is a message to the far right. The fact that the liberal democrats had to end their own purity wars and allow pro-life candidates into the fold to gain back their political power is a message to the far right. The only question is whether anyone is listening on the far right, or are they all still obsessively comparing how ‘pure’ they are too each other and ignoring everything else going on around them?
Personally, I prefer the Reagan-Bush version of conservatism that came out of the GOP. But that was a broad coalition Reagan built. A diverse movement that respected differences and did not have litmus tests. This is not Reagan’s conservative movement today, clearly since it has decided to reject one of the most successful conservative president’s in modern history: George W Bush. Funny thing is all these purists think it was centrist Bush who chased the centrists to the center? Now that is some pretzel logic! If you are on the right and cannot stand Bush it is a good bet you are a ‘true conservative’, and you probably look in the mirror and think you see Reagan staring back.
But Reagan was extremely tolerant of non-conservative views. Remember, he was an life-long Democrat – like Harriet Miers. And we all know how Mrs. Miers was treated. He signed into law the largest, real amnesty bill for illegal immigrants, and we all know what traitors lurk in the GOP to repeat Reagan’s sin. Conservatism has a bad image right now, and the fact is the ones at fault are those who created the image of ‘true conservatism’ and claimed it was the only allowable brand of conservative thought allowed in the GOP. When they did that they told everyone else to take a hike – and they did! Now Americans support conservative democrats as they take over GOP seats held for a decade or more. We have succeeded in obtaining purity! (of course being an independent who is not allowed to be ‘conservative’ due to his impure positions the ‘we’ is very much tongue in cheek, or as Tonto would have said ‘what’s this ‘we’ stuff Kimosabe?”)
This was always where the purity wars were going to lead. To make something pure means to distill it down to just a few numbers with identical traits. That in politics is called a fringe group, because it is so far outside the impure mainstream. It looks like when Bush completed much of the common ground the right of center coalition agreed on, that coalition was destined to blow apart. There was nothing left to fight for that everyone agreed on. Now comes the next coalition, whatever shape that may be. Hopefully another Reagan-Bush type leader will arise that will quell this ten year itch the far right gets, which lands us with Clintons and Carters and who knows what this year.
Update: With all due respect to Ed Morrissey, who I find is one of the most level headed people on the right, his current thesis on what is wrong with the GOP is just not realistic:
Did the House GOP caucus take a hard line on pork-barrel spending or adopt policies to cut federal spending? No. Republican voters and conservative pundits begged the House and Senate caucuses to make dramatic breaks with the previous six years and adopt real conservative policies of fiscal responsibility and federalism. What did they do? They offered to stop earmarking only if Democrats followed suit, a deal everyone knew would never take place. Instead of appointing one single anti-pork activist to the House Appropriations Committee in Jeff Flake, they appointed Joe Bonner, a good Congressman but a well-known earmarker, and mostly because Flake’s anti-pork crusade irritates his colleagues.
Sorry, this is too much inside baseball to sway the electorate outside the beltway. And the idea anyone would gravitate to the tax-and-spend Dems to limit spending is laughable (but I still respect you Ed!). Whatever committee some guy named Flake is on did not cause this. Everyone sees the evidence – a conservative coalition is building in the democrat party. Conservatism is now winning when it comes attached to the democrats, which would have been considered ridiculous back in 2004 – before the purity wars erupted.
The reason far right conservatives are losing is they have lost the American voter. And it is not because they are not conservative enough, it is because they have been demeaning people who disagree with them marginally for years. When McCain and Bush and others put forth a reasonable compromise on immigration, people on the far right compared them to the far left which wants instant citizenship for all! This comparison was ludicrous and only demeaned those making it. America saw a radicalized, out of control, overly emotional far right and has backed away. America is backing away from conservatism under the GOP and going with conservatism under the democrats. Get a clue folks. If you love America and its people then listen to what they are saying in the voting booth. This not about pork spending and committee assignments. This the GOP losing the conservative preference to the Dems. Without broad conservatism, what does the GOP have to offer to oppose liberalism?
Update: I meant to post how Rush Limbaugh actually does the same thing has Hannity and Levin and Savage, by disparaging those ‘impure’ conservatives:
Gee, they’re just now getting it. What took ’em so long? Did you see what happened in 2006? Folks, I am mad today. Did you see what happened in 2006? Did you see all the conservative Democrats Pelosi ran in the South then and skunked your incumbents? With what? Not McCainism. These Democrats were not running as McCain. They were running as Reagan conservatives, and that’s how they won, in Reagan conservative districts.
…
Because the Republican Party, which has sold out to the pseudoconservatives of the New York Times and the DC-New York media establishment who think that Rockefeller Republicanism and country club Republicanism is the future of the party, Ms. Pelosi, “Okay, they’re going to give that up, they’re going to give up Reagan, fine, we’ll go take over.” If she wanted to, she could take over the whole Republican Party this way. But she’s too far left and her party is too far left. But if they really wanted a huge supermajority, it’s waiting for them. Meanwhile, the Republican Party is doing everything in the world that it can to try be 25%, 30%, 40% liberal or independent for some God-knows-who-can-explain-it reason.
Well, no time out from RINO bashing it seems. I think it is delusional to claim a democrat conservative is more conservative than the GOP conservative. Greg Davis in MI (the GOP candidate) was on the far right, especially when it came to immigration. He beat out those nasty pseudoconservatives (aka, RINOs, like Rudy Giuliani). No, it was not because the democrat was more conservative – that is emotional denial.
Want to know what pisses off America? Insult their favorite hero Mayor from 9-11, Rudy Giuliani, as the ‘true’ conservatives did when he ran for President. Insult Vietnam War Hero Senator McCain. Backstab our President and demean him and his views. That is the GOP brand of conservatism in the eyes of many Americans, and they have had their fill of it. They are now voting for lower key, less volatile conservatives, ones not beholding to the conservative chattering class. Yes, the Blue Dogs have to co-exist with Pelosi’s liberals and fight the battle for conservatism inside the Dem party, but they are not beholding to conservative talk radio and others who try to push more conservatism than some are ready to accept. Did it ever occur to the far right that Americans are really smart and know how to get around obstacles? Want to get the far right talking heads out of the picture? Put in Blue Dogs who can run free of the far right.
Something to think about while this disaster unfolds.
Update: This article at the Politico is especially brutal, but it also notes the other fallout of the GOP conservative movement losing ground to a Democrat conservative movement – you lose campaign dollars. I fail to see how Rush Limbaugh expects to garner support for GOP conservatism by bashing pseudoconservatives and conservative independents like he did the other day? When these impure voters vote for Blue Dogs, the tend to take their campaign contributions with them. Not sure how belittling them is a winning strategy???? Call me naive.
I think Fred Thompson represented the conservative point of view the best. I think he is the kind of conservative that Rush talks about.
The idea of conservatism is to state a principal and show how it strengthen the country and brings out our best.
On immigration Fred said, “secure our borders, open out doors”. It is easy to see the difference in approach with Freds statement, then using the same principal but stating, we are a country of laws, how dare these people sneak in and expect us to take care of them bla,
bla , bla, Michelle Milkin, Tancredo etc.
I think Fred Thompson represented the conservative point of view the best. I think he is the kind of conservative that Rush talks about.
The idea of conservatism is to state a principal and show how it strengthens the country and brings out our best.
On immigration Fred said, “secure our borders, open out doors”. It is easy to see the difference in approach with Freds statement, then using the same principal but stating, we are a country of laws, how dare these people sneak in and expect us to take care of them bla,
bla , bla, Michelle Milkin, Tancredo etc.
Kathie, I agree with you. But Fred’s nuance was missed because of something bigger going on. Once he linked himself to the Tancredo bus his hopes went down the tube. I was listening as he spent day after day on Hannity’s show. And each day he lost ground.
OK AJ about Fred, I don’t remember Fred on the Hannity show, but I’m trying to demonstrate that conservatism in and of itself does not need to be compromised but the thought needs to show how the principal can bring out our best as a people and a country. That is what Reagan was so good at. Bush is quite good also but he is not a teacher, and Rush would say that conservatism needs to constantly taught, shown how we all benefit from a principal.
Sorry Kathie, I was not clear. I really do agree with you!
Now if the far right can show some humility and respect who knows what could happen. So far they are only digging their hole deeper, meaning it will take more and more time to dig their way back out and gain back the respect and support of American.
But you are right, conservatism is worthwhile, and worth saving. One way is to go through this painful purge and rejection by the voters. The other way is for the far right to get on with the mea culpas and apologies right now.
AJ in your first paragraph you say conservatism is being rejected then say in the first three contests voters elected conservative Democrats. Some sort of pretzel logic going on there.
Fact is conservative ideas continue to prevail even when Dems try it , it is failure to stick to those principals that has doomed the Republican party and when the electorate sees the Dems do it just to get elected the electorate will be furious with them also.
Conservative candidates failed in the GOP Presidential primary because the primary was front loaded to liberal, primarily Eastern states where independents and Dems picked the GOP candidate for us . This is the fault of the Republican National Committe for not setting better rules for their primaries. Leadership there is horrible. As is communication from our commander in chief (God Love and Protect Him) and congressional leaders.
Throw them all out, institute term limits, take away their earmarks and lucrative pension plans and return government to the people , by and for the people. Right now I have taxation without representation!
Agree with all the above. I am a Bush conservative.
And I love this statement, AJ:
“Insult their favorite hero Mayor from 9-11, Rudy Giuliani, as the ‘true’ conservatives did when he ran for President. Insult Vietnam War Hero Senator McCain. Backstab our President and demean him and his views. That is the GOP brand of conservatism in the eyes of many Americans, and they have had their fill of it. ”
The right went too far with the Dubai deal, Harriett Miers, and Immigration, and their attacks on the president, who btw, brought them to the White House. Prior to that, they had NO ONE who could do that, except a conservative DEMOCRAT.
I just wonder what the excuse is for why Hunter and Tancredo did not win the primary. Was someone forcing voters not to vote for these two?
I got sick of the Bush bashing from the far right long ago, especially when I heard Malkin call the president stupid on national TV. And Ann Coulter, where do I begin with her comments about the president?!
The far right has become the thing they hate. I know they are fighting for their place at the table. Actually they seem to want to OWN the table….And I do love Rush and Sean in many ways. It’s just not all or nothing, right guys?!
Sorry, dhunter, I don’t agree with all of your post…:)
The money did not flow to the conservatives or they ran a bad campaign. And, let’s face it, far right conservatives could not put their support behind any one candidate up front. Why didn’t THEY run a candidate? It seems like they prefer to be AGAINST instead of FOR.
And dhunter, 24/7 media bashing blocks one’s message. Look at hil. She gets no respect from the media. The media is corrupt. The president could have spent his entire presidency focusing on the media with Madison Avenue talking points. Or, as he did, he focused on getting results, real results for the long haul, not just media hype to gain points in a poll.
And the far right would have fared very well if they had followed the President’s lead for the past 8 years. And given him the respect he EARNED (but they were too arrogant to see, imho.)
I also want to exclude Rush from much of my commentary because I think he was basically fair to the President. Others were publically not so fair.
ivehadit,
You are correct. There was no reason to be so caustic on Bush just because some on the right disagreed with him – it just happens these people only know caustic, they don’t know solutions.
And I was a bit surprised by Rush’s comments, I felt they were out the norm for him. He admits he was off because of some anger. Rush has been fairer than most to Bush and therefore kept the respect of the coalition, not the Judahs who have knee-capped our President politically. He could have saved the party from a lot of this if they left him intact.
And in fact, if they would throw their support behind him so his polls go up (and make some news) and have confidence in Iraq (and move polls and make news) then the news would be how the GOP is making gains while the Dem Congress is in the tank.
But doing the smart thing seems to be too much to ask right now.
AJ, you gonnna ban me if I make note of your obsession again?
😉
If, for no other reason, the far right should put their support behind the President now FOR THE TROOPS.
dhunter,
Read slower. I said Americans are dumping the ‘true conservatives’ of Hannity and Levin and the far right and going with Democrat conservatives when given the choice (now three times this has happened). When it is a choice between ‘true conservatives’ on the far right and more center-right conservatives (like McCain) the GOP primary voters where clear – stay away from the fringes.
yeah, conservatism is still preferred, just not that of the far right. They have succeeded in repulsing everyone else right of center, who are voting anyone but the far right.
That’s the point. The far right is hemorrhaging support and taking the GOP down with it.
Ask America why they don’t like Bush and they say he is a fringe radical extremist. Ask conservative why they don’t like Bush and they will say he is a closet liberal. Who is out of touch? I think I know.
The conservative movement has become a no, no gated community of those trying to escape from the world. Take my football and go home. America likes conservative solutions to problems but more than that, they want solutions. All conservatives give is no, no, no (see all the mess that deregulation made of the financial markets. The largest banks proved totally ineffective at basic risk management) America doesn’t trust liberal solutions because they still remember the 1960s and 1970s but those supporting common sense solutions capture the market place.
Unfortunately both fringes don’t realize this. The only difference is that the liberal fringe sees gov’t programs as incremental progress toward their goals while the conservatives give up, don’t vote and go home. And then bitch about the gov’t they wind up which.
75,
Its news and all over the place. No one is forcing you to face your demons. You don’t want to read the posts don’t read the posts.
But it is news. Even Karl Rove ‘obsessed’ about it on the WSJ today.
My demons are your demons, AJ…and our country’s for that matter. As for “news”, I will take Rush over the MSM any day of the week.
I can feel the problem personally – I’ve been a registered republican in every election, but right now I feel closer to the conservative dems, provided they support the war, than I do to any of the radical republicans. And I have to ask – all these years in power, what did you do? Nothing.
Now, the problem with Dems is that with them I know we will get even worse. So, I see my choices between those who will do nothing and those who will do tragically bad things in the name of “doing something.” I know which way I have to go, but…
It’s really hard to get pumped up with the rally cry of “OK, boys, lets go do NOTHING!!! 3 cheers for Nothing! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!!!”
nope, doesn’t work for me.
That’s a frightening thought, WWS.
I would have thought all of us had learned our lesson about the Democrats by now.
Buck up and keep the faith.
WWS, I am with you. The far right is nothing.
And 75, we don’t need to buck up. The far right needs to screw their heads on better and realize they are not the force they thought they were. You want allies? Start with the mea culpas – and make them good.
Gee, AJ…it sounds like you don’t want even positive reinforcement from me. That’s a shame. I guess I will stay home election day since you don’t need me.