Vote GOP Because…
While most of us who call ourselves conservatives struggle for an answer to that question, a look back as to why the question is posed at all might be helpful.
In 1994, the electorate sees a motivated and impassioned GOP come out of the political wilderness and take control of the House of Representatives from a thoroughly scandal-scarred and idea-bereft Democratic Party.
What follows is a slow but steady ideal and ethical erosion of policy that may finally have caught up with the Republican Party. In this, the two major parties in Washington claim a distinction, but may fundamentally lack a difference.
Once upon a time, Republicans had a field day pointing out the inability of one President Bill Clinton and by extension the Democratic Party from stumbling into one scandal after another.
So now, the present-day GOP, led by President George W. Bush, have lately been rocked by illegality, scandal, charges of racism, and anything else that the Democrats and their happy helpers, the mainstream media, can pin on them.
Witness the bizarre yet mammoth troubles of House member Mark Foley, (R-Fla.) who, besides resigning his seat last week immediately after reports that he sent sexually inappropriate e-mails to underage male congressional interns, may now possibly face criminal charges, maybe even a charge of pedophilia.
Preceding Foley’s complete lack of moral judgment and his “thinking with my–ahem–little head” behavior were the over-publicized yet real troubles of former House majority Leader Tom DeLay and his dealings with K-Street’s top super lobbyist and now convicted felon, Jack Abramoff.
Though DeLay was essentially found innocent of any wrong doing in relation to Abramoff, just the association with him was enough to end his political career. But then, the facts never got in the way of a good story when it came to election politics.
Like grass within the cracks of concrete, other political scandals started cropping up. In March of this year, California Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham gets eight-plus years in prison for taking bribes from defense contractors.
Ohio Representative and GOP leader Bob Ney pleads guilty to corruption charges in connection with Jack Abramoff and withdraws from his reelection campaign, and further resigns from the House of Representatives.
Even tenuous circumstances–and outright fabrications–like the troubles that now dog Senator George Allen, (R-Va.) over the supposed use of racial epithet to describe blacks seem to take on a new meaning when lumped together with all else that ails the GOP.
And the record for the GOP to run on? Well, it can’t be all terrorism, all the time, can it? If your President Bush, the obvious answer is a resounding “Heck yes, it’s all we got!” Four weeks out from Election Day, it certainly seems as much.
Though the economy is the best that it’s been since the late nineties, it still remains the most underreported story of the last five years. Low unemployment (4.7%)? Budget deficit lower than expected (111 billion less)? Non-threatening core inflation rates?
Who cares? We have the GOP congressman possibly engaged in serious “criminal behavior” with minors. Gas prices plunging nationwide (down 17%)? Hah!
Democrats and the media are too busy happily proclaiming that they were right all along last year when the designated the GOP as being wed to a “Culture of Corruption.”
And right now, as disgraced Congressman Mark Foley packs up the contents of his House office, who can, with unvarnished conviction, argue with them?
During the last two election cycles, Republicans bucked the odds and added seats to both houses of Congress. Thanks largely to the commitment of President Bush to fight terrorism at home and abroad and keep America safe, the GOP managed to stay out of trouble just long enough to get past those elections.
But what will stop a complete slide into minority-status for the GOP now? Don’t count too largely upon Bush, whose popularity and poll numbers resemble college football scores than anything worth shouting about. If the Democrats can manage to actually use these GOP missteps smartly, a change in majority may come to pass next month.
However, that’s a very big “if” when one considers just who comprises the Democratic Party. It is the party that has consistently overplayed its hate against the Republican Party. From the theatrics at the Paul Wellstone memorial, the outspokenness of former Presidents Carter and Clinton, to the made-for-TV assassination of President Bush, the party of FDR can’t seem to roll a rock downhill.
For the GOP though, the nightmare will continue, at least for a few more weeks, anyway. Expect Democrats and the media to sensationalize everything from Mark Foley’s incredible lack of judgment, to Vice President Dick Cheney “menacing scowl” at a New York Times reporter.
But in the end, Republicans have no one to blame but themselves. As this campaign season now goes from bad to worse, the GOP might soon be running campaign ads that will basically say:
“Vote GOP, because the alternative is even worse than we are.”
—
Vincent Fiore is a freelance political writer who lives in New York City. His work can be seen throughout the Internet, including the American Conservative Union, GOPUSA, Human Events, and theconservativevoice. Vincent is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance and a contributing writer for NewsBusters.org.
October 6th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
How ’bout, “Let’s run on W’s immigration policies?” Nope, that one won’t fly.
“Let’s keep shipping all our industrial jobs overseas ’cause it’s cheaper there?” Nope, that ain’t it, either.
“I’ll bring a load of pork home from D.C.!” Nope, spending like a drunken sailor’s getting real tiresome to those of us who pay for all that crap.
“We run, we lose!” Yep, but as noted in the article, that’s all that’s being used.
Far as I can see, the only other reason to vote GOP is that if one of the dingbat screwball “Living Document” airheads on the SCOTUS should die or retire, our only chance to gain a solid majority there lies with the GOP. And that’s all. Ain’t ’cause they got better morals, that’s fer dang sure.
October 6th, 2006 at 7:37 pm
Compare and contrast:
to
Well, even Carlos can see that outspoken former presidents (Clinton), an over-zealous memorial for a liberal hero (Wellstone), and an entertainment program (Bush killed?) are hardly the same as committing a sex crime (Foley), taking bribes (Duke), and getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar (Ney).
Perhaps this is why the country is in the poor condition that it is. RepubliCONs seem to think that anything a democrat does is bad, and their s**t don’t stink. News flash: absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Look, finger pointing and name calling doesn’t help. I’m sick and tired of the non-stop barrage of crap coming from republiCONs. And, I think, enough of the rest of the country is, too. Foley chasing after underage boys was just the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. And that’s not even the scandal; its that Hastert and the rest of the leadership knew about the problem, and did nothing to stop it. Why? Becuase he thought “we’re republiCONs, we can do whatever we want.”
Funny that you bring up Delay. Given that he was the House whip, he must have known about Foley’s criminal activities. What, exactly, did Delay and the leadership know, and when did they know it? Why wasn’t the House ethics committee briefed on this affair? Moreover, why wasn’t the democratic leader on the Ethics committee told? This simply smacks of partisan politics, and not the type that the republiCONs are trying to spin today; there is no evidence whatsoever that any democrat knew of the extracurricular activities Foley was enjoying, despite the common knowledge among the pages themselves that they should stay away from Foley. No, the only ones guilty of playing partisan politics in this whole mess are the republiCONs and the party’s corrupt leadership.
It comes down to a simple premise: If the republiCONs knew about this and did nothing, they derserve to lose; if they didn’t know about this going on right under their noses, they deserve to lose. Whether or not they will lose is another question; we’ve seen the miracles that Rove can pull off (shameful though they might be, they are successful).
But the alternative being worse? Now that’s a platform I’d like to see.
October 6th, 2006 at 11:35 pm
Well, it can’t be all terrorism, all the time, can it?
How stupid is that question? Terrorism should be front and center the biggest issue of this race. Don’t people realize that the terrorists have declared their intentions and that they haven’t changed their intentions? Terrorist-supporting groups like CAIR, UFPJ, the Tides Foundation and International A.N.S.W.E.R. are contributing heavily to Democrats.
WAKE THE HELL UP AMERICA. Because if you don’t, we’re doomed.
October 7th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
Carlos is dead on the money.
Our borders are being overrun, our jobs are being sacrificed to the twin gods of “globalism” and “free market extrememism”, and K-Street runs the country. Period.
Unless the GOP gets their collective heads around these issues - they are gonna get beaten like a rented mule.
Count on it.
Mac
http://www.brownsludge.com
October 7th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
Absolutely, Gary! Terrorism should be the issue of this election (as it should have been for in ‘02 and ‘04). But we’re no safer today than we were on Sept. 10, 2001. In fact, we’re worse off; Iraq is the new breeding ground for terrorists of many stripes, not just al-Queda; Afghanistan is back in the control of the Taliban, and the US is more vulnerable than it has ever been. Let’s face it: forcing grandma to take off her shoes and give up her crocheting at the airport does not make flying any safer.
The Bush administration has betrayed the country. We could stop terrorists cold in their tracks if we wanted to, but it would take patience, sacrifice, and intelligence — three traits this administration lacks, in spades.
The problem is that knee-jerk reactionaries in the administration (neoCONs) and the drive-thru media (FOX News & bloggers, like you, CalCON) have refocused the debate away from what ails the US (global terrorism, the economy), and blamed everyone from the groups you cite above to democrats. But take responsibility for their failures? Not CONservatives.
The terrorists are winning; all they have to do now is survive another day to sabre-rattle, and we run for cover. And spend billions of dollars chasing after problems of our own creation. Nevermind that we’ve been fighting in Iraq for longer than we fought WWII; nevermind that we’ve lost more soldiers than citizens on 9/11; nevermind that we’re losing the war (as Sen. Warner proclaimed yesterday); nevermind that, given the chance, there are peoples of the world that will choose terrorism over peace every day. Look at Hamas, Palestine, Syria, Iran, and North Korea.
To whit, the terrorists have declared their intentions, and everything we’ve done has made them stronger, more influential, and more effective. When you don’t understand why people turn to violence, you can’t stop it. When you don’t understand why dying for a cause is more important than living for a reason, you can’t change it. It is time for America to wake up, indeed.