This Isn’t Your Fathers Republican Party

Like Dr. Frankenstein, the Republican Party is about to lose control of the monster that they have created. The previously loyal, ultra-conservative base has risen up in anger and angst to force their will upon the party leadership in upstate New York District #23. What should have been a simple routine election of another Republican in this largely safe district has now turned into a full scale conservative revolution. The official Republican nominee had the support and endorsements of the party leadership, but she wasn’t good enough for the ultra-conservatives. They rebelled and put up their own candidate that represented their own extreme ideologies. They even claimed that previous conservative heroes like Newt Gingrich were acting like traitors to the cause for endorsing a moderate. It was all turning into a very ugly battle between the so called principled wing of the party and those that were interested in a more practical approach. In the end, the conservatives were successful in driving out the dreaded moderate and now have the party purity in district #23 that they always wanted.

They will probably win this one but in the end they should be careful what they wish for. The seat itself is not important. With a healthy majority in the house, the Democrats do not really need a win here. If Hoffman wins, however, it will embolden the tea party conservatives to force their way into many other local races across the country. Anybody who is a moderate Republican that does not cater to the ultra-conservative fringe will be looking over his shoulder wondering if he will be the next to be “tea bagged”.

The conservatives like to proclaim that this is a “center right” country. Maybe it is. However, conservatives are in some confusion of exactly where in the political spectrum they stand. The country’s idea of center right is not Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin. Most of the country correctly identifies these individuals as the far right fringe. FOX News has perpetuated this misconception by tacitly and actively endorsing conservative viewpoints and candidates all the while proclaiming themselves as “fair and balanced”. With this skewed vision of the political realities in hand, the conservative movement will continually push its unelectable candidates forward instead of true “center right” candidates.

The most nervous man in America right now should be Gov. Crist of Florida. His support of Obama’s stimulus package has made him disloyal Republican target #1. His conservative challenger in the Senate primaries is bound to get national support and endorsements. However, unlike upstate New York, an ultra-conservative will have a very hard time winning the general statewide election. The conservatives get the political purity they want but in return they just end up giving another senate seat to the Democrats.

This pattern is going to be repeated all over the country as the battle for the Republican Party’s soul rages on. And the Leadership is powerless to stop it from happening. More and More moderate Republicans, in districts and states that they would normally do well in, are going to refuse to run for fear that they will be challenged and demonized by the right wing. The Party will find itself short on candidates and unable to push back against the conservative tea party juggernaut. In the end they will be forced to back ultra-conservative candidates in races that they have no chance of winning.

All I can say is good luck Mr. Hoffman.

Tags: Conservative, FOX News, Glenn Beck, politics, republican, Right Wing Media, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, Talk Radio, Tea Party

This entry was posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 8:43 am and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.