Sanford

Newt Gingrich, who had staunchly defended  Dede Scozzafava’s bid for Representative of New York’s 23rd District, seems to be unaware of  the reality which has been manifesting itself all over the country with regards to the leadership of the the Republican party, which is this: THERE ISN’T ANY. We thought we sent that message loud and clear during the 2008 Presidential race which brought the most destructive Presidency in American history to Washington. We had been jacked around time after time by the same backroom deal makers that had been bringing us big government, big spending Republican ‘progressives’ since after Ronald Reagan departed the scene. The hand writing was pretty clearly on the wall for any who had eyes to see. The cries of disgust were readily apparent for any who had ears to hear. Apparently, most of the party leadership didn’t get the message…the ones who were behind the sleazy attacks on Sarah Palin for instance. She is a dynamic leader-in-waiting who can generate more excitement in one appearance than the entire leadership of the Republican party. Yet we still allow these people to attempt to craft their backroom deals with blinders and earmuffs firmly in place. I say attempt ’cause it ain’t workin’ so good any more. The whole concept of the Rockefeller wing of the party is as dead as two week old mackerel and smells about the same. There are severe doubts as to whether Michael Steele has the STEEL to pull the party together. Mitch McConnell and John Boehner should just bow out and get the hell out of the way of someone who CAN lead and isn’t afraid of an old fashioned street brawl…Mike Pence,  J.D. Hayworth, J.C. Watts and Mark Sanford are some who appear not to be infected with ‘Beltway Fever’ At least to this point they remember who (US) and what ( THE  CONSTITUTION ) they serve. Joe Wilson is another…there are others. We need  people with the courage to call Obama, Pelosi, Reid and their ilk LIARS…for liars they surely are. Dishonest and evil as well. The survival of America as we know it depends on it. We owe it to our children and their children. In a glaring example of just how far out of sync with the mood of the Conservative electorate in this country Michael Steele and folks like Newt Gingrich are, Steele issued a statement lauding Scozzafava for ‘taking one for the team’. All the while, Scozzafava was urging voters to support the Democrat Bill Owens. This is another typical RNC DUHH moment. There are rumors that Newt intends to run for President in 2012. I hope not. As brilliant as his Contract for America was, times have bypassed him and all like him. His sadly mistaken support of Dede Scozzafava proved that. It will be the Conservative movement which will carry the Republican banner forward in 2010 and on to defeat Barack Hussein Obama in 2012. “No pale pastels but BOLD COLORS”.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2009

Remember Jimmy Swaggart? He was the TV preacher who wept before America after a tryst with a prostitute. "I have sinned against you, my Lord,” choked Swaggart through tears. “I would ask that your precious blood would wash and cleanse every stain until it is in the seas of God's forgiveness." The fall of televangelism in many ways foreshadowed the decline of the so-called moral majority. The Right is now reaping what it sowed. By making social conservatism central to its platform, it left no room in the GOP for sinners. 

Now we have the Sanford affair. Many on the Right had pinned their hopes on the SC governor. He’s a solid, smart fiscal conservative and liberty lover. Yet his political career will very probably dissolve. Why? Not because what he did was unforgivable. Because back in the 1980s and 90s, the Right set itself up to make hypocrites out of human beings—if but by association with Jerry Falwell under the “Big Tent”. That's why I agree with Patrick Ruffini here.

As I have argued elsewhere, it is time to purge the Right’s politics of social conservatism. That doesn't mean anyone should give up his or her values. It means personal values should be left entirely to the private sphere. The Right should make social toleration and pluralism its new plank. Indeed, there is plenty of contrast between real pluralism and the groupist multiculturalism most of the far left embraces. And you can still have your Bible, virtues and righteousness in the free market of values—i.e. at home and at church.

Of course, there are egregious moral acts the discovery of which no politician – Democrat or Republican – should survive. Breaking a solemn contract with a spouse may very well be one of them. But legal bedroom behavior between consenting adults ain’t one of them. And public moralizing has definitely become a political liability for Republicans. The Right has set up the conditions such that no one in their party can ever have a peccadillo. They have driven their sinful behavior into a black market of their own creation. In the age of transparency, however, your trysts and broken taboos will be sniffed out quickly. And it’s not just for politically pragmatic reasons that the Right should give up on public moralizing a la Falwell. It’s also that it’s none of the government’s business what people do in their bedrooms, so it doesn't belong in ANY platform.