Conservatives Take on the GOP Establishment

A new poll out yesterday shows that 73% of Republicans think the GOP establishment and leaders are clueless. I'll bet you, like me, are one of the 73%.

The backing and support of the liberal pro-choice, pro-union, ACORN-endorsed candidate Dede Scozzafava by the Republican establishment (RNC, NRCC, Newt Gingrich and the Republican Congressional leadership) in New York's 23d CD's special election has underlined the problem: While "the folks" are looking for leaders who share their values, the political class is still playing the same old game of party politics.

Now the Scozzafava situation is unusual in that she was chosen to stand in the special election as the GOP nominee by local party leaders in some back room. Most candidates standing for the general election in congressional races upcoming in 2010 will be chosen by primary voters, not by political hacks. Still, it is disturbing to see the national and state Republican elites line up to endorse Scozzafava merely because she wears the party label, even though her views are anathema to the activists the party must attract.

Even Newt Gingrich has said that he supports the liberal Scozzafava not because of her positions but because to support the "other guy" (Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, who has been endorsed by Sarah Palin and Rick Santorum) would be to send the "wrong signal." Wrong signal to whom? To other conservatives who might be tempted to oppose a GOP candidate in the 2010 congressional elections.

Well, that is disingenuous in the extreme, for as I said above most GOP congressional candidates will be chosen by the primary voters, not by the party officials. In such a situation a potential third party conservative candidate would be the potential spoiler to the detriment of the nominee chosen by the people. That is likely to dissuade him or her from challenging the party nominee, regardless of the outcome of NY-23.

I have spoken to staffers at the RNC and the NRCC who admit that their phones have been ringing off the hook. Ordinary Republicans are calling not with angry threats but with a firm warning to the establishment: we are fighting for the future of our country and we will only vote for candidates who will fight along with us. The only question is whether the Republican elites will heed that warning.

If they don't they will be taught a lesson in grassroots politics that they may not recover from.

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