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National NewsConservative News
Judicial Deal a Setback, Not a Defeat
By Gary Palmer
Posted on: May 29, 2005
In regard to the compromise orchestrated by Sen. John McCain of Arizona and six other Republican senators to end the filibuster of President Bush's judicial nominees, Thomas Sowell hit it smack on the head when he described the difference between Republicans and Democrats. "The Democrats," wrote Sowell, "have long understood that they are in Washington to represent the people who voted for them." Translation, the Democrats will never sell out their base. They're not confused about who "brung'em to the dance" and they don't change partners once they get there.
Unfortunately, too many Republicans think they have to dance with everybody. As result, there is little will among Republican leadership to exert discipline among its elected members, particularly in the U.S. Senate.
McCain can do anything he wants and the leadership does nothing because they are afraid he will leave the Party. Take note Republicans, John McCain has left the building, or more appropriately, he has left your Big Tent.
Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island openly admits that he voted against President Bush in the 2004 presidential election. Then, two days after collaborating with McCain to undercut Majority Leader Bill Frist, Chaffee voted against the confirmation of Priscilla Owens. Yet the Party and the Senate leadership did nothing because they were afraid he would switch. Take note Republicans, Chafee has already checked out.
On an issue of this magnitude, if the Republican Party leadership had had any guts they would have told these guys to get in line or get out, and "don't let the tent flaps hit you on the way out."
So don't blame John McCain. He was just being what he is, an opportunist. He is running for president and so is Frist. McCain simply took advantage of an opportunity to upstage Frist by making him look like a weak leader. And that is exactly what he did with a little help from his friends, Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio and Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina.
While they may be basking in the glow of the liberal media that are lauding them as courageous centrists, DeWine and Graham need to keep in mind that for many of their constituents back home centrist is just another word for "middle-of-the-road." And as former Texas congressman Jim Hightower once said, "The only thing in the middle of the road are yellow stripes and dead armadillos." In other words, DeWine and Graham are in now in danger of losing their conservative base.
And that is exactly what the liberal media is hoping for.
McCain, on the other hand, is convinced that he does not need a conservative base to advance his political ambitions. He is not a Republican and he is not a conservative, he's McCain. What he may not understand is that he is the darling of the liberal media not because they support his ideas, whatever they are, but because he is making the rest of the Republicans look weak.
McCain is not their hero; he is their pawn … a Trojan Horse to defeat the Republicans from the inside. They know that if he got the Republican nomination the evangelical vote would abandon the Party in droves just like they did when Bob Dole got the nomination. By the 2000 election, the evangelical turnout had declined by 25 percent from their turnout in 1994 when the Republicans took office. Not only would a Democrat be back in the White House, they very likely would be back in control of one or both houses of Congress.
So don't blame McCain for being what he is; blame DeWine and Graham for going along with him. But mainly blame the Republican leadership for not enforcing discipline within its ranks and for letting seven renegades run roughshod over their fellow Republicans and even worse, over our Constitution.
If the Republican Party will not discipline its members on issues of such magnitude as preserving the Constitutional right of the president to appoint judges, then no group inside or outside the Republican Party can ever have full confidence that they will not be abandoned on other critical issues. If the Republicans will not discipline its miscreants from the inside, then the only recourse for the conservative base is to do it from the outside at the ballot box.
Consequently, conservatives across the nation should view this setback for what it is…a temporary setback, just one battle in a long-term struggle to restore constitutional government. Patience and determination to stay in the fight are the proper responses, not packing it in and quitting.
To quote former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, "You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it."
Gary Palmer is president of the Alabama Policy Institute, a non-partisan, non-profit research and education organization dedicated to the preservation of free markets, limited government and strong families, which are indispensable to a prosperous society.
Republicans Hand Senate Democrats Victory, May 24, 2005.
Here Sir, The People Govern, May 23, 2005.
No Basis for Judicial Filibuster, May 6, 2005.
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