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Redstate...
The Great Divide
Posted by Erick Erickson
Wednesday, July 27th
This morning took an interesting turn of events. First the Wall Street
Journal called us hobbits. Then Bill Kristol proclaimed us “pro-Obama.”
Then John Boehner told his members to get their “asses in line.”
And then a handful of Republican members of congress started attacking
me, this site, conservative members of congress, conservative staffers
in congress, and conservative organizations including the Heritage
Foundation, the Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, Americans for
Prosperity, and the list goes on and on.
Friends, this is why the fight is so important — the legacy of the
Republican Party.
During the Bush Administration, many conservatives got co-opted. It
became more important to be on the team than fight on principle.
Consequently, we got No Child Left Behind, Medicare Part D, TARP, the
GM bailout, etc.
We almost got stuck with Harriet Miers and immigration reform.
When the GOP was finally tossed for its “culture of corruption,” there
were very few Republicans standing in Washington that the GOP felt it
could trust. Mike Pence was one. Jeff Flake another. Jim DeMint for
sure.
So conservatives rallied to send them reinforcements — Tom Graves, Dave
Schwiekert, Tim Huelskamp, Marco Rubio, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, etc.
The GOP told us they had turned from their big spending ways. John
Boehner went so far last year to say he appreciated outside
conservative groups holding their feet to the fire.
And then today —The GOP would not fight for smaller government when it
was in the majority and now it seems it intends to cave abjectly in the
minority hiding behind its minority status instead of fighting.
If the GOP won’t fight in the majority and it won’t fight in the
minority, what good is it? Even now, guys like Jeff Flake and Mike
Pence seem to be going wobbly.
Like TARP, No Child Left Behind, Medicare Part D, Harriet Miers — these
are the fights that define a conservative’s legacy in Congress. The new
guys might not realize that. But ultimately, we conservatives remember.
And we also remember the outside groups and pundits who are urging
compromise and urging Boehner’s plan. Many of these same people urged
on the bad plans of the past only to then claim they got duped.
We sent to Washington a group of men and women to repeal Obamacare and
cut Washington spending. Now we’re confronted with the fact that they
want to pass off their obligations to another deficit commission, give
Barack Obama a too clever by half pass at rising the debt ceiling, and
claim they did all they could. But they haven’t.
These are not easy times or easy decisions. But we sure as heck should
expect more from these guys. This isn’t about being on John Boehner’s
team. It’s about doing what is right. And it is not right to punt
obligations and make ephemeral cuts.
If we’re real honest — the GOP helped get us into this mess. John
Boehner’s plan does nothing to redeem the GOP’s legacy. But along the
way, attacking conservative heroes, hiding how his plan will lead to
tax increases, and not fighting both hurts the GOP’s relationship with
its base and will seemingly cause a few long time heroes of the
conservative movement to pollute their legacy with what amounts to a
political cop out.
But hey — they’re in the minority.
The real conservatives will hold the line.
Read it at Redstate
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