The GOP Loses Another Voice of Reason
RSmitty of Delaware Politics has just announced he’s leaving the GOP and becoming an Independent. I am not here to gloat. This was obviously a difficult decision, and not one that should be taken lightly – by either side. I refuse to cheapen Smitty’s decision with offers of congratulations. Today is a day of mourning, because I believe this country is at its best with a viable opposition party. The other side not only lost another voice, it lost one of its finest ambassadors.
Below the fold I have posted Smitty’s words in their entirety. I am also including a link to Dave’s calling out of Rush. Given the political climate on the right, both deserve to be taken seriously… and without apology.
Not The GOP Anymore
Mar 3rd, 2009 by RSmitty
First…thanks to Dave for bringing us back to the delawarepolitics.net domain. I am no longer blocked! That said, this may be short-lived…maybe. Depends how this post is taken.
I twitted (sounds so wrong) via text this morning:
Has my GOP lost its identity and become Buckley’s (once) defunct Conservative Party? Rush thinks it’s so. Limbaugh, you do NOT speak for me!
What in the hell happened to the Republican Party? What in the hell happened to the more moderate of us that brought the balance and tempered the extremism that makes us the isolationists that we are becoming?
I am sorry, but I can’t argue against DelawareLiberal’s sentiment that our very own crowned-moderate has been acting somewhat of a sheep of Boehner. Moderates are either scared or have been assimilated into the Borg machine.
Congratulations, CPAC, you have finally done it in 2009. You have officially killed the Republican Party. Out of it’s ashes, the resurrection of the Conservative Party has risen. You have no right to the title of the party of Lincoln nor the party of (Theodore) Roosevelt. You are, 100% true, the party of Buckley and the party of Limbaugh. Lincoln and T Rooselvelt would puke at the sight of your faces.
Since the REAL Republican Party exists no more, that means my registration is now invalid. Given the soonest chance, I will become an Independent. I can NOT, EVER share the same party registration as Rush Limbaugh nor ANY other person who feels the need to apologize to him for engaging in political discourse. You apologized for participating in one of the most cherished rights of being an American! You apologized to an ultra-Conservative RADIO personality. You are weak, have no conviction, and do not deserve my sweat.
The only person of the Republican Party that I will openly support at this date with my free labor and sweat (note that it can change for those brave souls who have proper ideals, but remain with the party – this also does not apply to those I have no direct work with, such as Rep Lavelle who is a strong and good character) is Representative Richard Cathcart. A great man who does put people over party and does great constituent work and is never afraid to stand up against a daunting challenge.
RIP – Republican Party, March 2009. Cause of death: CPAC Attack.
Tags: Republicans
This seems very sad to me but I think it needs to be done. For all my snickering about the GOP’s woes I think the country runs much better when there are at least two parties working together and in opposition to solve our country’s problems. We can’t run our country with one party of solutions and one party of no.
It’s interesting, but I was reading somewhere last night that Democrats needed to start monitoring the Libertarian and Constitution Parties (perhaps the Conservative Party as well). The GOP is a walking corpse and those disaffected conservatives have to go somewhere.
Good point, UI. Looks like a lot of people are being kicked out of their political homes.
This is such nonsense, shedding tears over the poor republicans because we need an opposition party.
The repubs and their murderous anti-human rights agenda can go to hell. This “sad to me” craziness is exactly why liberals can’t take their own side of an argument, and they don’t know what to do when they win.
Can’t you remember how many thousands of people have died because of these people? How much misery they have caused in the world? You think it is sad because they are on the precipice of irrelevancy?
Here is a hint: when your repub political opponent is down, kick harder.
Let a new opposition spring from the left and challenge the entrenched interests of the Dems from the left, not the right. The right and their failed inhumane policies need to be relegated to the dustbins of history.
Dave’s response to Rush is facile bullshit.
…I was reading somewhere last night that Democrats needed to start monitoring the Libertarian and Constitution Parties …
Interesting. I was actually requested to join the Libertarian Party a few times over the past few months. In particular, by a friend of mine in California. My personal social-policy beliefs would certainly fall in line with the platform (which, many liberals would, too), but I am not Libertarian-perfect economically. In this era, I can’t accept that all taxes are inherently evil. I think there is definitely too much taxation, though, and we need to keep the government on a strict diet for life. No taxation, though, does not work in my view.
Christ, Jason. It is not! Stop being so self-centered important that other people can’t actually stand in contempt, or your snark missed the mark completely. One of the two.
RSmitty is at a minimum 4 years too late, though, IMHO, the Republican Party has been dead since Terri Schiavo.
Meanwhile, Dave is censoring LG’s comments on his blog simply for publishing a link for changing voter party affiliation.
Cry ’em a river.
BTW…when looking at the registration choices, there is IPoD and Unafilliated. I am guessing I want the latter? The former is a trainwreck.
Yes, unaffiliated, otherwise you have to meet in pizza shops.
Well, pizza is good. I’m guessing the beer isn’t provided, though, so unafilliated it is.
I agree avoid IPoD.
Re Dave – What has he risked by saying F$%@ you know who?
I view being reasonable as a strength of liberalism. I also don’t subscribe to the “good and evil” characterization of Dems/Repubs or Repubs/Dems. Funny, I thought that mindset was what separated us.
He risks having to apologize to Republican Party Leader Rush.
ANONONE
You are so right kick the bastards when they are down don’t give them a chance to get up.We won so screw them never allow them any input. Look what Mitch McConnell did to the jobs package voted against it yet we allowed him over 25 million in ear marks. Go figure.
LOL @ UI.
I see your point, J, but I do 100% believe that he stands behind his comment and is utterly pissed that Rush has even an iota of influence, let alone Rush walking around like his shit doesn’t stink and so on. Your comment reads as if he was disingenious. That is where I disagreed. It’s a bona-fide belief/opinion of his. My decision to do what I did is mine and certainly not a prerequisite of legitimacy of opinion. However, thanks for your consideration of fortitude.
I didn’t say anything about “good and evil”.
I am saying that being politically nicey-nice to people who have stolen elections, lied us into war, robbed the middle class to give to the rich, rewarded wealth over work, denied civil right to people, tortured, ignored the Constitution, and want the state to own women’s bodies is ridiculous.
There is no “reasonable” discussion to be had with any of that. You can’t be reasonable with unreasonable and inhumane people.
Now, NOW(!) they suddenly get that Rush is, well, maybe not who they want to be associated with? After regurgitating his talking points for the last 10 years?
Are you kidding me?
I don’t think Rush recognizes that Delaware is a state, so I guess Dave’s safe whether or not he apologizes.
For me, A1, I ignored the bloviated one, for he never deserved anything from me. He was officially legitimized this weekend as a formidable force for party policy. Sure, people and groups may have seen him as their voice, but it was never “THE” word of policy. It was all wonkish. What went down gave it a place on the platform, made it official, implied or otherwise.
Buh-bye Conservative Party.
RSmitty,
I know that you have struggled over this for a long time, and I respect your decision.
And it is about time. 😉
The only thing protecting Dave from having to apologize to Rush is the utter irrelevancy of the Delaware GOP.
Wow. You should be proud of this statement, Smitty.
Personally, I don’t think that the Republican Party is completely gone. There are folks like Colin Powell, Schwartzenegger, Huntsman and others who are closer to the traditional formulation than those are stuck to their radios. I really can’t believe that there is not some effort somewhere among the more traditional Repubs to do something to take it all back.
Ah, Cass…seeing my point of view. Aye, the Party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt has been pummeled into dust and the resurrection of the Conservative Party (the party of Limbaugh and the party of Buckley) has risen. Until they realize that is what happened and drop the misnomer label of Republican and accept the factual label Conservative (party), I can not accept being a part, nor should anyone else of the same ilk.
We can thank Lyndon Johnson for destroying the Republican Party.
His work to push through the Voting Rights Act of 1964 demolished the Democratic Party when the Southern Democrats began the slow but inevitable migration to the Republican Party.
Colin Powell! Are you serious, cassandra_m? Unless of course you mean “the traditional formulation” of lying the country into war. Ever hear an apology?
Schwartzenegger? I guess you forgot about the Davis recall and how Schwartzenegger was going to “fix everything”. 10.1% unemplyment in CA. Yeah, I guess that is “closer to the traditional formulation.”
Huntsman? Why?
What are so-called “traditional Repubs” when 75% supported Bush/Cheney to the very end? Do the 25% minority represent the “traditional Repubs”?
At least Schwarzenegger isn’t from this country… actually we aren’t even sure if he is from this planet.
I’m pretty sure he’s from the future. I saw a documentary about it once.
At least Schwarzenegger isn’t from this country
Neither is Obama if you read the wingnuts. 😉
Somewhere there is a wingnut demanding to see Schwarnzegger’s Birth Certificate.
And to A1 — Colin Powell has his baggage (as do we all) and baggage that he has to account for. But you’ve also forgotten his appearance on MTP to endorse Barack Obama, which ended up also being a pretty serious critique of the current wingnut strain.
I haven’t forgetten about Davis, either. Arnold came schwooshing into office with an entire agenda of serious wingnut crap that he tried to govern by. All of that culminated with a slate of ballot items that would have codified the worse of the wingnuttery. All of it was decisively rejected at the ballot box, Arnold’s approval ratings were in the tank and there were whispers of a new rcall effort. So what did Arnold do? Dumped his wingnut advisors, took on Dems and moderate Rs as advisors and has been working at a more centrist stance since.
Which isn’t to say that I don’t have policy disagreements with any of these guys and am unlikely to vote for any of them, but there is really no point — no point — in pretending that all Republicans are created equally. They aren’t — and you can start dividing them up into those whose primary interest is in nurturing their ideology and those who are interested in governing.
A1, you missed Cassandra’s point. We’re always going to be able to knock Republicans for stuff like that, but it’s nice that there are some who are practical enough to sometimes put the needs of the country or their state ahead of party purity. That practicality is what McCain had to jettison in order to secure the Republican nomination, and it’s also why the GOP was quick to trash him the moment he lost (or in many cases before that). The purists would rather throw everything away than be forced to admit that More Conservatism isn’t always the answer.
Oh, spare me the tears and the tw0-party-system crap. The Republicans are where they are because the only people left to them are greedy-rich-folks or mindless morons. Thing is, as long as they’ve got the greedy-rich-folks there will always be a Republican Party. They’ll tune it down or tune it up, depending on the mood of the nation, but never forget that they’ve got the money and the media in their pockets. It’s an off year so they can let the nuts out to play, but wait for next year when they get down to business.
Meanwhile, I know I’m not supposed to belittle your decision by saying congratulations RSmitty, but I will say I’ve always felt you were much too poor and much too smart to be a Republican.
I’m assuming the poor part — relative to, say, the DuPonts — and you’ve demonstrated the smart part with your posts.
You are probably best off with the undeclared voters, sometimes called Independents. They don’t choose an ideology and can pick any candidate that appeals to them. Of course they can’t field their own candidate — how could they since they have no uniting ideology?
More conservative policies are the answer. It is the departure from Conservatism to appease the Moderates that caused our problems. Now you think the solution is to hit the pedal and go faster in the wrong direction. Like Buckley from another generation. I stand up and yell, stop.
I applaud your courage, RSmitty, it couldn’t have been easy to write/post that.
I’m still waiting on that “European Kickball” retraction, however. 😉
More conservative policies are the answer.
Just keep on ignoring the last 8 years.
My response for what its worth is over at delawarepolitics.net
I love President Bush and his defense of marriage, the right to life, our national security, and his character. I reject that he was any type of economic or constitutional conservative.
He expanded government, went too far in war powers, expanded the federal role in education, turned government regulation over too big business, and spent way too much.
That is not a conservative government.
I’m scared to look. It’s an apology to Rush, isn’t it?
EDIT: Bush was a dyed in the wool conservative. One that you supported pretty much down the line. Claiming that he wasn’t all that conservative after you no longer have an obligation to support him is too precious by half. Of course he was conservative. You wouldn’t have spent 8 years supporting him otherwise.
I read your response, David, and I’ve nothing to say that you will hear.
I reject that he was any type of economic or constitutional conservative.
And, yet, the Conservatives did not put ANYONE up against Bush in the ’04 primaries.
As much fun as we are all having concern-trolling the local Republicans – I think today is a day to simply relax and bask in schadenfreude over their Rush debacle.
Anon is probably right.
But I also want to point out that RSmitty as a subject (or participant) of one of the Delaware Liberal threads usually draws ALOT of responses.
Here.
At Delaware Liberal.
Which is something he should think about when he is deciding his new registration status. 😯
Cassandra_m and Xstryker:
I think I understand your point but I disagree with it fundamentally.
I am not about picking and choosing among individual repubs as to which ones are “centrists” or not. I don’t think anything Powell has done, including his very late in the game Obama endorsement, excuses him for the fiasco and death he brought upon this country and the world. An endorsement of John Kerry might have meant something, but that would have required some real guts.
I don’t know how you can cite so-called repub centrists without giving props to Castle, who is the essence of that kind of confused creature.
Understand this: it is not about defeating individual repubs – it is about defeating a movement. Individuals associated with that movement must be defeated in order to defeat the movement – regardless of where they might fit on the likability or moderation scale. That is why I advocate treating ALL repubs equally.
If we can fracture the repub party and conservatives to the point where they cannot win a plurality even in a 3-way contest against 2-left-leaning opponents, then we have a real shot at opening up a third front from the left to challenge the Dems.
It is the Dems who are more likely to fracture. The Blue Dogs are now where Republicans used to be.
I was once of the opinion that RSmitty was part of the Second Amendment community. I could understand his disgust for the antics of ‘moderate’ gun-grabber Mike Castle. Yet we have far worse in the likes of Obama and Biden. What about the Republican Senators who voted to confirm thug-hugger Eric Holder? Should they be praised in the name of ‘party unity’?
One can play angry mouse-potato or light some candles of activism and fight the advancing darkness.
Obama sees the criminal element as a key constituency and the Democrat choices for the Federal judiciary seem to show that he was not the first to be afflicted by this folly.
The Ghost of Mike w. and Dave Anderson’s love of Bush’s adherence to the “right to life”! LOL!
Is that like “it’s not really spending if it’s spent by the DoD?
LOL! What fools you are!
RSmitty….follow your head. good luck.
This is not an argument about “centrists”. Because Castle certainly isn’t.
Which means that you missed the end of my post. I agree that it is the “movement” idiots who need to be routed. But there is no percentage — really — in making pretend that there aren’t more traditional (not centrist) republicans who will care more about the civic business of governing — people who we still may not agree with — rather than those who are actively trying to serve themselves and pretend that is governing.
And it is ALWAYS the Dems that are more likely to fracture. A true Big Tent is always tougher to keep together. Always.
Obama sees the criminal element as a key constituency
You put the nut in wingnut.
I agree anon. A lot of corporatist conservatives have moved into the Democratic party as the Blue Dogs.
I offer my understanding to RSmitty. It is a hard decision, since often times partisan affliation is a hard-wired trait passed down through the generations. It must have been a difficult decision.
As to the libertarian party, yes, I agree with some of their social platform, but their economic platform is crazy.
Mr Anderson, you dare call Bush a moderate, or appeasing the moderates? FOOL! Bush was an anomoly that the product of his actions couldn’t be pegged to any actual party, EXCEPT that he was never confronted from within, rather had palms and coats thrown down on the path in front. What happened over those eight years is when one ideology becomes drunk with power and that is exactly what happened.
Blame the moderates…my ass. There was no bowing down to moderates. Know what, I do blame moderates, but not for the reason you state. I blame moderates for not standing up and calling bull-shit along the way. Hell, dude, we’re all to blame. I ask, though, where was our resistance back then? Yeah, some criticisized, but where was the resistance?
Moderates…way too easy, bud.
This is going exactly how digby said it would. “Conservatism can’t fail, it can only be failed.”
David Anderson is in his bubble and happy. He will soon be standing among the ashes of his party, and he, and others like him, will still not accept the blame for what they created.
Litmus tests for litmus tests. Take the pro-life platform. There once were two groups. 1. pro-life in all cases, and 2. pro-life with exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother. The second group is now under fire from the first group.
Keep narrowing the base by playing the we weren’t conservative enough card. It was people like Smitty that made it hard for me to stereotype Republicans. I feel no such constraints anymore.
It’
s rather amusing to see y’all lament that the Republican Party is becoming what it should be, a conservative party. You see, we tried the Democrats Lite, go-along-to-get-along Republican mode throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and what did it get us? We won the White House a couple of times, ’cause y’all put up lame candidates, but the GOP in Congress was a permanent minority party.
The GOP came alive once it actually began to stand for something. Ronald Reagan took us from wishy-washiness on abortion and defense, and turned us into a conservative party. Newt Gingrich helped put us over the top with unabashed conservatism, with taking the position most Americans hold, that if you don’t work and aren’t trying to work, then you don’t eat.
We lost our edge when we began behaving like Democrats again, trying to spend our way to popularity, and look where it got us.
It really does the country little good to be an opposition party that is simply majority-party-lite. Having two liberal parties can lead only to ruination. Heck, having one liberal party will probably do that!
The GOP came alive once it actually began to stand for something. Ronald Reagan took us from wishy-washiness on abortion and defense, and turned us into a conservative party.
Bullshit
Taxes increased, the size of the government increased and the budget deficit increased dramatically!
You called it nemski. Reagan just said those things, he didn’t actually do those things.
As far as the two-party system is concerned, I think it is critical for a functioning democracy to have checks and balances on power. An opposition party tends to do that, if they are sane.
Sane being the key.
Ditto Pandora. 🙂
That’s where I get scared about the GOP brand, P!
If those on the extreme right (basically the CPAC crowd) get total control of the party and the party continues to have the weight (in terms of media attention and blind allegiance) of the Republican brand….then that’s the time when the bait and switch will be played once more.
Remember – these people ‘joke’ about nuking Chicago, San Fran, punishing dissent, using christianity as a litmus test for Constitutional questions – let alone as a barometer against long-established precedents, calling non-whites ‘monkeys’ and scum, on and on and on and on….
Do you really trust the traditional MSM not applying its warped sense of balance, and therefore giving these nutjobs some sort of legitimacy and painting them as somewhere in the middle?
Again….scary! Godwin’s Law be damned! 😀
Smitty – a sleeper cell of one.
Agreed, VC, scary, but I’m having trouble envisioning it. And, no, I’m not relying on the traditional media. I’m relying on the never-ending, always eliminating purity tests conservatives keep putting their own members through.
As I wrote earlier… Can you be pro-life if you make exceptions for rape, incest, and/or the life of the mother? Or, can you oppose gay “marriage” but be okay with civil unions?
The base is shrinking itself.
It cracks me up about how Reagan is being remember as the great crusader who won with conservatives. WTF kind of revisionism is that crap? He won with the meshing of conservatives and moderates.
If anything, the rebuttals have only further solidified my stance that the Conservative Party of the days of Buckley has indeed been resurrected. But alas, fear not, there will be no civil war in the Republican Party. Nay, the moderates are being held up as the scapegoat of the last eight years and simultaneously being left without a “home.”
30% is nigh.
He won with the meshing of conservatives and moderates.
… and Democrats. The Reagan Democrats had no problem voting Republican without any fanfare, public renouncements, or apologies. They just went into the booth and voted Republican. Some of them still haven’t changed their registration.
Oh yes, P, the hypocrisy of that crowd is rank!
Spending on military and defense is ok, but not for schools and science. Jesus this and Ten Commandments that, but collateral damage is not murder. Taxes are bad but we need more police, along with a state that’s willing to spy on its citizens. And full circle – All abortions are wrong, except for my own!
And Romney will be disqualified because of his religion, VC.
Anon, too true. Reagan Democrats! But see, here’s the problem… these new conservatives would consider Reagan Dems’ votes an insult – unless they sign a purity pledge.
As they say about redistricting, but should also be true about political parties: the voters get to pick the party, not the party gets to pick the voters. The Republicans now have this upside down.
I agree VC that today’s incarnation of the GOP is a scary group of people, but I think the tradmed’s bipartisan fetish will probably work against the Republicans here. Remember, the tradmed thinks people like Specter, Lieberman, Snowe and Collins are brave moderates.
tradmed?
oh, traditional media or MSM
Tough times has a way of weeding out the non hackers and slackers.
What are you? A fortune cookie? What does that even mean?
No, Smitty I don’t see Bush as a moderate. He is a cultural populist and a neo-conservative. His policies economically (minus the tax cuts) and laws like the Patriot Act are anything but conservative. He was not only a neocon when it came to foreign policy but fiscal as well.
WTF was that supposed to mean, Protack? Am I a non-hacker or slacker?
Hey, here’s a thought. Want to know what it is to be a non-slacker? How about I tell you a thing or two about running a winning election-campaign. I’ve been at the helm for TWO of them, in a decidedly democratic district, in two decidedly dem years. How have you done over all these years?
Go play with your intolerant, 30%er friends.
Oh, BTW, Protack, how do you plan to rebuild the Delaware GOP if you are going to accept that isolationist view?
You don’t actually think he he is able to come up with a plan all by himself, do you?
R Smitty: dont make the same mistake as Protack, thinking going Independent means joining the Independent Party of Delaware.
You can sign up as an Independent meaning you are not affilated with ANY party, including the IPOD.
IPOD is a separate entity with who knows how many members. I dont believe they have enough members today to even qualify as a party.
Going strictly independent deprives you of the right to vote in primaries if that is important to you.
If Protack is rebuilding the GOP in Delaware that means there will be many jumping to some other party. This is the problem with a two party system. There is really no real choice.
Most of us dont agree with either party on every issue, but I would love to see a viable nationwide Independent Party who truly believes in the rights of citizens over corporate america. The only real republican left is Ron Paul!