By Scott Tibbs, November 8, 2010
The Politico is reporting that Republican senators are fighting over failure, which leads to one very obvious question: what was the failure? The Republican Party captured 6 seats in the US Senate on top of 60 seats in the House of Representatives. Democrats went from 255 seats to only 188 in the 435-member House. Republicans now hold 239 seats, with a few races to be determined. Furthermore, as the Weekly Standard points out, Republicans won a greater percentage of U.S. Senate elections than U.S. House elections.
I honestly cannot see how that is a failure.
One of the places that country club Republicans point is Delaware, where true conservative Christine O'Donnell defeated RINO Mike Castle in the primary. Frankly, I would much rather lose than win with a RINO like Castle. Rachel Maddow illustrated why on her program last week, when she suggested that Republicans could work with Democrats on "comprehensive immigration reform." After all, "several prominent Republicans" including Lindsay Graham, John McCain and George W. Bush made it a priority.
This is exactly why I would rather lose a seat like Delaware rather than win with a Leftist RINO - because the Leftist RINO becomes a tool of the Democrats. When country club Republicans like Castle vote with Democrats, they use that to add a cover of "bipartisanship" to their policies, as well as using the "moderates" to attack conservative Republicans for not being "reasonable" like McCain or Graham. Well, the era of McCain is over!
If having a majority is to mean anything, then Republicans have to stand for something. Country club Republicans like Graham are not interested in doing what is best for the country by advancing a set of core beliefs, they are interested in personal political power for themselves. I am especially disappointed in Trent Lott, who used to be a reliable conservative voice but apparently lost his spine several years ago after Democrats screeched in protest because he praised his friend Strom Thurmond at Thurmond's birthday party.
What the country club Republicans do not like is that the conservative movement has put them on notice that simply having an "R" next to your name is not a guarantee of popular support, and we will be as active in primaries as we are in general elections. This is something newly-elected Republican Senator Dan Coats should remember, since 60% of Republicans rejected him in the May primary. Coats only won because the majority was split between the conservative candidates, allowing him to win with a plurality.
