What’s with “No RINOs, no exceptions?”
It’s not just a nice-sounding demagogic. Moderate Republicans and RINOs aren’t our partners in stopping Democrats, however much they portray themselves to be every election cycle. As they just recently demonstrated with the Financial “Reform” disaster, they’re an internal threat. They don’t betray us any more than they believe will be reluctantly tolerated by the conservative masses who “have no where else to go,” but they do it enough to inflict real harm and prevent bad policy reversals.
That means they’re not our friends and partners, and don’t deserve our support.
Now in the practical sense, the best we could hope for is to keep RINO numbers to a powerless minimum. However, “No RINOs, no exceptions” is still a worthwhile goal, if only to give us all something at which to aim. Otherwise, if we rebuild the Republican Party to what it was under Bush, for all intents and purposes the Democrats will still have majorities.
Take our latest example of this fact from Trent Lott. We backed him up after the Strom Thurmond remarks. We backed him as Senate leader. But now that he’s a lobbyist, he can show his true colors, along with those of every other RINO in the Senate.
Former Senate majority leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), now a D.C. lobbyist, warned that a robust bloc of rabble-rousers spells further Senate dysfunction. “We don’t need a lot of Jim DeMint disciples,” Lott said in an interview. “As soon as they get here, we need to co-opt them.”
Yes, actually we do need Jim DeMint followers. We want him to short-circuit the establishment leadership, and no, you’re not co-opting anyone unless they’d like to lose their jobs. You losers had your chance, and blew it. You wanted to self-destruct, and this time we’re going to help you along.
How about some demonstrated leadership from our fearless Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell? His thoughts on the accusations of Tea Party racism? You know, that group with the energy and passion to help increase the size of his caucus if properly motivated?
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declined even to wade into the discussion on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“I am not interested in getting into that debate … I have got better things to do than to wade in to all of these disputes and discussions that are going on out in the country,” McConnell said.
That about sums up his drive and determination as Senate Minority Leader too.
These Republicans are “on our side?” If someone like McCain wins the nomination in August, which seems increasingly likely, we should move heaven and earth to re-elect him knowing his past record and exactly what he’ll do should he return? Are we to feel “like adults” or “not be whiners” by backing a known betrayer? It’s better to deal with an honest enemy or an internal threat.
To oppose and ultimately repeal the Democrat disasters, we need a party willing to put up a fight. Practical time constraints lead one to conclude refurbishing the Republicans is the fastest way to accomplish that. But the party infestation of RINOs is not part of that solution. They’re an obstacle to this and have to go.
