Quotes of the day

It is non-conservative Republicans who have gotten the party to where it is today.

Yep.

The failure of establishment Republicans — whether they’re a member of Congress, Washington or New York editorial writers; even some talk show hosts who live and work and socialize in that community — to uphold conservative principles during the last decade or more, has resulted in the mess that they are now complaining about.

They are complaining about us failing to join them as they have changed the party, as they have watered it down. This confusion, this mess — contrary to the take of the Drive-By Media — that conservatism, slash, Republican Partyism finds itself in today, is a reaction to the establishment Republicans who have ignored conservative principles and watered down their party for the last decade or more and their failures. This mess has resulted from them and their failures and their false promises. These very same people now who were the big-tent guys, which resulted in — and, by the way, I’m all for big tent, but you bring people in as us; not as them. Don’t misunderstand. There’s nothing exclusionary about me. You want to expand the party? I’m all for it. It’s what we’ve been trying to do here, in fact, with conservatism! Now, these very same people now who sought to expand the party by essentially marginalizing conservatives and bringing in their buddies (the moderates, the independents, even some liberals) are now demanding that the people they took for granted — us, and the evangelicals and so forth — continue to follow them, continue to be swayed by their demeaning and condescending lectures.

[ ... ]

This is about the riff: How it came about, who’s going to get blame for it — and that’s where I eventually am headed here. Because I’m going to tell you something, folks: what’s happening in our party today is not only do the establishment Republicans want amnesty for illegal immigrants, they want amnesty for Democrats. They want punishment… Well, they don’t want punishment, but they want to try to humiliate, manipulate, whatever, us; to join them as they destroy the concept of the three-legged stool of conservatism.

Leadership is a little bit more than being the anti-Hillary. That’s the minimum that we expect. And all of our candidates fit that bill. A leader, folks, is someone who — by his own convictions, personality, and vision — can unite a party, a movement, a country behind him. Do you see instead what is happening? The leader of the party is not being told or it’s not being said of him, that he will unify.

It’s up to those of us who have problems with what’s happening in the party to put our problems aside, our differences aside, and join up. This is the exact opposite of leadership. Leadership, on its own, unites a party or a movement or a country. It’s not up to me or anybody else to unify the Republican Party, much to the Drive-By Media’s exasperation. These are not my jobs. This is not our purpose. I’d be happy to tackle it, but that’s not what happens here. I’m not the candidate. It’s the candidates’ jobs to unify a party, a movement, a country behind him.

[ ... ]

When you demean and smear the people whose support you need down the road, it’s human nature that they’re going to remember the personal insults and the abuse that you heaped on them not that long ago. You call them nativists and racists and so forth, insult the people personally, call them corrupt if you oppose abridging the First Amendment — campaign finance reform. You call ‘em deniers, if you don’t buy into the hoax of manmade global warming. Ronald Reagan never spoke this way. He wouldn’t have spoken this way, and he didn’t speak this way; he was a leader. So the establishment Republicans have their work cut out for them. They can continue to attack the grassroots (that’s you); they can pretend this primary shows that you have no influence, or they and their candidate can start to act like mature and seasoned, intelligent adults who will try to find a way to repair the damage they have done to the party and the conservative movement. How in the world can conservatives who have stayed loyal to conservative principles and concepts, be blamed for what’s happened to the Republican Party? The people that have made the mess of the Republican Party are those who have attempted to expand it by including liberals and independents and Democrats so as to marginalize conservatives. And all of a sudden it’s our fault. No, sir!

Michael in MI on March 2, 2009 at 11:17 PM