Posted on 09/01/2006 6:02:55 AM PDT by shortstop
I'm going to vote Republican.
I'll hold my nose to do it, but I'll do it.
That may not be an enthusiastic endorsement, but it's the best I've got. And it's taken me six months to come up with that.
I used to love the Republican Party. I saw it as a dynamic tool for advancing American liberty. I saw it as a common-sense defender of what average people like me stand for and believe in.
But that was a long time ago. And things have changed. Not on my part. I'm the same person with the same priorities and beliefs. It's the Republican Party that's changed. It's turned into the most cynically hypocritical organization I've ever come across. Right now I feel for it what it feels for me -- utter contempt.
I don't mean to say that the party feels contempt for me personally -- though that certainly may be the case in some quarters -- I mean to say that it feels contempt for people like me. Namely, the conservatives who have put it in power. We have been used, abused and shown the door. The things we believe in, the things the Republicans promised us, have been thrown on the ground and trampled under foot.
But I'm going to vote Republican anyway.
For exactly the reason the GOP's amoral bosses knew I would -- because of my distaste for Democrats and their anti-American agenda. I'm going to vote Republican because I know as bad as they are, the Democrats would be worse. I'm voting Republican because of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. I'm voting Republican because of Hillary Clinton and Elliot Spitzer. I'm voting Republican because I can't stomach the hell Democrats would raise if they gained control of part or all of Congress.
I'm voting Republican because the Democrats have managed to make themselves just noxious enough to prevent GOP crossover voting.
Which is too bad.
Because I really wanted to let the Republican Party twist in the wind this year. I wanted to kick the bastards out. I wanted them on the ground writhing with the wind knocked out of them. I wanted the party to remember who put it in power and who could take it out of power.
I was sick of the budget deficit and the trade deficit and the welfare and the illegal aliens and the rape of our economy by free trade and the crazy environmentalism and the political correctness and all the other crap the Republican Party has gone wrong on. I was sick and tired of Republican policies not living up to Republican promises. I was through with Republicans who turned around and bit the hand that fed them, who turned and attacked the very things they promised to defend.
It is a party of incredible ingratitude. There are Republicans I have literally and personally helped get elected and as soon as the election is passed they turn their backs on everything they promised. I have in direct conversation had Republican candidates tell me they would govern like Ronald Reagan and then seen them in office turn into big-government Democrats. I remember one Republican governor who was supported in his first race by the National Rifle Association. The organization sent out bumper stickers that said: "Protect Freedom, Vote Pataki." That was the same George Pataki who, once safely elected, turned on gunowners and proposed and passed the toughest anti-gun laws in the country.
I have seen Republican Party bosses play the party and its members for their own nepotistic enrichment and I have seen instance after instance where party bosses have shown that their word isn't worth anything. Promises made are promises forgotten, personally and publicly. It is little more than a bunch of self-serving hogs at a trough. It is a shameful thing.
And I would tear it down were it not for the fact that the whorish Democrats are even more shameful. The difference being the Democrats are at least more likely to tell you that they support socialist, big-government programs. Republicans will tell you they don't, then they'll put them in anyway.
Mostly, the Republicans are a disgusting lot.
But right now isn't the time to brain them.
Right now we are at a difficult juncture as a country. Right now we can't afford to let the Democrats get a hand on the wheel. It might not be just bad policy, it might be disaster.
Because we are at war. And the president is right. This is a worldwide conflict with fascist Islam, and if we don't fight them there, they will fight us here. I'm afraid that Democrat control of either house of Congress would dramatically weaken the war effort. I don't trust the Democrats to defend America. That is because I listen to them and take them at their word, and what they advocate in terms of fighting Muslim terrorism is little short of surrender.
Further, the notion of putting either Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid in charge of the congressional agenda seems like a recipe for disaster. They are two of the most shrill, venal, partisan, uncouth politicians ever to stalk the halls of the Capitol. In my heart of hearts I sincerely believe they would torpedo the ship of state if it would advance their own personal, political and partisan interests. I cannot personally contribute to the possibility of them making committee appointments and deciding which legislation is or is not heard.
There are other Democrats who wouldn't bother me so much, but these two are simply unacceptable. Both seem egomaniacal, completely cynical and fundamentally dishonest. Astoundingly, I distrust them even more than I distrust the Republicans.
The way I see it, in this election one party will betray conservatives and the other party will bury conservatives. I've been betrayed before, but I've never been buried. And at the end of the day, two more years of fake Republicans will do the country less harm that two years of real Democrats. Giving the Democrats the Congress would be like throwing the Republicans off a bridge, and then jumping off with them. Better this election to keep us all on the bridge, and be watchful for another opportunity to bring the GOP to its knees.
This year is a unique opportunity for conservatives to gut the Republican Party, to show it who's boss and to pay it back for its years of duplicity. If we just stay home, or reach over and vote for the Democrat, the Republican house of cards falls down. Many have argued that killing the GOP, and enduring a season of the Democrats, would be worth it to recreate the Republican Party in a conservative mold. The argument is that it would be worth it to bring the GOP back to its principles.
Well, it would be -- almost. Almost, but not quite.
At the end of the day, we have to stay with the Republicans. We have to stay with the Republicans because the Democrats are so bad. The Democrats have chosen leadership, positions and priorities that are so extreme as to be impossible for disgruntled conservatives to tolerate.
So bide your time and keep your powder dry. That's my advice. We'll teach the Republicans a lesson another day.
Today we have to protect the country.
And the Democrats are a bigger threat than the Republicans are.
So I'm voting Republican. Reluctantly.
The only difference between now and then is that now the GOP is in power. When you're out of power, it's very easy to SAY all the right things because you don't have to actually DO them. Now, the GOP is in power. Lonsberry is lamenting the difference between fantasy and reality. Is he really so naiive?
Vote Republican. There is an outside chance you may elect a conservative. :)
Comes close to what a lot of us feel.
Here in NJ, I have had to hold my nose and vote in many an election. I too will vote Republican again, now is not the time to make a statement. I just wish the the GOP would grow cajones to stick to their principles. They should lead instead of being afraid of the dims yapping at their heels.
AMEN
pretty-much-how-I-feel ping
I think the party has served up the most important issue to its social conservatives: constitutionalist judges. It is the major issue and will continue to be so for years.
Even the WOT is secondary because the radical judges are seeking control of a president's war-fighting power.
Judges, judges, judges....if conservatives can't see that, then there's no hope for them.
The loss of even one Senate seat is a tragedy. The loss of the 2008 nomination to a liberal rino republican is a tragedy, because everything is about the judges.
The WOT is second place.
A totally sealed off border is part of the WOT. I guarantee you, though, that JUDGES will get involved in that, too.
The budget is 3rd place.
We MUST reduce some of the entitlement expense that this budget is forced to pay. But JUDGES will get involved in that. Social Security Reform......JUDGES.
I have to agree. The main reason I'm voting GOP is that I don't trust and can't stand the Dems. That isn't a very strong endorsement.
Yup. We're forced to vote GOP because the Democrats are explicitly in league with those who want to kill us. Doesn't mean we have to like it.
When the alternatives are abortion-on-demand, cut-and-run, a politically correct struggle against terrorism and European-style taxes, the Republican warts don't seem so off-putting to me.
> Comes close to what a lot of us feel.
The guy completely and scarily tagged my state of mind. Although, locked here in liberal-hell, San-Fran-Freako California, there isn't even a decent RINO to vote for. Well, Arnold, I guess, but the Governator has caved so completely he's nearly a Dimocrat now.
I may boycott all votes except weighing in on money-stealing propositions and National.
To my mind, conservatives who talk and act this way are as unrealistic and obnoxious as the radical left. They are not a majority, but they like to kick and scream and act like they are. If you want a more conservative government then you need to convince more people to elect conservatives, not get mad at Republicans.
I feel exactly like this article - but I'll vote Republican too. The time is ripe for a real conservative to step up in this party, we've come a good way & have a good start - can't afford to backslide at this point.
The Dims are behaving like cornered animals now, it's not the time to back off.
"Obsession" Terrorists
I agree that we must not put the war in the hands of folks like Pelosi, Reid, Murtha, et al.
I will be voting Republican in all races this time.
As far as I'm concerned, this is a one issue election. If we lose this war, nothing else matters.
Vote Democrat, and there's a very good chance you'll be electing a lying socialist.
That's exactly it - I would stay out before I would go Dumbocrat.
The world is not safe enough to have Democrats in charge.
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