"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."
Ronald Reagan
Posted on 05/25/2005 8:56:35 PM PDT by CHARLITE
It will be some time before the full impact of this week’s sellout by seven so-called “moderate” Republicans in the U.S. Senate becomes completely apparent. The plan to break Democrat filibusters of judicial nominees was, in reality, no less than a Republican fight to restore the integrity of the Constitution. But in the face of the Republican defections, Democrats will now credibly claim to have protected it, and the nation as a whole, from the ravages of Republican “extremism.”
Despite media spin, this arrangement was no agreement among “centrists” from both parties. The seven Democrats who participated in the deal acted as devoted foot soldiers for Senate Minority leader Harry Reid, loyally doing his bidding.
In contrast, the seven Republican participants knowingly betrayed their own party’s leadership.
Were Newsweek magazine to objectively cover the event, it might show them flushing a U.S. Constitution down the toilet.
In return for their complete abandonment of efforts to restore constitutional integrity to the judiciary, Republicans essentially got nothing. The “concession” by Democrats to “allow” (Any doubts as to who is in control?) floor votes on nominees Brown, Owen, and Pryor, amounts to little more than the worst sort of tokenism.
Furthermore, Democrat promises to only revert to judicial filibusters under “extraordinary circumstances” are an insult to the intelligence of any cognizant Republican (of which there are admittedly few).
Democrats have already shown the degree to which they can torture new meanings out of such straightforward terms as “is” and “sex.” In their minds, the traditional values of mainstream America already easily exceed the boundaries of “extraordinary.”
In truth, Monday’s surrender was only the latest in a long series of such capitulations by Republicans at critical moments in the country’s political discourse.
Former Senator Bob Dole (R.-KS) ushered in the present era of GOP backtracking when he uttered his famous “enough is enough” retreat on the budget battle of 1995, unconditionally surrendering to Bill Clinton.
Far worse was the manner in which Republicans, including several real conservatives, abandoned their core principles and rallied to the side of ultra-liberal New Jersey Governor Christine Whitman in her razor-thin 1997 re-election bid. Coming to her aid to a degree rarely displayed in any gubernatorial race, Republican and conservative leaders essentially told the entire “moderate” (read: liberal) wing of the party that it can always expect blind loyalty from the right.
Whitman repaid conservatives four years later by siding with liberals at a crucial point in the campaign of her potential successor, Bret Schundler, helping secure victory for his Democrat opponent, Jim McGreevey. But were her actions really contrary to her well known ultra-liberal political and moral philosophies?
Last year, President Bush helped set the stage for the sellout of his own judicial nominees by aiding one of the Republican Party’s most contemptible Senate “Trojan horses,” Pennsylvania “moderate” Arlen Specter. By his actions, the President clearly made a statement that no matter how antithetical to conservatism Republican office holders might be, in a pinch they can count on conservative support.
Though Specter did not directly participate in the “compromise agreement” devised by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, his vocal endorsement of such efforts certainly emboldened those Republicans who did.
So, should anyone be surprised when “moderates” fearlessly undermine valiant conservative efforts such as Senate Majority leader Bill Frist’s fight to restore a constitutional judiciary? What has the party leadership, and indeed the President himself, ever shown them they might have to lose by such duplicity?
The only glimmer of light at the end of this dismal tunnel is that conservatives may have finally awakened to the fact that, by their consistent support of traitors in their midst, they have helped degenerate the situation to its present state. This approach to achieving “majority” status has been an utter disaster. Thus, a change in political strategy is the first step towards rectifying the situation.
Three Senate Republicans who engaged in this week’s treachery, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, and Mike Dewine of Ohio, are up for reelection next year. Conservative activists should immediately begin to organize efforts to see them defeated by any candidate who runs against them.
Conservatives had better come to grips with the fact that fifty-two real Republican Senators would constitute a better majority than fifty-five who think they can engage in such disloyalty with impunity. Otherwise, they must resign themselves to the grim prospect that such people do indeed run the country.
About the Writer: Christopher Adamo is a freelance writer from southeastern Wyoming, where he has been involved in grassroots political activites for several years. He maintains a website at http://www.chrisadamo.com. Christopher receives e-mail at adamo.chronwatch@lycos.com.
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."
Ronald Reagan
Yep..........The best part is, people still BELIEVE IN their side. Without that rhetoric and partisanship that keeps people sending in the money, the politicians would have to find honest work.
You're dead wrong and yes, I have heard several GOP Senators, calmly having a fit over this; Frist included.
You're 1/2 right but very wrong about us not having lost anything.
But you claimed that NO GOP Senator has complained about the gang of 7 and that is dead wrong; they have.
When the RATS have the 55-45 majority business WILL NOT be done in this manner. Count on it!
But you claimed that NO GOP Senator has complained about the gang of 7 and that is dead wrong; they have.
You don't know what's being done in private. And no, neither do I. But since I HAVE heard Frist and a few GOP Senators talk about the situation, you can't assume what you're assuming. This kind of stuff goes on behind closed doors!
What sirthomas said was that no GOP Senator had "called for retribution" against the RINO's. That is not at all the same thing.
Complaining is irrelevant, futile and completely worthless. What is required is publicly calling for and then mounting an effort to actually make these renegade Senators suffer some consequences for their actions.
correct. For failing to stop this pervasion of the Constitution by McCommunist and his traitors, Frist should resign. This incident illustrates that Frist doesn't have the Warrior/Killer instinct needed to defeat the vile and evil Democrats. The very survival of our Republic is in the balance and all the 14 POS can do is talk about "protecting the institution" and other such utterly useless blathering. The judiciary needs to be reigned in or another revolution will happen within a generation.
It's done quietly and in private. People just stop talking to the pariah/s, they get no help if the have a Bill coming to the floor, etc.
Okay, somebody tell me what the difference is between john mccain and john kerry. Okay both were "guests" of the North Vietnamese, mccain for a number of years in hanoi, and kerry for a few days in Paris. Both served in the Navy (all right, mccains original discharge was honorable), but they both got discharges from the navy. So what is the difference?????
OK, I'll bite. Sen. Frist says he still has the nuclear option, so what have we lost?
Glad you asked! The main difference is this- Johm McCain is a certified US military Hero, but to his discredit, a rino, and John F'ing Kerry is a certified TRAITOR to the USA, who by all accounts was DISHONORABLY DISCHARGED from the US NAVY.
You really haven't been paying all that much attention to this , or you'd know all of that.
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