Posted on 10/25/2006 7:02:29 AM PDT by 13Sisters76
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Holding my nose and voting Republican By Linda Chavez Wednesday, October 25, 2006
I am not happy with the Republican Party, but on Nov. 7 I will cast my vote for my incumbent Republican congressman and senator nonetheless. I don't feel I have any choice -- and it's not just that the Democrats running in my state are particularly unappealing candidates.
I'm angry at Republicans for abandoning their principles. This Republican president, aided and abetted by Congress, has increased federal spending at a reckless rate, even when the costs of the war in Iraq are taken out of the equation. I'm embarrassed by the scandals that have plagued some Republicans and by the abject failure of the leadership to do anything meaningful on lobbying reform.
I'm sickened by the cronyism that protected former Congressman Mark Foley and put children at risk. I'm disappointed that after years of claiming to be the party of colorblind equal opportunity, Republicans have actually expanded racial preferences in federal programs. I'm disheartened by the demagoguery on immigration and the refusal to do the one thing guaranteed to stop illegal immigration, namely, enact a broad guest worker program.
But none of these issues will make me stay home, much less vote Democratic. The fact is I don't trust the Democratic Party to lead this country in a time of uncertainty and war. While the Democrats say they want to refocus the nation's energy on the war on terror, they've demonstrated time and again that they oppose the most effective means of fighting terrorism.
Democrats would interfere with the National Security Agency's ability to intercept communications between terrorists abroad and their agents in the United States. They would extend to terrorists being held overseas access to the U.S. civilian court system, which could jeopardize national security by making classified intelligence available to the terrorists and their attorneys. They would treat terrorists like common criminals rather than as combatants who are at war with us.
Nor do I trust that Democrats would do the right thing in Iraq -- not that the current administration has had a stellar record there, either. I'm tired of debating whether we should or should not have gone into Iraq -- both Republicans and half the Democrats in the Senate voted to authorize the war in 2003. The question is what the United States should do now. It's clear the war is going very badly and that Iraq is on the verge of a civil war. Democrats have offered no clear plan except to leave Iraq as quickly as possible, regardless of the consequences.
And I don't think the Democrats would back tough measures if Iran and North Korea continue to pursue nuclear weapons either. Certainly the Clinton administration's record with respect to North Korea doesn't inspire confidence. Democrats like carrots a lot better than sticks and are more concerned with "world opinion" than American interests.
Democratic control of Congress also worries me when it comes to the economy. Democrats always want to raise taxes in order to pay for social programs, transferring money out of the hands of ordinary people and turning it over to bureaucrats. Most Democrats are also infatuated with government regulation and rarely find a government directive they don't like. Higher taxes and more regulations are a recipe to cool our healthy economy. Democrats seem to want to punish businesses rather than encourage the creation of more wealth. And they have a nasty propensity to encourage envy and class warfare, which benefits no one.
Politics is sometimes about making the least bad choice. I know some of my fellow Republicans will stay home on Election Day, hoping to send the party a message that they're fed up with the current leadership. But putting the Democrats in control won't bring about needed changes -- it will make matters even worse. The place for revolt is within the party itself, by urging the elected representatives to pick carefully when they choose House and Senate leadership in January and by challenging incumbents in primaries next time if they don't stand up for basic Republican principles.
Linda Chavez is chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity and author of Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics .
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Chavez would vote GOP no matter what. She's an insider thru and thru and a ditz.
She speaks for millions of other GOP faithful voters, who will all hold their noses and vote on November 7. Since Chavez is Hispanic, I would expect her to embrace the guest worker program. She is entitled to that opinion, but I will not vote for any party who allows illegal invaders to remain in the U.S.
I pretty much always have to "hold my nose and vote republican".
It is a shame but unless we want the dims in office gumming up the works like in '92, it is almost a necessity that we do just that.
If the wrong people get elected this mid-term and for the Presidential election in '08, the only choice would be to move to a nice RED state and help them secede. I hope that is not the only solution.
Whether you are angry or not, it really doesn't matter. The republican party will have no idea how you feel, other than you voted the incumbents back in.
I'd rather hold my nose than hold my ass, cuz if democrats get into office, we are going to get a** raped by the dems.
It's still too bad that the pubbies are inept in PR and that we no REaganesque type candidate in the wings (except for maybe NEWT but chances are he won't run).
Sorry, but I couldn't get past that sentence. That's just an incredibly stupid and false statement which makes anything she says after that completely meaningless.
Oh I am so tired of this sort of drivel.
Dems offer nothing constructive at all, they're relying on anti administration sentiment only while hiding any plans they've made.
If that isn't enough, consider this line up:
Speaker of the House: Nancy Pelosi
Chairman, Ways & Means Committee: Charles Rangel
Chairman, House Judiciary Committee: John Conyers
Chairman, House Appropriations Committee: David Obey
Chairman, Government Reform Committee: Henry Waxman
Chairman, Energy & Commerce Committee: John Dingell
The average age of these congressmen is 72. By contrast, Newt Gingrich was 51 and Dick Armey was 54 when they led the Republican revolution and takeover in 1994. Revolution favors the young.
Another number to keep in mind is 98--the above lineup's average voting-record rating, as scored by the liberal Americans for Democratic Action. Poor Dingell scores only 95. The Michigan congressman once served as a board member of the National Rifle Association. Obviously, this right-winger will have to go.
http://www.forbes.com/columnists/forbes/2006/1016/031.html
P.S. And, if Pelosi gets her way, disgraced judge Alcee Hastings to head the Intelligence Committee.
If her state fielded better candidates, she wouldn't have to "hold her nose". All these complainers are also the same one's who'd NEVER be involved in their local GOP.
---Democratic control of Congress also worries me when it comes to the economy. Democrats always want to raise taxes in order to pay for social programs, transferring money out of the hands of ordinary people and turning it over to bureaucrats.---
They want to tax the majority in order to transfer money to what they see as their core constituency, minorities, single mothers, and urban plantation masters.
Hold your nose and vote Republican.
Me, too, Linda. That's what I did yesterday.
Wouldn't it nice someday if Republicans would hold their noss and vote libertarian? Freedom could use the break.
Then don't vote for the man that voted for amnesty, don't get rid of those in the House that passed the right bill and the majority of Republican Senators that supported the bill passed by the House.
The place to fix the problems with the Republican party is in the PRIMARIES where they should have been replaced with conservatives, not in the general election where the option is a communist.
The guys at work ask me and I always have an easy answer: "I'll vote for the ones who want to kill terrorists, not coddle them."
Don't give me Newt, for craps sake. The personality of a root canal ain't reganesque. LOL
The GOP will hold both houses, hopefully minus McGavick and Kean.
Hold whatever you must but punch those buttons.
But no...it's only the conservatives who are told to shut up and suck it up.
To hell with that noise. RINOs are no better than the Dhimmicrats. And between you and me, I'd rather have the enemy in front of me than behind me in my own ranks. We conservatives have got enough knives in our backs already.
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