The GOP's Misguided Hunt for Heretics ('RINO Hunt')

Washington Post ^ | Wednesday, February 24, 2010 | Kathleen Parker

[nickcarraway]

The RINO hunt is back on, and the coveted trophy is Scott Brown.

Inevitably and predictably, the new senator from Massachusetts -- Mr. 41, Mr. I-Drive-A-Truck, tea party poster dude -- has disappointed his base by, alas, representing his constituents.

It's the purity test all over again; only this time, the stakes are high and the weird are turning seriously pro.

Not that the tea partiers are weird, not most of them, anyway. But some are at risk of flying off into the blood-red zone of wing-nuttery. One of the sessions at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) questioned whether Abraham Lincoln was "friend or foe."

Lincoln foes can't be said to define CPAC conferees -- and certainly not the GOP -- but the growing libertarian strain within the party (see Ron Paul's straw-poll victory) combined with an anti-RINO (Republicans in Name Only) attitude is making life increasingly difficult for moderates such as Brown.

Brown came under fire from social conservatives barely a week into his new job, even though his pro-choice position was well-known, at least to readers of this column.

Now he's caught the attention of fiscal conservatives and tea partiers who, though they favored Brown for his anti-health-reform and anti-stimulus positions, now call him a traitor for supporting a cloture motion on the Democrats' $15 billion jobs bill.

Thousands posted angry comments on Brown's Facebook page, including the ever-popular "YOU LIED!" Brown said that though the bill was imperfect, it would put Americans back to work. He also said he hoped his vote would be a "strong step toward restoring bipartisanship in Washington."

Guess again, Scottie. "True conservatives" want to beam you up.

[screaminsunshine]

Liberal WAPO reporter alert. Endangered species sighting!!!

[WOBBLY BOB]

[Carry_Okie]

So nice of the WaPo to tell us what is good for the Republican Party: exactly the opposite of what they suggest.

Let the hunt continue!

[Jewbacca]

In related new, John McCain got hit by a car.

[presently no screen name]

McLame’s poster should read - save my seasoned a**.

WaPo giving Republicans advice! The laugh of the day!

[Monorprise]

No Senator from Massachusetts regardless of political party will ever be an honest constitutionality. That State and its people are simply too corrupt and debauchd in their Manners to elect an honest and virtue driven man to defend their liberty.

It is as one of their forefathers Samuel Adams said: “ No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.” - Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, 1775

Somewhere Samuel Adams must be spinning in his gave to see what has become of his once free state.

[fr_freak]

I’m glad Brown got elected instead of the Dem commie, if for no other reason than to poke a stick in the Dems’ and Obama’s eye. Now that he’s in, if he’s going to act like a liberal, he needs to get called out like everyone else.

[Servant of the Cross]

Kathleen Parker?????!!!!! (I didn't read it)

[Candor7]

The liberals are stepping forward to defend their “BOY!”

[muawiyah]

Kathleen Parker just doesn't get it.

We must all repair to the Washington Post this eventide to register then login to comment on her latest strange eruption.

[muawiyah]

Kathleen Parker just doesn't get it.

We must all repair to the Washington Post this eventide to register then login to comment on her latest strange eruption.

[RedMDer]

Wow. The Compost planting and reporting discontent in the GOP. Astounding. Who would of thunk that.

[Scotsman will be Free]

Neither did I. She’s a RINO extroidinaire.

[capt. norm]

The MSM has set us up to fighting amongst ourselves to "divide and conquer"...and it's working.

Now they are virtually bragging about the results.

[Cicero]

Kathleen, shut up.

[Once-Ler]

What does your picture have to do with this article?

[WOBBLY BOB]

STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN McCAIN ON CLIMATE CHANGE(”I know it is real”)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2458628/posts

[Diogenesis]

Kathleen Parker: "[I]t is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem." "Parker ... says something publicly that many of us have thought privately
but lacked the courage to say out loud - Palin should step down:"

---

"Kathleen Parker: After Interviews, Palin Should Bow Out"

---

Kathleen Parker: "Romney would bring more than squeaky clean qualifications
and youthful good looks to the ticket.
Romney would seem a logical choice."

---

"Parker: Romney raised bar on freedoms"
Kathleen Parker: "If Kennedy's speech was an important landmark in American political history,
Romney's was surpassing. With heartfelt humility and poetic eloquence,
he tracked the nation's struggle with and for freedom."

---

Staggering bigotry of Kathleen Parker - UPDATED"

[heye2monn]

Ever watch her on the Chris Mathews show? She is an absolute squish. A total Palin-bashing RINO.

She said she liked Obama because he “thinks things through.” Well, so did Lenin when planning his own brand of socialism.