Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Conservatives vs Moderates: Who is Purging Who?

Via Memeorandum:

Politico is calling it "an uncivil war." To understand why Conservatives are no longer in a civil mood one need look to further than the Marco Rubio/Charlie Crist primary race here in Florida.

...former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, a conservative who is challenging Crist for the Senate nomination. “They want us to vote for their candidates, but they don’t want us to run for office.”
The boys over at the NRSC came in to Florida and chose Charlie Crist as their man without giving the voters in Florida a voice. They told us that Rubio was a great candidate with a bright future but that Florida needs someone with broad appeal (read: moderate) who could carry the state against Kendrick Meek, the presumed Democrat candidate. How's this for broad appeal: of the twelve straw polls taken in Florida, Rubio has beaten Crist in all twelve by wide margins.

But can Rubio beat Meek? The NRSC says no, but the most recent Rassmussen poll taken says, "YES, he can." The poll taken October 20, 2009 shows Rubio leading Meek 46% to 31%.

As Rubio said above the GOP wants our support. They want our donations and our votes. They don't want our voice. They don't want our vision. They don't want our candidates. Who is "purging" who? Conservatives have been shut out of the GOP.

Conventional beltway wisdom is that Conservatives can't win. We've shown otherwise in NY23 and we will continue to show otherwise in Florida and elsewhere. Conservative candidates offer voters a clear choice and energize elections. Conservative candidates embrace their principles, the GOP runs away from them.

If there is a civil war within the GOP party it lies solely on the shoulders of the party's tone deaf leaders. Conservatives are comfortable with the decisions they've made, it is up the party to decide what direction they want to take.

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