Sunday, November 1, 2009

NY23: What Have We Learned? And Will the Lesson Stick?

Via Memeorandum:

In the Washington Examiner, Glenn Reynolds wisely writes that It’s the follow-through that matters in New York’s special race. His message to the GOP is that the party needs to follow-through on the lessons learned during the race. Reynolds also cautions Conservatives not to get too cocky. Fair enough. However, watching Newt on Fox this morning, it is clear that the GOP back peddling has begun even before the vote has been taken. Newt is playing off the Conservative victory as a mere blip on the radar with no real national implications. Well, there are slow learners and the unteachable. Guess which category Newt belongs in.

According to a recent Gallup Poll, Conservatives are not some little fringe group that the GOP can dismiss. Forty percent of Americans self identify as “conservative” while thirty-five percent call themselves “moderate” and bringing up the rear are those who call themselves “liberal” at twenty-one percent. In other words, we Conservatives are the mainstream.

Need proof? “The Party” has thrown its weight and money behind the RINO Charlie Crist in Florida. What has their name, prestige (snort), and money bought them? The Conservative candidate, Marco Rubio, has laid waste to Crist in all twelve straw polls taken so far. And we are still a year out.

It didn’t escape Conservative’s notice that many in “The Party” suddenly discovered their conservative principals only after it became clear that Hoffman would win NY23. Sure, we will accept the support of the “me, too” Republicans, but we won’t forget how late that support came. I have no delusion that the NRCC will back off its endorsement of Crist but I would hope that some within the GOP would take a lesson away from NY23 and endorse Rubio sooner rather than later.

Reynolds is correct that this is no time get cocky but it is a time for Conservatives to show resolve. It would also be a good time for the GOP to rediscover Conservative principles and jump off the sinking RINO boat.

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