The Barber Shoppe Gazette: GOP Blames Constitution Party For Election Losses

POLITICS / DESPERATE REPUBLICANS -- IN NEED OF A COVER-UP SCAPEGOAT -- BLAME ELECTION 2006 LOSSES ON THE CONSTITUTION PARTY

Sierra Times

Smiley Flag Waver The potential losses to the Republican Party will be much higher in the 2008 presidential elections. If the Constitution Party continues to grow -- and it will, directly proportional to how far the Republican Party continues to move to the Left -- then the Constitution Party will take away not only votes, but also contributors, from the GOP. The Big Two political parties are full of people who earn their daily bread from politics: not only elected officials, but also staffers, administrators, analysts, and ... yes, operatives.

Has the GOP membership lost its collective mind for continuing to follow along? Either way, it is painfully obvious that the GOP is no longer the party of true conservatives. Thus, its members have only two choices: "go along" and become more liberal themselves, or "jump ship" to another party that is more conservative.

But, if there is a national party that is more conservative (and there is), then that leaves the Republican Party in the middle.

The GOP Blame Game: It'll Get Worse By 2008

~ Tom Kovach

The trouble has started already. And, if it has started this early, then I expect the Republican Party to behave even worse by the time the 2008 presidential election season heats up to near boiling.

In the recent election, the Republican Party got spanked. They lost control of both houses of Congress, plus several state legislatures, despite having had a fairly comfortable margin before the election. Now, instead of admitting that their own policies and methods caused them to lose the elections, the GOP is looking for a scapegoat.

Who will the Republican leaders blame for their losses?

Will it be the Congressional Page sex scandal of disgraced former representative Tom Foley?

Will it be the poor timing of the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld? Will it be the news of the "Security and Prosperity Partnership" (which is anything but any of those words!)?

Will it be the lax border security policies of President Bush?

Will it be the government's arrest, prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment of two Border Patrol agents for doing exactly what the public expects all of them to do?

Will it be the point that the citizenry is finally waking up to the fact that President Bush invaded two countries without a formal declaration of war? ("Enforcing UN sanctions" does not meet the standard of our Constitution!)

Will it be the fact that President Bush is keeping troops in both of those countries long after the stated goals of the invasions have been met? (We cannot keep troops in those countries "until all terrorism is defeated," unless we plan to make colonies out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Terrorism is not "radical" Islam; terrorism is pure Islam. And, the Democrats' plan for Iraq is also flawed.)

Will it be the failure of the Republican Party, despite the control of both houses of Congress and the White House, to prevent the RU-486 abortion pill from getting into American drug stores?

The answer is a firm and resounding "no!" to all of the above.

Instead, they are blaming the Constitution Party.

The blog linked above is far from the only one spewing venom toward the one nationally recognized political party that is openly to the Right of the GOP on the political spectrum. For example, this blog displays amazing ill-logic. It simultaneously chides the Constitution Party, saying that it, " ... actually does more harm to Christianity, as it does to Republicanism, than it does to help, ... " and of having " ... the power of testimony which, granted, potentially can be positive." The author of that blog tries -- as do certain foolish talk-radio hosts -- to give the appearance of wisdom by being on both sides of the fence. The author accuses the Constitution Party of being "factious," while stirring up that condition himself by the epithets and arguments that he has chosen. Example: "They are wise in their positions. They are stupid in their place in politics ... and in their testimony." In other words, we that refuse to compromise should "know our place." And, in a single sentence, he attacks both our politics and our Christianity -- even though the author claims to be a Christian himself. Sounds like desperation to me.

I expect it to get worse, because the potential losses to the Republican Party will be much higher in the 2008 presidential elections. If the Constitution Party continues to grow -- and it will, directly proportional to how far the Republican Party continues to move to the Left -- then the Constitution Party will take away not only votes, but also contributors, from the GOP. The Big Two political parties are full of people who earn their daily bread from politics: not only elected officials, but also staffers, administrators, analysts, and ... yes, operatives. (Did you see the surveillance photos that Bob Corker and Harold Ford had on each other? It reminded me of "Spy vs. Spy" from Mad magazine!) The bottom line is that those people -- part of what I call "the hidden aristocracy in America" -- would need to go out and actually get a job if the Republicans fall from power.

And, when I saw "fall from power," I don't mean simply losing the majority. (They just did that, but still have power.) Here is the ugly secret: the Democrats know how to build coalitions, but the Republicans refuse to learn! (For even more details, click here.) Now, don't get me wrong. I do not like the goals of the Democrats, nor of their partners. (This year, the Communist Party encouraged its members to vote for Democrats, and not to even run their own candidates!) What I do admire about the Left is their willingness to work together. But, we on the Right cannot do that as long as the Republican Party -- while continuing to drift toward the Left -- pretends that it is the only conservative party in America. The GOP has the audacity to refer to the Constitution Party as the "spoiler." But, one can only be the spoiler if one is in the middle.

For example, in 1994, Bob Moppert -- a pro-abortion Republican -- lost the election for the 26th District of N.Y. because I was the only anti-abortion candidate. Moppert lost by 1,241 votes; I got 4,529 votes. Moppert, the compromiser, was in the middle. Thus, he was the spoiler. But, all that "the elephant" will choose to remember is that "Tom Kovach cost the Republicans the election." They will not even consider that their big-money, compromising candidate cost himself the election by trying to be Democrat Lite. And, as we saw with the 2006 elections, the elephant has a long memory, and is not prone to forgiveness.

So, as both the small example (my 1994 campaign), and the large example (the nationwide spanking of the Republicans this year) both prove, the Republican Party continues to drift toward the Left, while simultaneously continuing to claim that they are the only hope of the Right. Has their leadership lost its collective mind? Or, has the GOP membership lost its collective mind for continuing to follow along? Either way, it is painfully obvious that the GOP is no longer the party of true conservatives. Thus, its members have only two choices: "go along" and become more liberal themselves, or "jump ship" to another party that is more conservative.

But, if there is a national party that is more conservative (and there is), then that leaves the Republican Party in the middle.

The above statement is much more than political hair-splitting or name-calling. There is a tectonic shift in not only the balance of power in Congress, but in how we define power in Congress, hidden beneath that statement. You see, our Congress is structured around committees that are led by majority party chairmen, but with minority party input. If there is a third party, and if that party is stuck in the middle, then it has neither of those positions of power. It is left out to pasture.

During the heyday of the Republicans during the mid-1990s, they had no problem with the Constitution Party. Why? Because they were hoping that, if the Constitution Party grew and won, then any Constitution Party member elected to Congress would become a one-person minority. And, with the Republicans in the majority, that would put the Democrats out to pasture.

But, even with the possibility of effectively hamstringing the Democrats, the GOP didn't do anything the help the Constitution Party grow. They just didn't do anything to hurt the Constitution Party, either. The GOP had a wonderful opportunity to build a strong conservative coalition, but that wasn't good enough -- they want it all. Now that the Democrats are in the majority, though, it seems that the GOP is wasting no time in trying to make a scapegoat out of the Constitution Party. Personally, I think that such a strategy will backfire, and the Republicans will lose far more members than if they had kept their mouth shut.

Regardless of which of the Big Two is in the majority, the cat is now out of the bag. There are only eight nationally-recognized political parties. Chances are that another one could not be organized before the 2008 election cycle. So, as I've written before, multi-party politics is here to stay. And, the politics of compromise must give way to the politics of coalitions. Political beliefs are not either-or, they are aligned along a spectrum. Multiple parties give people an opportunity to join the group that most closely represents their position along that spectrum. Of course, multi-party politics would also require votes to think more, because it's not just "A or B" anymore.

Abused Becomes Abuser??

Here is the real irony of the Republican Party's current angst over the sudden growth of the Constitution Party. The GOP claims that any "third party" is a "spoiler." (The correct term is "smaller party," because only one party can be third) They try to maintain a myth that America has, and always did have, only a two-party system. But, that is not true. And, back in 1854, when a small group of anti-slavery activists got together in the Ripon Schoolhouse and founded a new political party, the Republicans were the fourth party involved in the slavery argument alone! (The others were the Whigs, the Democrats, and the Free Soil Party.) So, by the standard that they now proclaim, the Republican Party should never have been allowed on the ballot in the first place, because it would have disrupted the "two-party system" of their day! Ask some elephant how he likes those peanuts!

The Constitution Party got its start in 1992 as the U.S. Taxpayers Party. By 1994, the Republicans should have seen a golden opportunity to build a powerful conservative coalition. But, they either ignored or eschewed that opportunity. Now, the Republican Party -- by its own choice, via their leadership -- has become almost unrecognizable as a conservative organization. The proof is that, rather than try to woo conservatives back into the GOP by returning to the Right, the GOP tries to brand those conservatives as "traitors" or "spoilers." Well, 'ya know, with friends like that ...

Conservatives can no longer "fix" the Republican Party. They can either "loyally" ride it into the iceberg, or they can board the rescue ship. The Republicans are busy playing the blame game -- as though the crew of the Carpathia (which rescued scores of passengers) was somehow to blame for the captain driving the Titanic into the iceberg. So, even after being spanked by its own membership, the Republican Party is acting like the rebellious little toddler that says, "That didn't hurt." They are also acting like the prisoner that blames the police officer for his incarceration, instead of accepting responsibility for his own misdeeds. Sophisticated voters will not stick around to listen to the Republican blame game while the conservative Titanic sinks.

Here, let me throw you a safety line.

Tom Kovach lives near Nashville, is a former USAF Blue Beret, has written for several online publications, and recently published his first book. He is also an inventor, a certified paralegal, and a former talk-radio host. Tom has been involved in politics since 1992, and recently got the highest total votes of any Constitution Party member that sought Federal office in the country (but not enough to win election to Congress). He is available to speak to your group. To learn more, click: www.Tom.Kovach.com

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