Sure, it’s a victory for the GOP. But more importantly, it’s a victory for “just right of center” moderates and independents like me. Scott Brown’s astonishing defeat of Martha Coakley, the one “chosen” to replace the late Ted Kennedy, sends a dual message to both the right and left – don’t f*ck with the independents!
While it’s partly true that Democrats left the plane on autopilot, assuming a liberal state like Massachusetts was in the bag, Scott Brown also is a very effective campaigner. On the national stage, he found the right message to attract the right donors and supporters. But at the local level, he struck the right balance between “change” and “mutiny.” Then there’s that little issue of our fearless leader marching in to save the day with his elitist jabs at average everyday people who drive trucks.
But conservatives from outside the state could have just as easily screwed the whole thing up. After the way the tea party purists botched the NY-23 election in November, I was quite worried that the GOP would fracture and turn to cannibalism in an effort to weed out those they deemed were not falling in line. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that you can’t win elections by purging voters. But in November, it seemed as though logic was out the window when they literally handed a seat to the Democrats because a bunch of outsiders didn’t like the nominee.
Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh would never get behind a candidate like Chris Christie if given the choice between him and a much more conservative candidate. But had Steve Lonegan (the “conservative” choice) won the NJ primary, MSNBC would be talking to Gov. Jon Corzine tonight. Instead, Gov. Chris Christie was elected and today he was inaugurated.
When your car is out of control and veering to the left, your natural instinct is to jerk the wheel to the right. But in doing so, you make the problem worse and you may never regain control. So while there’s still a lot of work to do to restore balance to our government, today is a good day and 2010 is off to a great start.
Posts
What is your basis for saying Lonegan would have lost other than you hate conservatives? For Christie to win, he had to become Steve Lonegan. Who do you think elected him? Abortion loving liberals? Gay marriage advocates? Gun controllers? Public employee unions? Unfortunately for New Jersey, Christie is nothing more than Corzine without the beard and with his ultra-left-wing Democrat attorney general the only change are the people looting the treasury. Time will show that is true and the only “Republicans” who will benefit are those on the government payroll boosting their pensions. If you hate conservatives so much, you should switch parties because there is no room for liberals in the GOP.
2010-01-20 @ 10:09 am
I don’t hate conservatives at all. I personally identify myself as an independent conservative. As for Steve Lonegan, I don’t have a problem with him particularly. I just know that far right conservatives can’t win in blue states. I happened to like Chris Christie more and he won by a very decisive margin. Anyhow, I don’t really care whether or not you want guys like me in the party… I’m only a registered Republican because I want to participate in the primary process. But in general elections, I’ll vote for whoever the better candidate is. It just so happens that the one issue I take very seriously is one-party control.
But your last sentence pretty much sums up the whole point of my post – that litmus tests and purity arguments will only thin out, fracture, and ultimately destroy the party.
2010-01-20 @ 2:11 pm