O'Donnell Victory Exposes Republicans

One of the things that the nomination of Christine O'Donnell as the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Delaware has made clear is just how blinded by ideology left-leaning old media journalists are. Unfortunately, it's also demonstrated that many Republicans and conservative commentators who should know better are guilty of the same political sin.

Liberal pundit Matthew Yglesias, in a Daily Beast piece entitled "GOP's Senate Dreams End in Delaware," explains that Christine O'Donnell's Republican Senate primary victory over RINO Michael Castle means that, because O'Donnell is deemed to be "unelectable" in November, the Republican Party can't win a majority in the Senate.

Charles Krauthammer, normally more clearheaded on matters such as this, made the same mistake. He resurrected ur-conservative William F. Buckley's argument that we need to nominate the most conservative electable candidate we can. What this argument misses is that Castle's election would assure the Democratic majority in the same way the election of Democrat Chris Coons would.

Castle is not simply a RINO; he is, for all practical purposes, a Democrat. Congressman Castle was one of only a handful of Republicans to vote for cap and trade energy legislation, and he has sponsored legislation that allows the cloning of human embryos for experimental purposes, as well as their (the embryos') ultimately being killed. As any true conservative will tell you, electing Castle would make absolutely no real difference in the balance in the Senate. He would have been a reliable vote for the Obama agenda.

When the New York Times calls you a "moderate Republican," as it has with Castle, then you're a Democrat. The Times has also mischaracterized the impulse of the Tea Party as a "drive for ideological purity." It is, of course, nothing of the sort; rather, it's a drive to take back a nation commandeered by leftist thugs that threaten our freedom and our fortune.

Even Karl Rove is displaying his old-boy-network roots in claiming, after O'Donnell's nomination, that he doesn't think "this is a race we're going to be able to win." At least with O'Donnell, "unelectable" as she supposedly is, we've got a chance to win a majority in the Senate. And as Rush Limbaugh explained, Krauthammer's and Rove's argument is based on the fact that they somehow know what the outcome of the election for Delaware Senator is going to be before it has happened. Their clairvoyance is admirable but misplaced. Would that the all-knowing pair simply tweet the name of the stock that's going to rise 100 percent between now and November. They can keep their electoral opinions to themselves. Give me something I can take to the bank.

On the other hand, the RINOs are displaying their obtuseness and lack of grace: Castle still has not called O'Donnell to congratulate her. In the wake of the voter revolt against their go-along to get-along legislative mentality it's pretty much guaranteed that if "moderate" Republican candidates are elected the only thing we'll be taking to the bank is more government IOUs as the federal power structure continues its confiscate-and-squander policies.

For Democrats, it's a combination of understandable wishful thinking compounded by ideological blinders that keeps them characterizing conservative, Tea Party-backed candidates as an angry, marginal group. Because they should know better, Krauthammer's and Rove's defections on this point are more troubling. I do, however, look forward to seeing Krauthammer, the sage of the Fox Special Report commentators, saying, on November 3, "I admit that I misjudged the power and sweep of the Tea Party in the case of the Delaware Senate race. My hat is off to Christine O'Donnell for her dramatic win."

In the meantime, I heard Lindsey Graham on Fox News talking about reaching across the aisle to Democrats to work out some sort of "deal." If I ever hear a Republican talk about reaching across the aisle again, it damn well better be to smack a Democrat upside the head. You cannot "deal" with Democrats, and if you even think about it, you're the very Republicans we need to get out of Congress so both houses can get back to doing the people's work. Indeed, true conservatives in the Senate need not even reach across the aisle. The next time one of them sees Lindsey Graham, all he or she needs to do is reach over a couple of seats and smack the South Carolina Senator upside the head. Maybe then Graham, along with the other misguided establishment Republicans, will start to get the message.