The Other McCain

by Smitty

The top story is that Robert Bennett has been uninvited to a fourth term representing Utah as a GOP Senator. Also, it seems that he may not be allowed to try his hand at Liebermanism.

Just A Conservative Girl has the summary:

Senator Bob Bennett, 76, was given his walking papers today from the Utah GOP Convention. He was ousted on the second ballot earlier today. Bennett has been in office since 1992 even though he initially said he would only serve two terms.

Bennett has voted for mandated insurance, the wall street bailout, and is known for his earmarks. A combo that seems to be the kiss of death this election cycle. The Senator also spends little time with his constitutions and addressing their concerns. He has a war chest for his re-election that is said to be in the millions. During his last election he never ran an ad on television and yet still won with 69% of the vote. Another words, he figured he could stay in the senate as long as he wanted and to heck with the people he was there to represent.

Possibly a little bit harsh there. Let us be charitable and say Bennett did what he saw as his job, and the people of Utah re-arranged key parameters of that job for him, as is their prerogative.

Mark In Spokane makes a key point, emphasis mine:

A key thing to note about the Tea Party movement is that it isn’t necessarily friendly to Republicans, particularly establishment Republicans (like Bennett). It is friendly towards politicans who want to reform the federal government. As I keep saying, the Tea Party folks have a lot of similiarity to the Perot votes[sic] in the early and mid-1990’s.

Yes, I was one of those. You can flog me for splitting the conservative ticket in 1992, and I have two replies, both named George.

Back at the post title, what should AZ and CA glean from this? Is it possible to send RINO Johnny McCain off to work on his memoir after the 24 August primary? Does the fact that Carly Fiorina has the moneybags and is ensconced with The Right People mean that she gets the nod on 08 June to run against Boxer/Kaus?

Chris Cassone sent a link to a strongly critical essay by

Jim Riley (“Shemp” in King Obama video and King of Riley’s Farm), who very astutely summarizes what, at least I, am thinking about this debacle of another RINO at the top. And I got caught up in the Palinmania at Searchlight. It was hard not to… but rational conservative thought wins the day.

Read the whole thing, but here is the heart of Riley’s point:

How do you defeat the conservative movement? From the inside. You put up a war hero like John McCain, whose personal courage can’t be questioned but who has so little respect for our Constitution, he would have shut down the 1st Amendment 60 days before an election. You let people like Jihad-sympathizing Grover Norquist dominate gatherings like CPAC, because he can raise money, and then you send boys off to war behind leaders too timid to call Islam the enemy. You lionize a flag-waiving, gun-toting, beautiful mom, like Sarah Palin, who loves her country, but is too shallow to understand that endorsing global warming John McCain and shouting “drill, baby, drill” just do not compute. You have Fox News tell us just enough of the truth to garner our sympathies, but then you have Glen Beck calling Geert Wilders a fascist for exposing Islam, (and you watch Rupert move his headquarters to Dubai.) You ask for a limited government, but then you steer clear of the very social conservatism, the values vote, that would make limited government possible.

In short, you muddy the waters, you weaken the cure, you promote cowardice in the ranks. You make people think that the Republican party is your last best hope, that Fox News is “the only thing we’ve got,” that above all, we just need to put up someone who can win–even if, um, that person doesn’t represent our cause very well. You create heroes who aren’t really heroes, and leaders who aren’t really leaders, and then you fail to identify them for what they are — traitors. You look with contempt on a “purity test,” because that, after all, would make the conservative cause true, simple, and victorious. The enemy of the socialist, the radical environmentalist, the globalist, and the corporate monopolist is mental and moral clarity. You pretend that you want another Ronald Reagan, but if someone rises in the ranks, with Reagan’s clear moral vision, you make sure he’s defeated in the primary.

Dispassionately now, we can all agree that we’re in a bad position. The quibbling comes from thumb wrestling over evolutionary verses revolutionary change.

While I have precious little confidence in the Grungy Old Poobahs (GOP), and would not mind seeing McCain and Fiorina get the Bennett treatment, what really matters is:

• Maximum expression in the primaries.
• Quick reformation behind the primary victor.
• Primary victors allowing reasonable policy modulation from all supporters, not just their initial ones.

The point of our representative democracy is that the name emerging victorious represent everyone. The overaching sin of the current administration is that its executive thinks people voted for Barack Obama, when, in fact, they voted for a President. Too much time spent at higher societal altitudes is a major input to this sort of confusion. Hopefully CA and AZ voters will help Fiorina and McCain deal with the ailment by choosing DeVore and Hayworth.

Further thoughts:

• Three Beers Later
• Riehl World View