Two Views of the GOP

Mike Huckabee Wants Term RINO Dropped from Vernacular

One term that I’d like to see outlawed from the vernacular of the party is 'RINO,'" Huckabee wrote on his Facebook page on Monday. "It stands for Republicans in Name Only, and it’s a pejorative term that questions the authenticity and orthodoxy of someone’s party purity. I’ve been called that myself, even though I fought in the trenches of Republican politics for over two decades. Even so, I would never pretend that I’m Lord over determining who the real Republicans are."

He then said many Republicans would call Abraham Lincoln a RINO.

After questioning whether conservatives "really want to save America," he said they should "be focusing on their real differences with the left, not committing fratricide."

"Personally, I think someone who agrees with me 90% of the time is not my enemy," he wrote. "I’d rather have a loyal dog that licks me than one with a pedigree that bites me. I’d rather go into battle with someone who isn’t perfect than with someone who thinks he is."


Fred Dryer: GOP is Center-Left Party

Fred Dryer, actor and all-pro defensive end claimed that anyone who shows himself as a Republican candidate for president of the United States is washed and rinsed by the party apparatchik and scoured of any independent thinking. He is taught to “preach the party line and the party line is left of center.”

Dryer continued to excoriate the Republicans, asserting that the “cowardice” of the party today is matched only by its “myopic” opinion of itself. He said, "After all things are said and done, you get a party that is committed to nothing.” The former NFL legend claims that the Republican party has abandoned the Constitution. “The only way you can have a President like we have today is to make sure your kids don’t learn anything about the Constitution,” he opined.

 

Agreed. He seemed to get it in 2008 when he was a candidate but I guess years at Fox News has worn him down. I think his point is that the Tea Party should not be squabbling over that 10% area with the GOP, and I can sorta see his point. Democrats are the beneficiaries when Tea Party candidate challenge GOP incumbents in the primaries.

Still trying to figure out why Fred Dryer is considered quotable on this subject matter, but his assessment has a ring of truth to it. I wouldn't say that the GOP is center-left, though. I'd say they are center to center-right.

This is basically the Tea Party vs. the GOP establishment. For the most part both entities can identify the problem, the difference is the strategies they would implement to solve the problem. I think the establishment GOP is just a slower way to destruction than the Dems.

 

Here in Minnesota the "brains" of the GOP party decided the most pressing issues facing the state in 2012 were prohibiting gay marriage and passing a photo voter ID law. So they got enough votes to put these two issues on the ballot as a state constitutional amendment, then campaigned on these two issues and (mostly) ignored the economy, jobs, the budget deficit, etc.

What happened?

The gay marriage amendment was defeated. Gay marriage has since been legalized in Minnesota. The photo voter ID amendment was defeated.

Not only that, but the GOP majority in the House flip-flopped going from 72-61 to 61-72. The GOP majority in the Senate flip-flopped, going from 37-29 to 27-39.

The GOP should never give in on the social issues but I would not lead my campaign with them as they are deeply personal issues.