I am a registered Republican, have been for most of my life. I vote in every election I can. I'm proud to say I voted for Reagan. But right now I am not proud to say I am a Republican.
The party of Reagan and Lincoln is eating itself, and it is John McCain's fault. When McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, I thought it was a disaster. In my opinion a Vice President should be at least marginally qualified to be President. Palin is interesting and fun, and I respect her independence and her accomplishments. But she has shown some poor judgment, and there was no way she was qualified to be Vice President. She had no significant foreign policy experience. She'd never dealt with defense issues, or immigration issues, or social spending issues. While Alaska is our largest state by land mass, it's our smallest by population (663,661 as of 2005). That's slightly larger than Milwaukee, and I don't consider being the mayor of Wisconsin's largest city to be adequate qualifications for the highest office in the land.
The real problem with Palin is that she was a reach towards the right when the country was obviously moving from center-right to center-left. The way to win that election was to propose new ideas. To moderates, Palin looked like an inexperienced G.W. Bush in a skirt. A centrist governor with experience, such as Charlie Crist, Haley Barbour, Bobby Jindal, or Tim Pawlenty would have made a much better choice.
I suppose the thinking was to energize the base and to attract women to the ticket. But the base was already energized thanks to their revulsion of Barak Obama, and moderate women were not going to be attracted by Palin because of her staunch anti-abortion views. Plus, let's face it, how many American women can identify with a hunter who kills and field-dresses a moose? The closest most Americans get to that experience is boning a chicken breast after removing the plastic wrap. So was Palin fun and interesting? Sure. Did she energize the base? Sure. Was she a winning choice? Nope.
The unfortunate consequence of McCain's choice and subsequent loss is that, perplexingly, the losing vice-presidential candidate has set the flavor for the Republican Party. Usually after a loss, the party re-examinies itself, picks some new leadership, and charts a new course. But there is a moniroity of vocal but wrong voices - blowhards like Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck and third-party groups like Club for Growth -- that are twisting this natural process to their own purposes.
Want an example? Check out the case of Dede Scozzafava. She was chosen as a popular candidate by her local Republican leadership and was doing well in the polls. But national GOP leadership and pundits -- Palin, Beck, and the Club for Growth among others -- felt she was not conservative enough. So rather than support a moderate Republican, they threw the election to a Democrat.
What the hell kind of strategy is that?
If this keeps up, the Republican party will cease to be a force in US politics. The national GOP eviscerated the power of the local leaders, who know their voters best. A moderate candidate, who could have born the banner for an inclusive Republican party, is now disgruntled and will probably join the Democratic party. The GOP gave up a seat it could have easily held. And the too-right agenda of rabble-rousers like Beck gets a boost.
How, in what universe, is this a win?
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