Fissures Among Conservatives Threatens GOP Revival
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 9:20AM
The monolithic quality of the Reagan-era GOP is over.
Establishment Republicans are increasingly hounded by the loony right conservatives looking for ideological purity - and willing to lose elections if makes the party more conservative.
Stalin would be proud.
This no way to build a election coalition to win national elections.
As an example of this crack in the GOP, conservative writer Andrew Sullivan goes after Sarah Palin and the "crazy" right with gusto:
Politico provides another example:
The Club for Growth’s recent claim to fame — or infamy, for some — has been mixing it up in House Republican primaries by backing conservative candidates running against moderates.
But the anti-tax, anti-big-government group now is positioning itself to be a major 2010 player in Senate races, too, a development likely to cause headaches for both parties.
In Pennsylvania, the club’s former president, former Rep. Pat Toomey, is the runaway favorite for the Republican nomination and has a chance to take on party switcher Sen. Arlen Specter, assuming Specter survives his own Democratic primary challenge from Rep. Joe Sestak.
In September, the club sent letters to all of Specter’s donors encouraging the Republicans who donated before his party switch to ask for refunds. The mailing included a handy draft of a refund request letter.
Based on October financial disclosure records, the club’s mischief has cost Specter about $100,000 in refunds — so far.
In the Florida Republican Senate primary, Club for Growth is backing former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio’s challenge of Gov. Charlie Crist, who has the support of national party leaders but has been dubbed by the club as “one of the worst RINOs in the country” (RINO = Republican In Name Only).
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