Conservatives versus RINOs
by Rense Johnson, Chairman, Citizens for Term Limits
In 1958, running for president, John Kennedy got a big laugh when he announced “I have just received the following wire from my generous daddy: ‘Dear Jack — Don’t buy a single vote more than is necessary. I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay for a landslide.’” And sure enough, the 1960 election was very, very close.
Rove the Mastermind
Is Karl Rove guilty of all the missteps the Democrats are trying to pin on him? If I were an odds maker I would assess the chances as less than one percent. Rove is hailed as the mastermind who got George W. Bush reelected in 2004. I believe Rove is a bit like daddy Kennedy — he produced a win when he could have netted a landslide.
Rove the Protector of Congress
Landslide? Yes, a landslide — if he had prevailed upon the President to embrace the issue of congressional term limitation. Term limits are supported by 75% of American voters; even more if one backs out the apathetics, who don’t care and don’t vote. But Rove wanted to protect congressional Republicans (in name only) who couldn’t have cared less about the future of the party, our President or our country, so long as they got to stay in office. How nice of him! How considerate!
That landslide would have extended GWB’s coattails to bring in with him a crowd of congressional Republicans. Not RINOs — those Republicans In Name Only — I mean real Conservative Republicans — the Conservatives of yesteryear.
Why do I say this? Because the American populace is conservative. And if indeed the President had acted conservative, then the Congress, which would have been swept in with him and beholden to him, would have become conservative. No more lame duck status, no more tap dancing around the John Bolton nomination, no more refusal to discuss the Social Security problem. And Supreme Court nominations deliberately but promptly brought to the Senate floor for an up-or-down vote.
The Football Analogy
Rove is a bit like the football coach who doesn’t want to run up the score against an opponent so the opponent won’t run up the score against him when the roles are reversed. Or the show boating runner who lopes down the side lines thinking there is no one behind him, only to be pushed out of bounds on the 40-yard line when he could have scored, with the result that the team won, but just barely.
But the time is past for historical regrets. Thanks to Karl Rove’s advice, President Bush’s die is cast.
“Of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’” —Whittier
Now it is time to think about who will be our presidential choice in 2008.
