Residual Forces

Part of me wants to be a good little Republican and support my party’s candidate, but the problem is my conservative principles are far more important to me, since they are what made me choose the GOP as my home. 

You see, I loathe politicians, especially Republicans, who use focus groups and pollsters to define their stances on the issues. I hate it when those same populist Republicans are allowed to define the entire party ‘brand’, despite them being in conflict. 

Case and point, Tony Fabrizio, the same guy who helped Pawlenty thread the ‘06 needle so that when DFLer Mike Hatch cracked under the pressure and called a reporter a ‘Republican whore’ a week before the election, is working for John McCain and Fabrizio is possibly an Amnesty lover. 

Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio said it does not pay for McCain or GOP congressional candidates to highlight their party’s rift on the issue. Those candidates lag far behind McCain in national polls that asking voters whether they support a Republican or Democrat for Congress.

“Why focus on what divides us?” Fabrizio said.

What divides McCain from the real conservatives is what divides real conservatives from liberal Democrats. I am so sick and tired of these spineless populist pollsters trying to marginalize what’s right, legal, or conservative in order to pad their bank accounts and stab conservatives in the back. 

The issues are what defines the party and having the Presidential pollster running around telling other Republicans (Read: real conservatives) running for Congress not to mention their conservative bona fides because his boss/our POTUS candidate is a flaming liberal on certain issues, is how the Republican brand has become wastebasket material in the eyes of voters. 

If John McCain, the RNC, NRCC, NRSC, and MNGOP follow orders from Team McCamnesty…. sorry McCain, it will put out the grassroots fire that is required to win back majorities and keep Obama/Franken/etc from winning. If we see no difference on the core issues, why bother? 

When I see a high power Republican pollster urge conservatives to stay mum this election on some of the most important issues in America, I have to respond by saying, “We’re real conservatives and these Republicans who dare to expose McCain’s liberal stances, are the only thing that can save this party.” 

If we become a party that is willing to not only ignore our core principles, but go so far as to support and campaign on what the liberal Democrats want, this party is no longer needed. 

If Fabrizio gets to craft the national strategy for Republicans and set the brand image for us, 2006 will look like a dream compared to the disaster that we will be facing this November. 

Here’s the hammer over the head closing line for pollsters and strategists who have no clue how elections are really won. 

The reason conservative members of Congress are pointing out what divides them from McCain is because they are the same reasons we, the grassroots of the party, feel division between our Presidential candidate and our own passion for political involvement. We will work our butts off for people who stand up for our conservative ideals. They need us and most of them actually believe that conservatism is the best form of governing for the long term stability and security of America. 

We don’t volunteer countless hours and write those checks to stop Democrats from winning in November. We do it to stop liberal ideas from becoming law if the Democrats were elected. When the (R)epublican candidate shares the liberal Democrat ideas, we just can’t help but try to stop it and separate ourselves from the liberals.

In other words, those conservatives who dare distance themselves from McCain, are trying to save this party and the conservative movement, not to mention keep America from going down the road to socialism. One bad policy at a time. 

Here’s some posts from the RF archives on why I am terrified about Fabrizio. 

Freedom Foundation of MN, State of Conservatism Conference

Quota Based Politics - Further Thoughts on the SoCC