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10/28/2008
Burri: Republicans must unite to fight
Republican Civil War? Let’s get a grip. Is a Republican civil war coming up?
Maybe, but only because there’s always a Republican civil war coming up.
Let’s be honest with ourselves: signs point to an Obama victory a week from now. The polls say so; the commercials indicate so; the sniping and backstabbing that appears to be going on within Republican (but not Democrat) halls of power suggest so.
Cue the post-election Republican vs. Republican meltdown. At least, that’s the next step in the “Democrat tidal wave” storyline. It's in the script!
The only real question left is: how big will the tidal wave be? The bigger the wave, the worse the meltdown.
Hang on, though: I don’t quite buy it. Well, I do, but the idea that a “Republican civil war” is right around the corner, with November 4 being our Fort Sumter Day, is both too obvious and too overblown.
That sounds contradictory, I know. Look, I said I wasn’t buying it, not that I’m not looking it over. Kicking the tires. Comparing prices. I haven’t left it on the shelf to gather dust. I simply haven’t picked it up and carried it to the counter yet. That’s all.
So what’s stopping me? Well, I’ve seen the “Republican civil war” meme several times over the weekend, but it seems to have started here, in the London Telegraph:
Aides to George W. Bush, former Reagan White House staff and friends of John McCain have all told The Sunday Telegraph that they not only expect to lose on November 4, but also believe that Mr Obama is poised to win a crushing mandate.
…The prospect of an electoral rout has unleashed a bitter bout of recriminations both within the McCain campaign and the wider conservative movement, over who is to blame and what should be done to salvage the party's future. Am I supposed to trust the Telegraph to tell me these things? Because I don’t.
On the other hand, I might as well trust them because, hey, they’re right. Recriminations and finger-pointing happen after every electoral defeat, no matter the specifics.
The question is: how bad will they be?
Depends on how bad the elections turn out.
Here’s where the uncertainty comes in. Like I said, all signs point to an Obama victory, but the signs can be wrong. Polls strongly favor him, but there are enough undecideds still out there to throw things McCain’s way.
Or, even if Obama does win, better-than-expected results in Congress – specifically, retaining at least 45 U.S. Senate seats – will go a long way toward relieving the pressure. Keeping the Wisconsin State Assembly will help, too.
Still, we’ll have lost. And we’ll want to know why. Conservatives will blame moderates, and moderates will blame conservatives. Both will be right.
Er…I mean: both will be correct.
See, conservatives and moderates need each other. We can’t win without the center – without moderates. And they can’t win without us.
So here’s what we do: we get the fighting out of the way fast, realize conservatives and Republicans will always have some disagreements, and then focus back on the problem at hand: Democrat majorities, a Democrat president, a Democrat governor.
After the Slaughter of 2006, we had very little time for mourning our fallen comrades. The barbarians were at the gates, and we had to get the oil boiling.
If 2008 is similar, we’ll have even less time. The walls will have been breached. The tax-crazed liberal hordes streaming into the city, looting whatever they find.
In other words, we’re going to have better things to do than sit around yelling at each other.
So let's not.
Lance Burri is a contributor to the Badger Blog Alliance and occasionally blogs at his own site as well.
COMMENTS
Lance, you're try to unite the wrong group. Most R's will vote Republican, but even some of them are fed up. You need to unite the middle, and they're fed up too. The R's blew it. They got what they wanted under Bush, and it killed them going forward.
Jack Lohman (Tue Oct 28 08:05:20 2008)
Well lets see.......who exactly are the Republicans. If the messages of the Presidential campaign are any indication they appear to be........
Islamaphobes, homophobes, gun toting moose shooting, snowmobile riding, anticommunists. There must be a way to reconcile them into a unified movement. I know what about running Sara Palin the great unifier and exciter of the base. Ya right that should work. :>)
Billie (Tue Oct 28 08:23:21 2008)
Sorry,
Ronald Reagan didn't beg or ask the moderates or the middle. They came to him! I think they were called the Reagan democrats! If you don't mind, can we pick up this conversation after the election. We still have a lot of races to win.
Thanks for the article.
Paul, Berry Laker
Berry Laker (Tue Oct 28 23:38:46 2008)
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