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| February 9, 2012 |
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As the GOP Turns...
Posted by Laura |
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On the Today Show this morning Matt Lauer asked me if and when conservatives will put their ideology aside and "focus on electability." Understandably, this "pragmatism over principle" formulation is what the Romney campaign hopes delivers him the nomination. But the national media need to accept that sometimes, political party has issues that it needs to work out. In 2008, Democrats were genuinely divided between those who wanted to stick with the Clintons and those who wanted to go with Obama. That dispute took months to resolve, but when it was all over, the Clinton supporters had to admit that they had been given a fair hearing.
Now the GOP has its own very important issues to decide. Some of these are substantive; the conservatives think that the country has serious fiscal problems that need to be addressed right now, and that Obamacare is a time bomb that could destroy our health care system, while moderates think that our problems are not quite that severe. There are also differences with respect to political tactics. Most conservatives think the GOP needs to draw clear philosophical distinctions with Obama and debate him on first principles; most Establishment types think that the GOP should focus on issues of competence and management.
Unfortunately, GOP voters have not gotten the real debate on these issues that they deserve. There have been too many distractions over things like Herman Cain's personal life and Newt Gingrich's space policy. In my opinion, the best thing that could happen to Republicans would be for the remaining candidates to have serious, respectful, thoughtful discussions about the real differences that divide them. Tea Partiers need to realize that a lot of "Establishment" people are patriots who are trying to build a better country. Establishment types need to see that many Tea Partiers are sophisticated enough to understand political realities. If each side learns to get past the stereotypes and take the other side more seriously, I think the GOP will be stronger. If the two sides just keep sniping at each other, then it will become harder for the party to unite. |
| 02/9/12 5:49 AM |
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