Establishment Republicans Eat Their Own

Regarding "Christie cruises while McAuliffe squeaks by" (Wednesday Nation), the AP article had the usual "Tea Party Is Dead" narrative, but what is interesting about the article is not what was included, but what was left out.  First off, it failed to mention that Democrat Terry McAuliffe outspent Tea Party favorite Attorney General Ken Cuccinnelli by $14 Million in the Virginia governor's race; it failed to mention that the national Republican Party offered Cuccinnelli only a fraction of the financial support they provided to the prior Republican candidate; it failed to mention that a Libertarian candidate drew 7% of the vote that most certainly came at Cuccinnelli's expense; and it failed to point out that Establishment Republicans did little or nothing to promote his candidacy.

 

By comparison, despite what the article claims, the Democratic Party was "All In" for McAuliffe, pouring millions into his campaign, and flooding the state with TV ads and campaign visits from the party elite.  Say what you will about the flaws in the Democratic Party: They never throw other Democrats under the bus, as most Establishment Republicans have done to numerous Tea Party candidates.  This is particularly true of the supposedly "inclusive" New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who went out of his way to give the Tea Party the back of his hand in his acceptance speech.

 

Establishment Republicans cannot see the forest for the trees.  By dissing Tea Party candidates and embracing Democrat positions at every turn, they make the failures of the Republican Party a self-fulfilling prophecy.  And their tenuous grasp on reality was never more evident than last night, where, despite a landslide re-election victory, Chris Christie was shown in a statewide poll to lose a presidential race to Hillary Clinton.  

 

One can only wonder how much more successful the Republican Party might be if the so-called "Moderates" embraced and promoted Republican values instead of endlessly triangulating to some mythical middle. 

 

Pete Smith

Cypress, TX