Wednesday, September 15, 2010
The Beginning Of The Beginning
Christine O'Donnell's victory in the Delaware Republican primary has served to crystallize the fault lines between the Republican establishment and the Tea Party conservative movement in ways I did not contemplate until now. I believe this will prove an historic moment.
I first noticed something different when the question of O'Donnell's "electability" moved to the front burner, having been placed there by Republicans opposing O'Donnell.
As Sarah Palin, Jim DeMint and Tea Partiers gravitated to supporting O'Donnell, organs such as NRO (Jim Geraghty) and the Weekly Standard strangely began personally attacking her while ignoring concerns their fellow conservatives have expressed about Mike Castle. Even Karl Rove launched what will go down in history as a grossly misguided attack on O'Donnell during an appearance on Hannity.
Rush, Hannity, Michelle Malkin and other bedrock conservatives defended O'Donnell to her critics, while the guys at Power Line expended some valuable credibility tangling with Mark Levin and Dan Riehl. Then Charles Krauthammer went overboard in attacking Palin's endorsement, drawing criticism from Rush et al... it was all quite without precedent.
And that's the key.
Because the lesson of the O'Donnell win is that the game has changed.
Now every time the voters go to the polls, the so-called conventional wisdom is overturned. With each subsequent outcome, even conservative media stalwarts like Krauthammer are showing that they do not comprehend what is coming, because as much as they follow the data and the polls, they have not yet fully connected with the source: the American people. So when the American people speak their present minds through the ballot box, it comes through to the Republican establishment and its RINOs as a strange, almost unintelligible message.
Whereas to committed conservatives, the message is clear: win the day. Take no prisoners, make no compromises. Accept no impositions by the old guard, define the parameters and declare for the Constitution and the Founding Principals.
For a very long time to come, for as long as it takes to purge the ruling class from government, nothing less will do.
I first noticed something different when the question of O'Donnell's "electability" moved to the front burner, having been placed there by Republicans opposing O'Donnell.
As Sarah Palin, Jim DeMint and Tea Partiers gravitated to supporting O'Donnell, organs such as NRO (Jim Geraghty) and the Weekly Standard strangely began personally attacking her while ignoring concerns their fellow conservatives have expressed about Mike Castle. Even Karl Rove launched what will go down in history as a grossly misguided attack on O'Donnell during an appearance on Hannity.
Rush, Hannity, Michelle Malkin and other bedrock conservatives defended O'Donnell to her critics, while the guys at Power Line expended some valuable credibility tangling with Mark Levin and Dan Riehl. Then Charles Krauthammer went overboard in attacking Palin's endorsement, drawing criticism from Rush et al... it was all quite without precedent.
And that's the key.
Because the lesson of the O'Donnell win is that the game has changed.
Now every time the voters go to the polls, the so-called conventional wisdom is overturned. With each subsequent outcome, even conservative media stalwarts like Krauthammer are showing that they do not comprehend what is coming, because as much as they follow the data and the polls, they have not yet fully connected with the source: the American people. So when the American people speak their present minds through the ballot box, it comes through to the Republican establishment and its RINOs as a strange, almost unintelligible message.
Whereas to committed conservatives, the message is clear: win the day. Take no prisoners, make no compromises. Accept no impositions by the old guard, define the parameters and declare for the Constitution and the Founding Principals.
For a very long time to come, for as long as it takes to purge the ruling class from government, nothing less will do.
