A Boston Tea Party …(Close To The Game)

Calling all conservatives, those who are real conservatives and those in name only. Pay attention. We have a choice before us. If you are a Democrat this has nothing to do with you. This is about the Republican family and its dirty laundry. Republicans are about to elect someone to replace Tom DeLay as majority whip of the House. Who that person is will tell us greatly the direction the Republican Party is going to take. At this time it is a two-man race between Roy Blount and John Boehner. The remainder of this article will hopefully make your choice obvious.

The first part of this article may be painful to many of you but sometimes the truth hurts. It may feel a bit like a rectal exam but like a rectal exam it should only hurt for a minute. In brutal honesty (those who know me know brutal honesty is my forte) there are only a handful of real conservatives in congress. There is no way you can be a true conservative and support the now ex-whip. It isn’t possible. I realize it is hard to believe but there is more to conservativism than just cutting taxes. Tom DeLay made earmarks (pork projects) fashionable for Republicans. He was/is more concerned with Republican power than he is in smaller government. It was DeLay who said something like there is no more fat to cut in the federal government. How can a real conservative support such a man? Some will say the man got things done. I agree, he succeeded in increasing the size of the federal government in a way a Democrat would be proud of. I for one am sick of seeing “Good ‘ol Tom” playing golf on some extravagant golf course on a lobbyist’s dime.

Supporters of DeLay fall into two categories. You have elected officials who love all the earmarks for their districts he has allowed them to put into spending bills and you have the coattail crowd. I am not much of a fan of either. The elected officials all want to be there for life and don’t want any newcomers. President Bush even helped Arlan Spector get reelected. The coattail crowd are those on the Republican fringe. They are not elected officials but have relationships with those who are elected. They include media members (TV analysts and talk show hosts), lobbyists, and those brilliant think tanker types. The coattail crowd has no objectivity. They mingle, cajole, and often back slap with these elected officials. Relationships are developed. There opinions become biased. They are part of the family. Outsiders, the little people like you and I, have no such connections. That is why it seems obvious to me that with DeLay it is not a case of “always in the wrong place at the wrong time” or some Democratic “gotcha”. DeLay smells. What he has done may not be illegal but it sure isn’t right.

If you support DeLay then you are too close to the game. You have been compromised. The game needs to stop. The game needs to blown up and started with a new set of rules. The choice is Blunt or Boehner. One (Blunt) is just a relief pitcher for the starter (DeLay). The other (Boehner) offers an opportunity, but no certainty, of governance like a true conservative. Boehner has never put an earmark in a spending bill in fifteen years in the House. Who you choose to support will tell me all I need to know about you. Do you want a chance of a new game or are you comfortable with the way it is played now?

Democrats I told you not to read this. What happens in this family stays in this family.