The Republican Establishment’s Favorite RINOS: Is Anybody Sorry They’re Gone?

13 Jul, 2010 by John Hawkins

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More and more often, we’re seeing grassroots conservatives line up against establishment Republicans in primary races. What’s notable, however, is what has happened after the establishment’s candidates have lost the battle. Time and time again, those candidates have proven that everything that the conservatives said about them was right on the money.

Let’s consider a few prominent candidates.

After Lincoln Chafee won a brutal primary against Steve Laffey, he lost the general election and then shortly thereafter, left the Republican Party.

The establishment rallied behind Arlen Specter in 2004 in his primary battle vs. Pat Toomey. Specter won a squeaker. But this time around, when it looked like he was going to lose to Toomey, he joined the Democratic Party and voted like a straight down the line liberal.

In a New York congressional race, conservatives rallied behind Doug Hoffman. The establishment, including the RNC and NRCC stood with “Dede” Scozzafava. However, when it became apparent that Scozzafava couldn’t win, she dropped out and endorsed the Democrat.

The NRSC endorsed Charlie Crist in Florida over Marco Rubio. But, what happened when Crist started losing? He dropped the GOP like a hot rock and decided to run as an independent.

Last week, two other beloved establishment RINOs who lost popped off about how much they dislike conservatives. First off, there was SC congressman Bob Inglis,

In a story published Saturday in The News, Bob Inglis, a six-term U.S. representative who was soundly defeated in a primary runoff against Spartanburg prosecutor Trey Gowdy, spoke out against what he said is a conservative movement that preys on people’s fears. Inglis said he believes a majority of his fellow Republicans in Congress agree with him but keep silent for fear of being roasted on TV and radio talk shows. Ronald Reagan could not have survived Fox News host Glenn Beck’s show, he said. Inglis, too, said it’s a movement that can’t last.

We also can’t forget Senator Bob Bennett, who was an advisor to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and was touted as a “conservative” candidate. Unfortunately for him, Republicans in Utah didn’t see it that way and he was knocked out of the race with a third place finish at their state convention. Here’s some of what Bennett had to say,

“That’s my concern, that at the moment there is not a cohesive Republican strategy of this is what we’re going to do. And certainly among the tea party types there’s clearly no strategy of this is what we’re going to do,” he said.

…”In those days they were willing to give up on America from the left, and in these days they’re are too many people willing to give up on America from the right,” he said. “I don’t have that sense of despair, which worked against me in the campaign, because they said we want more passion out of you – passion being we want you standing there screaming about how horrible everybody is, along with the talk show hosts that are screaming how horrible it is,” Bennett said.

“And if you don’t scream, you don’t have passion, and if you don’t have passion you don’t care. I’m saying wait a minute, things as bad as they are, are not that horrible.

None of these people are conservative, have any loyalty to the Republicans who supported them, or even have any dignity or class in defeat. Is anybody sorry they’re gone? Are there any Republicans who think we’d be better served by having people like this in Congress?

If so, there shouldn’t be. This isn’t a basketball game. People don’t support the Republican Party because they’re the “hometown team.” Congress isn’t supposed to be a jobs program for rich, well connected Country Club Republicans either. The future of the country is at stake and we need people in DC who have some principles, have some loyalty to the party, and believe in something other than having a cushy job.