Strong Brew

I'll admit it, I've never been to a "tea party" rally.  I don't have a Gadsden flag or a tricorne hat.  But I do agree with a lot of the principles of the Tea Party movement, as I stated on this blog way back when the movement began last year.

It will come as no shock for you to learn that I am also a Republican...I have voted a straight GOP ticket in every election since 1992.  I am not only a registered Repub, I am a dues-paying member of the local chapter of the party.  Thus, it pains me to state the obvious today: the Republican party at large is run by blithering idiots.

How did I come to this conclusion, you ask?  I had figured out by 2008 that the leadership of the GOP were mainly interested in staking out the real estate two inches to the right of the Democrats.  They spent too much money, and acted like they were going to be there forever.  I will never forget the night right before the 2006 election when I spoke briefly to a U.S. Congressman (who I will not name) while he was pressing the flesh at a high school football game.  I shook his hand and said, "Fight hard, congressman, we need to keep that majority".  With the look he gave me, I might as well have just said "By the way...I am the Walrus, koo-koo-kachoo."

That was the first sign that something in the minds of the GOP top brass was terribly awry.  This man knew he was going to win handily (and he did), he was not concerned about the majority, and was more than a little perplexed as to why I'd care.  But the final diagnosis came this Tuesday, when Christine O'Donnell - another Tea Party backed candidate - won the Delaware GOP primary.  Among the GOP intelligentsia, wailing and gnashing of teeth immediately ensued.  "Unelectable", they called her.  "The senate majority is out of reach now," they moaned.  "Balderdash!" I replied.

You see, here's the problem with Mike Castle, the GOP establishment's hand-picked candidate: He's been Congress since 1993.  He voted for the stimulus, he voted for TARP, he voted for the car company bailout.  He is part of the reason why the Tea Party formed, he supported the very bills that have so angered the American electorate and turned them against Democrats.  Why would we want to replace a Democrat who will vote with the President to enact bad policy with a Republican who will do the same thing?  Who gives a crap what letter is behind his name?  In short: Castle is (or was) part of the the problem, not the solution.

But beyond all that, if he were the nominee, I would have supported him, if only tepidly.  Christine O'Donnell would have supported him.  But since he lost, he and his GOP upper-crust pals are turning their noses up at the will of the people.  Pride goeth before the fall, fellas.  Didn't you learn that in 2006?  This election is not about parties, or even politics, it's about good governance and sound policy...or the lack thereof.

Nolanbuck