Any Republican that supports Cap and Trade in any form or manor, is a supporter of socialist agenda and doesn’t belong on a Republican ticket. This is an issue and a vote for which than can be no tolorance and no forgiveness from any voter that is a conservative libertarian . Mike Castle lost any right to call himself a Republican.
The tea party is a rebellion and Republicans liked it when the Teapartiers helped get Scott Brown elected, and while Scott Brown might be a moderate we have no reason to believe that he would ever support Cap and Trade.
Two weeks ago things looked pretty grim for conservatives and the Republican party. Obama was commanding a huge lead, George Bush, a moderate, had his approval numbers in the toilet, and John McCaine, was setting himself up for defeat. The Teaparty movement is what gave Republicans now hope and a realistic chance to take back control. Jonah Goldberg at the National Review has this to say:
The Americans surely botched a battle or two during the Second World War. But no British statesman would say “Man, we really blew it aligning ourselves with the yanks.”
You can’t play out the “what ifs” with any certainty, but it seems pretty obvious to me that if the tea parties hadn’t been around, doing what they do, the GOP, the conservative movement and the country would be in far worse shape today. It’s hardly as if the folks in the White House or over at the DNC are suddenly sleeping a whole lot better because they might hang on to the Vice President’s former senate seat, while probably losing the president’s, Harry Reid’s, Russ Feingold’s and maybe even Barbara Boxer’s. And, even if this costs the GOP a senate majority, most political observers know that winning back the senate matters less than destroying the filibuster-proof majority. And the GOP will do that with room to spare (thanks to the tea parties).
When you have an organic grassroots uprising, it’s sort of silly to expect that it will make every decision with surgical skill and perfect foresight. Indeed, the attempt to play mincing games of compromise threatens to cool the very passions that have gotten us this far. In this Rush, I think, is basically right.
