A Silver Lining?


A Silver Lining?
Kevin Bryant

Last week, I stated that I would have traded either governorship the RNC picked up last Tuesday for the house seat won by Bill Owens in the New York 23rd district race. I’m still not very happy about Doug Hoffman losing that race but the loss might turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Newt Gingrich stated on the Hannity Show that he made a mistake backing Scuzzafava and respecting the New York republican leadership’s decision to run her instead of Hoffman. Could this be a wake up call for those republicans in power? Only time will tell if they got the message.

First off, I am not a republican. I am a conservative and being a conservative, my votes usually go to the republican candidate because they better represent me and my beliefs.

The RNC wasted valuable money and resources backing a candidate that was just as liberal if not more so than her democratic counterpart. They wasted time and effort trying to dismiss Hoffman as a serious candidate. They got their collective rear ends handed to them by a candidate with very little money, almost no exposure, no major party backing, short staffed and he was a late entry into the race. Doug Hoffman, his message and his grass roots conservative supporters buried their candidate.

Hopefully this election will serve as a wake up call and a warning to all state and federal levels of the Republican Party. The majority of the people don’t care about party affiliation. Conservatives do not want to mixed messages and trying to be al things to all people. Conservatives do not need a party platform, they already have one, and it’s called morals and principals. The RNC would be better served to learn this instead of finding ways to attract new voters by way of supporting more liberal causes.

The Republican Party does not need more people like John McCain and Lindsey Graham. They have too many now and that is what has hurt them over the past several election cycles. They need more candidates like Doug Hoffman, Sarah Steelman and Michele Bachman. People that put principal over party and the constitution over congressional approval. The RNC needs candidates that will serve the people and not their own interest or the party’s interest or work for special interest.

The DNC has for several elections now been running candidates at the state and congressional levels that have been a little closer to the center than left in certain key areas where elections could go either way. That is why they are now in congress and that is why you hear the term “Blue Dog Democrats”. The reason these people are in office can not all be blamed on hatred for George Bush. They mainly got beat because they sold out to the “Washington Politics As Usual” crowd and forgot to stand on principal.

If Newt Gingrich and Michael Steele got the message that was sent to the Republican Party by Hoffman’s loss, then there is a chance that conservatives will again support the Republican Party. If not, count on the democrats to hold on to several key seats in the 2010 election.