In Florida Senate Race, Be Careful What You Wish For

Red State’s Erick Erickson writes that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist may be bolting the GOP to run for the Senate seat Crist arrogantly believes is his by right.  If he does so, the conservative response should be a simple one – marshal every resource possible to elect Marco Rubio and THEN (after the election) make it our mission to destroy Crist politically so that he can never run for office again or benefit financially from his service as Florida’s governor.

Now, this may seem hard hearted.  It is.  However, if you play the game you should play by the rules.  If Crist bolts or campaigns for the Democrat nominee he has left the realm of civil political behavior and should be handled as such.

Erickson writes:

Here’s what will happen if Charlie Crist leaves the GOP. The DC-GOP Establishment crowd will attack RedState, Jim DeMint, and Marco Rubio for shrinking the GOP. Instead of pointing out that moderate Republicans are sore loser who don’t play well with conservatives, conservatives will be attacked for chasing Crist out of the party.

Sadly, this brings to mind two things:

Doug Hoffman sought the GOP nod to run in NY-23.  He lost.  Then, he ran on the Conservative line.  Now we all know what a toad Dede Scozzafava was.  We know the rules for nominating a candidate were bad.  That said, I have to ask if Hoffman signed the blood oath.  This is fairly normal under such circumstances; you pledge to support the GOP nominee no matter what.  If Hoffman did, then he certainly isn’t the hero that many conservatives portray him as.  He’s no better than Crist (if he bolts).  Let’s not forget that honor is one of those values we claim to believe in preserving.

Second, Erick is absolutely right that the DC-GOP establishment doesn’t play well.  However, I will argue that it has nothing to do with philosophy.  It’s about power.  Erickson and DeMint believe in a core set of principles.  DeMint has already been attacked by NRSC chair John Cornyn (R-TX) for not towing the “party line” on several races.

There is only one solution.  Conservatives need to take back the GOP.  If your state chair, committeeman or committeewoman voted for Michael Steele (for RNC chair), they should be challenged and defeated.  If your local and district chairs aren’t conservative they should be challenged as well.  If your state party is organized in such a way that it can be nothing more than irrelevant (see Maryland for a prime example), plan and execute the long battle of reforming it.

Sadly, we have to be careful for what we wish for.  The  Jeff Frederick debacle at RPV is an excellent case on point.  Frederick decided he wanted to be RPV chair.  He attempted to portray the incumbent chair (former Virginia Lt. Gov. John Hager) as some kind of raving lefty.  Hager is a great conservative with an outstanding record of service to his state, his country and his party.  Hager just isn’t as rabidly doctrinaire on some issues as Frederick and his supporter would have liked.  So, what was the result?  They attempted to destroy the character of one of the finest men I have ever known.  Frederick was elected and then proceeded to pillage and burn.  Fortunately, the RPV State Central Committee (hardly a bunch of moderates) had the good judgment and intestinal fortitude to remove Frederick.

As conservatives, we need to stand firm.  We need to fight hard.  We also have to exercise good judgment in the battles we wage AND … be careful what we wish for.

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