RNC Purity Pledge: And they call me a COMMIE

I don't know if I should laugh, shrug it off, or be fearful that the Republicans have a list like this. This has the scary ring of "Party Loyalty" that Communist Totalitarianism (or National Socialism) demands. In similar fashion, the Republicans are PURGING the Party of anything that whispers of cooperation, bi-partisanship, or a moderation of Conservative Ideology.

In case you missed it, in order to get Republican endorsements or financial support, you have to support 7 out of the 10 Republican Commandments:

(1) support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama's "stimulus" bill;

(2) Support market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run healthcare;

(3) Support market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation;

(4) Support workers' right to secret ballot by opposing card check;

(5) Support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;

(6) Support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;

(7) Support containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat;

(8) Support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;

(9) Support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing, denial of health care and government funding of abortion; and

(10) Support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership; and be further.

Boy! I'm sure glad they clarified all that. I guess that I'll just have to live with the disappointment of knowing that I won't get their support or money.

“Should I stay or should I go?” A tale of two Governors and EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler

This classic line from the 1980’s band the Clash has renewed meaning in Republican political circles these days. Prior to the July 3rd, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford was the only one that had to answer that question. Defiant that he wasn’t going to go despite calls from his own State Party Chair to step down. The day before the 4th of July, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin shocked the Republican political establishment with the decision that she should go, and announced she was resigning by the end of the month.

Before the story broke about Sarah Palin announcing her decisions to not run for re-election and pending resignation, I spoke with South Carolina Democratic Party Chair, Carol Fowler, about the situation with Governor Sanford. In response to my question if Governor Sanford had lost the ability to effectively perform his duties as Governor, Carol Fowler said, “He never had that ability. Completely ineffective.” Carol Fowler also admitted that the Governor and South Carolina Republicans could care less about the Democratic opinion regarding Sanford. One thing is clear, there seems to be consensus among South Carolinians in one regard. This has been an embarrassment to the state.

According to an article in Columbia’s The State, Dianne Skripek from Hilton Head, who is organizing a group of South Carolinians urging the Governor to resign, feels that “If he left office, at least we’d get some self-respect back,” said Skripek. “If we continue to allow him to stay, it’s a horrible reflection on us. We have to demand better and expect better.” In my conversation with State Democratic Chair Fowler, she felt that Governor Sanford “is embarrassing himself and needs to resign” but she didn’t think that he would.

Carol Fowler’s instincts seem to have been proven correct. According to Columbia’s The State and CNN.com, the South Carolina Republican Party’s Central Committee deliberated for almost four hours and decided to censure Governor Sanford for his conduct, a move that has never happened with any sitting GOP Governor in South Carolina. Last week, South Carolina State GOP Chair, Karen Floyd, as well as the majority of the state’s GOP leadership and Federal Delegation were calling on Sanford to step down. This decision by the South Carolina GOP seems to put this issue to rest, for now.

Soon to be former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, has taken the opposite approach to taking on her critics. On July 3rd, in a rambling and sometimes incoherent press conference, Palin announced she was not running for re-election and was resigning as Alaska’s Governor by the end of July. Depending on who you talk to, from her own office and Lieutenant Governor Parnell which are defending the move, to most Republican commentators and analysts, this is unexpected and has the potential to be the worst move that Sarah Palin has made yet. According to the Anchorage Daily News, Palin states “Especially when all these lawmakers are lining up for office. Their desire would be to clobber the administration left and right so that they can position themselves for office. I'm not going to put Alaskans through that," as the latest reason for why she came to this decision.

This is yet another blow to hopes of a Republican rebirth, or resurgence, at the national level. Both Mark Sanford and Sarah Palin were, and in some ways may still be, regarded as potential Presidential Candidates for 2012. The political battle cry from the party that pushed “traditional family values,” self reliance, and fiscal responsibility, now rings hollow and there is no indication that they are able to run on these issues in the near future. The question that now needs to be answered by the GOP, have they purged all the adulterers and quitters from their ranks?

Picture by: http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/73770/thumbs/s-PALINSAN-large.jpg

Virginia GOP holding their Convention this weekend but which version of the GOP will emerge?

The last statewide win the Virginia GOP has savored, besides George W. Bush winning Virginia in 2004, was Senator John Warner in 2002. The GOP hasn’t even sniffed the Governor’s Mansion since 2001, with the exception for meetings with Governors Mark Warner and Tim Kaine over coffee and doughnuts. To say the Virginia GOP is hungry to regain Governorship would be an understatement.

The Virginia GOP has continued to see their huge majority in the House of Delegates shrink to where the Democrats now need six seats to regain control. They have lost their majority of the State Senate, lost both U.S. Senate seats to the Democrats and to top everything off, Virginia went for a Democratic Presidential candidate for the first time since 1964 and Democrats now have six of the eleven U.S. House seats.

If these were normal times (whatever those might be), the political wisdom and the law of averages would point to a GOP victory in November. Due to the financial crisis and the recession, on top of bitter in-fighting and a growing perception that the GOP is the political party of exclusion and old white guys, they will be lucky to hold onto any of their current House of Delegate seats. The question becomes, can the Virginia GOP stop the hemorrhaging of their base and stay a viable political party in Virginia?

The Republican Party as a whole is a far cry from being the Party of Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, or even Eisenhower. The GOP has shifted so far to the right that it is safe to say that they have now become what they labeled and assailed Democrats as, completely out of touch and out of the mainstream of American Values. The voices of reason in the GOP have virtually been drowned out by the voices of intolerance like Rush Limbaugh, former Congressmen Tom Tancredo and Newt Gengrich, and evangelical faith leaders like Jerry Falwell, Jr.

Who knows what version of the Republican Party of Virginia will emerge from this weekend’s Convention. Will it be the Virginia GOP of Jeff Frederick, Chris Saxman, Jim Gilmore, Steve Newman, Morgan Griffith, or Virgil Goode? Or will it be the Virginia GOP of Harry Blevins, Preston Bryant, Vince Callahan, Harvey Morgan, or former U.S. Senator John Warner? As a progressive, a populist, a Democrat, I hope that it is the former but as a citizen of this Commonwealth, I can live with the latter.