Another week in the can

Whoosh.

What a week.

I haven’t been pushed like this in some time. It’s good to know that I can still turn it up when I need to.

So, as I’m relaxing in the chair and a half, catching up on the news of the day, and half-watching It’s A Wonderful Life, I clicked on to a forum article pushing a rumor that Newt Gingrich is about to endorse Mike Huckabee.

Yeah, that caught my attention all right.

There isn’t much to the story — just somebody repeating a rumor that he had heard earlier, this time from an authoritative source. Still, a rumor is a rumor. But it certainly caused a stir among the supporters of other candidates in the forum, drawing out the nastiness that is becoming more and more commonplace in this wide-open Republican primary.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I mean, this is politics, right?

The problem I see is that some of the authors and commenters seem to believe their own overheated rhetoric, half-truths, innuendo, and carefully framed opposition research talking points. And, if that’s the case, then the only winners are the purveyors of the bilge. The losers are the candidates, whose advisors convince them that an effective campaign tactic like opposition research, is actually a winning campaign strategy.

One of the commenters had this to say:

I HIGHLY doubt that Newt will do anything in time to save Huckabee from himself. If Newt DOES support Huckabee, it will be at the detriment of his career and good name. The ENTIRE Conservative movement is up in arms about Huckabee, and Newt would be laughed out of the party. There are FAR better candidates that he could support without looking [sic] turning himself into the laughing stock of the GOP.

Pretty dramatic stuff. I suppose this fellow believes that Huck’s supporters are not a part of the Conservative movement. It kind of reminds me of some of the junk that has been coming from Pat Toomey’s Hair Club for Growth. The requirement for membership? You must meet the Toomster’s narrow definition of Conservative. You can spot the Hair Clubbers at most any forum, they’re quick to judge, and even quicker to pull out their favorite pejorative: RINO. The Hair Clubbers took what was essentially a personal grudge match between fellow Arkansans Steve Stephens and Mike Huckabee, and have turned it into a Crusade.

I suppose I’m not conservative enough to figure out how the Hair Club’s “Get Huckabee” campaign is going to help their favorite candidate, Mitt Romney. Maybe they’re right. Perhaps by focusing all their energy on Huck, then primary voters won’t spend too much time looking at Mitt’s less-than-sterling fiscal record. The Club cites

“his support for broad-based tax cuts in liberal Massachusetts together with his enthusiastic embrace of the Bush tax cuts on the campaign trail offers hope that Governor Romney’s previous ambivalence on tax policy is more a function of Massachusetts politics than his core beliefs.”

Ah yes. Hope.

As a Governor, Mitt Romney’s fiscal record was a mixed bag, but the Hair Clubbers have hope!

I’m sure that the Real Conservatives take a lot of comfort in Toomey’s hope. I find it interesting that Toomey, himself, was unable to convince a majority of primary voters in Pennsylvania to choose him over Arlen Specter, even with a multi-million dollar media campaign financed by the Hair Club for Growth. Perhaps Toomey’s brand of conservatism isn’t as mainstream as he thinks. The Club’s small-tent philosophy is divisive and counter-productive. But, none of that is important as long as The Club has hope.

Thompson’s supporters are the ones which I’m more concerned about. They approach the comment section with the religious fervor of a Goremon Eco-defender, almost leaving a dripping spittle-stained computer screen in the wake of each comment. After making near-racist statements about immigration, they will manage to work in an opportunity to call their opponent a Nanny-Stater, or worse, a Liberal. The heightened rhetoric bothers me after a while, and I taunt them, laugh at them, and call them “frednecks.”

Although I’m on record as saying that I will support and vote for whomever emerges as the Republican nominee, I certainly don’t speak for a large number of social conservatives who have been deeply insulted by the personal attacks coming from the Thompson campaign, as well as the elitist snobbery of the east-coast conservatives. Getting them back into the fold will be a tall order if their candidate doesn’t prevail.

So, how was your week?

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