Moderates, carpetbaggers and palm readers ... Oh my!"
By Paul Moomjean 02/18/2010
It was a good run for the GOP, but if things keep going like this, then 2012 will be the single greatest failure in the recent history of the Republican Party. Abraham Lincoln, the greatest Republican president of all time, once alluded to the Bible with a wise quote that “a house divided against itself cannot stand”; and as the 2010 political year begins, the elephants are beginning to stampede each other. In Ventura County, County Supervisor Linda Parks, a moderate Republican, has been challenged by Audra Strickland, a conservative Republican assemblywoman who is term-limited out this year and thinks she’d make a fine replacement in the county’s 2nd District. And why wouldn’t she? She’s got a popular last name associated with State Senator and husband Tony Strickland, and she loves serving the people of Ventura County. There is just one pesky issue involving her current living arrangements — but thanks to low real estate prices, Assemblywoman Strickland has moved into the Conejo Valley and left Moorpark so she can run against Parks. And here I thought carpetbaggers died out in the 1800s.
For those of you who haven’t taken a U.S. history class in a while, carpetbaggers were Republicans in the 19th century who moved to the South after the Civil War to team up with freed slaves and Southern Republicans to gain political power in regions of the union they had never lived in before. Even though Mrs. Strickland didn’t move very far, she still did so to run for public office; and considering that Republicans were starting to look good after a few governors’ races went their way and Scott Brown became a household name after replacing Ted Kennedy a few weeks ago, I can only pray the GOP doesn’t model itself on the Ventura County Republicans who have backed Mrs. Strickland over incumbent Linda Parks. “In the 2008 election, I think Linda pretty much threw away any claim she has to being a Republican and a fiscal conservative by endorsing Hannah-Beth Jackson,” County GOP Chairman Mike Osborn said. Did I mention that Jackson was the Democrat who ran against Audra’s husband? As you can see, folks, the plot thickens.
So the Strickland family is out for blood, and basically because supporting Jackson didn’t follow party lines.
I will be the first to admit that I probably share more in common politically with the Strickland clan. I like limited government as much as the next common sense conservative, but right now is not the time to play out some Shakespearian power grab because someone didn’t support someone else’s husband. I will even go as far as to write that Parks is about as much a Republican as the governator is, but right now conservatives have to rebuild power structures, even if the “R” next to the name is lower case. After we build, then we can start the internal fixes. You don’t repair the toilet and then build the house around it, and Ventura County Republicans should not encourage carpetbaggers and interparty career assassinations. We aren’t strong enough to try to kick out moderates, and we can hope the elephant party gets that before palm reader Palin wants a piece of the presidential pie.
My greatest worry for 2012 consists of Sarah Palin playing spoiler because she doesn’t get the sought-after nomination after the book tours and Tea Party speeches. She isn’t bad for the Republican Party, but she isn’t good for it on a national level. Unfortunately for her, her public image took another hit when she tried to stay teleprompter-free and in the process made herself look like she was cheating on a seventh grade history test. If she runs during the primary and loses to a Brown, a Romney or a Newt, let’s hope she backs off and doesn’t create her own Palin Party. The hit would be too great, and she would just turn into a conservative Ralph Nader.
So to all these Reagan-esque Republicans like Palin and the Stricklands, I ask that when you call for back-to-basics GOP values you won’t just look to the ’80s, but instead go back to the 1800s where the first great Republican leader said what we may have sadly forgotten.
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