Say Anything Blog

And as much as I think the President has been right about some things, I think he deserves this.  If just for this quote alone, if not anything else.

Republican Party officials say they will try next month to pass a resolution accusing President Bush and congressional Republican leaders of embracing “socialism,” underscoring deep dissension within the party at the end of Mr. Bush’s administration.

Those pushing the resolution, which will come before the Republican National Committee at its January meeting, say elected leaders need to be reminded of core principles. They said the RNC must take the dramatic step of wading into policy debates, which traditionally have been left to lawmakers.

“We can’t be a party of small government, free markets and low taxes while supporting bailouts and nationalizing industries, which lead to big government, socialism and high taxes at the expense of individual liberty and freedoms,” said Solomon Yue, an Oregon member and co-sponsor of a resolution that criticizes the U.S. government bailouts of the financial and auto industries. Republican National Committee Vice Chairman James Bopp Jr. wrote the resolution and asked the rest of the 168 voting members to sign it.

Mr. Yue is exactly right.  Republicans can no longer say one thing and then turn around and do another and be expected to be taken seriously by the public at large. 

I’ve been making this point since 2006.

For North Dakota readers, are you wondering if your state party leadership is behind this move to make Republicans stick to the limited government platform?  Well wonder no more:

North Dakota Republican Party Chairman Gary Emineth said it’s time for the RNC to end the disconnect between what the party platform says and what elected Republicans do.

“It is time the party gets involved in policy issues and forces candidates to respond to the platform,” Mr. Emineth said. “Frankly the way we view the platform is a joke. We work hard to drive our principles into the platform, then candidates ignore it.”

“If the party doesn’t move in this direction, we will continue to be irrelevant. Whoever has the larger star power will continue to win, and what they stand for and believe will become less relevant,” Mr. Emineth said.

Mr. Emineth has been an absolute champ in recent days on this issue.  He, along with the help of Republican National Committeeman Curly Haugland, were responsible for forcing this meeting of the RNC at which this resolution will be presented.  And good on him for it.

Now if we could just get Emineth to get his state’s governor and his budget that increases state general fund spending by a ridiculous 26% to more closely adhere to the RNC’s limited government platform we’d really be cooking with gas.