After being outmaneuvered by conservative Ken Cuccinelli for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Virginia, moderate Republican Bill Bolling refused to endorse Cuccinelli, and continued to criticize him.
After losing to business-backed Bradley Byrne in an Alabama GOP primary last night, tea party-backed Republican Dean Young declared he wouldn’t even vote for the Republican nominee for Congress.
More and more, when moderate Republicans lose to conservatives, they don’t unite for the good of the party. And when tea party candidates lose to establishment candidates, they just take their ball and go home.
This is no way to run a railroad.
Clearly something is needed to convince these disparate Republican factions that they must — for the good of the party — for the good of the nation — come together during the General Election. If the prospect of continuing to lose elections isn’t reason enough to declare a post-primary truce on the GOP’s “civil war,” then the long-term ramifications should be downright frightening.
Consider this USA Today report from Friday:
“The federal judiciary — long the province and priority of Republicans — is turning more Democratic.
“The number of full-time federal judges named by Democratic presidents will draw even Friday with the number named by Republicans, following two retirements. The next of President Obama’s nominees to replace a Republican-named judge will tilt the balance in Democrats’ favor; that majority will grow for the remainder of his term.”
Why does this matter? As one Republican strategist told me: “If we elect [another] Democrat in 2016 it will codify the new great society Obama and his liberal allies are building methodically. Not only things like Obamacare, but ruling by the NLRB, and attacks on religious freedom.”
And as the USA Today article continues: “The federal courts — particularly the appeals courts — often set precedents in areas ranging from national security and economic regulation to abortion, immigration, voting rights, affirmative action, gun control and gay marriage.”
So if you’re a conservative who cares about abortion or immigration or guns or…whatever, it’s in your best interest to elect Republicans who will appoint conservative judges (or at least not appoint liberal judges.).
In this regard, the consequences of losing a third consecutive presidential contest would be especially dangerous.
This is not an argument against vigorous primaries, but it is an argument for healing old wounds quickly — and then uniting behind the Republican nominee.
“If we elect a Democrat in 2016,” the strategist continued, “the Supreme Court majority is gone for a decade or two. How much damage will that do to America?”