
.
A house divided as David Frum explains.
The Republican fratricide in the Nov. 3 special election in upstate New York may prove just an opening round of an even more spectacular bloodbath in Florida in 2010.
In New York, Republican feuding lost the party a seat in the House of Representatives. At stake in Florida is not only a senatorship — but very possibly Republican hopes for 2012 as well.
The battle in Florida pits Gov. Charlie Crist against former Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio. Both men claim to be conservative, pro-life, tax cutters. On the issues, they would seem to agree far more than they disagree.
But on one issue they have disagreed passionately: President Obama’s fiscal stimulus. Squeezed by his state’s desperate fiscal condition, Crist endorsed and campaigned for the Obama stimulus. Inspired by his conservative ideology, Rubio opposed stimulus.
Now Rubio is the darling of conservatives nationwide.
We have another situation here where conservatives find the Republican candidate, Crist, too moderate for their liking and are backing the more conservative Rubio. Rubio’s campaign is raking in money from around the country as conservatives rally behind their chosen one. Conservatives and Rubio have been relentless in their attacks on Crist’s acceptance of federal stimulus money.
But as Frum points out, Governor Crist is constitutionally bound to balance his state budget.
The final Obama plan granted Florida more than $15 billion over three years. That money averted radical cuts to schools and Medicaid. It saved the state from furloughing employees and raising taxes even higher. It has paid for emergency employment on roads and water projects. It has extended unemployment benefits for 700,000 Floridians — and put an extra $25 per week in their relief packets.
Every Republican governor has accepted stimulus money (except Palin and Sandford – both were on their way out). Frum asks…
Are all these Republican leaders, including such outstanding figures as Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Haley Barbour of Mississippi, now disqualified for future races?
The most telling of all comes via this anecdote.
A few days ago, I was talking to a roomful of young conservatives about the crisis. All agreed in denouncing both the bank bailouts done under TARP and the stimulus. I asked: OK fine — what was the alternative?
There was a short pause, and then somebody laughed: “I guess it’s lucky that we weren’t in power.”
That’s not much of a motto for a would-be national governing coalition. If all we conservatives have to offer is oppositionism, then opposition is the job we’ll be assigned to fill.
Indeed.
___
To receive email notifications of new posts from MarioPiperniDotCom, click on Subscribe.
.