http://cnsnews.com/blog/ben-shapiro/time-purge-republican-party
By Ben Shapiro
January 19, 2012
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A blonde finds lipstick on her husband's collar. Suspicious that he's cheating on her, she heads to a local gun shop and buys herself a pistol. That night, she hides in her bedroom closet. Sure enough, the husband comes home with his redheaded secretary on his arm and leads her to the bed. As they began to caress, the wife jumps out of the closet and holds the gun to her head.
"Sweetheart," the husband pleads, "don't do it! Don't shoot yourself!"
"Shut up, Johnny!" she cries. "You're next!"
That blonde now runs the Republican Party. Hence, the GOPs dedication to their latest "it's-his-turn" candidate, Mitt Romney.
Let's examine for a moment just why Mitt Romney will likely win the Republican nomination. It isn't because he's conservative — he's not. It isn't because he's supremely electable — he's not. It's not because he's charming or charismatic or dazzlingly likeable — he's not.
The Republican Party is about to nominate Mitt Romney because it is a party in crisis. Instead of focusing on the cheating husband — Barack Obama — Republicans are idiotically focusing on their internal differences. Unlike the Democratic Party, which is largely united around certain key issues — gay marriage, comprehensive sex education, abortion, higher taxes, more spending — the Republican Party is all over the place. The Republican Party includes high-tax deficit hawks, and it includes low-tax supply-siders. It includes high-spending compassionate conservatives, and it includes low-spending small government types. It includes pro-gay marriage libertarians and pro-traditional marriage religious voters. It includes hard-line, anti-immigration believers and open-borders free marketers. It includes Ron Paul isolationists, George W. Bush Wilsonians and everything in between.
These conflicts have defined the Republican Party since the end of Reagan's tenure. Each and every Republican presidential candidate since Reagan has attempted to paper over these differences. The result is that the Republican Party nominees have been remarkably similar in their political viewpoints: social conservatives who are for lower taxes, higher spending and a generally non-interventionist foreign policy (though that was changed by 9/11).
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George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, George W. Bush and John McCain were aligned ideologically. Call them the Paper Republicans.
Mitt Romney is a Paper Republican. We don't know where he stands on anything because the Republican Party no longer knows where it stands on anything. That's why the Republican race for the nomination has been so schizophrenic. Rick Perry was unacceptable because of the DREAM Act, but Mitt Romney was acceptable despite his support for comprehensive immigration reform. Newt Gingrich was unacceptable because of his economic populism, but Mitt Romney was acceptable despite his repeated support for government bailouts. Rick Santorum was unacceptable because of his big-spending ways, but Mitt Romney was acceptable despite his implementation of Romneycare in Massachusetts.
The problem isn't Romney. The problem is the Republican Party.
Now this isn't a call for a third party. Third parties are doomed to failure; the system is geared toward a two-party system. But what the Republican Party does need is a housecleaning. Call it a purge, if you must. But do it.
That's what the Democrats did after their shocking defeat in 2004. John Kerry was a flip-flopper, a wishy-washy liberal who made liberals squeamish. So they responded by moving to the left , bringing in Nancy Pelosi to run the House and the anti-Kerry, Howard Dean, to run the Democratic National Committee. The result was a Democratic victory in 2006 in the House, and the victory of the most far-left candidate in American history, Barack Obama, in 2008.
Most Republicans protest that this isn't the right time for a purge. They hope that opposition to Obama will unite Republicans around a Paper Republican. The problem with this logic is that it always justifies a Paper Republican candidate, because the Democrats will invariably run somebody worse. And Paper Republicans don't help matters. The Republican Party has, for the last half-century, consolidated liberal gains and trimmed around the edges. The result has been an unstoppable juggernaut of government growth and the loss of traditional American freedoms. The Paper Republican experiment has been a dramatic failure for conservatives.
We are now at a crisis point. More Democratic rule is the highway to hell; more Paper Republican rule is the slow road to the same destination. It's time for the Republican Party to present a true conservative alternative. Anything else is suicide by inches.
[This comes from an Iranian news site www.mehrnews.com, and you have to assume the Iranian regime has to approve the slant of everything that goes out. Even so, the idea that Obama is still offering to engage the Mullahs, and being ridiculed for it, is more like a running joke over there than it is news or giving away state secrets. df]
Details of Obama's letter to Iran released
TEHRAN, Jan. 18 (MNA) -- A number of Iranian officials have released the details of the letter that U.S. President Barack Obama recently sent to Tehran.
The New York Times, citing U.S. government officials, wrote on January 12 that the Obama administration had sent a message to Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei warning that closing the Strait of Hormuz is a "red line" that would provoke a response by the United States.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast said on January 15 that U.S. officials had sent a message on the Strait of Hormuz to the Islamic Republic through three officials, noting, "Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, delivered a letter to Mohammad Khazaii, the Islamic Republic of Iran's ambassador (to the UN). The Swiss ambassador to Tehran (Livia Leu Agosti) also conveyed the message, and Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi president, conveyed the message to officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran as well."
Obama has called for negotiations
MP Ali Motahhari said on Wednesday, "In the letter, it has been stated that 'closing the Strait of Hormuz is our red line' and they have requested direct negotiations."
"In the letter, Obama has announced readiness for negotiation and the resolution of mutual disagreements," he added.
He went on to say that Obama uttered threats in the first part of the letter and talked about friendship and negotiation in the second part.
Obama says U.S. will not take hostile action against Iran
MP Hojjatoleslam Hossein Ebrahimi said on Wednesday, "Obama's letter has several parts. Part of it is about this, (namely) that using international waterways is the right of all countries and all should benefit from them. And in this letter, he has described it as the United States' red line."
"In the letter, Obama has mentioned cooperation and negotiation based on the interests of the two countries," Ebrahimi, who is the deputy chairman of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told the Nasimonline news website.
"He has stated in the letter that they will not take any hostile action against the Islamic Republic of Iran," he added.
Ebrahimi also said, "This is not the first time that Obama has sent a message and letter to the Islamic Republic of Iran. He has repeatedly spoken in a soft tone about the Islamic Republic of Iran, but, in practice, he has not acted accordingly."
"Obama's letter indicates that the United States has become afraid of the Islamic Republic of Iran's might and has realized the point that an arrogant spirit is of no use, and therefore, he has softened his tone when speaking about the Islamic Republic of Iran," he stated.
He added, "The important issue is that without the Islamic Republic of Iran's permission, no country can benefit from the Persian Gulf."
Iran responsible for maintaining security of Persian Gulf
Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaii also commented on the letter on Wednesday, saying, "Mr. Obama has written a cunning letter and intended to claim that the U.S. is responsible for maintaining the security of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran itself is responsible for maintaining the security of this region."
"We maintain the security of the region with the help of regional countries," he said, adding, "There is no need for the presence of extra-regional forces to maintain the security of this region, and we believe that the presence of the United States and Britain mostly creates insecurity."
If they "feel compassion" for regional countries and want to help them enhance security in the region, "I advise them to leave the region," Rezaii stated.
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Dan Friedman
NYC
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