Republicans Fail To 'Court' Their Base

(National Review Online)  This column was written by Byron York.

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This is Rudy Giuliani's kind of place. The former New York mayor has come here, to the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy, to help Sen. George Allen send the message: We're tough on terrorism, we're tough on crime, and we care about making Virginia and the United States a safer place.

The crowd, about 200 people in a small auditorium, loves Giuliani, even when he goes off on a side road about being a Yankees fan among the Mets faithful at Shea Stadium. Mr. Mayor: The theme of this campaign is football. It's Sunday afternoon. Allen has already made an appearance at FedEx field for the beginning of the Redskins' game against Dallas, and Allen's entourage includes NFL great David "Deacon" Jones, who played for Allen's father. Just so everyone gets it, an aide tosses a football to Allen, who tosses it to Jones. Suffice it to say that people aren't thinking about the Yankees and the Mets.

But they are thinking about the issue Giuliani has come here to talk about. "This isn't a time for turning back the clock, which is, after all, what George's opponents want to do," he tells the crowd. :When I listen to the Democrats ... what I hear from them is they want to turn back the clock. We Republicans want to deal with the present and the future, and they want to go back before September 11. They want to go back to when we used to play just defense against terrorists."

Later, Giuliani brings up the many Democrats, some of whom would be in leadership positions if their party wins on Tuesday, who opposed extending the Patriot Act. "That makes no sense when you are at war," Giuliani says. "It makes no sense at all." By the end of his talk, the crowd is on its feet. They cheer and begin chanting, "U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!"

When Allen speaks, he talks about terrorism, but he spends more time — true to the location — talking about crime and public safety. We're fighting gangs, he says. We're getting more money for police and fire rescue teams. And, "We abolished that lenient, dishonest parole system in Virginia for violent felons — crime rates are down by 26 percent because of truth in sentencing [and] juvenile justice reforms."

It's a popular message, but on this day in Ashburn — as well as on many other days on the campaign trail not only in Virginia, but in other states with close Senate races — something is missing. Despite all the time spent on terrorism, on crime, on the Patriot Act, no one — not Allen, not Giuliani, not anyone — mentions the issue of federal judges. What makes that remarkable is not just that it would be quite relevant to the subject at hand, but that it is also perhaps the single issue dearest to the heart of the Republican base — a base that must turn out on Tuesday if the GOP is to keep control of the Senate and the House.

"It seems to have just dropped off the map as an issue," says a Washington activist who follows the judicial wars and has been tracking the Allen race. "It's hard to understand, because many of the top people who have been involved in elections in the last two cycles know that it continues to be a huge applause line, certainly with the base."

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[marcelde]

Haggard Is Not First REPUBLICAN Fallen Religious Leader

James Bakker -- Bakker left his PTL Ministries empire in 1987 after admitting an extramarital affair with Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary. He served five years in federal prison on fraud and conspiracy charges for illegally soliciting millions of dollars from followers.



Jimmy Swaggart -- Resigned from the Assemblies of God in 1988 after a fellow preacher released photos of Swaggart with a prostitute. In 1991, he was stopped for a traffic violation while driving in a red-light district in California with a woman who said she was a prostitute.



The Rev. Henry J. Lyons -- Lyons was forced out as leader of the National Baptist Convention USA after his then-wife set fire to a waterfront mansion he secretly owned with his mistress. He was convicted in 1999 of swindling millions of dollars from companies that wanted to do business with members of the denomination and was sentenced to five years in prison.



Archbishop Eugene Marino -- The Roman Catholic prelate from Atlanta resigned in 1990 after a two-year affair with a woman half his age.

The Rev. Terry Hornbuckle -- The founder of the Agape Christian Fellowship in Arlington, Texas, was sentenced in August to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting two women churchgoers and a third woman. Two of the victims said the minister had drugged them.
REPUBLICAN HYPOCRISY!

[mjv2944]

Its amazing what the repubs say will happen if they get thrown out, well baby here you go. What is scary is I don't think the dems will do any better, but I have had my fill of the corruption and all the other BS such as the Foley mess. The repubs used to stand for conversative spending, but now have spent us into a 2 trillion dollar debt. Today I vote, and I will not vote for a single incumbent whether dem or repub, they don't deserve to serve us.

[tejasdemo]

Yea, you know if Bill Clinton had been getting advice from some phony preacher and then the guy was found out to be gay and on crystal meth it would all over the place.

Not to mention if the Dems were hiding a known pedophile for years.

At the very minimum Clinton would have had to answer some questions from reporters

[talkingham]

Amzing, I can't even find a reference to the Hasggard gay prostitute story on the CBS web site. If this guy had been a supporter of Clinton you've see all of the networks in energency crisis mode making sure everyone new he was a democrat for the next two weeks.

[bluestardad]

GRAB YOUR ANKLES REPUBLICANS SOUNDS LIKE YOU NEED A HEAPEN PLATE OF TEXAS DICKTATERS THE REST OF AMERICA HAS HAD OUR FILL YOU CAN HAVE ALL YOU WANT FROM NOW ON!