RNC Big Ten: A Litmus Test for the GOP?

(CBS)  Former Majority Leader Dick Armey said that the so-called Republican 10 Commandments, or principles, which members of the Republican National Committee introduced this week to keep their candidates in line with party ideals, is "not a litmus test."

Republican candidates wishing to receive fundraising and campaign support from the RNC would have to agree with at least 8 of 10 party positions, according to a resolution first reported by The New York Times. The list is to be considered at the Republicans' winter meeting.

Some have dubbed it a "purity test," with warnings that it might increase the schisms within the party.

"It's not a litmus test," Army declared on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday.

"Secondly, it is being offered for consideration in the party. And I think, thirdly, it is seven out of the ten. But if you read the list, at least five of the ten are right at the center stage... centerpost of the big ten of American politics today."

Army said if a candidate wanted the support of the GOP, it was "very reasonable" to expect they "demonstrate some allegiance to the primary positions taken by the party. That's not a litmus test. That's just if you want us to give you our money, our support, our troops in the field, our endorsements, then demonstrate that you're someone like us," he said.

Dede Scozzafava, a moderate Republican and former Congressional candidate in New York's 23rd district (who dropped out of the race after some Republicans backed a Conservative Party candidate instead), said she would have been able to agree with seven of the 10 RNC principles in the resolution - suggesting she could have retained GOP support.

She argued that the reason a Democrat ultimately won her district (where no Democrat had won in over a century) was because the predecessor was a moderate Republican. "Some of the positions that I got criticized for taking were positions that [John McHugh, the Republican who vacated the seat] already had."

Armey, however, disagreed: "The Republicans lost that race when they nominated Dede," he said. "My activists on the ground contacted me and said that. The Conservative Party stayed out of the race until they saw that, despite the fact that she has a full and enthusiastic and generous support of the Republican Party, she was losing the race."

He characterized her support in the election as "clearly falling, dropping like a brick, before the Conservative candidate got in the race. So the fact of the matter was even the Democrat was running against her as a big spender. She was a bad fit for that race. Had there been an electoral primary process she wouldn't have won the primary," he added.

He also said that Scozzafava's subsequent endorsement of the Democratic candidate in the race (Bill Owens, who ultimately won), rather than the Conservative Party's Doug Hoffman, would make it very difficult for her to run as a Republican again.

Smith asked whether moderate has become a "dirty word" for the Republican Party.

"No, I don't believe it is," GOP strategist Ed Gillespie said. "I think that we can be a party that gets the majority, 218 seats in the House, that has some folks in New England, California, other places who may not agree with leader Armey or me on everything. But we have an agenda where we're cutting taxes, not raising them. We're giving people power, not taking it away."

In spite of concern among Republican moderates that the primary process - where more conservative constituents may support more conservative candidates, who were more likely to lose a general election - would hurt the party, Gillespie saw it as a positive.

"Look, we have a lot of internal discussion in the party right now," he said. "That's a healthy thing. The fact is because there's a sense of opportunity in the Republican Party that we can win House seats and Senate seats, we have vigorous primaries going on - that is the right problem to have.

"I think a vigorous debate over these things is healthy, but I also think as a party we need to be careful to make sure that we don't constrain our ability to win back the majority," he added.

Armey also promoted the primary process, using Scozzafava as an example of how not to put forward a candidate. "She was a bad fit for that race," he said. "Had there been an electoral primary process, she wouldn't have won the primary. She wouldn't have been the candidate. And the Republican would win the race."

Scozzafava, however, said she did not believe she was too moderate to win, and laid blame for her departure on the more conservative activists of the party.

"To Mr. Armey's point I was up by seven percentage points mid-October," she said, before the Club for Growth and other interests in Washington "flooded the market, distorted my record, and [it] was very difficult to counter that.

"I think it was very difficult for leadership at the RNC not to cave in to the pressures that they were receiving from the right," she said.

[singletax]

When the Democrats spend it is stimulus socialist but when the Republicans spend billions for the defense industry it is for God and Country. You have to ditch your brain to understand Republican logic. It is all taxed from the citizens.

[velma179]

by nextgenman09 November 30, 2009 4:48 AM EST
I love some of the Purity Test Questions:

(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama?s ?stimulus? bill;

(except when we vote to make government bigger with a Department of Fatherland Security, run ever-increasing deficits 8 years under the last GOP president, listen to Dick Cheney parrot Ronnie Reagan that "Deficits don't matter!" and then vote to give socialist $700 Billion in welfare checks to failing banks like Bush/Paulson did)

Hilarious!

************

Did you forget:

And of course when we initiate not ONE but TWO "Tax Rebate Stimulus Plans"(as we DID under the prior administration).

The SECOND one was only last March. Do people think those $300-$1200 (plus $300 for each child) checks they cashed were anything but GOVERNMENT SPENDING!

Even if you couch it in tidy little terms like "rebate" it is still DEDUCTING money from the US Treasury and ADDING it to the National debt and deficit!

Hypocrisy is the cloak people such as Armey wear like a badge of honor -- unfortunately there are a lot of uneducated and/or ignorant (they truly do "ignore" facts) folks who can't see it now and refuse to learn from the past.

[lmartink]

Where is the new Republican mantra on their list?

Item #11 on the GOP list should be spend, spend, spend. That's what they have done the last 8 years.

[r9119111]

by brianbwb-2009 November 30, 2009 3:43 AM EST

-------------

Republicans lie --- and they lie a lot.

[nextgenman09]

(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion;

Which really means:
(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable corporate insurance and pharma companies by opposing health care changes that will affect their bottom line.

But we DO support Socialist Medicare now even though we HATED Socialist Medicare since inception before we now love it.

HILARIOUS!!

[nextgenman09]

(8) We support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;

(And we also support rampant divorce rates, particularly among our Evangelical Christian base that has the highest divorce rate of all groups including Atheists)

[nextgenman09]

(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;

(Except for Bush who was the last GOP president and John McCain who we ran last year. They both support amnesty for illegals and the GOP overlooked that little thingy)

[nextgenman09]

(4) We support workers? right to secret ballot by opposing card check;

(but we don't support workers' right to secret ballot to form unions)

[AOCGUY]

This point I find particlarly interesting. The GOP supports the requirement for positive ID for voters,in local, state, and National elections (which I do agree with) claiming that it prevents voter fraud yet they oppose the same when it comes to union votes.

[nextgenman09]

I love some of the Purity Test Questions:

(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama?s ?stimulus? bill;

(except when we vote to make government bigger with a Department of Fatherland Security, run ever-increasing deficits 8 years under the last GOP president, listen to Dick Cheney parrot Ronnie Reagan that "Deficits don't matter!" and then vote to give socialist $700 Billion in welfare checks to failing banks like Bush/Paulson did)

Hilarious!

[ladd09]

Right, the party of family values and fiscal responsibilty!