One Republican Senator is denouncing John McCain:
MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina (CNN) – South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint on Friday became one of the first high-profile Republicans to publicly criticize John McCain following his electoral defeat, blaming the Arizona senator for betraying conservative principles in his quest for the White House.
The conservative senator, speaking to a group of GOP officials gathered in Myrtle Beach at a conference on the future of the Republican Party, described how the party had strayed from its own “brand,” which, according to DeMint, should represent freedom, religious-based values and limited government.
“We have to be honest, and there’s a lot of blame to go around, but I have to mention George Bush, and I have to mention Ted Stevens, and I’m afraid I even have to mention John McCain,” he said.
DeMint offered a long list of complaints about McCain’s record in the Senate and on the campaign trail.
“McCain, who is proponent of campaign finance reform that weakened party organizations and basically put George Soros in the driver’s seat,” DeMint said. “His proposal for amnesty for illegals. His support of global warming, cap-and-trade programs that will put another burden on our economy. And of course, his embrace of the bailout right before the election was probably the nail in our coffin this last election. And he has been an opponent of drilling in ANWR, at a time when energy is so important. It really didn’t fit the label, but he was our package.”
Bush and Stevens, he said, had corrupted the party brand by expanding the size of government and engaging in wasteful government spending. Had Republicans not strayed from their core beliefs in recent years, DeMint argued, the election results might have been different.
On more than one level, of course, DeMint is absolutely correct.
The Republican Party, both in Congress and in the White House, essentially abandoned any pretense of believing in fiscal conservatism during the six years that they had control of two branches of government, and the record isn’t that much better when you add in the six years before that when Republicans controlled Congress during the Clinton Administration.
He’s also right to criticize McCain’s position on campaign finance reform.
But, he’s wrong if he thinks that the Election Day losses and the problems the GOP faces can just be blamed on John McCain, George W. Bush, and Ted Stevens. The Republican Congress acquiesced in every spending increase, every expansion of government that the Bush Administration put before it, it supported the earmarks that made men like Ted Stevens powerful figures in their home states and in Washington.
Yes, there were a few Congressman and Senators who spoke out against what was happening, but not enough did, and when the Presidential campaign started they all started lining up dutifully behind John McCain.
Which brings me to DeMint’s rant against the GOP nominee. It’s not like the Republican Party was picking an unknown quantity when it nominated John McCain. His record was clear, they knew exactly what and who they were getting. It’s no use complaining about it now.
