GOP “Mainstreamers” Question Mark

Sam Reed, who took a heckuva beating from his own party for following the law during the gubernatorial election, is heading up “Mainstream Republicans of Washington State.”

“If it is going to be a tough year for Republicans statewide, then mainstream plays an even more important role,” sez executive director of the group Alex Hays.

Assuming there are still a couple of breeding pairs extant, moderate Republicans COULD make a comeback, I suppose. And it IS going to be a tough year for the GOP. The extremism, incompetence and corruption of the Radical Right has gotten too big for their blanket of lies to cover. Their only hope now is that the Rovemeister can create enough cacophony around election time to deaden the senses of voters.

Do so-called “mainstream” Republicans deserve attention? No. They didn’t stand up then and they aren’t standing up now. They’re just hoping to be a fall-back position for the disillusioned and betrayed. It’s not moderation, it’s opportunism. Moderate does not mean weak-kneed.

Irrespective of the party within the state, the national Republicans will not be moderating. Write it down. The Radical Right and its corporate financiers have too much to lose from a return to integrity, such as would be required of any “moderates.” If the Democrats control the House, there will be investigations. If the ethics process can shake free of the Republican stonewalling led by our own 4th District's Doc Hastings, heads will roll. The wingnuts will be pulling out all the stops – ALL the stops – to maintain power.

It is our great good fortune that this is not a presidential election year. It will be harder to organize the propaganda on a Congressional district level than the national level. But they will try. By attack and distortion. By orchestrated military adventurism. By last-minute crises. And of course, by rigging the machines, intimidating voters, and the usual fraud.

It's worth nothing that Mike McGavick is not a member of the Mainstream Republicans, taking his script and funding instead from the anti-environment, Big Business, Hard Right.