Richard Viguerie is one of the founders of the modern conservative movement. He’s not the player he once was but he still carries clout and I think actually makes a reasonable point about the current crisis of leadership in the GOP. Congressional Republicans haven’t really seized the leadership mantle so it’s been left to the likes of Steele and Rush. He just released this statement:
Broadcasters and commentators such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck and Michael Savage are seen as the de facto leaders of the Republican Party for a simple reason, Richard A. Viguerie said today: “It’s because no one else is acting like a Republican leader.”
“The ‘Rushification’ of the GOP is the natural and inevitable result of the fact that those who are supposed to provide leadership – Republican elected officials and party officers – are doing little to bring the party back,” said Viguerie, chairman of ConservativeHQ.com.
“Nature abhors a vacuum, and there is no vacuum in nature as empty as the leadership of the Republican Party today.”
Said Viguerie: “The GOP absolutely refuses to replace the Congressional leaders who helped get the party and the country into this mess. There are many Republican governors campaigning for the Obama ‘stimulus’ plan that is wrecking the economy and will push America deeper into socialism. Governor Jindal’s speech was technocratic, without passion and toothless, and Michael Steele’s foolish attack on Rush Limbaugh will, I’m sure, cost the party many millions in contributions.”
The anger of grassroots conservatives continues unabated at the weak-kneed, spineless, earmark -loving Republicans.
In contrast to GOP officials, “Limbaugh and Hannity and most all of their conservative colleagues have something to say. They actually believe in something. They have the confidence of their convictions. They don’t cower in fear of the President’s popularity. They know that his popularity is built on the sand of false promises and false premises. Like Ronald Reagan facing the Soviet Union, they know how this story ends.”
Even Jim Cramer of CNBC, who isn’t a conservative, is providing more honest and outspoken leadership than the ‘loyal opposition’ about how Obama’s policies are destroying the life savings of Americans.
“Americans are already beginning to realize that the new president is every bit as reckless and extreme as conservatives said he was,” Viguerie said. “But the Republican Party can’t get any traction, because the party leadership is as confused and clueless as the Obama administration.”
Had Jindal not blown his speech or in Palin had been more out there during the last week–she chose to skip the National Governors Association meeting and the Conservative Political Action Conference–then she might have more of the mantle now. As it is, nature does abhor a vacuum.
