The topic of the Republican establishment is often raised by conservatives. So, what exactly is this "establishment" and is it real? We receive positive and negative emails on this subject, so we wanted to briefly respond. We believe there is an establishment and that it primarily consists of big government, liberal Republicans. Duh. They come in all shapes and sizes, but it's usually their past that's the indicator of their motives. Is there proof of this? Absolutely not, but patterns should be noted. We want to walk through the motives of individuals in the GOP establishment and indicators that give them away. Is this a critical issue going into the 2012 election? Unfortunately, it is, because these people have the power and influence to get the Republican candidate they want. And we saw how that turned out with John McCain.
The thoughts in this article aren't the result of a research paper, and we're certainly not insiders or pundits. Instead, they're the broad conclusion of what's been percolating about the subject.
The GOP establishment. What is it? Who are they? First off, a majority of Bush administration employees fall into this camp, but certainly not all, along with so-called Washington insiders. Look at Karl Rove and Dana Perino, for example. Often at times, when they're asked for analysis, it turns into a promotion of a particular candidate. And in this Republican presidential season, that candidate is Mitt Romney. Our intent isn't to single out those two individuals, as there are countless more. Rove, for example, when he actually provides analysis without a motive, is very good - as is Dana when she focuses on the message. But that's not always the case. Instead, the Romney minions follow their leader and attack - to no end - any candidate that gets close to Mitt in the race. The best example of this is Newt Gingrich. When he shot up in the polls, the establishment cronies took off their gloves to lay Newt out. And they did, pretty quickly. When National Review endorsed Romney (with exception to Jonah Goldberg and few others), they focused more on attacking Newt than propping up Mitt! It was beyond pathetic. They acted like eunuchs.
What is their motive?
Then you have to look at non-establishment individuals that are knowingly supporting the establishment. When you look at Ann Coulter, someone who we've lost all respect for, and even Michelle Malkin, something has to be driving her disgusting obsession with Romney, in Coulter's case, or trying to destroy every Republican candidate, in Malkin's case. Sometimes you have to accept that there will never be a perfect conservative candidate. We support revealing the skeletons in the closets, but there's a line, which these two individuals crossed. We get it, Ann, you're in obsessed with big government liberal Republicans. And your track record for choosing candidates is about as good as Obama's knowledge on how many states there are in the United States.
We quickly realized that they enjoyed the spotlight because, well, they were in the spotlight. It's attention that they desire. This applies to Chris Christie, the folks at National Review that endorsed Romney, and all other talking heads in the same boat, which are too many to name. Establishment folks support Romney - he's not a conservative. Coulter and Malkin are far from being establishment, but they fit into the narrative of craving attention by saying what the establishment wants to hear. In Malkin's case, she focused on ripping apart nearly every GOP candidate (did she ever support any of them?), which only helps further the divide between Tea Party conservatives and liberal Republicans. And that's what the establishment want. The Tea Party has disrupted their baseline. More attention translates to more money.
The motive of the GOP establishment is simple: if Obama faces Mitt Romney in the election, and regardless of who wins, the establishment wins! This is why they're promoting Romney so heavily. He's a big government Republican, one of which many in the establishment will more than likely go work for, or they can be a reliable and supportive news outlet. And if Obama gets re-elected, they still have their gigs bashing Obama day in and day out. It's that simple, at least on the surface. THEY HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE. It's a win-win for them. If the empty-suit Obama gets re-elected, they'll still have their day jobs criticizing him, while failing to recognize or care that they contributed to his success.
What do you think about the GOP establishment? Let us know.
Darrell Lect is a contributing editor for Habledash.
