Robert Novak on Republicans and values voters in the Foley case
A remarkably brief, yet pregnant observation by famous Catholic and conservative columnist Robert Novak:
WASHINGTON -- Disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley had two excellent job offers in the private sector this year when Rep. Tom Reynolds, National Republican Congressional Committee chairman, talked him into seeking a seventh term.
Although Reynolds says Foley was merely deciding whether to run again, the talk in Republican circles on Capitol Hill was that he was ready to leave Congress. His inappropriate e-mails to a former page were known to the Republican leadership late last year. The 16th congressional district was considered so safely Republican that any GOP candidate could carry it but now likely will be lost with Foley still on the ballot.
This is what Republicans think of values voters. One does not know whether to be more disgusted by the cheap immoralism or by the short-term stupidity that kept a major political risk in place even when he himself had the sense to want out and a good reason to leave. The last elections have proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that there is a major, indeed election-winning section of the American electorate to whom "values" are a major consideration; this episode shows that the Republican party leadership regards them with utter contempt. Their views do not count and are not taken into consideration. They know that values voters have nowhere to go, since the Democrats are against everything they stand for; and so the Republicans take them for granted. And the American political system makes it extremely difficult for a third party to emerge, even when the two existing ones simply do not represent their electors.
WASHINGTON -- Disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley had two excellent job offers in the private sector this year when Rep. Tom Reynolds, National Republican Congressional Committee chairman, talked him into seeking a seventh term.
Although Reynolds says Foley was merely deciding whether to run again, the talk in Republican circles on Capitol Hill was that he was ready to leave Congress. His inappropriate e-mails to a former page were known to the Republican leadership late last year. The 16th congressional district was considered so safely Republican that any GOP candidate could carry it but now likely will be lost with Foley still on the ballot.
This is what Republicans think of values voters. One does not know whether to be more disgusted by the cheap immoralism or by the short-term stupidity that kept a major political risk in place even when he himself had the sense to want out and a good reason to leave. The last elections have proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that there is a major, indeed election-winning section of the American electorate to whom "values" are a major consideration; this episode shows that the Republican party leadership regards them with utter contempt. Their views do not count and are not taken into consideration. They know that values voters have nowhere to go, since the Democrats are against everything they stand for; and so the Republicans take them for granted. And the American political system makes it extremely difficult for a third party to emerge, even when the two existing ones simply do not represent their electors.