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May 09, 2012 10:41 PM UTC

Compelling Words from Ousted Sen. Lugar

  • 8 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Indiana Republican Sen. Dick Lugar, the longest-serving current Republican Senator, was defeated yesterday in a Republican primary by Treasurer Richard Mourdock, a right-wing, Tea Party favorite. Lugar’s goodbye letter, as published by MSNBC highlights the problem with hyper-partisanship in the GOP:

If Mr. Mourdock is elected, I want him to be a good Senator.  But that will require him to revise his stated goal of bringing more partisanship to Washington.   He and I share many positions, but his embrace of an unrelenting partisan mindset is irreconcilable with my philosophy of governance and my experience of what brings results for Hoosiers in the Senate.  In effect, what he has promised in this campaign is reflexive votes for a rejectionist orthodoxy and rigid opposition to the actions and proposals of the other party. [Pols emphasis] His answer to the inevitable roadblocks he will encounter in Congress is merely to campaign for more Republicans who embrace the same partisan outlook.  He has pledged his support to groups whose prime mission is to cleanse the Republican party of those who stray from orthodoxy as they see it.

This is not conducive to problem solving and governance.  And he will find that unless he modifies his approach, he will achieve little as a legislator.  Worse, he will help delay solutions that are totally beyond the capacity of partisan majorities to achieve…

…I don’t remember a time when so many topics have become politically unmentionable in one party or the other.   Republicans cannot admit to any nuance in policy on climate change.  Republican members are now expected to take pledges against any tax increases.  For two consecutive Presidential nomination cycles, GOP candidates competed with one another to express the most strident anti-immigration view, even at the risk of alienating a huge voting bloc.

Comments

8 thoughts on “Compelling Words from Ousted Sen. Lugar

  1. but will anyone listen?  I’m the middle aged, upper middle class, suburban, unaffiliated, female voter everyone talks about courting.  Last night’s civil union debacle, Lugar’s ouster, and the horror of the primary campaign have collectively served to shove me left of center when I’d really like to be right.  I want to solve the deficit.  I want a government that is conducive to business and not a hinderance.  But, to solve the deficit, you’re going to have to raise revenue and to protect our business climate, you’re going to have to accept some regulation.  These nuances are lost on many in the Republican party and likely so too is my vote.

    1. It’s more like the Republican Party has moved so far right that the Democrats are closer.

      To me, the nuances you speak of are cold, hard facts. It seems that to be elected as a Republican, you have to deny those facts.

      1. For the most part, the Democratic Party today is not represented by the wild-eyed people imagined by some stereotypes, nor the government-entrenched big spenders of yore.

        And even when you’re talking about real Progressive legislation, it’s usually something actually functional – like the Progressive Caucus budget, which is actually the most aggressive budget proposal on the table when it comes to balancing the budget.

  2. The GOP has become the “litmus test” party. Rigid ideology trumps reason and fact, and although Lugar doesn’t say it, this is based on the religious right dogma that now permeates virtually every issue.

    Gone are Republicans like Dwight Eisenhower who understood the importance of infrastructure by building the interstate highway system and warned us against the military industrial complex. Gone are Everette Dirksen and Hugh Scott who helped pushed through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Gone is Richard Nixon who established the EPA which is now regarded as the evil empire by Republicans.

    Ronald Reagan made a deal with the devil when he gave the religious right a seat at the table pushing their agenda in exchange for votes. And gone is Barry Goldwater who would have no parts of it and supported gay rights and a woman’s right to an abortion.

    Lugar’s letter portends the bleak reality of what the GOP has become, and why it will find itself increasing isolated outside the sphere of its true believers.  

  3. I have always liked and respected Richard Lugar. In the summer of 1970 the National League of Cities met in Denver. Lugar, then mayor of Indianapolis, was the chair. In the midst of student marches marking the killings at Kent State and Jackson State, Mayor Lugar arranged for student leaders from Colorado to meet with mayors from throughout the country to voice our concerns and frustrations. It was an act of courage then, and he has shown that same courage throughout his Senate career. I wish him the very best in the future.

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