Wayne Gilchrest, the Conservative Movement, and Antiwar Republicans
The
In his victory speech, Harris said “It’s hard to fool the Republican primary voters … They know who the real Republican conservative is.” Gilchrest was bitter in defeat and refused to give the normally obligatory congratulatory call the victor. Instead, he
While Gilchrest received support from establishment Republicans like Newt Gingrich and President Bush, Harris was endorsed by the Eagle Forum, National Right to Life, Gun Owners of America, the Washington Times, James Dobson, and other conservative mainstays. Out of state conservative donors and PACs helped give Harris amass a war chest twice the size of Gilchrest’s, in addition to the $600,000 anti-Gilchrest independent expenditure by the Club for Growth.
When I blogged about the opposition to Gilchrest in an earlier post, I received some e-mails from readers who thought that I soft pedaled Gilchrest’s record and that even were it not for his opposition to the war in Iraq, he would still be in the sights of conservative groups.
I am fully willing to concede this point. Gilchrest has an abdominal record on immigration, gun control, taxes, and other important issues. Anti-Gilchrest groups like Gun Owners of America and the Eagle Forum are among the more principled organs within the conservative movement. Still, I find it rather puzzling that many establishment conservative organs like National Review barely mentioned the issue of the war in Iraq, when it was the centerpiece for Harris’ campaign.
Despite Gilchrest’s less than conservative voting record, I still mourn his defeat. There are well over a hundred congressmen who have solid immigration and gun control voting records, but there are less than a handful of Republicans in the House who shared Gilchrest’s admirable opposition to the imperial presidency. If others in the conservative movement and the GOP would stand up for an America First foreign policy, I would have been the first to oppose Gilchrest.
Two of Gilchrest’s antiwar Republican colleagues, Walter Jones and Ron Paul, also face pro-war primary challengers. Unlike Gilchrest, they both have impeccably conservative credentials. Expect these campaigns to separate the real conservatives from the neocons.
Comments
Mr. Epstein’s commentary is welcome, given the narrow view that many conservatives received regarding the contest—namely, the single issue of Iraq.
Andy Harris is a pro-life leader in the Md. state senate, a medical doctor, and has rallied the troops surprisingly in a year when most Republicans are longing for the NCAA tournament or even Shirley Temple reruns so they can ignore politics altogether.
Mr. Epstein is also correct about Walter Jones. A solid Catholic in a very anti-Catholic state, he is a man of conscience and conviction. But the neocons will try to destroy him.
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While the State of North Carolina IS more anti-Catholic than, say, Maryland, the Coast is quite Catholic-friendly. My distant ancestors, after having been kicked out of Scotland after the ‘15, and before making their way into Appalachia, settled the Coast. To this day, there is a sizable Catholic population on the Coast, some of whom are my distant, distant cousins.
As for Wayne Gilchrist, “what to do, what to do?” An anti-war liberal...let’s see, is grandstanding on abortion (that IS what it is after all; no one ever “voted” for or against abortion, it’s a court case gone haywire) more or less important than an actual ability to stop an immoral war, or a vote for/against gun control?
Honestly, I can’t really say...well, maybe I can. My conscience tells me to vote for the guy against this immoral war, and turn around and oppose him on all other issues.
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Small quibble
Abdominal record???? You mean that Gilchrest
legistlates through his gut????
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