They Still Don't Get It

Lots of chatter across the blogosphere about the special US Senate race in Massachusetts between Coakley (D) and Brown (R). Talk about how if Brown wins, then (1) the Republicans could stop the President's agenda dead in its tracks, and (2) it would be the bellweather of significant Democratic losses in November.

That's all fine and good. But something in the Boston Herald's endorsement of Brown caught my eye,

And while Brown is a solid fiscal conservative, he is a compassionate conservative, voting to override gubernatorial vetoes and restore funding for breast cancer screening, suicide prevention programs and the METCO program.

“My record speaks for itself,” he added. “If it helps people and creates jobs, I’m for it.”

"If it helps people and creates jobs, I’m for it." That statement tells me that he doesn't get why many people are so upset with the spendthift ways of the Democrats and Republicans of the last nine years. The problem with the Republican party has been that kind of thinking.

Based on the GOP fundraising letters I read before shredding, I see a Republican party that is still more interested in winning and being in power than advancing a policy of limited government. They still don't get it.

If you want to see a Republican who "gets it," take a look at this quote, from Paul Broun in Georgia (I heard him speak at a Tea Party event in 2009)

I am committed to protecting the constitutional rights and pocketbooks of every American. I will apply the following four-way test to every piece of legislation that comes before the House for a vote:
1) Is it Right/Moral?
2) Is it Constitutional?
3) Is it Necessary?
4) Is it Affordable?

That's the kind of thinking we need more of. Not "If it helps people and creates jobs, I’m for it."