Washington Examiner Has Warning for GOP

The Washington Examiner, under the able leadership of Mark Tapscott, has a pretty dire warning for the GOP in an editorial entitled "Conservatives Won't Be Fooled Again" (h/t Captain Ed):

Bush won two presidential elections thanks in large part to conservatives to whom he appealed as the true heir to the Reagan Revolution. But the Gipper wouldn’t recognize Bush’s version of “conservative” government: Federal spending and debt have exploded. Ditto the unfunded liabilities of major entitlement programs. Federal regulation has been vastly expanded in education and health care. As National Taxpayers Union President Dr. John E. Berthoud told The Examiner, “You can’t tax like Reagan while spending like Dean.”

Even worse, Bush’s refusal to veto pork-barrel spending has compromised the efficacy of his tax cuts. Indeed, “limited government” never looked so big. Adding to Bush’s problem is the stench of scandal stinking up Capitol Hill on both sides of the aisle. Conservatives look at 12 years of GOP control of Congress and wonder why they don’t have much more to show for it. ...

Karl Rove reportedly has a plan to “stir up” the base to again save the Republicans’ electoral bacon, but conservatives won’t be satisfied this time around with more token efforts on issues like marriage and dire warnings that “the Democrats would be far worse.” Conservatives have heard that song before and know it never has a second verse.

I get the same feeling now about the mid-term election that I had in 1998. Conservatives were clearly upset with Newt Gingrign and the GOP back then after they failed to do what had been promised in the "Contract With America" in 1994. All those fresh-faced Republicans who came to power in 1994 as reformers had quickly been transformed into spending-crazed Washington insiders who couldn't seem to control themselves. As a result, many conservatives stayed home and the GOP nearly lost control of the Congress.

I don't think we have another 1994 in the making as many Dems hope and pray. The GOP's success in '94 was due largely to their ability to nationalize the congressional elections. The Dems have yet to demonstrate that they have the same ability, since the crux of their platform is "we hate Bush". That's not a winning national platform.

Let's hope the powers-that-be in Washington start paying attention to the disgruntled conservatives. Although I would never consider staying home in November, there are others think the best action is none at all. I disagree, but the GOP ignores conservatives at their peril.

UPDATE: Jim Geraghty has some thoughts on those who would punish the GOP by staying home in November:

By the way, put me down as one of those guys who cannot comprehend the argument that conservatives ought to sit out this election to “punish” the GOP so that they’ll “learn a lesson” and get better/more conservative in the future.

To advocates of this position, I must respectfully ask… are you out of your flippin’ mind?

By what logic does a constituency become more influential and powerful by becoming less active, and demonstrating less capability to turn out the vote and influence elections?

Read the whole thing.