Conservative litmus test USA

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Dictatuur begint altijd thuis? ;)
- tweestrijd of meer conservatieve delen van partij
- litmus test niet in overeenstemming met sluiten compromissen (essentie politiek)
- adherence to the principles be determined through their public statements, voting records
or signed questionnaires:
- by supporting military-recommended troop surges - link met uiting Generaal McChristal in
Londen om grote versterking Afghanistan op bijeenkomst conservatieven (uiting om boel te
forceren?)

Groet / Cees

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/us/politics/24repubs.html November 24, 2009
Conservatives Make a List to Measure Candidates´ Commitment
By JIM RUTENBERG and ADAM NAGOURNEY WASHINGTON - A group of conservative
Republican leaders is proposing a solution to the internecine warfare over what the party
should stand for: a 10-point checklist gauging proper adherence to core principles like
opposing government financing for abortion and, more generally, President Obama´s
"socialist agenda."

In what was being dubbed a purity test when it leaked out to reporters on Monday, the
proposal would require the party to withhold campaign money and endorsements from
candidates who do not adhere to at least seven principles on the checklist.

While it is unclear whether the test will be adopted when it is put up for consideration before
the Republican National Committee early next year, its drafting is a striking example of the
intensified internal debate among Republicans about how best to handle pressure from
conservatives to move the party more to the right and to recapture control of Congress and
the White House.

Its introduction increases pressure on the party chairman, Michael Steele, as he tries to
maintain a balance between those in his party who have been saying the road to a
Republican comeback is to include divergent views and appeal to the political center, and
those who say the party needs to more fully embrace conservative principles.

But it was also likely to inflame moderate party members who have been urging the party to
resist pressure from activists - spurred by commentators like Glenn Beck on the Fox News
Channel and leaders of the diffuse Tea Party movement - to move against those deemed
insufficiently conservative or lose their grass-roots support altogether.

Gail Gitcho, a spokeswoman for the committee, said it was not clear what Mr. Steele would
do about the proposed checklist. The list was in a resolution devised by a group of 10
conservative committee members who will introduce it when the party gathers for an annual
conference in Hawaii in January.

"The problem is that many conservatives have lost trust in the conservative credentials of
the Republican Party," said James Bopp Jr., a committee member from Indiana who is the
chief sponsor of the resolution. "So the task is to restore our conservative bona fides."

The resolution was immediately embraced by Dick Armey, the former Republican House
majority leader whose well-financed conservative group, FreedomWorks, has helped
organize much of the protest against Democratic health care legislation and Mr. Obama´s
spending plans.

"The Republican Party knows it has to repair its standing with the American people," Mr.
Armey said. "If you listen to the voters´ anger out there, I think they´re saying, `We want the
Republican Party to define themselves as a real alternative to the Democrat Party.´ "

Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform whose antitax pledge has
become generally required signing for Republican candidates, said he was concerned that
the proposal would lead the national party to step in where voters should.

"The party has a platform, and that platform and the pieces of it are enforced by primary
voters," Mr. Norquist said. "I think orthodoxy should be imposed from below not above." Still,
he said, forced adherence to 7 of the 10 principles listed "strikes me as eminently
reasonable."

The principles in the resolution include fairly basic proclamations, like "We support victory in
Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges," along with trickier
propositions that have bedeviled the party, like one opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants
- a form of which President George W. Bush was accused of supporting.

The resolution also calls for "Republican solidarity in opposition to Obama´s socialist
agenda," specifically citing the climate change "cap and trade" proposal and "government-
run health care."

The list was clearly influenced by the divisive Congressional race in upstate New York this
fall, when conservative activists deemed the Republican nominee for the seat,
Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, too liberal and instead supported a third-party
candidate, Douglas L. Hoffman.

Under conservative pressure, Ms. Scozzafava withdrew from the race but supported the
Democratic nominee, Bill Owens, whose victory removed the seat from Republican hands
for the first time in more than 100 years.

On first blush Ms. Scozzafava said she found the new proposal "ridiculous," though she said
she would have to read it in full before drawing a final conclusion. "I´m not a big fan of
pledges," she said in an interview, "because things don´t always fit through a keyhole and
governing isn´t always that easy."

The resolution dictates that Republican candidates´ adherence to the principles be
determined through their public statements, voting records or signed questionnaires.

Mr. Bopp said reaction among fellow committee members had "run the whole gamut of
enthusiastic support to opposition." But, he added, some opponents had suggested changes
that would earn their support. "I think we will get a resolution through."










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