Republican Party: Not a dime's worth of difference.

   

Politics in America seems to be repeating a 50-year cycle. Back in the 1960's the Republican Party was dominated by the Eastern Liberal establishment which was controlled by then Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller and U.S. Senator Jacob Javits. It was their total lock on the Republican Party that gave birth to the New York State Conservative Party as disenfranchised conservative Republicans abandoned their party to make their voices heard. At that time third parties had a numerical disadvantage to getting their own candidates elected to office so the Conservative Party made good use of their flexibility to cross-endorse conservative oriented candidates of their own choosing. 

Third party political campaigns often have a deciding effect on major parties. In 1992 Ross Perot making his first attempt for president won 18.9% of the vote causing Republican moderate George Bush to lose to liberal Democrat Bill Clinton.

In 1968 a well known conservative Democrat Governor named George Wallace became a figurehead of the American Independence Party and made two runs for president gaining about 20% of the vote in his first attempt. Governor Wallace coined a phrase that aptly described the political choices when he said, “There isn’t a dime's worth of difference between the Democrats and the Republicans.” 
That was then and this is now.

Today, Rush Limbaugh says the Republican Party has a death wish – and is as dangerous to the United States as the Democrat Party and its czars.

On his radio show Limbaugh commented on the race for Congress in upstate New York's 23rd district, where the Republican Party bosses picked a liberal nominee to oppose a liberal Democrat, passing over a conservative candidate who wanted to represent the GOP, a candidate now pursuing the seat as a third-party candidate.

"They have a death wish. The Republican Party has a death wish. Gallup: 40 percent of Americans now say they are conservative, 20 percent say they're liberal, 36 percent say they're moderates. And of those three groups, which one is being ignored – not just ignored – which one is being attacked by the Republican Party? The conservatives! " Limbaugh said today.

"It's worse than I thought. I thought this was just based on elitism and northeast moderate liberalism, and embarrassment of the people that the social issues attract to the party. But now it's just plain stupidity," he continued

"The Republican Party, as constituted is as dangerous to this country as the Democrat Party is. As if speaking to himself Limbaugh said, 'But Rush, party loyalty is party loyalty, and the local Republican committee up there has endorsed Scozzafava.' So? I'm saying the two parties are the same. I guess I need to amend it a little bit, but, man, when I saw that they were running ads, as I say, ruined two hours of my day," he said.

Conservative Doug Hoffman has received the endorsement of  Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Fred Thompson and others.

But Hoffman was passed over by local Republican leaders in favor of Dede Scozzafava, who has staked out a series of liberal positions often linked to the Democrat Party, endorsing abortion and pro-homosexual perspectives.

"Running in a conservative district where the incumbent went off to be secretary of the Army, all three candidates have the distinction … of seeing their race attract national attention. … Hoffman had previously earned the backing of prominent conservative organizations such as the fiscally conservative Club for Growth and the socially conservative Concerned Women for America PAC," Limbaugh said.

An endorsement of Scozzafava by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was not what should have happened, Limbaugh said, since others supporting Scozzafava include Planned Parenthood, NARAL and others. .

"This is not how Reagan won," Limbaugh said. "Reagan was not out there talking about a big tent. If I recall correctly Reagan publicly invited liberal Republicans to go their own way. His tent was a little narrow but it was crowded. His tent was just mainstream conservatism, the kind of conservatism that founded the country."

Limbaugh described Scozzafava as "an extreme liberal Republican who may as well be a Democrat.". Something that is often referred to as being a RINO, a Republican In Name Only.

"Now, Hoffman wanted to run as a Republican. He is a Republican. He was passed over by the GOP, who picked Scozzafava instead. So he's running on the Conservative Party ticket because the GOP passed him over, but this is a wakeup call for both parties," he said.

"I know the temptation for a third party is tempting, but right now conservatism is on the ascendancy, it's actually good to be a conservative, and this is the time to reassert control over the Republican Party. It's not going to be easy but the Democrats, the far left didn't go out and form a third party. They took over the Democrat Party," he said.

New York State has one of the largest fields of political parties on the ballot with everything from the Conservative Party to the Republican Party, Democratic Party, Independence Party, Liberal Party, Working Families Party, Socialist Party, Green Party, Communist Party, Libertarian Party, Marijuana Reform Party, Natural Law Party, Right To Life Party, Constitution Party, Reform Party founded by Ross Perot and Barack Obama’s favorite, the old Chicago group that gave him his start in politics, the New Party.