PrintNovember 17, 2010
Conservatives Put GOP Leadership On Notice
A large number of conservative leaders are laying their cards on the table for the establishment GOP to see. They will not sit still for co-optation, and are backing Senator DeMint to the hilt. The following letter has been drafted and signed, and is being delivered to the GOP leadership today. American Thinker has received an advance copy, and it is below:
TO: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnellNational Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John CornynRepublican National Committee Chairman Michael SteeleFROM: The Undersigned ConservativesDeclaration of Conservative Leaders in Support Of Senator Jim DeMint
Senator Jim DeMint has been blamed directly or indirectly for the failure to capture a majority in the Senate by named and/or unnamed Republican senators, staffers and consultants.Such false and unfair attacks aid and abet President Obama, the Democratic Party and the liberal media. We consider such attacks on Senator Jim DeMint an attack on us and all conservatives, and especially the conservative movement that is the successor to Ronald Reagan, William F. Buckley, Jr., and other great progenitors of the conservative movement.Perhaps more than any other Republican, Senator Jim DeMint is not only responsible for the net Republican gains in the Senate in the 2010 election, but has helped restore faith in the Republican Party as the party of constitutionally limited government. He greatly energized the base of the Party, and therefore contributed to historic wins in the House, governorships and state legislatures across the country.In fact, Senator Jim DeMint's unilateral efforts to bring constitutional small government conservatives into the Senate has encouraged many conservatives to stay within the Republican Party, vote for Republican candidates, and even may have staved off formation of a third party and the demise of the Republican Party.We do not expect or advocate for ideological purity in the Republican Party, but we do expect the Party's leadership to rein in those who unfairly attack Senator DeMint, who instead should be given credit for what he has done, and done with such class, honor, humility, dignity and patriotism.Since Republicans in and affiliated with the Senate who have attacked Senator Jim DeMint have an agenda, and may not heed calls to reason from the Republican leadership, let it be known that continued attacks, whether indirectly or anonymously, will result in conservatives' responding in word and deed.Conservatives will not only challenge and beat more Republican senators in Republican primaries, but conservatives will stop funding and volunteering for the NRSC and the RNC. Instead, conservatives will send their money to, and volunteer for, Senator DeMint's Senate Conservative Fund and the candidates Senator DeMint supports. In fact, it would be our goal for the Senate Conservatives Fund to raise more money than the NRSC.Conservatives will also work to defeat in Republican primaries those Republicans who retain consultants who criticize or try to undermine Senator DeMint.Respectfully,(organizations named for identification purposes only)
