The GOP Must De-Fang RINOs
by Jim Kouri, CPP

When Republican Senator Arlen Specter's name was being touted around Washington as the leading candidate for the chairmanship for the important Senate Judiciary Committee, conservatives throughout the nation united to tell the Majority Leader Bill Frist and the President a resounding NO!  Don't do it!

Conservatives are well aware that at best Senator Specter is a Northeast Republican, at worst he's an out-and-out liberal. Yet, in spite of all the phone calls and e-mails from conservatives, Senator Specter was still appointed to the chairmanship.

During the Pennsylvania primary, Specter's senate seat was threatened by a real conservative -- Pat Toomey. But who did the Bush Administration support? A pro-abortion, anti-school choice, big spending liberal like Arlen Specter. Specter won the primary and the November 2004 election. Bush didn't carry Pennsylvania, no thanks to Arlen Specter.

So now the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee promised a thorough investigation into President George W. Bush's secret domestic eavesdropping program and said there would be no blank check for Bush. Senator Arlen Specter said Bush in theory could face impeachment charges if found to have violated the law by authorizing the program, but he did not endorse that approach and had heard no serious talk of it. Oh really? Then why is this RINO talking about impeachment on national television?

News of the covert domestic spying program last month sparked an outcry by both Democrats and some members of Bush's own party. Many lawmakers and rights groups questioned whether it violates the US Constitution. Of course, when one looks at which Republicans are joining the Democrats, it's the RINO brigade members such as Specter, Hagel, Snow, and others who should have switched parties many moons ago.

"We're going to explore it in depth," Specter said on ABC television's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos."

"I don't see any talk about impeachment here," Specter said. "I don't think anybody doubts that the president is making a good faith effort, that he sees a real problem as we all do, and he's acting in a way that he feels he must."

Still, the senator insisted, "We're not going to give him a blank check, and just because we're of the same party doesn't mean we're not going to look at this very closely."

Well, that's comforting. Just what the United States needs in the middle of a war: classified, top secret information in the hands of people such as Senator Patrick Leahy a/k/a Leaky Leahy, Senator Ted Kennedy and others who believe their power outweighs national security. Of course, the news media is all for these guys getting their slimy mitts on classified documents because that means reporters at the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times can scoop everyone with stories revealing security operations.  With Americans like these, why would Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations need an intelligence mechanism of their own?

What troubles this writer is that I can't find one quote in which Specter says he wants a full investigation into who leaked information about the NSA program to James Risen of the Times. Who needs an opposition party with people like Specter in the GOP?

RINOs are a great asset to the Democrat Party and the news media. These people know they have little credibility, therefore when they wish to make a point they mention that Republicans also want what they want. By Republicans they mean RINOs. Democrats believe Iraq is another Vietnam? Well, so does Republican Senator Chuck Hagel. Democrats are fearful that a Justice Alito may overturn Roe v. Wade? Well, so does Republican Senators Arlen Specter, Olympia Snow and Lincoln Chaffee. The Democrats fear we might be "abusing" terrorists? Well so does Senator John McCain

Another example of RINOism is the breaking news by Matt Drudge and the New York Sun that after 10 years and over $23 million dollars the Independent Counsel investigation into Clinton Administration officials who may have used the IRS to intimidate or investigate threats to the Bill Clinton.

According to the Drudge Report, in Monday's edition of the New York Sun, reporter Brian McGuire and contributor R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., a first look at the long-anticipated report from Independent Counsel David Barrett.

The Sun outlines the reports details surrounding the alleged illicit activity and cover up that involved former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros before and during his time in the Clinton Administration.

The Sun reveals that the Barrett report connects the dots that allege that senior officials of the Clinton Administration initiated investigations by the IRS in both Texas and Washington. Also, there were investigations of a grand jury examining the independent counsel's evidence.

The full report, more than 400 pages, with more than 100 pages of redacted material, hits the street on Thursday morning at 9 am. However, what's in those 100 pages that we won't see?

Democrats in the House and Senate have been fighting for months to block the release of the report and keep the 100 pages of highly damaging redacted material from ever seeing the light of day. That's understandable since they are hypocrites of the first order. However, where are the Republican outcries over this continued cover-up?

I know many fear the FBI, CIA, NSA and Homeland Security Department and they have concerns about surveillance and civil liberties. But I am more concerned about the Internal Revenue Service, an agency that can lock up an American for decades because he or she didn't fork over their hard earned money. If the President -- any president -- uses the IRS, which has more leeway than all the other agencies put together, to investigate, intimidate and perhaps incarcerate Americans, I for one want to know about it.

But I'm not holding my breath for the Republicans to demand the full Barrett Report be released without redaction.

The GOP is in a lot of trouble and that trouble has nothing to do with Tom DeLay or Jack Abramoff or Scooter Libby. The Republican Party is being co-opted by liberals who call themselves "moderates." When the GOP articulates conservative values and strategies for the future, they win elections. When they try to be Democrats, they lose. They may believe it's the "wacky right-wing" that's hurting their party, but it's actually the "wacky left-wing" that may cost them their power in 2006. When conservatives get all fired up, armed with the truth they are unbeatable. But the GOP is doing little to get them fired up.