A rare Republican, Sen. Collins remains optimistic

A rare Republican, Sen. Collins remains optimistic

WASHINGTON (AP) - She is alone in a political class facing extinction on Capitol Hill. Yet, GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine personifies the moderation that national Republicans increasingly say is necessary for the party’s survival.

“Of course I would like to see more Republicans from not only New England but from the entire Northeast, where we have a tradition of being an inclusive party,” Collins, 60, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “I do not think it is healthy for the Republican Party to be a regional party.”

On that, national Republicans agree. The Republican National Committee, still smarting from its 2012 election losses and failure to win control of the Senate, issued a 100-page report last month calling for more inclusive tones on immigration and gay rights to help broaden the party’s appeal.

Generations of New England Republicans have favored moderation on social issues. But in recent years, Republicans in the region’s congressional delegation have dwindled to just two among 33 elected officials in six states: Collins and Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. Of the pair, only Collins is up for re-election in 2014. SOURCE

If the GOP wants to keep on giving Conservatives ammunition we’re going to keep on firing shots at them and their less than stellar performance.

Republicans are desperate, in every area, and they are drastically lacking in what I call forceful leadership. The GOP is bending over backwards to become an all-inclusive *Big Tent* that is ALL things to ALL people, and that is something that just won’t work.

It’s a lot like what decent parents go through in raising children; you have to be the parent, of course you love your children, but you can’t always be their *buddy*, once in a while you have to be that *mean old Daddy* that your kid really HATE at the time but come to understand as they grow, mature, marry and have kids of their own.

It’s a lot like that, the GOP needs to actually LEAD, not just invite folks to the Party and then give in to any half-baked idea that comes down the pike.

“In New England, a moderate Republican would be traditionally fiscally conservative and socially moderate to liberal. The party hasn’t tolerated that in the last few years,” said former Sen. Olympia Snowe, a veteran Republican who, with Collins, was a force for moderation in Republican ranks for 15 years.

“They don’t tolerate dissent within the party,” Snowe, who retired out of frustration last year, said in an interview with the AP. “That’s why they find themselves in trouble.”

And that idea of a moderate Republican being “traditionally fiscally conservative and socially moderate to liberal” is exactly what I am talking about.

The word *moderate*, when used to describe a Republican, sets off alarm bells for me, I immediately think we’re about to see another RINO, a Republican In Name Only, and so far, I haven’t been disappointed yet.

When a Republican describes themselves as *socially liberal* I see a Democrat, or at least Dem Lite in their ideas regarding abortion and same sex marriage and a Libertarian in their ideas regarding dope and its legalization.

Those are NOT Conservative ideals and are NOT a platform that Conservatives can or will embrace. THAT is why the GOP is in trouble; they have alienated the Conservatives and religious Right of America.

As the Grand Old Party shifted right in recent years, Collins walked a delicate balance on explosive issues while her colleagues lost, retired or left the party altogether.

I don’t know who told the AP that the GOP had *shifted right* but that is a fallacy. The GOP has gone *middle of the road* and THAT is where the problem lies for folks like me and most of my readers and friends.

The GOP isn’t *middle of the road* you say? Seriously?

She calls herself “a champion” on equal rights for gays and lesbians but doesn’t openly support gay marriage. She favors changes to the nation’s immigration system but so far declines to endorse a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who live in the country illegally. And she wants to crack down on illegal gun trafficking, but warns that universal background checks might impose unnecessary burdens on some gun owners.

The above paragraph fully illustrates an indecisive RINO that only wants to make ALL happy and does everything possible to avoid hurting feelings. There’s not a hard line in Collins platform anywhere.

She also praises President Barack Obama’s recent bipartisan outreach efforts, which included a phone call with Collins and a Senate Republican luncheon she hosted.

“I think he definitely helped himself,” Collins said of the president, adding later, “I think my party needs to meet him halfway.”

In other words, Collins is a not too bright slug that was able to convince other not too bright slugs to send her to the Senate and she fell for the Obama *shuck and jive*.

Moderation is a good thing if you’re eating and/or drinking, moderation in politics ends up giving a nation a FAR LEFT power in office and a generation of wussies and wimps to pay the bills. The GOP either gets it act together, loses the *big tent* mantra and returns to America 1st Conservatism or America can expect to be dominated by Libs and Dems for many years to come.

That domination WILL destroy America.