NYTimes editorial in Wall Street Journal

Chicago AM Sunday 12 September 2010

Editors, The Wall Street Journal

Gentlepeople:

The Wall Street Journal Review and Outlook “The Tea Party and the GOP” (Wednesday 8 September) opens admitting “the GOP is a more natural ideological home for most tea partiers than is the other major party....” This is qualified: “... sometimes you need a few 'wets' to gain a majority and advance your own ideas.” Certainly a fine place for an example to support your position. But Nancy Pelosi and Rahm Emanuel's hand-picked Blue Dog Democrats? But when the only Republican examples you can find are Jim Jeffords, Arlen Specter, and Maine's Bobsey twins, you don't have a lot to work with. There was John McCain, but everyone knows how his aisle-crossing helped him.

At this point I needed to check the Masthead to see exactly which leading east coast newspaper I was reading.

You finally make it to the meat of your article, next week's Senate primary in Delaware to determine the GOP nominee for Joe Biden's former seat, first stating that “Congressman and former Governor Mike Castle is running and is thought to be an easy general election winner.” The thinkers appear to be the remnants of the Rockefeller Republicans, and the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board.

You finally make it to his primary opponent, Christine O'Donnell, describing her as “an itinerant conservative commentator...” At least you didn't accuse her of throwing puppies of bridges.

You immediately declare that “she has little chance to win in November” so that “...GOP primary voters must decide if they want to vote for Mr. Castle, a moderate who would help Republicans organize the Senate...” or “they can vote their heart even if it means giving up a Senate seat.” You heard it here first, folks, from the formerly reliably constitutional, now apparently solid rino Wall Street Journal.

You conclude declaring “Politics in our two-party system is about coalition building....”

Folks, we are at a point where our Constitution has been repeatedly ignored for 75 years, from Social Security, thru federal departments of education, housing, environmental protection, to Obamacare. We are being led by an executive who is doing everything he can to get the nation to the point where he can go on national TV and read from his teleprompter: “Citizens, the country is failing. But it's too big to fail. To prevent that I am nationalizing everything. Tomorrow we will all be employees of the federal government. Your local commissar will contact you in the morning.”

This is way beyond anything that can be cured by “coalition building.” We need to do everything to nominate, and elect, people dedicated to restoring the Constitution, the most difficult challenge we've faced in 234 years. We will have some misses, but we must try.

You close the editorial by recalling “William F. Buckley Jr.'s counsel that his policy was to vote for the most conservative candidate who could win.” Did you have a chance to ask Mr. Buckley about this after Daniel Patrick Moinahan's election to the United States Senate?

Arnold H Nelson