"Revolt of the Elders." Republicans running against Republicans.

[tsuki]

Seems some of the moderates in the Republican party are stepping up to the plate.

"A David and Goliath" match is how Mike Holmes, a moderate Republican from Auburn, Calif., describes the political contest for the GOP's California primary between himself and Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Roseville), 12-year incumbent of the Fourth Congressional district, of which Placer County is included.

/snip

Other issues raised by Holmes' campaign are Social security. He says he would leave it the way it is, however, offer separate, 401K-types of programs for people to help build their retirement fund.

As a Vietnam combat veteran, Holmes says that the medical treatment of returning National Guard and Reservists is very important to him, citing the increased prevalence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the need for specialized treatment.

Joining the likes of former First Lady Nancy Reagan, Holmes is an advocate of expanding stem cell research.

http://www.tahoe-world.com/article/20051005/News/110050007



Former U.S. Rep. Paul "Pete" McCloskey, a maverick Republican who opposed the Vietnam War and helped write the Endangered Species Act, said Friday he will run against Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy), a leading critic of how the government has applied environmental protection laws.

Nearly a quarter of a century after he last sought public office, the tough-talking, 78-year-old ex-Marine said in a telephone interview that he decided to challenge Pombo in the June 6 GOP primary because of the congressman's efforts to weaken environmental laws and connections to figures in a Washington corruption scandal.

"This is no Republican Party I recognize today," McCloskey said.

But he was candid about his chances, saying he wouldn't have decided to run if he could have found someone else to take on Pombo.

/snip

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-pombo21jan21,0,4846259.story?coll=la-headlines-politics

[ComerPerro]

1. I just don't believe in "true conservatives".

I just don't think that they can possibly exist.

And if there are people out there who actually belive whole-heartedly in all of the conservative doctrines, then they are probably very stupid and dangerously incompetent.

The whole ideology is just one big lie. That's why it works so well and sounds so appealing.

But, in practice, their ideas cannot honestly be accomplished.

[tsuki]

6. Rep. McCloskey was never a conservative.

He was a moderate. Looks like Holmes is also. I wish them the best. If a Democrat can not win, then the next best thing is a moderate Republican. Anything to break the lock-step of the Conservatives.

[ComerPerro]

11. Remember when McCain was a moderate people could respect

but suddenly he started whoring for Bush

[tsuki]

13. McCain was never a moderate. He is a conservative, and

frankly, when it comes to Bushco, I think he has Stockholm Syndrome.

[Olney Blue]

7. I've often wondered what it is a conservative is trying to conserve.

[ComerPerro]

10. The status quo. The wealth of the elites.

[FreedomAngel82]

15. Not anymore anyways

They'll always have competators such as these neocons.

[Dunvegan]

2. You know...the old conservatives of the Republican party...

...are not "enemies" but part of the old two-party system.

What I see today is a near civil war of ideologies.

[Surya Gayatri]

5. Very good point, Dunvegan--

Dems have to keep a sense of proportion here, and avoid throwing the baby

out with the bath water. A robust but loyal opposition is the bedrock of a

functioning democracy. 'Eisenhower' Repubs are not our enemies and must be

encouraged to wrest their party back from the insane cabal that's hijacked

it. Very encouraging sign, IMHO, that Conservatives of this more moderate

stripe are wading back in to do battle with the Neo-Con beast. SG

[LiberalPartisan]

9. Quite correct

The current crop of 'republicans' seek to permanently eliminate the Left in the US. They are on a mission to 'return America to her Christian heritage' and make sure that government serves only corporate needs. We call them Fascists and people tell us we're being dramatic or over reacting. But by every definition and every measure the current republican party is Fascist to the core. I cannot stess enough the importance of the 2006 and 2008 elections. If the republicans gain numbers in the House and Senate the take-over of the US will be complete and the experiment started in Philadelphia will be completely and irretrievably dead.

We live in perilous times and the greatest threat to democracy in America is 100% homegrown and all republican.

[Greeby]

3. Will Pat Robertson call for McCloskey's assassination?

After all, Pete drew attention to the embarassing fact that when both of them were officers on the transport to Korea, Pat's Senator father managed to get him off the boat in Japan. Pete's unit later suffered heavy casualties in the battles that followed

[AussieDave]

4. Republicans are Republicans - in the end they support Junior

no matter how much they profess to be "moderate". Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Arlen Specter - all "moderates" and all voted for Alito, who will fast-track the dismantling of Roe V Wade. Just give it time.

The defeat of all "moderate" Republicans will drive that party so far to the right as to be unelectable.

[tsuki]

8. I see nothing moderate in Snowe, Collins & Specter. Yes, a

safe cover vote once in a while, but that is not moderate. I remember the moderates from the 60's. Environmentally friendly, pro-science and anti-war. But, I was still a Democrat, I just didn't despise the Republican Party.

[depakid]

16. Anyone who does is deluding themselves

Like for example THE VOTERS IN THE STATE OF MAINE.

[Toots]

12. If you believe they are somehow different I have a bridge to sell you

A Republican is a Republican is a Republican. Not one of them care for the common man.

[tsuki]

14. No, a Conservative is a Conservative, not a NeoCon. They are

the McCarthy-Cohn branch of the Republican Party. In my day, Republicans were more moderate than they are now. They wrote legislation for the envirnoment, not legislation to turn over the last of the Redwood Forest to a corporate crony for donations.

This new Republican Party is not one that the "old" Republicans recognize. Hence, the Revolt of the Elders.

Actually, there are some Dems today that are closer to the Republican Party than the "old" McCloskey-Rockefeller Republicans of the past.