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Desert Local News - Desert Local News 'weekly' on demand print March 6th edition - Index

16
california wire
An open letter to
Rush, Sean, Laura,
Ann, Mark, et al.
By Jack Kemp like me, Steve Forbes, Ted Olsen,
Dear fellow conservatives:
former Sen. George Allen and other
I’m writing to you soon after Mitt Romney suspended conservatives who wanted to see in
his campaign and Sen. John McCain addressed the Conser- him a genuine desire to work with,
vative Political Action Conference, not to calm you down, and listen to, some of the original
but to put McCain’s campaign and career in historical per- Reaganites.
spective.
As my friend and fellow Rea-
We all love history and understand that to ignore its lesganite Bill Bennett wrote recently,
sons is to put our Republic in harm’s way. As a student of “Sen. John McCain has a great deal
20th century history, I’m rereading Martin Gilbert’s great to recommend him. He has a great
biography of Winston Churchill. As Gilbert chronicles the deal more to offer the country, and
life of Churchill, he recalls the discomfort Churchill caused it is our sincere hope that, as we
his Tory friends when he joined the Liberal Party in 1904. move toward the general election,
Churchill, a man of principle, left the Conservative Party more and more people will see that.
because of its apostasy on trade. The Conservatives turned In the interim, it is our equal hope
protectionist early in the 20th Century, and Churchill crossed that Sen. McCain will take the next
over to the Liberal Party. The vitriol it provoked was of leg- several months to build his support
endary proportions.
among conservative doubters within
Churchill was a well-known maverick. He was a pugna- our party. We deserve that, too, so
cious and provocative speaker who challenged many of the that - come September - we will all
icons of British Parliament and certainly made a number of be confident we have nominated the
enemies in and out of his party.
right man.”
Churchill had what he called his “wilderness years” in
Collectively, you have all point-
the late 1920s and early 1930s, but as the storm clouds gathed out some of his faults (and failered
over Europe in the ‘30s, he became increasingly at odds ures), but overall,
with the government of Neville Chamberlain. He was even McCain is a gen-
banned from talk radio (aka the BBC) in those days.
uine American
As war engulfed Europe and the Nazis terrorized the hero, an 82.5 per-
Low Countries and France, he was called back to service as cent conservative,
prime minister of a divided war Cabinet. Gilbert’s history of according to the
that event says:
American Con-
“By nightfall on 10 May, 1940, Churchill was prime minservative Union,
ister. He later wrote of how, when he went to bed that night, and a man whose
he was conscious ‘of a profound sense of relief. At last I had courage and te-
authority to give directions over the whole scene. I felt as nacity are well-
if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had chronicled.
been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial.’ Yet
You gave him
there was still some Conservative opposition to his emer- your best shots
gence as prime minister; on May 11 Lord Davidson wrote and he took it like
to Stanley Baldwin: ‘The Tories don’t trust Winston. After a man. Now, as
the first clash of war is over it may well be that a sounder he heads toward
government may emerge.’”
the nomination, I
Obviously historical parallels are never perfect, but I be- urge you to conlieve
this one reflects the reality that, like Churchill, Mc- tinue to be criti-
Cain’s whole life has been but preparing him to be best able cal, but to do so in measured ways that will not damage his
to lead our nation and prosecute this war on terror to a suc- ability to win in November against those who would weaken
cessful conclusion.
our nation’s defense, wave a white flag to al-Qaida, socialize
His courageous and perspicacious support for the surge our health-care system, and promote income redistribution
in Iraq gives him a unique role to play in this trial, every bit and class warfare instead of economic growth and equality
as important as defeating Nazism and fascism.
of opportunity.
The mistakes he alluded to in his CPAC speech reflect
With Supreme Court appointments to be made in the near
humility going forward that is encouraging to those of us future and attacks mounting on traditional family values, it’s
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critical to our cause to have a candidate who can appeal to
Reagan Democrats and independent voters who share our
world view. The stakes are enormous, and I urge you to put
the McCain candidacy into historical perspective and recognize
that he isn’t just a bulldog of the Senate, but that he can
become the lion of the 21st century.
Jack Kemp is founder and chairman of Kemp Partners.
© Copley News Service