Coston's Complaint: The 2014 Rino Season is Officially Open

Monday, January 13, 2014

The 2014 Rino Season is Officially Open

2014 is here. The Rino hunt has begun. Conservatives and Tea Party activist have had enough of the status quo. The Republican D.C. establishment has abused our good faith long enough. The two obvious collaborators have each received a slap across the face. The first broadside was sent to Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina last September by the Fairfield County Republican Executive Committee. Here is their censure:

During their regular monthly meeting on Thursday, September 19, eighty-two percent of the Fairfield County Republican Party Executive Committee voted to pass a seven page Resolution censoring U. S. Senator Lindsey Graham.

Copies of the Censure Resolution were sent to Senator Graham, SCGOP Chairman Matt Moore and each SouthCarolina county chairman. The Greenville County Republican Party Executive Committee is set to vote on a similar censure of Sen. Graham during their regular meeting on October 7, 2013. The Resolution was introduced in August.

The Resolution listed 29 actions that Fairfield County Republicans “strongly disapprove of and hold to be fundamentally inconsistent with the principles of the South Carolina Republican Party.”

1. Voted to confirm Obama’s appointment to Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.
2. Supported arming Al Qaeda/Muslim Brotherhood Revolutionaries in Syria.
3. Supported amnesty but not border control.
4. Supported NSA spying on private American citizens.
5. Supported abridging the First Amendment for those who criticize the government.
6. Supported massive new internet sales tax.
7. Supported restrictions on the Second Amendment.
8. Supported Obama’s drone program against American Citizens.
9. Supported subordinating American sovereignty to the United Nations.
10. Supported giving foreign aid to terrorist governments in the Middle East.
11. Supported granting members of the Muslim Brotherhood high level positions in the U. S. Government.
12. Supported giving taxpayer money to international organizations.
13. Supported giving taxpayer money for excessive foreign aid, not just terrorist organizations in the Middle East.
14. Opposed principled application of free trade policies.
15. Supported restricting the First Amendment rights to criticize Islamic radicalism.
16. Opposed making Bush tax cuts permanent.
17. Supported Obama’s appointments to the Supreme Court (2010).
18. Sided with Democrats on government regulation to combat “climate change.”
19. Criticized the SCGOP for defending the Republican platform.
20. Supported Obama’s appointments to Supreme Court (2009).
21. Supported liberal proposal to nationalize banks.
22. Supported Obama’s energy taxes and Cap and Trade.
23. Supported bailouts for financial institutions (TARP).
24. Supported bailouts for independent mortgage institutions (Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac).
25. Supported amnesty but not border control – and sided with Ted Kennedy over Jim DeMint.
26. Opposed President Bush’s conservative nominee from South Carolina to the Court of Appeals.
27. Praised Hillary Clinton’s prospects for higher office.
28. Failed to fight for President Bush’s conservative judicial nominees generally.
29. Opposed medical malpractice tort reform.

Each of the above items were accompanied with documented justification. The final paragraph in the Resolution reads as follows:

“This body takes this action and adopts this Resolution in full confidence in its own good faith, with no personal animosity or ill will to the supporters of Lindsey Graham or to Lindsey Graham himself, to whom this body extends its hand in friendship and warmly looks forward to his rejoining us as private citizen of the State of South Carolina.

And for the biggest Rino of them all, Senator John McCain was censured as well by the Maricopa County GOP. Here is the full resolution:

Senator John McCain Censured by Arizona’s Republican Leadership

As leaders in the Republican Party, we are obligated to fully support our Party, platform, and its candidates. Only in times of great crisis or betrayal is it necessary to publicly censure our leaders. Today we are faced with both. For too long we have waited, hoping Senator McCain would return to our Party’s values on his own. That has not happened. So with sadness and humility we rise and declare:

Whereas Senator McCain has amassed a long and terrible record of drafting, co-sponsoring and voting for legislation best associated with liberal Democrats, such as Amnesty, funding for ObamaCare, the debt ceiling, assaults on the Constitution and 2^nd amendment, and has continued to support liberal nominees;

Whereas this record has been disastrous and harmful to Arizona and the United States; and,

Whereas Senator McCain has campaigned as a conservative and made promises during his re-election campaigns, such as the needed and welcomed promise to secure our borders and finish the border fence, only to quickly flip-flop on those promises; and

Whereas McCain has abandoned our core values and has been eerily silent against Liberals, yet publicly reprimands Conservatives in his own Party, therefore

BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that the Maricopa County Republican leadership censures Senator McCain for his continued disservice to our State and Nation, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that until he consistently champions our Party’s Platform and values, we, the Republican leadership in Arizona will no longer support, campaign for or endorse John McCain as our U.S. Senator.

Rino season is officially open.