Are you Republican Enough? RNC's Purity Test

MSNBC has received a resolution being emailed amongst the Republican Party. It is a "GOP Purity Test" of sorts meant to discover whether or not candidates are truly Republican. After the upset in NY-23 you would think alienating moderates would be the last thing the GOP would attempt, however it seems NY-23 was the start of purifying and purging of moderate members. You can read the test below:

The "Resolution on Reagan’s Unity Principle for Support of Candidates" outlines 10 conservative principles the group of signees wants potential candidates to abide by. The principles include support for:

(1) Smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill
(2) Market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run healthcare;
(3) Market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation;
(4) Workers’ right to secret ballot by opposing card check
(5) Legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;
(6) Victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;
(7) Containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat
(8) Retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;
(9) Protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion; and
(10) The right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership

According to the authors, the resolution mention's Reagan because "President Ronald Reagan believed, as a result, that someone who agreed with him 8 out of 10 times was his friend, not his opponent."

Steve Benen:

It occurs to me, looking over the list, that George W. Bush would have been deemed ineligible for support from the Republican National Committee. He did, after all, increase the size of government, run enormous deficits, endorsed cap and trade, allowed North Korea and Iran to become more serious security threats, and rejected the right's line on immigration.
For that matter, I'm not sure if Ronald Reagan would have gotten RNC support, either. Reagan, you'll recall, voted for several tax increases, began the modern era of massive federal debt, ran huge deficits, and approved an immigration measure the far-right still resents.*
And it's not just the past, either -- Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) of Maine would easily fail this test, and be made ineligible for support from her own party

Is this the future of the Republican Party? I suggest they make each candidate take the test, however if I recall during the election last year, the nation rejected these principles by a wide margin. Principles should be essential qualities that GOP expects of candidates, not Frank Luntz talking points. If this is truly what they are looking for I am not so certain they will have any viable candidates in 2010.


I am Frank Chow and I approved this message