The Non-Endorsement Endorsement

Ever notice how Republican initiatives mean the oppositive of what they really are?

For example, Leave No Child Behind actually leaves quite a few kids behind.  The Clear Skies Initiative is a gift to pollutors.  And on the Flash Report, the non-endorsement “character reference” endorsement by Jon Flieschman of a Republican candidate for “retiring” Rep. Doolittle, Rico Oller sure as hell reads like an endorsement to me.

Jon states, “as an elected California Republican Party officer, I am precluded from endorsing candidates in contested Republican primaries.  Consider this a “character reference” if you will” for former State Rep and State Senator Rico Oller.

And Jon writes: “Rico is all aces.  He is a man of strong faith, and has a true understanding if (sic) His role in our lives.  What better a place for anyone to start?  He is a man who believes in his family and is a loving father.  He is a man of strong philosophical belief and ideological grounding.  Rico is a Republican because he is conservative.  An important distinction.  He not only understands the importance of a limited role for government, and the importance of liberty and freedom for Americans — he is passionate about it.”

Sure sounds like an endorsement to me.  Wonder what the other Republicans running would think.  Wonder what leadership in the CRP thinks about this post?  Ethical or not?  Read the whole thing here.  More after the flip.

But here’s the part that makes me chuckle.

“Right now, we have some amazing problems in Washington, D.C.  Not only are the liberal Democrats running the institution into the ground with Speaker Nancy Pelosi leading the charge, but the minority Republicans are going through an important time — trying to figure out if they are prepared to acknowledge that we lost our way on spending (and in doing so, lost the majority) and whether we can truly return to being a party that stands for limited government.
 
We need to elect someone in CD 4 who will be an integral part of a growing conservative base within the House Republican Conference — one that wants to end a culture of support for egregious earmarks, one that is willing to put aside parochial interests in support of restoring our Party back to its rightful place as one of fiscal discipline.”

First of all, I challenge Jon to find any example of Republicans in Washington limiting the scope of government  in this century or the last.  Secondly, polls indicate in 2008, Republicans and conservatives in the House and Senate will shrink, not grow.  Support for earmarks was never a problem when Republicans were in charge and it was Republicans in the majority who spent money like teenage boys with whiskey and car keys (no discipline).  Pelosi and the Liberals are hardly running the government into the ground; that would be ture of obstructionist Republicans.  And lastly, Jon ignores the elephant in the room — the Iraq War — as a reason why voters nationally are disenchanted with the Right Wing.

The seat is not being conceded by Democrats not matter how safe Jon thinks it is for Republicans.  Rep. Doolitte, closely associated with disgranced and convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, taints the Republicans in this district and the people of California deserve someone who will represent the interests of everyone in the district and not just Republican interests.