Castle: GOP Afraid to Stand Up to Tea Party
E.J. Dionne in The New Republic speaks with Mike Castle about his loss to Christine O'Donnell and the role of the tea party:
On the eve of the primary that would end his electoral career, Rep. Mike Castle was in a reflective mood. He seemed calm and confident, yet almost everything he said sounded valedictory as he offered a prescient analysis that explained in advance a defeat that echoed throughout the nation.
A genial and courtly man in the manner of the elder President Bush (who held a fundraiser for him in Kennebunkport), the nine-term congressman was mourning the decline of both the conciliatory style of politics that animated his career and the moderate Republican disposition that the Tea Party is determined to destroy.
“There are issues on which, as Republicans and Democrats, we should sit down and work out our differences,” Castle said Monday night as we sat outside at Kelly’s Logan House, a watering hole where he has gathered his closest supporters the night before every election since his first victory, for the neighborhood’s state legislative seat, in 1966.
Republicans who might be inclined toward the middle of the road, he said, are petrified of “quick attacks by columnists and the Sean Hannitys of the world. People are very afraid of crossing the line and being called Republicans In Name Only—or worse.” As a result, “not too many members are willing to stand up.”
“Part of it,” he added, “is worry about primaries, and this election has shown the power of very conservative groups.”
Castle’s defeat at the hands of Christine O’Donnell, a perennial candidate who may be the least qualified Senate nominee anywhere in the country, does indeed mark the collapse of the Republican Party not only of Nelson Rockefeller and Tom Dewey, but also of Bob Dole and Howard Baker.
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