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GOP Purity Test Is a 'Suicide Pact'

Republicans are saying that 'thinking people need not apply'

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 28, 2009 12:24 PM CST

(Newser) – Just when things start going in Republicans' favor, along comes the idiotic idea of forcing candidates to take a purity test, complains Kathleen Parker. This is no test—it's a "suicide pact." The idea is to withhold party support from candidates who fail to sign on to 10 so-called principles. It's going to do nothing but scare away independents and moderates who were just beginning to sniff around the party again.

"The problem is that many conservatives have lost faith in the ability of Republican leaders to think," writes Parker in the Washington Post. "The resolutions aren't so much statements of principle as dogmatic responses to complex issues that may, occasionally, require more than a Sharpie check in a little square."

[Images (1)]

[Quotes (1)]

Republican National Chairman Michael Steele. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

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Whatever the intent of the authors, the message is clear: Thinking people need not apply. The formerly elite party of nuanced conservatism might do well to revisit its nonideological roots. - Kathleen Parker

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 38 comments

Cat-Lover

Nov 30, 2009 12:28 PM CST

Never read what THEY think. It doesn't interest me and they don't have the votes.

Cat-Lover

Nov 30, 2009 12:25 PM CST

I, too, was a Republican in those days, but that was then and this is now. The Republican party has been taken over by the anti-Christian ultra-right. It no longer cares about people only about incredible religious doctrines and their own selfish financial benefits.

SilenceDogood

Nov 30, 2009 2:22 AM CST

Thejoint00, I had lunch to day with friends, and I believe what you mentioned will be THE topic that consumes us for quite a while. America is bankrupt, we cannot afford the entitlement programs we have doled out money for, we cannot continue along this path, and soon, even the naive will understand they have been sold out by socialist.

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declaration of principles • conservatism • Republicans • Republican National Committee

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GOP Purity Test Is a 'Suicide Pact'