In New York magazine, a venue known best for reviews of hot restaurants, David Frum joins two liberals in an anti-Republican bash-fest, claiming the party is … nuts. Well, the candidate field is not the best possible, but among those not running, the picture is different, and with up-and-comers, is rosy indeed.
Sanity reigns in a wide tranche of people, especially those whom other Republicans tried to drag kicking and screaming into the fray. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is crazy? Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is crazy? New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is extreme?
In blue New Jersey, Christie coaxed important reforms through a legislature controlled by Democrats, and his approval rating is now over 50 percent.
Gov. Bob McDonnell, Christie’s 2009 classmate in purple Virginia, cut his state’s debt, and now has an approval rating in the high 60s. Gov. Bobby Jindal in Louisiana ran for re-election without sopposition.
And Sen. Scott Brown in deep-blue Massachusetts stands a good chance of holding on to the seat long occupied by Teddy Kennedy.
Once this cycle is over, the class of 2010 — a stellar class, rich in nonwhites and in women — all will be coming up fast.
Many of these were backed by the Tea Party, root of all evil, redoubt of Palinesque sin. Was it at moments rash or excessive? Yes, but this was commensurate with the excess of the actions against which it rebelled.
Did it cough up some clunkers? Indeed. But it helped to bring in a parade of political comers who are changing the GOP’s face for the better, while shaking its image as old and exclusively white men.
In 2009, the Tea Party backed Christie, McDonnell and Brown, whose upset put Obamacare on the endangered list, along with its author. In 2010, it ushered in Hispanics (Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez); blacks (Reps. Allen West of Florida and Tim Scott of South Carolina); women (New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte and South Dakota Rep. Kristi Noem); and two future political rock stars, Sen. Marco Rubio in Florida and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Rubio and Haley, the children, respectively, of Cuban and Indian immigrants, are sure to be on a national ticket in the fairly near future, and likely will be fixtures for decades to come.
Are Tea Party favorites in the presidential campaign underperforming? Yes. But since the start of the year, the GOP has been much more in line with its candidates for vice president. They won’t underperform in the next several cycles, when the Rubios, Haleys and others come due.
On the downside, of course, it purged two great elder statesmen — Charlie Crist and Arlen Specter — not known for dazzling minds or rock-solid integrity.
Tea Partiers also refused to be racist or violent, driving the press to a frenzy of impotence. If only it were more like Occupy Wall Street, with its Nazi and communist slogans, whose members raped women, pushed little old ladies and left the city of Santa Cruz, Calif., to cope with a 200-pound pile of excrement.
Meanwhile, those clueless Republican voters, still clinging to God and guns out of bitterness, have done a fairly good job of weeding out the least credible candidates, coming down to the more credentialed and credible of a not-too-inspiring field.
How odd will it be if they settle for Mitt, Mr. Establishment, who, if not the first choice of many, is the fallback position of most?
In that case, the ticket is likely to be Romney/Rubio or Romney/McDonnell, the brand names, of course, for wild-eyed fervor, and just the thing to terrify worldly, intelligent people who read and/or write for New York.
Examiner Columnist Noemie Emery is contributing editor to TheWeekly Standard and author of “Great Expectations: The Troubled Lives of Political Families.”
