Be Wary The Advice Our Betters Offer

As we prepare for the upcoming republican primary, we are treated to an awful lot of advice, offered freely and liberally by the wisest of the wise. We are told that moderation is the only way for conservatives to win. It's the only thing that's won in the past and it's the only thing that'll win today.

I would, however, caution us to be wary of the political arguments pitched our way. A key example of the double speak that raises my ire would be the 1996 Presidential race, in which the Dems strenuously made the argument that if Bob Dole was serious in running for president, then Bob Dole had to resign from the Senate. Though an effective majority leader, he had to take this step if he was serious about running a campaign, as certainly any man involved in a presidential campaign would necessarily be short changing the American people if he were to keep a valuable senate seat while spending most of his time for a year or more making the run for office. Bob Dole was a straight guy. Bob Dole thought the argument had merit. Bob Dole resigned his seat in the Senate.

Since then we have had presidential campaigns involving Senators Joseph Lieberman (VP candidate, Democrat 2000), John F Kerry (Pres. candidate, Democrat 2004), John Edwards (VP candidate, Democrat 2004), Joseph Biden (VP candidate, Democrat 2008), and Barack Obama (Pres. candidate, Democrat 2008), and not one of these men resigned their Senate seats during their campaign efforts. Of these five, the senate seat John Edwards held was up for election at the same time as the presidential election. He chose not to run to hold this seat. It was largely thought he would have had a hard time winning re-election, but all of that is neither here nor there. The bottom line is he did not resign from his seat while running in the presidential election. Five senatorial candidates in twelve years, all Democrats, and not only did they not resign from their seats while campaigning, the issue never even came up.