Opening On the Right?
On Monday I wrote about Mitt Romney's problems in his effort to become the True Conservative Alternative in 2008 to John McCain and Rudy Guiliani, and suggested there may be a bit of a vacuum on the Right. Since politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum, I suspect there will be a lot of trial balloons getting hoisted in the months ahead for dark horse candidates who could theoretically seize the mantle of the Conservative Movement. Indeed, it's already happening.
The latest name to emerge is Frank Keating, former governor of Oklahoma, who has been quietly working as head of--and presumably a lobbyist for--the national Life Insurance association since leaving office in 2003. Keating's a Catholic and certified Right-to-Lifer with big-time law enforcement credentials, having been an FBI agent back in the day, and Associate Attorney General under Reagan. Interestingly enough, his resume boasts of service in an FBI anti-terrorism effort in the early 1970s. It's hard to have gotten onto the anti-terrorism bus much earlier than that.
Keating achieved some national notice during the Oklahoma City bombings in 1995, and was briefly on George W. Bush's vice-presidential short list in 2000. He's not exactly Mr. Charisma (he apparently has a bit of a problem with uncontrolled rage), but again, we're talking about a conservative movement that's exploring the bottom of the barrel looking for that unspoiled apple.
Speaking of the bottom of the barrel, conservatives could always resort to Newt Gingrich, who is already more or less into the race. His main calling card is his claim to be the man who launched the very Republican Revolution in Congress that his successors allegedly betrayed, which nicely echoes the rationalization that so many conservatives are making in dismissing the ideological implications of the 2006 elections. To burnish his national security credentials, ol' Newt has become a cheerful and outspoken advocate of the idea of morphing the Global War On Terrorism into a rootin', tootin', shootin' World War III, with potential invasions of Iran and North Korea to ease the pain of Bush's Iraqi fiasco. (Way back in the early '80s, Gingrich spent some time urging state legislatures to adopt Lessons of Granada resolutions to celebrate that famous victory as an antidote to the Vietnam Syndrome; this is a guy who knows the value of starting wars to cheer people up after military defeats).
On the down side, the Newtster has a few problems, including his serial marriages, his really bad Civil War novel, and his record as Bill Clinton's punching bag during the last half of the 1990s. But hey, you can't blame the guy for trying.
Indeed, Newt makes a lot of sense as compared to yet another retread who's talking about running in 2008: former Virginia governor and RNC chief Jim Gilmore. In case you've forgotten him, Gilmore's the man who got himself elected as governor in 1997 on a completely irresponsible tax-cut proposal, and then created such a fiscal mess in Richmond that Republicans split and Democrats won two straight gubernatorial elections. The first Democratic win, by Mark Warner in 2001, occured when Gilmore was running the national Republican Party. Gilmore was unceremoniously dumped as party chair after GOPers lost both of the 2001 gubernatorial races.
So why is this guy maybe running for President? Here's Adam Nagourney's report in today's New York Times: "'A void exists,' Mr. Gilmore said in an interview. 'There is just no conservative right now who can mount a national campaign.'"
That's what I've been telling you.
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