Cruz wannabes in GOP primary
Six years ago the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate featured a right-wing candidate and a conservative candidate, and the right-wing Ken Buck won. He also lost in a close race to Sen. Michael Bennet in November.
History can’t exactly repeat itself this year, since there are five GOP candidates in the June 28 primary. Yet Republicans once again could choose a hard-right candidate who in a presidential election year would seemingly have little chance of defeating a sitting Democratic senator, especially one with the credentials Bennet boasts of working effectively across the aisle.
That’s why it was startling to read that Darryl Glenn, the El Paso County commissioner who was the choice of Republicans at their state convention, had blasted the moderator of a GOP debate sponsored by Colorado Public Television when asked how he would work Glenn across party lines to find compromises.
“I think your question exemplifies what’s wrong with America and the frustration out there. You don’t get it,” Glenn said. “It’s not about reaching across the aisle. … You need a leader to stand up there and represent the values of this country.”
To be clear, no one was asking Glenn to give up his principles or priorities. But if he thinks big issues such as tax reform, entitlement reform, immigration and debt will be dealt with by Congress without at least some bipartisan buy-in, then he’s living in dream land. And that’s particularly true if the sort of divided government we’ve had for the past six years continues.
In fact, there have been bipartisan successes in the past couple of years, including reform of federal education policy that had been stymied for a decade and a longterm highway bill that ended the practice of short extensions.
In both cases — and there have been others — Republicans and Democrats compromised. If Glenn doesn’t see the value in that conduct, he is not fit to be senator.
Nor is Glenn alone among Republican hopefuls to portray himself as someone who would adopt an in-your-face style in Washington. The blustery Robert Blaha told Kyle Clark of 9News the other day that his role model as a senator is Ted Cruz.
And he stuck Blaha with this claim when asked to choose between Cruz and the more amicable, effective style of Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner.
“I’m closer to the Ted Cruz model,” Blaha said.
Cruz, lest we forget, did not only fail to get along with Democrats after his election in 2012. He made a habit of attacking fellow Republicans, including many conservatives. Indeed, “anyone who recognized the limits of political possibility with a liberal president was smeared as lacking philosophical conviction,” according to the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page.
Needless to say, compromise is a dirty word in the Cruz lexicon.
Republicans have a big decision next month. It would be good not only for their party but for Colorado politics generally if they rejected the theatrics of loudmouth confrontation.