Keeping it pure

By RICK HOROWITZ   Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011
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The real message being delivered was a shot across the bow: Any contender who wants a realistic shot at winning back the White House will need the tea party’s fervor to make it happen.”

--Politico, “Tea Party Power on Display at Debate”

We’re watching you.

We’re watching what you do. We’re watching what you say.

We’re watching who you work with, and who you talk to.

We’re the Purity Police. The Tea Party Purity Police.

If you want to move into the White House, or into the governor’s mansion, you need us. If you want to stay in the Senate, or in the House of Representatives, you need us.

It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter who you’ve been. You can have presidential dreams and a presidential war chest. You can be a senior member of the Republican congressional caucus. You can be a popular former governor looking to make a comeback. We don’t care.

The “P” in GOP now stands for Purity.

If you’re with us most of the time on most of the issues? Not good enough. If your positions Way Back Then don’t square up with the approved positions Right This Minute? Not good enough!

Did you ever work across the aisle? Did you ever sign on to a compromise? Did you ever grow the size of the government?

Did you ever approve a tax increase?

You’re toast.

We are not shy about our views. We whoop when you agree with us. We boo when you don’t. Let the execution chamber do its work; we cheer for the execution chamber—and the busier, the better. Let the young man without health insurance die untended; he is not our responsibility. Send the illegals back where they came from. Eliminate an agency, or a dozen.

We are the engine. We are the energy. We have the fervor. We have the fever.

We’re taking names.

We have no tolerance for deviation. Deviation is for deviants. You will agree with Tea party doctrine—not partially, or half-heartedly, but totally and completely, with every fiber of your body and your soul. You will agree with tea party philosophy and tea party history, with tea party science and tea party math.

If you don’t—if ever you didn’t—we are coming for you. We’ve even invented a new verb for you: We will “primary” you.

That’s right: The “P” in GOP now stands for Primary. We will take you down.

So don’t even think about moving to “the center”—on our maps, there is no “center.” There is only one place. There is only where we are.

This is not your grandfather’s Republican Party. This is not even your father’s Republican Party. This is the new, sterilized and mobilized, purified and sanctified Republican Party!

If you harbor doubts…

If you favor more “moderate” approaches, or more “pragmatic” solutions…

Be gone! This is no longer your home. There is no room for you here.

Have we made ourselves clear? We always make ourselves clear. We’re the Purity Police, and we’re watching you.

The “P” in GOP now stands for—Perfection.

Rick Horowitz is a syndicated columnist. You can write to him at rickhoro@execpc.com.

reader COMMENTS
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(35)
fearandrhetoric4dummies
Sep 17, 2011 at 9:59 a.m.
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Keep reading the articles Degenerate, and keep responding to him as "snot nosed", makes you look silly.
As far as "Dr" Krauthammer, I feel he is an intelligent man just WRONG, and severely shortsighted. I do find it funny how a Harvard educated man is a point of discussion when its a man who agrees with you , but then when it is brought up with Obama, education means NOTHING!! You are absolutely hilarious!

but hey since we are comparing resumes:


Rick Horowitz is a syndicated columnist, TV commentator, public speaker and writing coach. He's a winner of two National Headliner Awards for his column, which appears on opinion pages across the country. He's also won two Emmys for his imaginative weekly commentaries on Milwaukee Public Television’s “InterCHANGE.”
Graduated from
Brandeis University and NYU law school, and served as a lawyer in Washington and knows the insider politics of that town as good or better than anyone.
Degenerate- people like you are predictable whiners and havenothing real to add to any argument, but its good to take you down just like I did when you were Kaystew. Cheers!!

fearandrhetoric4dummies
Sep 16, 2011 at 5:22 p.m.
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Funny how the Horowitz haters are on EVERY single blog reading his articles and responding, and you wonder why they keep running them?
Same reason they run the drivel written by that ugly, frankenstien looking imbecile, Chuck Krauthammer. So please spare us all the whining and complaining every single week about Horowitz, he is syndicated writer and a very good one at that, he is very successful for a reason, not because he is a stupid man.
Funny thing is that the same bunch of ornry old degenerate conservatives are th same old ones whining week in and week out, hilarious!!
Syndicated columnists are almost always talented and successful for a reason, disagree with him and move on, you haters always come back read and complain next week. its called Howard Stern syndrome.

SuperDave
Sep 16, 2011 at 4:59 p.m.
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I've been avoiding Horowitz because of his poor writing style and inability to persuade. He simply makes things up, and mocks those with which he disagrees. A fifth grader could do this job. Anyway, I got here by clicking on the link under "Popular Discussions" on the right sidebar, started reading, and thought "who is this moron", then I looked, and pretty much freaked out that I had given the loon even one click - I assume because he is such a lightening rod of ignorance, intolerance, and the poster boy of jumping to conclusions, that he gets lots of looks from many readers - myself having been one for some time. So I won't even bother to comment on this particular column, it's just more of the same contentless bluster and whimsical buffoonery. I had hoped that my (and many other readers) previous comments would have deleted this loser from this site entirely, but as I said using other words, he is such a polarizing, unthinking louse that it's hard to look away. When Horowitz writes, it's like a train wreck - how can you not look?
So please understand that if you reply to my comment, I will not see it as I have no need for this absolutist, statist, pseudo-intellectual garbage - AND, I don't want MY clicks to count on his side of the scoreboard. And I would advise you to stop reading Horowitz too. If no one reads his claptrap, he WILL be deleted. And not a minute too soon!

Shrek
Sep 16, 2011 at 3:57 p.m.
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Panama,
I actually don't watch Hannity, I am just calling it as I see it. It seems that you are embarrased by your position on things, I myself and very comfortable identifying as a conservative.

Ezoner
Sep 16, 2011 at 3:29 p.m.
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MSNBC

M=More
S=Stupid
N=Nonsense
B= BY
C=Cookie People

PanamaRed
Sep 16, 2011 at 2:33 p.m.
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"You are blinded by your allegiance to the liberal doctrine."
Wow Shrek, quoting Hannity now. Great stuff!

What's the matter Diogenes, having a flashback?
Based on your last response, my guess is you're a Michele Bachmann supporter, many of her comments also lack any connection with reality.

Shrek
Sep 16, 2011 at 8:33 a.m.
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Panama,
You are blinded by your allegiance to the liberal doctrine. Open you mind and you will see that there are other viewpoints to every issue, unfortunately you are unable to grasp this.
***
In fact, after reading many of your comments, I see that you have the same problem that mosts liberals have. You think that you are intelligent and well educated, when in fact you do not have the ability to see simple logic. You will fight to the bitter end to support a flawed argument rather than admit that MSNBC could be feeding you a line of crap.

PanamaRed
Sep 15, 2011 at 9:57 p.m.
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Hey Shrek, why does the GOP and Tea Party believe in the sanctity of life regarding abortion yet support taking an individuals life in capital punishment cases? Can't get more hypocritical than that!

If you watched the debate Shrek, it was obvious the Tea Party audience agreed with Ron Paul; anyone without the ability to pay for health care should be denied treatment and allowed to die. Period.

Shrek
Sep 15, 2011 at 2:19 p.m.
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Why is it that the liberals fought to remove life support from Terry Shiavo(sp?) a few years ago, but now are so concerned about a hypothetical? Sounds like hypocrisy to me.
***
Those that try to belittle my comments are obviously the ones that know nothing about the TEA party. Ignorance and blind allegiance will get you nowhere.

poorrichard
Sep 15, 2011 at 1:52 p.m.
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In one ear,out the other.

PanamaRed
Sep 15, 2011 at 1:15 p.m.
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You sure are one gullible individual or you simply don't care what the truth is Diogenes. Either way, you are perfect GOP material.

PanamaRed
Sep 15, 2011 at 9:38 a.m.
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Diogenes, I wouldn't expect anyone who makes assumptions and jumps to conclusions as easily as you do to grasp much beyond the obvious. Mr. Blitzer's question was quite specific and the spontaneous Tea Party response was so obvious, even you should be able to grasp it's implication. To suggest any of the exchange was taken out of context is just a feeble attempt to justify the Tea Party position that anyone lacking the ability to pay for needed health care should be denied treatment and allowed to die unless a church or friends and family chip in. So I guess if I run a little short of funds covering my next physical I can count on you to help me out, right buddy?

poorrichard
Sep 15, 2011 at 9:12 a.m.
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PanamaRed-
ONE person,who hollered YES, that had enough of Blitzers "real life scenario" as you called it does not capture the "true spirit of the Tea Party". You are not qualified to say that because you don't know the true spirit of the Tea Party and never will. You're too brainwashed by your liberal buddies in the unions and Soros bought main stream media. So go back to backing abortions and pulling the plug on real people.

PanamaRed
Sep 14, 2011 at 11:15 p.m.
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Shrek, go to youtube and watch the debate video for yourself before you make baseless claims. The real life scenario as described by the moderator, Mr. Blitzer, captures the true spirit of the Tea Party. It has nothing to do with liberal leanings. The video showing the Tea Party cheering for death over life when it came to a question of money, speaks for itself.

justmy414
Sep 14, 2011 at 8:17 p.m.
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Shreck, you are right. They are often actually much worse than they are portrayed.

poorrichard
Sep 14, 2011 at 7:57 p.m.
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PanamaRed-
I felt sickened when Terri Schiavo was let to die, by the way, a "real" person not a "make believe" person.
I feel sickened by the millons of abortions that have happened in this country, "real" babies, not "make believe".
So please don't lecture the Tea Party or the GOP on evil-Your side wrote the book on it.

Shrek
Sep 14, 2011 at 4:09 p.m.
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I am a conservative, though not a TEA party member. I personally know a number of TEA party members and none of them are what liberals try to paint them as. They are not a bunch of racists and most are not extremists. Please take the time to learn about your opponents rather than just listening to the lies spread by moveon and MSNBC. You will find that many of their arguments make sense.

PanamaRed
Sep 14, 2011 at 3:57 p.m.
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Did anyone else watching the GOP debate Monday feel sickened by the cheering approval of Tea Party members that believe an individual should be allowed to die if they don’t have health insurance? The very same GOP candidates that vehemently state the need to abolish “Obamacare” either formerly or currently receive THEIR health care under the exact same configuration as the national Health Care Bill. Every Republican member of Congress enjoys the exact same access to health care that they want to deny taxpayers. Yes indeed, the Tea Party and GOP demand purity...as in pure evil.

unclesmoothie
Sep 13, 2011 at 3:47 p.m.
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Your very welcome.

futurerichguy
Sep 13, 2011 at 3:45 p.m.
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Unclesmoothie, I read through your previous posts, and I kind of doubt that's what your point is. The name calling does make me feel better, yes, thank you.

unclesmoothie
Sep 13, 2011 at 3:40 p.m.
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My point is that there are extremists in ALL political parties. You could re-write the entire column inserting what each party does. There are no moderates anymore. As the days pass, each party becomes more extreme and stuck in their ideological ways. It isn't doing anyone any good. What bothers me most is that people read these types of columns (from all points of view) and accept them as fact. I knew when I wrote that the liberals would get nasty, and futurerichguy proves my point. Does the name calling make you feel better?

futurerichguy
Sep 13, 2011 at 3:33 p.m.
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The "I" in unclesmoothie stands for idiot.

Badgerlvr
Sep 13, 2011 at 3:01 p.m.
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unclesmoothie: You've just proven my mother right; "There's a fool born every minute."

unclesmoothie
Sep 13, 2011 at 1:37 p.m.
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We have no tolerance for deviation. deviation is for deviants. You will agree with the liberal doctrine- not partially, or half-heartedly, but totally and completely, with every fiber of your body and soul. You will agree with liberal philosophy and liberal history, with liberal science and liberal math.

If you don't- if you ever didn't- we are coming for you. We have an old verb for you: we will "recall" you.

That's right: the "R" in liberal stands for recall. We will take you down.

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