John Cornyn, the Texas senator who heads up Republican efforts to recapture control of the Senate, has a reputation as one of the most conservative members of the upper chamber.
He is also one of the most effective.
Cornyn is showing real leadership in his role as campaign chief.
Yesterday, he condemned the remarks made by Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich about President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. Rush and Newt like to call Sonia Sotomayor a racist.
Cornyn condemned those remarks for a couple of reasons. First, they were stupid. She is not a racist, and everybody knows. Second, they were a distraction. Instead of talking about some very real problems with her judicial record, Rush and Newt set up a weak straw-man that was easily knocked down by the media.
Third, this line of attack actually weakens the GOP politically with a key voting bloc. Cornyn, the Texan, understands instinctively the importance of the Hispanic vote. He knows that Republicans have already done a pretty good job of alienating Mexicans, Hondurans, Puerto Ricans and just about every other group that happens to speak Spanish. The Rush and Newt show only makes it worse.
Cornyn wants to win back the Senate, because he knows that a Republican Senate can act as a check on the ambitious Obama agenda. That is why he is recruiting candidates like Charlie Crist, a moderate, who has the best shot of keeping the Florida seat Republican.
Some conservatives are angry at Cornyn because he won’t back a more conservative candidate in the primary. But Cornyn wants to win, not take ideological stands that ultimately fail.
That Cornyn is a conservative is not up for discussion. But he is a conservative who has the brains and the drive to help the Republicans actually win back the Senate.
Cornyn is showing himself to be a Republican superstar.
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