Saturday night, Twitter went crazy when Joe Cao voted at the last minute for Pelosicare. People were outraged at his betrayal. I wasn’t one of them. I remembered that he’d voted against Cap and Tax and that he’s from an ultraliberal district. His district is as liberal as Pelosi’s district. It isn’t a matter of settling for a Dede Scozzafava in a red district. It’s a matter of settling for someone who’ll vote for John Boehner as Speaker in January, 2011.

Powerline’s John Hinderaker reminds us that it’s better to build the Republican Party by recruiting conservatives to be the core of the GOP rather than thinking about building a third party in this post:

In the meantime, let’s leave it with this: we were often critical of President George W. Bush. When he left office, I gave him a B- grade overall. But President Bush would have vetoed Pelosicare. This is the stark difference between our political parties: the Democrats are hell-bent on dismantling free enterprise and advancing government power over every aspect of our lives; the Republicans are not. Conservatives cannot afford to be neutral or indifferent as between the parties, nor can they afford the narcissism of third-party vanity campaigns. Conservatives must work every day to strengthen the Republican Party–it’s the only hope we have. And, yes, strengthening the party will sometimes mean drawing the line at a Dede Scozzafava. But purity is not our object here; victory is.

That’s the type of clear thinking that we need heading into 2010 and especially into 2012. There’s a far bigger adversary that needs fighting:

Obama and congressional Democrats could frustrate the emerging coalition by changing course, seeking a “reset” in relations with Republicans, and agreeing to bipartisan (and far less costly) deals on health care and other domestic policies. But they’re too stubbornly ideological for that. They’ve decided voters in Virginia and New Jersey were sending no message at all.

Instead, their response is: If you don’t like what we’re offering, we’ll give you more of it. Far more Americans oppose Obamacare than support it. Yet Democratic representative Gerald Connolly of Virginia said he “concluded” from last week’s election that “we’ve got to pass health care…[and] give Democrats something to be excited about.” It’s “a matter of tangibles being delivered,” said Democratic representative Jan Schakowsky of Illinois.

Obama and congressional Democrats must be the GOP’s targets in 2010, NOT Joe Cao. If all we do is rid the GOP of Joe Cao, then 2011 still starts with Speaker Pelosi getting elected to another 2 year term as Speaker. NO THANKS!!!

Democrats are putting themselves in the public’s crosshairs with their irresponsible spending, this destructive Pelosicare bill and the job-killing Cap-And-Tax bill. Democorats have painted big red bullseyes on their chests. Contrary to conventional wisdom, though, those bullseyes aren’t just painted on the Blue Dog Democrats’ chests.

It’s my belief that a surprising number of hyperpartisan liberal Democrats will be unemployed a year from now, too. It’s my opinion because this year’s legislation, pushed through by Pelosi and Obama, is a crystallizing moment in American politics. People are appalled with the irresponsible priorities and spending that they’ve seen this year.

It’s my belief that 2010 will bring worse news for Democrats. That’s got to be our focus. That’s my belief because the focus will shift to the bad economy ant that the Democrats’ policies have made a bad economy worse. It’s one thing to be in charge of a sinking ship. It’s another thing to be seen as the captain who’s sinking the ship.

Let’s rally, people, to defeat Democrats, not Republicans. Do we really want to take the chance that we aren’t the majority party because we defeated Cao? If you want to defeat him, wait until we’ve got a sizable majority, not when we’re bordering on statistical irrelevance.

John’s idea of rebuilding the GOP with conservatives is a time-tested approach. As Fred Barnes points out, that’s what happened in 1978-80. It worked great once. Let’s follow that blueprint again. If we do, we’ll have plenty of reasons to sing Happy Days Are Here Again.

Technorati: GOP, Rebuild The Party, Conservatism, Federalism, Joseph Cao, Majority Party, Election 2010

Cross-posted at California Conservative