Pretend for a minute that you’re a national Republican party icon and you want to help a political newcomer win your party’s gubernatorial primary in one of the most liberal states in the country against a former Republican governor who raised taxes and proposed the largest annual spending increase in that state’s history.
Keep in mind that the largest voting bloc in that state’s Republican primary is in one of the country’s most liberal counties, which elected the pro-choice and pro-gun control but fiscally conservative Connie Morella to Congress eight times.
When you dramatically endorse this political newcomer on your facebook page, would you.......
A. Start off highlighting his opposition to choice and gun control (even though neither is a popular position in his state)?
B. Mention something about energy independence (which is number 34 on every poll’s list of top ten issues voters care about right now)?
C. Ignore taxes and spending (even though your newcomer is running against a former Republican governor who raised both, and Maryland’s Republican primary voters, many of whom are liberal on other issues, uniformly oppose raising taxes and increasing government spending)?
If you picked all of the above, you probably endorsed Maryland Republican gubernatorial contender Brian Murphy not for his benefit, but instead to boost Bob Ehrlich’s prospects in the general election against Gov. O’Malley. That’s right; the best thing Sarah Palin could do for Bob Ehrlich was to endorse his Republican primary opponent. In case you forgot, a few weeks ago Bob Ehrlich flat-out told Sarah Palin not to endorse him. So she didn’t.
Shedding his right wing skin
Bob Ehrlich knows Maryland voters like their Republicans a little on the liberal side, so he’s distancing himself from his conservative politics to draw Democratic votes. If Bob Ehrlich could pull it off, he’d have his old friend Newt Gingrich endorse Mr. Murphy, even though he loyally served under Mr. Gingrich in Congress.
The trouble is Bob Ehrlich spent the past four years feeding raw conservative meat to his hardcore base as a right wing talk radio host. On the air, he and his wife embraced not just the tea party, but also the most intolerant immigration opponents and Sarah Palin herself, from the day John McCain selected her as his running mate through his pronouncement a few weeks ago. As governor he talked the talk on protecting the Bay, but he fought stringent clean air standards and eviscerated Program Open Space.
His former state police chief, Ed Norris, recently revealed that Mr. Ehrlich’s first order of police business after his inauguration was not to improve law enforcement, go after bad guys, or help local police forces; instead, according to Ed Norris, Mr. Ehrlich’s first order of police business was to to bring in Wayne LaPierre, head of the NRA, to figure out how to get more guns into the hands of more Marylanders. I’m not making this up; listen to this clip from Ed Norris’s July 9th show, hosting Brian Murphy of all people, starting at the 6:45 mark.
So Bob Ehrlich’s record and his rhetoric show his true right wing colors, while his tax and spend history reveals his hypocrisy. Sarah Palin’s endorsement, whether sincere or not, brought attention to Mr. Ehrlich’s spunky Republican primary opponent, Brian Murphy, who took the opportunity to turn the discussion back to Mr. Ehrlich’s fiscal failure:
"Bob Ehrlich continues to say whatever he thinks the people want to hear. He claims to have fought for lower taxes and smaller government, but as Governor he raised taxes by $3 billion and grew our government more than any governor in history."
- Republican candidate Brian Murphy
Good fiscal news for Gov. O’Malley
Meanwhile, last week brought good news for Gov. O’Malley, as four straight months of employment growth in Maryland and the first signs of national economic recovery boosted state revenue. Scott Dance of the Baltimore Business Journal reported that state officials are closing out the state’s fiscal year with a $300 million surplus.
Shameless self promotion
Red Maryland blogger Mark Newgent and I squared off again on Maryland Public Television’s State Circle with Jeff Salkin last Friday. See the VIDEO here (following a more important discussion on Baltimore's Living Wage proposal).
- Steve Lebowitz, Annapolis
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