Richard Viguerie: 'Cranky conservatives' are Responsible for Sarah Palin Pick

Conservatives who kept silent deserve no credit for selection that saved the
GOP

MANASSAS, Va., Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Conservatives who refused to fall
in line behind the Republican Party -- who maintained their independence, at
the price of being ridiculed as "cranky" or "impossible to please" -- are the
ones responsible for John McCain's brilliant, game-changing selection of Sarah
Palin, Richard A. Viguerie said.
"Those who backed John McCain as the 'lesser of two evils' did no favors
to themselves, their movement, or to Senator McCain," said Viguerie, chairman
of ConservativeHQ.com. "He needed to know what conservatives really thought,
and he needed to know what had to be done to get conservatives
enthusiastically on board his campaign.
"As we know now, what he had to do was pick Sarah Palin," he said.
Viguerie said credit for the Palin selection belongs, "of course, to
Senator McCain, but also to those who made it clear that, without a strong,
principled conservative on the ticket, they would vote for it -- but do little
else."
Specifically, Viguerie listed, as the heroes of the campaign for a
conservative running mate:
-- Those conservatives who withheld their support and refused to endorse
Senator McCain until after he announced his vice presidential selection.
-- Conservatives, especially religious conservatives, who "went nuclear"
in their criticism in the past couple of weeks before the announcement upon
hearing that the pick might be Joe Lieberman, Tom Ridge, or someone nearly as
disastrous for the McCain campaign and the Republican Party. ("Those of us
who spoke up strongly were roundly criticized by some conservatives," Viguerie
noted.) It was our firestorm that stopped that catastrophe from coming to
pass.
-- The bloggers and radio talk show hosts who spent day after day
detailing conservatives' problems with John McCain, and who kept the focus on
the most important question: Who are the people who would make and carry out
policy in a McCain administration?
-- Those who chose to stay home rather than vote in Republican primaries
when there was no real top-tier conservative contender.
-- Those who threw Republican fundraising letters in the trash, and who
gave Republican telemarketers a piece of their mind instead of their money.
"Some folks raise questions about John McCain's health," Viguerie said,
"but we know one thing about his health: His hearing works just fine.
"Across this country, conservatives and Republicans at every level let
John McCain know what he needed to do to get them fired up and excited and
ready to go door-to-door and make phone calls and do all the things that have
to be done. They told him, and he listened, and his selection of Sarah Palin
has completely turned his campaign around.
"Contrast the principled conservatives with those conservatives who lacked
the courage to speak up. As much as anyone, conservatives who remained silent
bear responsibility for the Republican Party's drift away from conservative
principles, and into disaster, over the past eight, ten, twelve years."
One of Senator McCain's idols is Teddy Roosevelt, Viguerie noted, "and
Teddy Roosevelt spoke of how the credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose
face is marred by sweat and blood, who, if he fails, at least fails while
daring greatly. The go-along-to-get-along crowd are 'cold and timid souls,'
while those conservatives who held to their principles are the men and women
'in the arena' who can claim their own share of John McCain and Sarah Palin's
triumph last night."
Richard A. Viguerie Contact: Cynthia Chambliss, (703) 396-6971
ConservativeHQ.com After 6 PM Eastern time & weekends, contact
9625 Surveyor Court, Vi Shields (703) 906-6542 or
Suite 400 Cynthia Chambliss, (703) 930-5148
Manassas, Virginia 20110
rav@conservativesbetrayed.com

SOURCE ConservativeHQ.com

Richard A. Viguerie, rav@conservativesbetrayed.com, or Cynthia Chambliss,
+1-703-396-6971, or After 6 PM Eastern time & weekends, Vi Shields,
+1-703-906-6542, or Cynthia Chambliss, +1-703-930-5148, all for
ConservativeHQ.com