TERRE HAUTE —
Two stories piqued my interest last week. The first was an interview by the Evansville Courier & Press with Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who again decried “bipartisanship,” which he blames for “taking us to the brink of bankruptcy.” He has vowed to use his Senate seat, should he win, to wage a war on “liberals.”
As the interview went on, Mourdock was asked about the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act — the DREAM Act — a lightning rod of discontent with the Tea Party. Mourdock said the DREAM Act might have been received as an act of compassion decades ago, but asked, “If you reward bad behavior, are you going to get more or less of it in the future?”
On the same day, a true rising star of the Republican Party — U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida — was urging Republicans to accept a compromise on the DREAM Act.
“We have these very talented young people in America who find themselves in limbo through no fault of their own,” Rubio said of children who illegally entered the United States with their parents.
In Rubio’s worldview, there is the “compassion” element that Mourdock acknowledges, and the political one. “We have to get Hispanic voters to vote for our party,” Rubio said, warning that recent polling “spells doom for us.” Latinos backed President Obama over John McCain 67-31 percent in 2008 (Gov. Daniels received 37 percent in that election) after President George W. Bush won 44 percent of their vote in 2004. A recent Pew Research Center poll showed Obama leading Romney 67-27 percent.
In 2006, three Indiana Republican congressmen — John Hostettler, Chris Chocola and Mike Sodrel — all lost reelection campaigns, mostly from the fallout of the Iraq War. But Hostettler went on a multi-city crusade calling for draconian immigration law, and he was joined in part by Sodrel and Chocola.
The Hoosier Latino population is growing and is not fully engaged politically. There are around 50,000 Latinos in Lake and Marion counties each, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, but fewer than 50 percent vote.
The Mourdock challenge to U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar has become a soul-searching event for Indiana Republicans, who have long been part of a tug-of-war between the isolationists and the internationalists dating back to the end of World War I. The former was represented by U.S. Sen. William Ezra Jenner, who entered the Senate in 1944 and became an ally of U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
Sen. Jenner explained in 1954, “We have a well-organized political-action group in this country, determined to destroy our Constitution and establish a one-party state. It operates secretly, silently, continuously to transform our government without suspecting that change is under way. If I seem to be extremist, the reason is that this revolutionary clique cannot be understood, unless we accept the fact that they are extremist.”
In Jenner’s day, the enemy was communism. Today, it is liberalism and even moderate conservatives.
The isolationist wing of the Indiana GOP gave way with Jenner’s retirement in 1958 and the defeat of U.S. Sen. Homer Capehart to Birch Bayh in 1962 to what I call the “internationalists” personified by Sen. Lugar and Gov. Robert Orr, who opened up the Hoosier doors to Asian businesses.
Lugar has been widely assailed for his past support of the DREAM Act. In 2010, in voting for the act, Lugar explained, “The DREAM Act would provide a select group of high-achieving students with a tough but fair pathway to legal residency.”
Business leaders see the DREAM Act as assimilating promising Latino students into American culture. The Tea Party and isolationists see it as the classic slippery slope.
During their debate on April 11, Mourdock said he was urged by members of the Republican Central Committee to challenge Lugar. The campaign announced that 10 of the 18 members had endorsed him. But after the party reorganization in June 2011, seven of those who had endorsed Mourdock were gone, either to retirement or defeat. Several Mourdock lieutenants lost district races.
“We didn’t believe it should be our role to tell people who to vote for,” said 8th CD Vice Chairman Randy Gentry.
We’re seeing a similar changeover with Indiana’s two Republican National Committee positions. Versailles City Councilwoman Dee Dee Benkie and Jim Bopp Jr. — both Mourdock supporters — are giving way to Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman and, most likely, 7th CD Chairman John Hammond III, both backing Lugar. The Senate showdown didn’t prompt the exits, but with Gov. Daniels and Skillman both ardently backing Lugar, it’s still a shift.
Lugar notes that without bipartisanship the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Act wouldn’t have happened.
“It’s a fact of life if you’ve been a legislator for any stretch of time, a member of Congress must work with the other party to get anything done,” he said, adding that he believes Club for Growth, FreedomWorks and Mourdock are seeking ideological purity.
“They must think this is a very good time to purify the Republican Party, eventually to get rid of all the impure, then there will be two houses of purity in Congress, and maybe the presidency, and then we’ll turn it around. If we were to wait for that to occur, it would be a disaster,” Lugar said.
On May 8, Hoosier Republicans will be voting on the direction — and the soul — of the GOP.
Brian Howey publishes at www.howeypolitics.com. Find him on Twitter @hwypol. Contact him at bhowey2@gmail.com.
Opinion
BRIAN HOWEY: Hoosier GOP at a crossroads
- Opinion
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RONN MOTT: Mushrooms = Hoosier happiness
Someone wrote or said a few years ago a statement that would define the word “Hoosier.” According to this urban legend, a Hoosier is somebody dribbling a basketball around the Indy 500 while eating a fried, morel mushroom. It did not define me, at the time.
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EDITORIAL: Insult to an independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
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READERS' FORUM: May 17, 2013
Hinduism doesn’t deserve ridicule — Shefali Purohit, Terre Haute
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RONN MOTT: Israel’s Air Force
Recently the Israeli Air Force bombed and rocketed a convoy leaving Syria going to Lebanon with rockets that were going to be used to attack Israel. It did not get there. It was destroyed.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: Dashing finish for the Sycamores
It’s always thrilling to see Indiana State University’s athletic teams do well in high-level competition, and two specific teams rose to impressive heights last weekend in the Missouri Valley Conference outdoor track and field championships.
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Readers' Forum: May 16, 2013
Moving Deming folks sounds ‘nuts’
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Readers' Forum: May 15, 2013
Participants rise to the challenge: I would like to write a letter congratulating all the Wabash Valley Roadrunners that competed in the One America Indianapolis Mini Marathon.
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RONN MOTT: Media merry-go-round
Round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows. That isn’t a unique phrase to this writer or to this era in time. But, when it comes to the musical chairs of broadcasting, it certainly applies.
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LIZ CIANCONE: Courts see a different appearance than cops
Have you ever noticed the transformation between the arrest of an accused lawbreaker and the first appearance in court?
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READERS' FORUM: May 14, 2013
ISTEP failure exposes flaws
Community hasn’t changed its spirit
Egregious threat to nation’s defense
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READERS' FORUM: May 13, 2013
• Women’s group criticizes Bucshon
• Let’s hope this doesn’t come true
• Many get thanks for fest success
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MARK BENNETT: Life at face value: Mom’s simple advice still presents a valuable daily challenge
Most moms don’t base their advice on scientific research.
(Unless, of course, your mother is a scientific researcher. If so, carry a No. 2 pencil and take good notes.) -
EDITORIAL: Better monitoring needed to prevent local environmental messes
The nasty, hazardous messes lurking in the community raise a bottom-line, red-flag question. Could these environmental problems have been monitored and, thus, prevented?
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GUEST COLUMN: Nursing more than medicine and bandages
Being a nurse … Like most nurses, I chose this profession because I had a strong desire to help others and no other career would allow me the opportunity to touch lives the way I have been able to through nursing.
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READERS' FORUM: May 12, 2013
Vigo Youth Football, entering 45th year, seeks new support
Media ignoring important case on abortions
Proud to be old-fashioned
Guns in school? What’s next?
Promoting hate not a ‘brave’ act
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FLASHPOINT: Again in 2013 General Assembly, middle class generally ignored
Last year, the people of Indiana entrusted the Republican Party with some of their most precious possessions.
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RONN MOTT: ‘Raccoons II’
In the Algonquin Indian language, raccoon means “working with hands.” They are really cute little fellows until they injure a child, or a pet, or leave feces around where you certainly do not want it.
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Readers’ Forum: May 11, 2013
I just wanted to express my disappointment at the lack of response shown by President Obama after the Boston Marathon bombings.
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Readers' Forum: May 10, 2013
CANDLES event plants new seed: On April 26, CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center hosted an event called “Sowing Seeds of Peace: A Celebration of Spring” at the Apple House. Our purpose was to introduce people to our concept of forgiveness as a seed for peace.
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RONN MOTT: ‘NRA Convention’
At the recent NRA Convention in Houston, Texas, where the right-wing political hot air almost lifted the convention's building off its foundation, the NRA trotted out the forever yours political dame of the right wing, Sarah Palin. Sarah did not disappoint.
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EDITORIAL: Memo to U.S.A.: You can ‘SPPRAK’ just as we do in Vigo County
Our kids, truly, are ‘Making a Difference’
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Some words in praise of boring government — Indiana’s
A conservative Republican governor has super majorities in both branches of the legislature. One might suspect such one-party government leads to major changes in public policy. This did not happen in 2013 in Indiana.
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EDITORIAL: Doc’s prescient prescription
Viewed through a 2013 prism, Doc Bowen’s response to the AIDS epidemic looks merely prudent, routine.
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RONN MOTT: ‘Heritage gone’
The last high school I attended was being torn down just a few days ago. I didn't learn about it until I saw classmate Dick Mills on television and a display he had put together about State football championships in the middle 1930's. I began elementary school with Dick Mills. That was Matthew South Elementary School on South Sixth Street in Clinton, Indiana. After seeing Dick on TV, it dawned on me that all schools I had attended in Clinton have been torn down.
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LIZ CIANCONE: We always want more than we need
Washington seems more preoccupied with the unemployment rate than they are about the constant stalemate. Still with thousands out of work and the unemployment rate hovering somewhere between 7 percent and 9 percent, it does deserve more than a passing nod.
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FLASHPOINT: Indiana lawmakers reinforced school safety mechanisms
Nothing is more important to me than the safety of my children. Every parent has felt that instant, apprehensive rush when their child plays too close to the street or falls down while playing soccer and it is our responsibility as parents to implement every safety mechanism we can muster to protect our kids.
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READERS’ FORUM: May 6, 2013
• Money drives our newfound ‘needs’
• Guns not the only dangerous objects
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MARK BENNETT: Should I stay or should I go?
Some have their Bill Clinton-era Cavalier packed (with the trunk bungee-ed shut), apartment cleaned (except for the fridge), and iPhone GPS locked onto the fastest route out of Terre Haute. Others are staying — until they find a better job, or because they’re starting a career here, or because this town feels like home. In each case, a new stage of life begins today.
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EDITORIAL: Education remains worth the cost
Within the next few weeks, each of the local colleges will have conducted graduation ceremonies. A few days later, a different Class of 2013 will don caps and gowns for commencement — the seniors at five Vigo County high schools. It is still a smart, worthy aspiration for those high school grads to replicate the achievement of those college students by earning a higher-education degree.
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College Class of '13 gets a little extra advice
Local college grads will hear commencement speakers offer life and career advice this month. We’re offering them an extra dose here from folks who’ve found success in various vocations and regions of the nation. Many have Terre Haute roots.
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