Bad Advice

Today, Dick Morris advises that Republicans should allow each other the "doctrinal latitude" to run "like Democrats," in other words, to seek re-election from all over the field -- left, center and right.

But wait a minute. A party that can produce both Rick Santorum and Lincoln Chafee has already been doing that. So is Morris talking about something more?

To the extent that he is advocating that Republicans try to blunt the differences that distinguish them from Democrats, he's wrong. Why would he tell a winning majority to try to run like a minority? To the extent that the Republicans have an implicit strength, it's in the fact that -- unlike the Democrats -- they have actually stood for something (even if they've also made their share of mistakes), even when (from time to time) it's been unpopular. If the Democrats win, it will not be because of anything they've done or any way they've run, now or in the past. It will be because voters (a sizable percentage of them conservatives) have become disillusioned with the Republican party on issues like spending and illegal immigration.

In my view, no one will ever win by jettisoning principles in an electoral panic.