Conservative Champion Bob Smith's Primary Defeat Represents a Stunning Setback to the Conservative Cause

Conservative Champion Bob Smith's Primary Defeat Represents a Stunning Setback to the Conservative Cause
by David T. Pyne, Esq., Columnist and Legal Analyst

September 12, 2002

Columnist David Pyne This past Tuesday, we witnessed the defeat of two great conservatives in New Hampshire, legendary conservative giant, Senator Bob Smith, and former Senator Gordon Humphrey who was running for Governor. Conservative Republican voters in New Hampshire have now been saddled with a 'nightmare' ticket consisting of center-left millionaire Craig Benson for Governor and mushy moderate Rep. John Sununu for Senate. This ticket is sure to depress efforts to get out the New Hampshire GOP's conservative voting base in the general election and may well lead to defeat for both at the hands of Democrat candidates who are only slightly more liberal in November. Oddly enough, this massive coup by the President's liberal domestic enemies in successfully defeating the GOP's most preeminent conservative leader in the Senate, occurred on the eve of the first anniversary of the 9/11 suicide attacks by America's enemies abroad.

While Smith was on the verge of making what Sen. Judd Gregg praised as a "generous statement made by my colleague Bob Smith. It showed an incredible amount of class and grace and strength" in conceding the race to Sununu, John Sununu couldn't resist one last arrogant dig at Smith when he stated "the long wait this evening is nothing compared to the six years we have had without leadership in New Hampshire." Subsequently, Smith, in making his emotional concession speech, told his supporters "I believe…you stand for what you believe in and let the chips fall…if you don't stand for something, you stand for nothing," Unfortunately, it seems that based on Sununu's ultra-centrist voting record which earned him a 40% Conservative Index rating in the New American magazine, he stands for nothing. Furthermore, were it not for Sununu's primary challenge, Bob Smith would be polling significantly better than the dead heat with Shaheen which polls indicated immediately prior to his defeat and would have likely cruised to victory against Jeanne Shaheen come November. Sununu's bloody primary challenge and negative campaign against Bob Smith has turned an otherwise incumbent Republican-leaning seat into an open toss-up seat that seriously threatens Republican hopes to retake the Senate in November.

John Sununu, a political opportunist extraordinaire and prominent member of the Sununu family political dynasty who ran as the candidate of the moderate wing of the New Hampshire State Republican Party, told the voters that the reason he decided to stage this bloody primary challenge was due to Smith's decision to briefly leave the Republican Party for a few months back in 1999. At the time, Smith gave a speech criticizing Republican leaders and the Republican Party for having betrayed its principles on core conservative issues such as abortion in the hopes of winning more elections. Upon hearing the news of Smith's decision to leave the GOP, conservative presidential candidate Gary Bauer's remarked "It's hard to imagine a Republican Party without Bob Smith. I'm not sure that a Republican Party without Bob Smith is a party worth fighting for". Fellow conservative GOP presidential candidate, Alan Keyes, heartily concurred with Bauer's assessment.

The same might have been said regarding conservative champion Patrick Buchanan's unfortunate decision to leave the Republican Party in fall 1999 for exactly the same reason-the party leadership's increasing and conscious betrayal of conservative principles without which neither he nor Smith would have ever felt the need to leave the party. I believe that Bauer's principled assessment sums up the feelings of a lot of pro-life Christian conservative activists in the Republican Party. Sen. Bob Smith's and Rep. Bob Barr's electoral defeats in this year's primaries and Buchanan's defection from the Party a few years back have left a huge gap in terms of conservative leadership in the Republican Party. The truth is that there aren't many principled conservative leaders left in the GOP. There are certainly precious few left in Congress who have the courage to champion conservative causes especially in an election year.

When centrist Republicans gleefully dump the Party's most ardent conservative champions like Senator Bob Smith and Representative Bob Barr for much more moderate and wishy-washy challengers, you have to really wonder whether Bauer was right and whether Smith's defeat at the hands of senior Republican operatives and plotters signals that the Republican Party has finally lost its soul. In the case of Bob Smith's defeat, which represents one of the most colossal and completely unnecessary disasters for conservatives imaginable, conservatives will not soon forgive or forget all of those former and current Republican Party leaders who stabbed this great patriot in the back. Although I opposed his decision to leave the party as being overly politically risky, I believe that Smith's brief defection from the Republican Party on principle was a mark of honor that provided proof positive that he was a bona fide conservative who could be trusted at all times to do the right thing. This conclusion has been confirmed by Smith's 100% conservative voting record during the past three years as reported by the American Conservative Union. For centrist 'party above conservative principle' types, however, it proved that Smith was not a rudderless pragmatist like they were and they determined to defeat him over it.

Since third parties have proven completely incapable of electing people to public office, principled conservatives are left with only one party to support-the GOP. Accordingly, it is absolutely imperative that conservative grass-roots activists support the few conservative Republican office holders and office seekers left in their bids to win or retain public office against more moderate or liberal opponents now and in the future. It is high time for principled conservatives to unite and retake control of their party from a leadership which has indeed been moving on an increasingly leftward track co-opting far too many of the liberal policies of the very President who conservatives despised, Bill Clinton.

Pro-life Christian conservatives lost a great and important battle yesterday when our longtime selfless champion, flag bearer, and commanding general in the US Senate, Bob Smith, fell after having been defeated on the political battlefield and spending his entire life leading God's fight in Congress. Although the venerable Smith was mercilessly slandered and ridiculed by his centrist opponent, John Sununu as somehow a disgrace and an embarrassment, Sununu only proved by so maliciously stating that he himself was, is and will continue to be a disgrace to New Hampshire, to the Republican Party, and to these United States of America.

Although conservatives have lost an important battle, with God's help we shall win the war to preserve America's freedoms under the Constitution. If we should lose this cultural war and with it our great and noble country, we may all die in peace, knowing that we did our part to protect, further and defend all that is right and good knowing God will reward us in the end. May we conservatives never forget Senator Bob Smith and all that he did to advance the conservative and pro-life cause, most recently the born alive legislation that he championed and without whose efforts would never have been passed. May God bless him and raise up men and women who have the courage to take up the righteous causes that he championed and to take his place in helping to provide moral leadership and direction to this country. ***

David T. Pyne, Esq. is a national security expert who works as an International Programs Manager in the Department of the Army responsible for the countries of the former Soviet Union and the Middle East among others. He is also a licensed attorney and former Army Reserve Officer. In addition, he holds an MA in National Security Studies from Georgetown University. Mr. Pyne currently serves as Executive Vice President of the Virginia Republican Assembly. He is also a member of the Center for Emerging National Security Affairs based in Washington, D.C. Mr. Pyne serves as a columnist for American-Partisan.com , OpinioNet.net and America's Voices. He is also a regular contributor for Patriotist.com. In addition, his articles have appeared on Etherzone.com, Sierratimes.com, OriginalDissent.com and AmericanReformation.org where he serves as a national security policy analyst. He has been cited in the New American Magazine and was recently interviewed on Howard Phillips' Conservative Roundtable TV program.

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