I never thought I’d ever hear a conservative admit as much on national television but that’s exactly what MSNBC morning host Joe Scarborough said on NBC’s Meet The Press this morning…quoting:
William F. Buckley in the 1960s at some point had to start defining the boundaries of conservatism. He went after the John Birch Society, Ayn Rand, George Wallace. That has to happen again with this party because it’s getting smaller and smaller. In this debate, we actually have conservative thinkers, talking about ronald reagan being a RINO — a Republican in name only, because he supported an assault weapons ban. They keep pushing themselves closer and closer to the cliff. But I just have to say one other really important point, because I made a mistake over the past month talking about how Republicans have also won a majority in the House. As this article I was referencing mentioned, we actually got a minority of votes nationwide in House races. It was just gerrymandering from 2010 that gave us the majority. –Joe Scarborough, Meet The Press, 20 Jan. 2013
Although Republicans garnered over 1.5 million fewer votes than Democrats in House elections, they were able to hold to their House majority precisely because of the gerrymandering House legislators across the country were able to do throughout the 2010 redistricting process. And you wonder why we need electoral reforms such as independent commissions to redraw congressional districts following each Census…this is as good a reason as any.
