This Is A Mistake

I say this as someone who voted for Bob Marshall at the Convention, and has known both men for nearly twenty years: this is a mistake. Bob Marshall is apparently trying to extract concessions from Jim Gilmore, and one he doesn't even need to extract:

Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William) said today he ... probably will not be endorsing GOP Senate nominee James S. Gilmore III....

In an interview, Marshall said he remains upset about mailers Gilmore sent out during the final days of their race for the nomination. Gilmore, a former governor, defeated Marshall by less than 1 percent at the state GOP convention on Saturday.

A few days before the convention, Gilmore sent out a mailing that questioned Marshall's conservative credentials. The Gilmore campaign said it was responding to three negative mail pieces that Marshall had sent out.

"Why would Jim want my endorsement?" Marshall asked. "He says I am dishonest, so why would an honorable man like Jim Gilmore want an endorsement from someone he says is dishonest?"

But Marshall, who based his campaign on his staunch opposition to abortion and tax increases, added he will throw his support behind Gilmore if the former governor comes out in favor of banning all abortions.

C'mon, Bob! I'm pro-life, too, but this guy is running for the United States Senate, not the Virginia Senate. His primary ability to advance the pro-life cause is to confirm judges and Justices of the United States Supreme Court who will reverse Roe v. Wade for the constitutional monstrosity that it is, and return the issue of when or if to allow abortion back to the States, where it belongs.

The only Federal role would be on federal funding of abortions, and I presume that Jim Gilmore supports the Hyde Amendment.

What Bob wants, Bob is not entitled to get. It would be a meaningless gesture, in the sense that the United States Senate has no legislative role on this issue. And if Jim Gilmore were to agree to Bob's conditions, the only thing he would achieve would be to gain a reputation as a flip-flopper. It would be unpersuasive to his enemies, and offensive to his friends.

Bob Marshall needs to get behind the nominee, as his supporters are. Failure to do so only gives aid and comfort to the scumbags who are tearing the GOP apart from the Left, and justify their own bad behavior upon their caricatures of Conservatives.

This is one of those few occasions where we should not respond in kind, and should set the better example. It not only is a costless activity; it is the honorable course on the State Party Plan.

Bob Marshall should immediately and unqualifiedly endorse Jim Gilmore now. If a filibuter-proof Senate is elected with a President Obama, the cause of Life could be set back for fifty years.