Return of an Endangered Species: The Liberal Republican!

Those of us who are old enough to remember the 1972 presidential election may recall Republican maverick California congressman Pete McCloskey and his quixotic run against Nixon in the presidential primaries. Most of us on the left were so involved in the McGovern campaign that we didn't really pay attention to the Republican side; to many people McCloskey is just the answer to a trivia question, a historical footnote to a particularly bad year.

McCloskey, a highly-decorated Marine combat vet from the Korean War, is from the old school of Republican politics, the party of Mark Hatfield, Tom McCall, Charles Percy and John Lindsay. Exactly the kind of moderate, fiscally-conservative and socially-liberal politicians who would be unwelcome in today's Republican Party.

So what's Pete up to these days? Well, even though he's 78 and has been retired to his organic orange groves for many years, he still has that maverick spirit. He's running for congress again, this time against corrupt wingnut political hack Richard Pombo in California's 11th District.

McCloskey, one of the authors of the Endangered Species Act (imagine one of today's Republicans doing that!), may be one himself, but that's not stopping him from going after Pombo, who as Chairman of the House Resources Committee, is dedicated to eviscerating the Act.

So here's to Pete McCloskey. I hope he makes it. I've said many times that I would never support a Republican, but I had kind of forgotten about people like Pete and that old-line liberal wing of the party. Who knows, stranger things have happened--maybe this will kick-start that nearly-extinct liberal wing enough to get it off of life supports and into ass-kicking form.

If, as I predict, the Religio-Fascist Hezbollah wing of the Republican Party splits off, it will create a power vacuum that the long-dormant liberal wing of the party can exploit.

And if you're feeling in a generous mood -- or you've prayed to the patron saint of quixotic quests before -- why don't you drop by McCloskey for Congress and lay a few dead presidents on Pete, for old time's sake and in memory of all those liberal Republicans who are so sorely missed.