Patronage over Principle

I've been hearing about this all day, but the Weekly Standard has the best, most comprehensive reporting on the issue I've seen so far.  It appears that House Majority Whip Eric Cantor, and his 'Young Guns Network' has decided to jump into the the Indiana Senate Primary between incumbent Dick Lugar and primary challenger Richard Mourdock.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, they're on the side of Mr. Lugar.  More surprisingly, they seem to be attacking Mr. Mourdock from the left.

Yes, you read that right.  They have decided that, in Indiana, Mr. Mourdock is too Conservative in his views.  Specifically, that he is too Federalist in his views.  The mailer (via politico) they have sent out on behalf of Mr. Lugar says the following:

Senator Lugar understands we must set the right priorities.  That means investing in education, embracing all forms of American energy production, including domestic oil and alternative fuels while cutting unnecessary government spending.

It then goes on further:

Indiana does not have party registration.  You simply need to show up at your local polling location on May 8, 2012 to vote for Senator Dick Lugar in the Republican Primary.

And again:

The May 8th election is open to all voters.

So, not only is Eric Cantor's group encouraging Democrats, specifically, to vote for Mr. Lugar in the primary (really, who do they think those Democrats are going to vote for in the general?  How about we appeal to our own base, guys?), they are also specifically abandoning actual Republican/Conservative principles to do so.  They mention specifically education and "alternative fuels" in their mailer.

Here's the problem with that: neither of those are things the Federal Government should be spending a penny on.  Now, the "alternative fuels" is obviously a sop to the Indiana Farmers, looking for those sweet, sweet government subsidies.  That doesn't make it right, but that does make it understandable.  But what is the point of the education quip?  Conservatives believe that the Federal Government does not belong in Education.  Further, the "education" voting bloc is not one that votes for Republicans, they vote for the Democrats as an overwhelming majority.  Why even have that in there?

And the reason is as sad as it is predictable: the Good Ole Boys club.  Eric Cantor and his "Young Guns" have fossilized into exactly the kind of "we want power for its own sake" career politicians they once proclaimed to hate.  They are part of the problem.

Indiana, please don't let this go unpunished.  Mr. Lugar has obviously been in Washington for far too long.