GOOD SENSE – AT 8:36 A.M. ET:  Mark Tapscott of the conservative Washington Examiner warns about reckless divisions inside the Republican Party, and the party prepares to take over the House:

Molly Hooper of The Hill has a long piece today on Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann's challenge of Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling to succeed Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana for House Republican Conference Chairman.

As Hooper notes, Bachmann is portraying the contest as the Establishment GOP versus the Tea Party. Such a narrative probably makes sense to liberal journalists, but it misrepresents a key aspect of the struggle in recent years between faithful House GOP conservatives like Hensarling and those such as Jerry Lewis and Hal Rogers who went whole-hog for the old politics of earmarks and pork barrel.

Tea Party advocates are absolutely right to take down the Lewis and Rogers brand of Me-Too Republicanism, but what about those like Hensarling among the House GOP caucus who have been fighting the congressional GOP's drift leftward for many years?

Since his election to the House in 2002, Hensarling has been among the most consistent conservative voices in the Republican caucus. Besides being THE House GOP critic of TARP, he's fought the spending issues with such force that National Review has dubbed him "Rep. Budget Reform." He isn't called a "conservative workhorse" for nothing.

House Republicans like Lewis and Rogers and Ted Stevens and Trent Lott in the Senate are why the GOP lost its congressional majority, but what about the Tom Coburns, Jim DeMints and Jeb Hensarlings who have been fighting the good fight during the good years and the bad?

COMMENT:  That is very solid thinking.  We all learned as kids that you don't throw out the baby with the bath water.  The tea partiers are feeling their oats right now, but oats don't win elections.  To go after a man like Hensarling, who's walked the walk, just to advance a tea partier, is bad government and bad politics.  How do you encourage disciplined, good behavior if you then punish it?

Michelle Bachmann should withdraw, and temper her ambitions.  By throwing her support to Hensarling, she enhances herself for the future.  Also, she has a history of gaffes, and I don't think she's quite ready for prime time.  A few more years, Michelle, a few more years.  The wait is worth it for the reward.

November 8, 2010