REPUBLICAN ANGER

Posted at 7:03 p.m. ET

There have been a number of stories about Republicans sniping at each other over their anticipated defeat on election day.  You can find a typical one here, at The Politico.

There's nothing unusual about this.  When parties go down to defeat, no one wants to take the blame, so party activists blame each other.  Republicans went at it pretty intensely in the 1970s, leading the party to issue what came to be called "the 11th Commandment" - "thou shalt not speak ill of any other Republican."

The eleventh Commandment did some good, but did not entirely stop the bloodletting.  Please recall that, even at the 1980 convention that nominated Ronald Reagan, the party was divided.  Some in the GOP establishment had serious doubts about Reagan, and urged him to select former President Gerald R. Ford as his running mate, assuring voters that there'd be a "joint presidency."  It was a ridiculous idea, and, of course, never flew.  But Reagan did, with party unity in mind, select George H.W. Bush, a man with whom he shared little ideology.

The Democrats, of course, have an even more vivid history of civil war.  In 1948, with Harry S. Truman running a desperate campaign to hang onto the presidency, the party split.  The Southern wing, angered over civil-rights rumblings, walked off and ran Strom Thurmond against Truman.  The far-left wing, in a huff over anti-Communism, similarly departed, and ran former Vice President Henry A. Wallace for president on the Progressive ticket.  In subsequent years the Southerners kept drifting away, but the left returned, making the party what it is today.

The split among Democrats cost the party the presidency in 1968, when enough Democrats, angered by Vietnam, stayed home on election day to allow Richard M. Nixon to win by a narrow margin.

So don't be shocked by the internecine warfare.  The idea, though, is to do what Reagan did - spend the time in the wilderness developing a coherent, powerful and workable alternative to failed liberalism.  And it's equally important to identify and nurture the candidates who can bring that alternative to power.

A final note:  Some of the greatest leaders in our history have been brutally ridiculed.  Ridicule is often a sign of fear in the heart of the perpetrator. If you lack a winning argument, just ridicule the opposition.  Never write off those who, like Sarah Palin now, and Ronald Reagan earlier, become targets of sneering and ridicule.  They often are the very ones who are poised for greatness.

October 24, 2008.