Baseball for August 07, 2006

Inside Baseball

Inside Baseball this week...

What Do Conservatives Do Now?
A Final Note to Van Hilleary

Throughout this long campaign, there was one point that Bob Corker and I ALWAYS agreed on – Tennessee can't afford to have Harold Ford Junior become our next U.S. Senator because his liberal record is out-of-step with
Tennessee's values...

And it is time that we all come back together as Republicans, as Tennesseans, and as Americans and chart the right course for our country.

Our work begins here. It begins tonight. And it continues long past the November election...

Bob Corker is going to need our help. And if there is one thing you have proven with your hard work, it is that there is no substitute for the dedication that each of you has shown.

Right now here in Nashville Harold Ford Junior is meeting with Bill Clinton, and they're not talking about the good old days. They're plotting how to take over the United States Senate, and step one is letting Harold Ford Junior take Bill Frist's desk and set it beside Senator Hillary Clinton so he'll know how to vote.

Bob Corker is going to need our help.

I suspect that in a few minutes, he's going to ask for it. But I'm going to ask you first. We owe it to Tennessee and to the nation to work together."

- Ed Bryant

I stood at the Doubletree Hotel in Nashville and watched, with tear-soaked eyes, one of my heroes deliver those words. Ed Bryant has asked for my help a number of times and I've never refused him. I won't start now.

He asked me and each of his supporters to do all we can to help Bob Corker defeat Harold Ford, Jr. in November. That's what I'll do. And to all of my friends in the Ed Bryant camp, I hope you'll consider the same.

To say that Ed was just being nice or saying what he's expected to say would call into question the integrity and honesty that so many of us have grown to admire in Ed Bryant. Those are the traits that have led me and thousands of other Tennesseans to devote countless hours to his election to the United States Senate. I won't call his honesty into question by assuming that he was just toeing the party line. You can treat those words just like every other word that has crossed Ed Bryant's lips - as the absolute truth.

I worked on this election for four years. I was on Ed's staff in 2002 when he faced Lamar Alexander in what could only charitably be called an uphill fight. We knew then that 2006 would be Ed's best chance. Many of us attended meetings and conference calls over the succeeding four years to gear up for this race. We worked ourselves past exhaustion for the last 18 months in hopes that Thursday night would turn out better than it ultimately did. I'm no more important than any other Bryant supporter, but I do think I've earned my stripes. So before you call me a "traitor" or a "squish" or any other perjorative, consider a few things.

We have troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. And more could be on the way to other climes and places in the coming six years. Harold Ford, Jr. calls them "oil cops." Do you think that kind of rhetoric deserves a place in the US Senate? If so, by all means, sit this election out.

Our economy is humming now, but might face a downturn in the next six years. Do you trust Harold Ford, Jr. and the advice he gets from Hillary Clinton to fix it? If so, by all means, sit this election out.

The Supreme Court may have two vancancies to fill in the next six years. Who would you rather have voting on those? Harold Ford, Jr.? If so, by all means, sit this election out.

The next 90 days or so have larger implications than intraparty squabbling in Tennessee. In 2000, our state made sure that Al Gore will never occupy the Oval Office and on September 11, 2001, we learned the important role our state played - literally - in world history. If you're okay with Harry Reid being the Majority Leader of the United States Senate in the next moment of great consequence, by all means, sit this election out.

I'm not content with Harold Ford, Jr. having a say on these issues so I will listen to the man I trust more than any other in politics and do all I can to elect Bob Corker in November.

Those words don't come lightly. As badly as I wanted my next breath, I wanted Ed Bryant to win this election. I still haven't come to grips with the fact that Ed's political career is likely over. But Ed Bryant doesn't want me to dwell on that. He's a good man. He's a loyal man. He understands what is at stake with this election. I hope my friends who gave all they had to Ed Bryant will come to the same understanding. After all, Ed asked you to. You've never let him down. Why start now?

I hope and believe that Bob Corker will be worthy of the support the Bryant faithful will offer him. If he runs the general election campaign and, more importantly, governs as the conservative he portrayed himself to be in the primary, he will be a great credit to Tennessee and her conservative Republicans. If not, well, here's to trusting that that won't happen...

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A Final Note on Van Hilleary

Bob Corker never got past "opponent" status in the Bryant camp. Van Hilleary earned the title of "enemy." His loss was embarassing and for that I could not be more grateful. His was one of the most selfish, arrogant acts in the annals of Tennessee history. He had the temerity to call Ed his friend throughout this campaign yet he behaved like anything other than a friend. He singlehandedly cost conservatives the opportunity to elect one of their own to the United States Senate. This was a fitting end to a miserable political career. Happy trails, Van.

Posted by Matthew White | Email This |