So the Democrats took Virginia and the moderate Gov. Chris Christie won another term in New Jersey, but Republicans shouldn’t cower under progressives’ cheers and take an ideological turn to the middle, said tea party favorite and former Florida lawmaker Allen B. West.
With a more fine-tuned strategy, the Republican Party can uproot the notion that Hillary Rodham Clinton is the inevitable, he said, in a written reaction to Tuesday’s elections posted on his Facebook and website pages.
Mr. West wrote: “There are going to be pundits who will try to say the way forward for the GOP will be to moderate itself, following a winning Christie model. But my recommendation is to narrow the issue focus and make sure everything comes back to the economy, energy, and national security, and the combined [effect] on hardworking Americans.”
Mr. Allen said Virginia’s race shows that Democrats won the battle but “are at risk of losing the strategic war,” he wrote, looking at the future of the party, especially in 2016.
His recommendation?
“Now when your enemy finds itself waking in a minefield it laid, just let them. Hillary Clinton is not some monolithic person that cannot be defeated. … If House Speaker John Boehner would support Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf’s H.Res 36 calling for a select committee on Benghazi, it will be the end of Hillary Clinton,” he wrote.
But the GOP needs to re-evaluate and solidify its “strategic vision and strategic leadership,” he said.
“The progressives are hyped up right now,” he said, “but Republicans need to heed the lesson I learned from former Marine First Sergeant Jim Reinfinger, ’if you ever find yourself in a fair fight, it’s because your tactics suck.’”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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