Corleone Conservatives

Not long ago, a conservative operative sought to explain the National Republican Senatorial Committee's decision to make an early endorsement of Gov. Charlie Crist in the Florida primary. The key, he said, was to understand the self-interested motives of top Republican senators:

"All they care about is getting their chairmanships back, and they don't care how they get there," said the operative. "They don't want to spend any money, so they were looking for a self-funder."

Anyone who has spent much time in Washington -- and I've been here since November 1997 -- can understand this. Influence is everything in Washington, and the GOP is currently at a low ebb of influence, on the wrong end of a power dynamic of Democratic dominance comparable to 1993 or 1977, if not indeed to 1965.

In such a situation, Republicans are like Fredo Corleone getting slapped around by the Democratic Moe Green:

First of all, you're all done. The Corleone family don't even have that kind of muscle anymore. The godfather's sick, right? You're getting chased out of New York by Barzini and the other families.

The desire of leading Republicans to recover their power -- their influence, their prestige in Washington -- is perfectly understandable. Like Fredo, however, the Beltway GOP leadership is weak, stupid and cowardly, seeking to curry favor with an implacable enemy by disrespecting their own family.

By picking Crist 15 months ahead of the Florida Republican primary, John Cornyn and the NRSC showed disloyalty and disrespect to the GOP grassroots, effectively declaring to the Moe Green Democrats, "Yeah, Moe, we've learned our lesson. We can't disrespect you. We're your friends. Look, we're going to nominate an Obama-loving, stimulus-endorsing sellout."

In this scenario, the conservative base of the Republican Party is cast in the role of Michael Corleone. And that's what the Not One Red Cent movement is about.

It's not about Charlie Crist. It's about respect.

No more Fredos. No more Arlen Specters. No more "leaders" who try to attain power by selling out the people who elected them to office.

Next time you see some "conservative" pundit telling Republicans to be moderate -- to be reasonable, to compromise core conservative principles -- think of yourself as Michael Corleone when Tessio approaches him at the Godfather's funeral to set up the Barzini meeting. And think about the beautiful moment when Michael finally confronts that traitorous punk Carlo:

Barzini is dead. So is Phillip Tattallgia. Moe Green. Slacci. Cuneo. Today I settled all family business. So don't tell me that you're innocent. Admit what you did.

Good-bye, Carlo -- and good-bye, Tessio, too.

NOT ONE RED CENT!

UPDATE: Matt Lewis is not Fredo.