Will the purge happen?

That's what the question for tonight is.

If Tom Tancredo and his PAC manage to beat Cannon, their biggest accomplice will be the silent acquiescence of many conservatives who let Cannon hang out to dry. Look at the ACU ratings. Cannon is no Lincoln Chafee. Yet he is the target of a purge. In essence, Tancredo is making an example of someone who outlined the shady connections to groups that favor some very shady stuff, and who favored a comprehensive approach to immigration as opposed to "enforcement only", an approach which is doomed to failure, as Ken has explained.

Do we really want the conservative movement to be associated with groups that embrace the pseudo-science of eugenics, the same pseudo-science embraced by Margaret Sanger - one of the founders of Planned Parenthood? Was Cannon's real sin in exposing this connection, one that may be too politically incorrect for conservatives to acknowledge? Are we supposed to be quiet in the face of something that is evil?

Apparently, that is the case. Tom Tancredo now feels he has the right to dictate how Republicans view immigration - with Bay Buchanan and the Team America PAC as the commissars who will purge dissenters from his positions from the House. If he gets Cannon today, he will have his "example" - and in 2008, it will be Mike Pence who fends off "amnesty supporter" charges that are little more than lies (as anyone who can use a dictionary can see for themselves). There was punishment in the Senate bill - it was just not the punishment Tancredo and other hard-liners wanted.

Twelve hours from now, the Republican Main Street Partnership could have a new donor. If Cannon is purged, then I'm really not inclined to stay among a movement that does not see fit to defend its own from self-appointed commissars like Tancredo. If anything, they don't have the guts to hold elective office. I might not agree with everything the Republican Main Street Partnership is doing, but they may well be the only game in town.