Sen. Dick Lugar of Indiana fell victim to the Koch brothers of Kansas and their fellow travelers in Tuesday’s primary election there. Sen. Lugar, an acknowledged authority on U.S. foreign affairs and co-author (with Democrat Sen. Sam Nunn) of the most important nuclear arms control measure on the books, was trounced by his own party members. The six-term senator won only two of the state’s 92 counties in the runaway victory by Tea Party favorite Richard Mourdock.
Koch and Co. deserve credit because Sen. Lugar had been targeted by their ilk for being willing to work with and compromise with Democrats to achieve goals. They poured millions of dollars into attack ads, demonstrating once again the power of outside groups to win what are essentially negative campaigns in any state.
Mourdock ran on fervent promises to remain true to Tea Party principles and to avoid compromises with Democrats, any and all Democrats, no matter what. He became a household name in Indiana for opposing bailouts for the car companies, despite the fact that those revived companies are now providing high-wage jobs for thousands of Indiana workers.
He is given a good chance of defeating Democrat Rep. Joe Donnelly in November. If he is successful, he will join the growing ranks in both houses of Congress who will, wittingly or otherwise, stymie government action of any kind. For Mourdock believes that the two parties are so polarized that one or the other must prevail if elected officials are to remain true to themselves. Bipartisanship is, for him, an unpardonable sin. Compromise is another word for treason.
The Indiana general election will be one of those that tests Mourdock’s extremist policies.
LUGAR’S DEFEAT was called a warning to President Obama, who issued a statement praising the senator for his fight for arms control Tuesday night when the election results became clear.
What did that warning say? Was he being told he must be unwilling to work with half of the American people if he wants re-election?
Let us hope sensible Republicans and Democrats alike took away a different message from the Indiana primary.
What every American should learn from Dick Lugar’s 36 years in the Senate is that members of Congress should put their country before their party. When Republican Lugar of Indiana and Democrat Sam Nunn of Georgia got together to create and bring to fruition the Nunn-Lugar Act to provide for the control of nuclear weapons after the Soviet Union collapse, they won national and international praise for their initiative. In those halcyon days, bipartisanship was the mark of patriotic statement.
Here is a rundown of what the act achieved: For slightly less than three-tenths of 1 percent of U.S. military expenditures, Nunn-Lugar has been responsible for deactivating 5,014 warheads, destroying 384 ICBMs and eliminating 365 ICBM silos.
Indiana voters traded Sen. Lugar, a statesman by every measure, for a guy whose sole purpose is to help achieve right wing Republican dominance of the federal government.
A warning to President Obama? Better say Indiana sent a warning to all of the American people.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
