Until every last faint whiff is completely gone

 

Ryan, my man, you left yourself vulnerable to this. You're smart; you know that this was an avoidable mistake, but because you thought there was something to the wacko claims of the Arizona Republicans, you decided that overrode smart political strategy.

In other words, you can't escape the election-denier label.

Ryan has always, quite authentically, projected a straight-arrow, solidly-principled-guy image. He has a track record, even preceding winning his state-representative seat, as an impeccably conservative engaged citizen. I agree with him on pretty much all public-policy issues and cultural-issue positions. 

And there's no way I could ever vote for this Thomas guy. He is clearly all in on what it means to be a Democrat in 2022. 

But, Ryan, you have given him about the lowest-hanging fruit a political opponent could ask for.

And this once again reinforces my conviction that, until every last vestige, every faintly detectable trace of the stench of Trumpism, is removed from the Republican Party, I am not going anywhere near a voting booth.

Now, I realize that everybody from drool-besotted leg-humpers to sober, non-biased analysts of the "hard realities" of how politics works would tell me I'm being impossibly unrealistic, that I have to make my choices as an engaged citizen within the parameters of what's politically available. 

(By the way, allow me a moment of digression that is actually relevant here. This is a mirror reflection of what dismays me about Adam Kinzinger going to bat for Democratic candidates in races around the country. Their vision is the antithesis of what he's on record as standing for. It is all about wealth redistribution, identity politics militancy and climate alarmism. No matter what else is happening in the world, giving such people a boost most decidedly does not move the world in a direction that a conservative wants to see it move in.)

No, I want to sleep well at night. I want the eternal record book to show that I didn't participate in the derailing of the American experiment. 

I will find it interesting to see how Ryan deals with this line of attack, but not because I have any personal stake in the contest, but because, like all Republican capitulations to Trumpism, it will provide insights into basic human behavior and motivation.