Robert Novak writes:
Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, one of the most liberal of Republican congressmen, Tuesday won an unexpectedly easy Republican nomination for a 12th term from his upstate New York district after receiving support from abortion rights activists, the White House and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.Boehlert in 2000 defeated conservative Dr. David Walrath by fewer than 3,000 votes but this time won with 58 percent of the vote against the same opponent. Gingrich surprised conservatives by campaigning for his onetime comrade in the House despite Boehlert’s 39 percent lifetime American Conservative Union rating. Earlier, presidential senior adviser Karl Rove attended a Boehlert fund-raiser in keeping with White House support for all Republican incumbents.
In 2002, Boehlert received the third largest amount of pro-choice contributions among all House members. The $33,700 given him this election cycle was $24,700 more than House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi received.
It’s probably correct to say that conservatives were surprised, but it shouldn’t be. If you’re suprised the first time you’re stabbed in the back, that’s completely understandable. Maybe even the second time. But if you’re still surprised by the fifth or sixth time it happens, much less the fiftieth or sixtieth time, you’re just being wilfully stupid.
Notice that when it’s close, the Republican big guns are always run out on the side of the liberal.