Richard Viguerie Blasts GOP

Conservative icon Richard Viguerie has come out with all guns blazing against Washington Republicans, saying they've abandoned their conservative principles and risk defeat in the 2006 elections.

In an open letter addressed to "Conservative Leaders," Viguerie writes: "It has become increasingly clear that Republicans in Washington care little or nothing about grassroots conservatives and the values they hold dear.

"After we spent decades defeating the Rockefeller wing of the Party, it seems we have a new enemy - the Washington wing of the GOP. They're not just wasting money; they're actually massively growing government in direct contravention of everything Republicans purport to stand for."

Viguerie, a consultant and direct-mail specialist who helped elect Ronald Reagan in 1980, said Republicans are betraying conservatives who believe in limited government, lower taxes and modest spending.

"The highway bill just passed by our Republican Congress (with the president's blessing), at $286.4 BILLION is the most expensive public works legislation ever passed," he writes.

"The National Taxpayers Union put it best when describing one of the more offensive projects in the bill: ?$220 million for a 5.9-mile bridge connecting Gravina Island (population 50) to the Alaskan mainland. The cost of the bridge alone would be enough to buy every island resident his own personal Lear jet.'

"One can only be reminded of 1998 when the Republican Congress, just four years after taking power, went on a similar spending spree - only to watch grassroots activists desert them in November. The GOP lost House seats in the second midterm election of a Democratic president, a failure almost unheard of in American politics."

Viguerie urges conservatives to speak out about how Republicans have "betrayed" them, and "make clear that our interests, as conservatives, are being seriously undermined by this new political class: long-serving Republicans in Washington more interested in keeping power than doing right by the Constitution and the American people."

He asks: "When will the GOP learn that the party's success is directly tied to the level of commitment from its core base of conservative voters and activists?"

And he warns: "If these Washington Republicans continue to prove to conservatives that there really is no difference between them and Democrats ... they are headed for a disappointing election night in 2006."