James Bopp

James Bopp, Jr. is a outspoken member of the Republican Party of the United States. A pro-life attorney, he has served as counsel for National Right to Life since 1978 and Focus on the Family since 2004. Bopp hails from Indiana, and has degrees from the Universities of Indiana and Florida.

It has been noted that he has been very busy since Obama took office. In April 2009, Bopp resorted to name-calling and tried to rename the Democratic Party the Democrat Socialist Party.[1] Later, in November, Bopp began pushing a "purity test" for GOP members. If GOP members do not agree to at least eight out of ten of these statements, they will not receive funding from the Party.[2] When limits on corporate donations were removed in January, 2010, Bopp stated that the next move was to keep the amounts donated secret, so that the corporations would not alienate customers.[3]

The Ten Commandments

Dubbed "Reagan's Unity Principle for Support of Candidates":

(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama's "stimulus" bill;

(2) We support market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run healthcare;

(3) We support market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation;

(4) We support workers' right to secret ballot by opposing card check;

(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;

(6) We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;

(7) We support containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat;

(8) We support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;

(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing, denial of health care and government funding of abortion; and

(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership

Reaction

In a true show of bipartisanship, both the left and right attacked the idea, leaving the wingers to defend for themselves. Erick Erickson, of RedState, argued that the test would give candidates conservative credentials just by checking a few boxes.[4] Others worried that the test would alienate moderate conservatives. (Ya think?) Bopp stated that how a candidate votes would determine his or her score.[5] Bopp also stated that recently elected Scott Brown would pass the test with flying colors, while others said that not only would Brown fail because of past votes[6], that even St. Reagan would get a whopping zero out of ten on the test[7].

The proposal was rejected on January 29, 2010.[8]

Other measures

Since opposition to the test is growing, Bopp has proposed another measure, where if a member of the GOP switches parties, they would be required to return any funds donated from the RNC.[9]

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References

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[1] Politico:Brand Dems socialists says RNC bloc

[2] Huffington Post:GOP Considers 'Purity' Resolution For Candidates

[3] Cup of Joel: James Bopp Jr. says the next step for campaign finance: Keeping corporate donations secret

[4] ttp://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/11/24/put-me-in-the-no-camp-on-the-purity-test/

[5] ttp://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/chief-sponsor-of-gop-defends-test/

[6] ttp://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/after-browns-win-gop-officials-weigh-purity-test/

[7] ttp://www.thenation.com/blog/reagan-would-fail-purity-test-proposed-gop

[8] ttp://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/32242.html

[9] ttp://www.frumforum.com/ff-exclusive-rnc-to-offer-members-alternative-to-purity-test