It has slowly begun to dawn in the reptilian brains of the GOP Establishment that winning the Senate is not a done deal. And after trashing Tea Party conservatives all summer long, the Establishment has begun to realize they can’t win without conservative support. Note, they aren’t apologizing for attacking the Tea Party as “racists” in Mississippi, much less promoting any kind of conservative legislative platform to pursue should they win the senate. They just want conservatives to give their time and money to help elect the same old get-along, go-along Republicans.
Yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove sounded the alarm. Republicans are not doing as well as they should given the election dynamic. According to Rove, “Republican candidates and groups must step up if they are to substantially reduce that gap . . . . [R]educing the Democratic cash advantage will tip the needle in the GOP’s direction. That will only happen if Republicans open their wallets to candidates whom they may have never met, and, if they live in a battleground state, they clear their calendars to volunteer to identify and get out the vote.”
A few hours later, via the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s email list, Haley Barbour sent out a pitch for donations.
And the GOP’s message to conservatives on what they can expect in return…
Why don’t they beg from the Koch brothers. I’m not quite understanding why Priebus is having a hard time raising cash. It’s his job. How long has it been since the last election?
I haven’t gotten any new emails, asking for donations in the past couple of days. The list Romney sold to the RNC. Something is wrong. Really wrong.
After our local GOP County Committee turned it’s back on a long-time county resident and retired Admiral for a nonresident insurance-selling carpet-bagging GOP “stalwart” from North Jersey as our GOP Congressional candidate because the Admiral was “too-close” to elements of the Tea Party; the local Party can pound f**king sand before they get any of my time and/or money this time around.
Losing FOUR elections in a row as the token GOP-martyr in various Dhimmicratic safe races in Northern NJ isn’t a qualification to be my Congress-critter here in Southern NJ.
The GOP doesn’t even have a comprehensive plan. This doesn’t feel like 1994 or 2010 at all. It’s completely dull.
I’ve proudly voted in every election since I was nineteen, when I cast my ballot for then-governor Ronald Reagan. But no longer. If there isn’t a conservative candidate on the ballot, I just stay home. If the Rs run an “establishment” candidate for president again, they’ll get creamed, again, because I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one with that attitude.
Southern Man: You’re not the only one. I’ve rarely voted Republican since I was old enough to vote in 2008.
Southern Man I feel very much the way you do but I don’t stay home. I write in my name or the name of someone else who is actually Conservative.
Gay married couple cry that they are denied communion http://mtstandard.com/news/state-and-regional/montana-gay-couple-denied-communion-after-marriage/article_6e7ec847-89c6-5164-9531-ab106fc3ebb2.html
Judge cancels gay marriage to 15yo, leftists cry Elvis Presley
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/judge-shoots-pedophile-argument-article-1.1946041
Before sitting home on election day, consider Ann Coulter’s column this week
http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2014-09-17.html#read_more
I’m In the “let it burn” camp but, in my case, Pat Roberts is better than the “independent” running against him. Better enough to vote.
As Rush has pointed out, there is no unified Republican theme other than “Obama sucks.”
The economy needs to be treated seriously. The borders need to be sealed and controlled. ISIS is an actual threat. We must take action to become energy independent. The snowball disaster of Obamacare is growing larger and approaching faster. Government dependency must be reduced to the truly needy. The promises of the Veteran’s Administration must be kept. The corruption at the IRS must be crushed. Crony capitalism and Affirmative Action justice at the DOJ must be reversed.
There is more, but all we hear about is amnesty, climate change and some amorphous war on women.
If we conservatives are sitting on our wallets it is in large part due to the Republicans sense of “plutocrats know best.”
Eric Cantor got scrubbed for heisting his leg on his “We the People” home folks. They took his crooked leg and threw him out. What happened to him? Wall Street and a fat paycheck for being an effective crony capitalism quarterback.
Joe Manchin, Democrat senator from West Virginia, is a better conservative than half of the Republican senators. Our government structure has organized itself into a keepin’-on-keepin-on plutocracy. It is like Sears in that it knows where it has been, but it has no idea of where it is going. It has no will. Its only purpose is to promise and pander and win elections.
Ann Coulter can GDIAF. Rewarding the GOP-E after the way they’ve treated the Tea Party only encourages them to keep doing it.
Ms. Poulter makes a valid point about the Libertarians — the party, not a principles.
In all my decades of political thought and exploration, I have NEVER understood the dichotomy between “libertarian principles” and the Libertarian Party and it’s totally bat-sh*t crazy candidates with their tin-foil-lined hats and howling-mad Black Helicopter conspiracy theories.
The same government responsible for the Obama-Care
website roll-out debacle and Benghazi can’t at the same time be using UFOs built-secretly by Boeing and Lockheed-Martin at Area 51 to construct and operate a secret base on the Farside of the Moon.
And no, there’s no chip in your head monitoring your every thought — yet. (That new I-Phone in your pocket? Yeah it might be monitoring you now — but the Chinese Government doesn’t think that you’re that important yet.)
I do not like the nomenclature shift among so many to the “libertarian” camp. The only national experience we have had with libertarians is from people who managed to get pasted as kooks and loonies.
Furthermore, “more liberty, less government” appeals to malcontents and single issue fanatics who will go to the mat over the right to “open-carry” at the world cup soccer matches.
Government is a necessary evil which helps make the public square a safer and more productive and diverse place. A libertarian can easily agree and say that perspective is his as well. But the actual fringe “libertarian” is the radical type of anarchy with which the DemonizingRats have so successfully misrepresented the TEA Party.
Classic liberalism is the real guide to how most of us feel in our emphasis on the Constitution and We The People. It is possible, you know, to be a libertarian socialist.
I tend to think the reason the Demonrats have been successful in demonizing the smaller Government/fiscal conservative side is because the GOP has let them. The GOP doesn’t want smaller Government any more than the Democrats do.
VtK: fire or not, I think Ann has a point. My own strategy is to eschew donations to groups – RNC or Tea Party – and send donations (albeit small) to individual candidates – e.g Dave Brat and Scott Brown.
The only solution to the national (not federal anymore) government problem is at the local and state levels. The best we can hope for at the national level is pols who can slow the train enough to get the local thing going.
Mark Levin’s “Liberty Amendments” received far too little attention. A worthwhile effort would be to start looking for state pols willing to push for a convention to consider, say, term limits for congress and the judiciary as well as requiring federal programs and agencies (and departments – do we really need a Dept. of Education?) to be reauthorized once in a while.
Also, local voters need to be led to direct their fire at out-of-control local governments that mount warrantless SWAT raids on barbershops under the guise of checking barbering licenses (that had been checked two days earlier).
http://www.steynonline.com/6567/descent-into-barberism
Some local sheriffs and county commissioners being voted out after abuses of power would encourage others to be a bit more circumspect.
The smallest govt possible would be good, however it only works well for those belonging to a culture that has internal controls for behavior like conscience and integrity. Libertarians should drop the no borders, and real estate zoning positions as those will never sell.
@Ted keep in mind Nanny Bloomberg almost was able to send his jackboots after any gay couple drinking a 20oz soda. Battleground Texas(ACORN) was busted copying data of voters, and IRS data of conservatives was given to leftist groups, its likely bath house Barry enhanced his democrat database of actual living voters illegally.http://godfatherpolitics.com/11248/did-obama-build-super-democrat-database-using-the-nsa/
KCRob, I read Ann Coulter’s column but there are several flaws in it:
1) The President makes judicial nominations. The senate votes up or down on them, and Republicans have been fearful about voting down nominations for fear that it will be done to a Republican president with Democrats in charge. The fear is unfounded because the Democrats are going to do that ANYWAY have have already. But this GOP seems to think that playing nice with Democrats will make them play nice with them. It’s as foolish as thinking that ISIS will play nice with us if we are nice to them. This, of course, has been proven utterly false, but the left keeps trying it, anyway.
2) Does she really think that with Republicans in charge of the senate that they will do anything but simply go along with the President lest he level the R-word (racist) and the O-word (obstructionist) at them? This party has no spine.
Once the party shows me, again, that they are willing to take a stand, I will vote for them. I will vote for any R candidate that will stand up to their own party for conservative principles.
I agree Marc. Something has been really wrong since McCain would defend Obama over his own running mate. The GOP is not stupid and we can see they have fight in them when they attack the base or go after conservatives in the primary. But against democrats….nothing but silence.
I take that as complicity.
Craig – you have a point: GOP senators have been all to ready to rubber-stamp BHO’s nominees. Perhaps I’m too optimistic?
Republicans who play nice with Democrats are confused. Giving in to the Dems is not bipartisanship. When Republicans take over the Senate they should thank Harry Reid for the nuclear option. We can use it to keep Obama’s appointment off the bench and in 2016 to approve our Republican President’s appointments.