Quote of the Day, On How the GOP Is Blowing It
From fellow SOBer Matt Hurley at Weapons of Mass Discussion, reacting to the disgraceful attempt by ORPINO (the Ohio Republican Party In Name Only) to rig the GOP primary ballot as they see fit:
We need to save the Republican Party from themselves.
Sadly, the situation of pathetic candidates backed by the entrenched and manipulative GOP machinery seems to be the norm instead of the exception in state after state. Here are just two examples:
- Illinois — Congressman Mark Kirk wants to be a U.S. Senator and is the party establishment’s fave, despite voting for cap and trade.
- California — Carly Fiorina wants to be a U.S. Senator despite a record of almost ruining HP, walking away with undeserved millions after doing so, and most importantly having a nonchalant record of carrying out her voting duties as a citizen.
Michelle Malkin has many more examples in her column from yesterday. Update: She has more on Carly Fiorina (”McCain-backed GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorina hearts Jesse Jackson — and radical gender politics”). Zheesh.
There is a reason why the GOP has so often been referred to as the Stupid Party. What’s happening now is colossally stupid.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tom_Blumer: Bizzy: Quote of the Day, On How the GOP Is Blowing It: From fellow SOBer Matt Hurley at Weapons of Mass Discussion… http://bit.ly/89v2hb…
Trackback by uberVU - social comments — January 23, 2010 @ 1:45 pm
I’m hoping that nationally-known pundits, like Michelle Malkin, will call out more names of politicians that need to be dropped like hot potatoes. Mike DeWine easily fits all the symptoms of McCain Regression Syndrome, and Washington insiders, like Portman and, more recently, Kasich, have been hedging up the way and boxing in Mary Taylor and Dave Yost in order to clear the AG primary for RINO DeWine.
Comment by Daniel Jack Williamson — January 23, 2010 @ 2:08 pm
Sometimes moderate republicans are elected in very blue districts. Mark Kirk (R-IL)is the US Representative in IL-10, as blue as can be. Right next door is IL-9, where the US Rep is Jan Schakowsky (D) (best friend of Nancy Pelosi and if possible Schakowsky is to the LEFT of Pelosi). It is foolish for Michelle Malkin to insert herself into a local race without knowing the locals. IL-10 is Rahm Emmanuel’s hometown, where he grew up. David Axelrod lived in IL-10 until he moved to Washington DC. You have no idea how liberal IL-10 is. Anyone to the right of Mark Kirk would not be electable – heck Kirk even won reelection during the 2008 Obama tsunami, don’t you think Rahm & Axelrod would like to have seen their hometown go blue too?
Mark Kirk’s likely democrat opponent for the US Senate seat (Obama’s old seat btw, currently held by the repulsive Roland Burris) is Alexi Giannoulis, whose family ran an (allegedly) mobbed up bank for many years. Illinois doesn’t need any more mobsters in office, if Kirk loses that’s exactly what we will get.
Comment by Boots — January 24, 2010 @ 1:50 am
#3, IL-10 is NOT as blue as can be. Bush carried Lake County in 2004.
I had a lot of patience with Kirk until cap and trade. That vote plus his excuse for it when asked (something like “it’s what my constituents want, but now that I’m running for Senator I’ll vote for what all of IL wants”) indicate that if the guy had a core, it’s been hollowed out.
A solid conservative would juice turnout and beat the crap out of Alex G. A squish like Kirk, unless he rediscovers himself, won’t motivate anyone.
Comment by TBlumer — January 24, 2010 @ 8:22 am
Mr. Blumer, I live here. A large portion of IL-10 is in Cook County. The city of Chicago is in Cook County, and in fact Cook County is run by the pols in Chicago.
In Lake County, the largest voting block of IL-10 is the city of Waukegan, which is the epitome of a midwest rust belt community (poor, unemployed, high minority population).
You cannot compare Lake County as a whole (republican and prosperous) with the portion of Lake County encompassed by IL-10 (poor and dependent). There is no way anybody but a moderate republican would win in this district. The hometown of Axelrod and Emmanuel is not conservative.
Even with the seeming ascendency of republicans in 2010, IL-10 could easily swing to the democrats in the US House race this fall. Julie Hamos (very liberal IL House member, shares a local office with Jan Schakowsky) is running in the dem primary to replace Kirk, and she will be tough to beat here.
Scott Brown won his race because moderates and independents voted for him. Different states have different meanings of the conservative brand, a conservative in a red state is not the same as a conservative in a blue state like Illinois.
Comment by Boots — January 24, 2010 @ 11:16 am
Boots, I didn’t say it was easy, but cap and trade is a bridge too far. I may have further comment later.
Comment by TBlumer — January 24, 2010 @ 11:25 am
While it seems impossible at the national level, moving to a third party at a state and local level seems do-able in 2012.
For too long I have read SOBer’s posts stating that we need to ‘purge,’ ‘retake,’ ‘fight’ for the ORP. At what point does the battered wife realize her husband will eventually kill her? The same goes for the ORP; it was the ORP that sunk Ohio and paved the way for this 15+ year depression. And do you think Harris is aware of this fact (Ohio’s depression); no he wants to sink more money in the toilet bowl called Third Frontier. By the way, who’s the other big ORP cheerleader for this scheme…right, Jon (I don’t live in Kettering) Husted.
How long are folks going to hang on? There needs to be a concerted effort very soon to convince some conservative republicans to move over to either the CP or LP and take with them their local support. In time the ORP will be a footnote in the political science book, but until then Ohio’s free market and liberty oriented constituents will have to read about the clowns like Portman, Husted, DeWhine, and little DeWine beating the heck out Mrs. Ohio.
Comment by Brian — January 24, 2010 @ 1:09 pm
#7, I’ve been arguing on TIB that there has to be a point of being insulted and ignored where you just have to say the heck with them. I would not be surprised if we reach that point in several Senate and Congressional races around the country this year, perhaps even one or more in OH.
Comment by TBlumer — January 24, 2010 @ 1:24 pm
I don’t know the first thing about Ohio politics so I won’t comment on the 3rd party movement there, other than to note that splitting the center/right vote will empower the left. To paraphrase Reagan, I’d rather someone who votes with me 80% of the time than not at all.
For some local flavor in IL-10 (currently represented in the US House of Reps by Mark Kirk) here’s a local blog that covers the bases.
http://teamamerica10th.blogspot.com/
I enjoy reading this blog and your work on Pajamas Media, keep up the good work!
Comment by Boots — January 24, 2010 @ 1:38 pm
Mark Kirk – Count Down to Un-election – Day 9 – Congressional Voting Record…
This entry is a little different than others. I'm only going to list the websites that track Kirk's CONgressional voting record. I encourage my readers to peruse these aggregates carefully paying attention to key votes.Most often y….
Trackback by A Study in Occam's Razor — January 26, 2010 @ 2:03 pm