Tea Party 2.0: Two Ways We'll LOSE In November
Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 7:49 AM
Tea Party 2.0: Two Ways We’ll LOSE in November
By Guest Blogger John Burns
We’re going to lose.
That’s right. You didn’t misunderstand me. WE’RE going to lose this election in November…unless we make a change. You see, there are two sure-fire ways to help our movement lose, come November 2nd.
Winning back the country from the grasp of Socialists is difficult work. It’s a task that will take many years and the tireless effort of countless individuals. But although this is a long-term process, winning this election is important. Because of this, we can’t get bogged down in internecine warfare, turf battles and ego clashes. And it may seem highly counter-intuitive, but for this specific election cycle where so much is on the line, we can’t forget that “perfect” ideological candidates (candidates who are “perfect” on all of our issues) aren’t always the best choice at the polls in the primaries.
Internecine Warfare
In the process of working with tea party and 9/12 groups across the country, I’ve seen some disturbing trends. Now that our groups are starting to become more solidified, we’re much more willing to fight with one-another or exercise our egos than we are to work with one-another constructively. True leaders have small egos. True leaders don’t get embroiled in petty turf wars. True leaders relish widespread contribution. True leaders recognize that they don’t have all the answers and that they need help to build excellent teams. The level of your group’s success will be directly proportional to the amount of people your group has attacking a problem. More brains, talents, and abilities = more effectiveness. Precisely for this reason, it’s important to build coalitions with other groups, not fearfully guard one’s turf. There is no turf. There is only a community that needs to pull together to win. We must all have the courage to demolish walls or barriers between our groups and stop the in-fighting. Allowing this to continue is one sure path to failure.
“Perfect” Candidates and Primaries
Another sure path to failure: making the perfect the enemy of the good. This election cycle is very similar to triage in an army field hospital on the battlefield. If you’ve got one man shot in the arm, another shot in the chest and only one doctor, some quick, decisive decisions must be made if both men are to survive. The doctor must attend to the chest wound first because it’s the most serious.
In a similar way, we need to stop the bleeding with this election cycle. This cycle, we don’t necessarily need anything fancy, just a candidate that can beat the Socialist candidate. If you’re going to hammer a nail into a piece of wood, you don’t necessarily need a gold plated hammer: you just need something that will get the nail into the wood. In some races, our favorite or best ideological candidate might not win the primary. But if the candidate that does win has a better shot at defeating the Socialist candidate come November, we can at least stop the bleeding. Later on, once we’re in a position of power, we can worry about improving the quality of the candidates.
Mark this well: nothing is more important this election than preventing Socialists from getting elected. To achieve that end, we need candidates that can win. In that sense, the “perfect” candidate isn’t always the best candidate. It won’t profit us a thing if we have the most perfect ideological candidate in the world who can’t beat the Socialists this November. It’s sad, but it’s true. It’s triage. Once we stop the bleeding, we can then focus on improving the quality of our stock of candidates. This election cycle is too important to let slip away because we’re not willing to prioritize victory.
If we do make the perfect the enemy of the good this cycle, we’ll have two more years of a Socialist-dominated Congress where they force-feed us more socialized medicine, taxation, and tyranny. We’ll have no one to blame but ourselves. We need candidates that can win. This primary season, be sure to vote the best choice, even if it’s not the “perfect” choice.
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Published February 22, 2012 at 4:19 pm - 32 Comments
American Delight commented:
“This cycle, we don’t necessarily need anything fancy, just a candidate that can beat the Socialist candidate.”
I must disagree. Olympia Snowe could be a Democrat-Socialist candidate, but we don’t need a Congress full of Olympia Snowe Republicans. Not to sound like Obama, but that’s the kind of thinking that got us into this mess in the first place.
It sounds like you’ve experienced some pushback from other local tea party leaders, but maybe they legitimately think you’re being too quick to settle/compromise.
HappyAcres commented:
I couldn’t disagree more.
Folks, ignore this craven counsel. Vote your conscience. Don’t become complicit with the inside game.
Remember McCain!
pst314 commented:
“Winning back the country from the grasp of Socialists is difficult work.”
Not to mention all the civility trolls who insist that you must not call them socialists.
Ed commented:
I agree with the first poster, we just need to get enough conservatives to replace liberals so we can stop Obama’s agenda. After that we can figure out our next step. But stopping Obama is the first thing.
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mark commented:
I think what John is saying is that it’s always a two-party race. Dems vs. Repubs. If Dems have socialists on the ballot, Repubs have a sort-of conservative, and the Independent party has a good candidate—then votes will be split among the “non-socialist” candidates and socialism wins again. Yes, we must be careful to screen imposters (like Snowe) but we MUST stop socialism in its tracks…or we won’t be voting ever again.
Chisum commented:
This is what we are up against:
Obama’s appearance on ‘The View’ cements his status as celebrity
…., the only chance Republicans and conservatives have against Obama in 2012 is to strip him of his celebrity status by exposing him for what he truly is; a fraud — a mere celebrity, masquerading as an ultra-liberal progressive politician who happens to hold the office of President of the United States and is taking this country in the wrong direction.
Maybe the elections this November will help strip away some of Obama’s celebrity façade, but then again, don’t count on it — once a celebrity, always a celebrity.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/07/obamas_appearance_on_the_view.html
None of the old rules apply with this president. We need conservative candidates who can define themselves and clearly verbalize their messages. We need the electorate to be well informed on the issues facing this nation. And we need to get more involved in the election process. Not just show up to cast a ballot.
Nahanni commented:
You are right, GP.
The problem with so many is that they are new to the political game. They do not understand the nature of the game nor the insidious forces arrayed against us. Everyone better start grasping the cosmic clue that we better stand together or we will hang apart.
What people need to grasp is the simple fact that November is the last chance, period. The ultimate goal of the left is to take over the Supreme Court-as both Hillary and Obama said plainly in campaign speeches in 2008. Once they have that stacked with Marxist activist judges you all might as well use the Constitution and Bill of Rights for toilet paper. Once they own that they will no longer need or care about elections, they will rule from the court. They learned a long time ago that they do not need elections or need to rule by the “will of the people” as long as they can craft a case to bring to the Supreme Court to advance their agenda. For a fine example of that see Roe v. Wade.
In 2008 we had millions of people sit the election out because they could not vote for McCain because of [insert pet issue here]. Those people, much more then the idiots who actually voted for Obama and the Corruptocrats, created the mess we are forced to live with today. They would have been the difference between having a totalitarian demagogue as President with his Pelosi/Reid Reichstag and someone who would have vetoed and said “hell no” to the vast majority of the crap that has gone on over the last two years. They stood there with their nose up against their “issue tree” and failed to see the forest burning around them. Not only did they fail to see the forest burning, they were quite content to let it burn because they were being “noble” and “holding true to their principles”, yaddayaddayadda.
Now we are forced with the almost impossible task of putting out the fire before it consumes all of us. The question is whether the people with their noses up against their “issue trees” will continue to “nobly” cling to them and ignore everything else or will make the decision to help put out the fire in order to save both the forest and their “issue tree”. I am going to guess that many will not because they think that it is better to hold onto their “issue tree” then to save the forest. They will stand there and say “I did not compromise my beliefs” while standing next to the ashes of their “issue tree” in the smoldering ruin of the forest.
Joanne commented:
The way to win the election is to show the voters that their pocket books are going to be empty under Obama and it is only going to get worse. People need to know, see, and feel the pain of being broke under Obama to vote for the Republicans. The Republicans are capitalists, and people need to know that the ‘good life’ is under capitalism, not socialism which strips the wealth from a nation and its people.
When you don’t try to get the best in the Republican party, you get people like Brown who vote down the Democrat line. You need hard-liner Republicans who stand for what America used to stand for – the majority of Americans want this back…..not what those who fail to pay any taxes are clammering for: monies paid to them from the government directly taken from the hard-working Americans.
czekmark commented:
Blah, blah, blah. This is just more of the same old b.s. that the Republicans must be moderate and compromising with the Dems which by the way is what lost the congress to the dems in the first place. Anyway if most the public are stupid enough to reelect those that are destroying the country, the disposition of the opposition, moderate or otherwise, will make no difference.
DINORight commented:
Both a forest fire (Nahanni #8) and the field hospital triage are great metaphors for this election. We must elect conservatives who will stand against the Socialist in the White House. Make no mistake, this will be a long, dirty, difficult struggle to take this country back. The Won will veto everything a Repub/Conservative Congress will send him. Repeal and Replace of all of the legislation will not be enough in the 2-year cycle before 2012. And – as noted so well by Nahanni, the SCOTUS appointments can’t be repealed.
We must not despair, we must stand and fight for our nation, like never before in our lifetimes. We must fight with words, stand against the evil ideals and policies of these fanatics, NOT with violence, but with steadfast determination to “Never give in!” to quote Churchill.
Please, vote your convictions. But VOTE THE MARXIST LEFTISTS OUT OF OFFICE, then refine the field of candidates in 2012.
archtop commented:
John Burns is right on the money here.
The place to get your preferred candidate in place is during the primary. Once the primaries are over, you should then support the party candidate. Sure you can not for that person and elect the Democrat, or sit out the entire election for ideological reasons. But then don’t complain here or on other blogs about higher taxes, out of control spending, extreme judicial nominees, more federal regulations, etc.
Think of it this way – I believe I could sit down with Olympia Snowe or Scott Brown and convince them that a conservative policy was the right way to go versus, say, Chuck Schumer or Harry Reid…
Robert commented:
#1 #2
Depending on where you live, the article can have merit. People do need to gauge the political atmosphere at the local level and support candidates accordingly.
You may have been active for along time, but those who haven’t been, have no right to demand instant gratification. It is going to take a long time and a lot of work to stop the socialist progression.
Besides just the general desire to stop the demise of the Republic, there are two very important aspects of the coming election;
1. The Supreme Court – If we can’t block the next appointee by having a Republican Senate, then the Left will have another position of very powerful influence. Obama has had two choices and one or two more is not out of the question, even if he has just one term.
2. Re-districting – This is more localized, as state legislatures draw the districts. Due to the Census just being done, re-districting for the next ten years will be done according to who wins state contests this year. This can also greatly affect the outcome of national elections.
As an example of the problems we face, in Georgia, incumbents won nearly all the primary contests. No doubt some of that was due to the vote being split.
Bob commented:
I hate to vote for Mark Kirk, but if I vote for some 3rd party guy that has no chance we get a Obama Chicago thug in the senate? No, I’ll vote for Kirk and then we can get rid of him next time. Kirk has done some good things too but 3rd party will put us into a socialist state a lot faster.
gorgo commented:
Nehanni:
“In 2008 we had millions of people sit the election out because they could not vote for McCain because of [insert pet issue here].”
Pet issues? Bite us all. How about “…millions of conservatives wouldn’t vote McCain because he’d betrayed his own stated principles too many times in order to get along with statists, and even campaigned for Obama while running against him.”
Good enough reason for you? No? Too bad, because there’s none better.
Anyone who even SMELLS like McCain – a squishy, pretend conservative who’ll sell us out to further their love of office – will NOT get my vote, nor the votes of millions like me. Why? Because while we know elections have consequences, we also have INTEGRITY. We have to live with ourselves and we’d rather see the Republic finally DIE than help vote in its certain demise by voting for weasels who are merely “good” rather than perfect.
Michael commented:
Voting against the socialist is why we see very little difference between the two parties among the ruling elites and we see 80-year old, 8-term Senators. We can’t overcome the slanted playing field in one election cycle. Send a message to both parties with your vote in the primary and then the general election.
bg commented:
++
they sure have that “vote for the lesser of two evils”
mentality deeply ingrained in the American psyche..
==
Bill Fabrizio commented:
Mr. Hoft, why are you trying to make this election much more difficult than it actually is? The candidate slates have been set in most states and will shortly be set in the remaining states. The strategy is very simple. Any candidate who has a “D” beside his/her name is a Socialist. The proof is that all the “Ds” with few exceptions have been voting in lock step with the Obama/Pelosi/Reid Socialist agenda. Therefore, do not vote for anyone with a “D” beside their name.
Any candidate with an “R” beside his/her name is preferable to any “D”. The “Rs” currently in congress have overwhelmingly voted against (many times unanimously) the Obama/Pelosi/Reid Socialist agenda. And the first time “R” candidates are generally much more conservative than those already in congress. So, therefore, a vote for any candidate with an “R” beside their name is a vote for conservative leadership and against the Obama/Pelosi/Reid Socialist agenda.
Quite simply, the above is the formula for taking back at least the House in 2010. We shoul be actively campaigning for all “Rs” and against all “Ds”! We can worry about future candidates after this year’s election victory!
Let’s not confuse the at this stage!!
Robert commented:
gorgo #15
Sit in your high chair banging your spoon
and sit the election out if you want.
The adults will try to save the Republic.
Chippy commented:
Vote for people who want to go to a doctors office. DO NOT fVOTE for people who want to go to the Socialized Medicine Department of the Federal Government. Also, we find out this morning the SEC is untouchable to Freedom of Information Act requests by individual American citizens. This is coming to light from the Fin Reg Bill passed by Scotty Brown and the Bangor Sisters. Fin RINO’s!
chuck in st paul commented:
2,9,10,15 — Ditto.
I REFUSE to vote for another McLame again… ever! In truth I think I only did it because Saracudda was on the ticket and we had a chance to get her into the Whitehouse, perhaps in 8 years. I’m done with that. Forever.
gorgo commented:
Robert,
Good luck with that. Just make sure you only vote for candidates you can trust to not sell us out and cave to the statists down the road, or who won’t grow fat and lazy and useless like the GOP has largely become.
When you find enough of those candidates to start to make a difference, do us all a favor and post their names here.
Until then, blow your snark out your ass. Without those candidates, the Republic has zero hope.
And you know it.
Rivka commented:
I say go out of our way to support and elect solid, Reagan conservatives in the primaries. If a rino sneaks through, we need to back them in the 2010 general. We need to stop the socialist majority from completely taking over our country and possibly changing our election process through some devious, sneaky unconstitutional laws they might pass.
Don’t be foolish and refuse to vote in the general if your guy didn’t win. This is our last chance people. Once a ‘Chavez’ is in they usually don’t go away.
I think by 2012 we will have made strides in getting real conservatives elected in the primaries. This is America and we can overcome this takeover by the socialist left.
gorgo commented:
“In truth I think I only did it [voted McCain] because Saracudda was on the ticket and we had a chance to get her into the Whitehouse, perhaps in 8 years.”
Same here. I’ll vote for her, and anyone demonstrably, provably like her for any office. But I’m done voting AGAINST statists by voting FOR people who end up only slightly less statist, or totally inert and worthless. No more.
mark commented:
This is a separate question that’s running in my mind non-stop. How on God’s green earth, does a US Senator, Democrat John Kerry, afford a $7 Million Yacht in the first place? Never mind the tax evasions from his home state. Don’t you think investigations are in order into his finances? When one is living well beyond the means of a humble, low paying Senate job (wink wink), there are plenty of questions needing answers. Democratics–defenders of the poor? What a bunch of rubbish.
bg commented:
++
ps re: bg #17
however unfortunate for US, that is how the political game is played, they (politicians) set the rules, and “we the people” rise or fall accordingly.. at the same time it’s an ironically disturbing testament to the fallacy re: “we the people” having all the power..
fact is.. it’s rock, meet hard place, and “we the people” live somewhere in between.. so we’ll just have to do the best we can with what we have.. but we shall never forget and must never surrender!!
==
gorgo commented:
Rivka:
“I say go out of our way to support and elect solid, Reagan conservatives in the primaries.”
If they exist and we can prove they exist, YES!
“If a rino sneaks through, we need to back them in the 2010 general.”
No. That only delays the inevitable takeover by the statists, and we become a party to it by voting for them. You can do that if you wish. I will not, never again.
gorgo commented:
#25
His wife is an heiress. She’s loaded. She also has vision problems, apparently.
donh commented:
What a DOWNER of a post to lead into jim’s abscence. Such hypocrisy. Posting these kind of insulting LOSER sentiments provoke the very kind of infighting the author claims to fear. Since the end of Reagan the republicans have been a party of co-dependants and enablers in this 20 year rise in socialist tyranny. The way to stop socialism is to stop it NOW and stop is cold. The people are desparate to empower noble republicans who will stand firm to protect the constitution, freedom, liberty, and human rights. Teamwork demands that when the people succeed at placing a potential patriot on a ballot, A person who will be a genuine represetative of the people and not a fraud of lip service , the party give that person everything it has in the way of support. The lack of teamwork comes from the Arlan Specter / Charlie Crist co dependant republcans who disrepect the majority will of the people.
StrngernFiction commented:
WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU PREFER COMMENTARY THAT IS SUGAR COATED.
As I’ve written on here before I think it our DUTY to fight the statist cancer afflicting our nation, regardless of what we believe our chances are of succeeding. So I’ll fight regardless, but this post IMHO amounts to a strategizing about how to rearrange the deck chairs. This strikes me as the type of sentiment that an already defeated side would feel the need to express.
gorgo commented:
Democrats never have the problem of knowing they can ideologically trust who they vote for. I can’t recall ever hearing of someone running as a leftist who turned out to be conservative, or even leaned conservative. Voting democrat really does take no thought – if statists in office is what you want, that’s what you’ll get. Just vote (D). The statists almost never compromise. You have to give them that much credit: in power or out of power, they almost never compromise their ideology.
But republicans and conservatives always have to second-guess and triple-guess their candidates because so many have been corrupted, or were never truly conservative to begin with, and so compromise us further down the road to statism.
That’s why we’re so pissed off right now and refuse to accept the whole “lesser of two evils” BS. That’s what’s got us where we are NOW, whether we knew it or not. If you don’t get that then…you just don’t get it.
Robert commented:
I’m as conservative as the next guy. The problem is, we spent our lives working while the Left spent theirs infiltrating our institutions. They control media and education, having pushed the national mindset so far to the left that even conservatives here question whether Social Security is socialist.
Now you think you can instantly undo all that they have done? Or you will go home and refuse to play? And at the time of greatest need, when the onrush of statist socialism has been quickened beyond what we thought possible?
What you say has ALREADY COME TO PASS! IT JUST HAPPENED! Millions refused to vote for McCain, and the socialist state has awakened.
So yeah you might as well do it again. Don’t vote. Let the Republic swirl further down the drain. Stay home and bask in your self-absorbed ideological purity. Forget about the rights of the individual, the can-do spirit, personal responsibility, exploration, national exceptionalism. That way, you won’t have to tell the grandkids what it was like.
Moriyah commented:
14 Weeks:
http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2010/07/14-weeks.html#links
d_fitz commented:
Mark Kirk will still have to wing it without my vote.
Rivka commented:
Gorgo,
I have to agree with you. It is hard to prove conservatives exist and they aren’t lying to get elected. I have just decided to support Tiahrt in my state over Moran simply because Levin, Hannity, Palin, the tea party movement, and others have endorsed him. I had no clue who was the real conservative.
I held my nose and voted for McCain and almost didn’t go to the polls.
One of the reasons our country is where it is at is because of rino’s as well as socialists so I agree with you on that point. I just can’t stand allowing the left to totally takeover because we aren’t there yet in turning our party totally back to it’s conservative roots.
We’ve made huge strides and I wish we could gut it and totally change it overnight.
On one hand when we punished our party in 2006 by not voting, we got a socialist takeover which has done a great deal of damage which may or may not be able to be turned back, BUT on the other hand there is now this huge conservative movement that is taking back our party. That might not have happened otherwise.
Rivka commented:
continued.. That said, I think the bottom line is that if we allow the libs to win in this upcoming election at this critical juncture in our history by not voting because our candidates aren’t everything we wanted then it won’t matter if we work hard to turn our party back to it’s roots. It will be over. We think they have been radical already? They will get in there and make sure they retain power and getting our party back to it’s roots won’t matter. The chance to save our great nation will be lost.
bg commented:
++
mark @ 9:32 am #25
(short quickie summary)
easy, i believe his current millionaire (more like billionaire, but whatever) wife is a handy “excuse”.. his family however, had plenty of dough via his drug trafficking, amongst other things, ancestors.. he also has French relatives, family, and owned a family villa (or whatever they call it) in France before he even met Teraaaaayzzzza!!
a few of Kerry’s ancestoral names are: Kohn, Forbes, Winthrop.. he also pretends to be an Irish Catholic, and hung around with the Kennedy’s, but his father was Jewish, so go figure.. because i doubt he’d make Jews proud either..
==
J. Knight commented:
Mr. Burns, you are so right, my friend. We have exactly the situation you envision in the US Senate race in Arkansas.
We have the Democratic Senator who cast the deciding vote in committee that allowed the Health Care Bill to come up to the floor of the Senate.
And now we have a tea party candidate running in the election, and he is sure to pull voters away from John Boozeman, who is the Republican. Now Boozeman has a record as he is a Congressman from the 3rd District, and he has been given a B rating by whatever entity that grades conservatives.
The B rating is not good enough for the tea partiers in this state, even though having Boozeman in the Senate would have stopped Health Care.
I’ve talked to people I know who are so entralled with the tea party guy that they would rather vote for him and lose than vote for Boozeman and win. I really don’t know how to deal with people who want to commit suicide for themselves and their families. It’s as if these people deny reality. Getting rid of these liberals is going to take a long time, but we had better take control of the House or Senate from the Socialists before it is too late, and that means November.
We won’t get another chance.
bg commented:
++
oh yeah, and excuse me, but no one is looking for “perfect”..
we’re looking for REPUBLICANS aka: CONSERVATIVES..
remember them, remember what they stood for??
simple fact is, if not for them we wouldn’t be
a REPUBLIC in the first place.. /truth sarc/
Michael @ 9:15 am #16
albeit *6 years too late, Amen!!
(they should have been voted out back in 2004,
then GWB might have had a chance to recoup..)
==
StrngernFiction commented:
gorgo,
I agree that RINO’s should be opposed in the primaries, but NOT IN THE GENERAL.
In case you have fallen for the notion that both parties are pretty much the same, and it really doesn’t matter who you vote for, please read this:
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/who-says-theres-no-difference-between-democrats-and-republicans/
This is not to say that RINO’s are OK, they most certainly ARE NOT. It’s just to say that a RINO IS a lesser of two evils when pitted against a ‘rat. Much lesser. Dims are simply communists, and MUST BE OPPOSED WHENEVER POSSIBLE.
gorgo commented:
Robert, #32
“Now you think you can instantly undo all that they have done?”
No. Not your way, anyway.
“Or you will go home and refuse to play? And at the time of greatest need, when the onrush of statist socialism has been quickened beyond what we thought possible?”
Those like me believe the Republic is already largely gone, and has been for many decades. There is only one way it will ever be restored, and it won’t be via elections (for reasons already amply cited by myself and others). We have learned not to say out loud on a forum how we think that restoration will take place because we’ll be attacked for saying it, shunned and quickly banned. So we stay quiet, watch and wait the rest of you chase your tails with this “vote the lesser of two evils now, fix the problems they cause later” idiocy.
Voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil. AT BEST it only delays the inevitable takeover by the state. It does nothing to stop it. What intellectual or moral comfort one could take in voting just for the sake of voting, with no positive effect, is beyond me.
OTOH, sitting it out en masse and letting the resulting pain come upon sleeping people in greater and greater waves – as it’s only now started to come – will help wake them up and rile them to what, eventually, will be seen as the only possible answer. THEN things will change.
In the meantime I’ll vote, if someone has proven he or she is trustworthy. Without knowing that, voting is useless. The rest of us will wait, and quietly prepare. We’ll still be here for you when you finally come all the way awake.
gorgo commented:
#40
“In case you have fallen for the notion that both parties are pretty much the same, and it really doesn’t matter who you vote for…”
1. Who took back Congress in ’94, conservatives or RINOs?
2. Who was the last truly, consistently conservative president?
Now ask me again.
“Dims are simply communists, and MUST BE OPPOSED WHENEVER POSSIBLE.”
But voting for known, out-of-the-closet RINOs only delays the communist rot until the RINOs see their chance to buy in and get their cut. And voting for scrotum-less career Repubs gets us…well, pretty much where we are now: circling the drain.
Tommy commented:
Fight the pretenders tooth and nail in the primaries, but in the general vote for what you have. Taking your ball home when no one wants to play the game your way won’t accomplish anything in the end.
kansas commented:
Maybe the country needs two more years of this to learn their lesson.
Brooklyn commented:
It is a great post Mr. Hoft.
A dose of serious reality and savvy insight.
But the Fashion promoted by so many on the sidelines is so thick, it is already far too deep to bring objectivity towards.
Why the other day, even the mighty EIB was encouraging basic populism and stereotyping of ‘East Coast Republicans’.
Didn’t Chris Christie put an end to that sophistry?
In this offering by the Man behind the Golden Mic, the failure to be constructive, to encourage all to join the most sound Conservative embrace was vivid. He blew with the most vivid Fashionable callers who were still – still focused on the Republicans, instead of the priority and the main problem, the disastrous Democratic Party.
Of course, we had to encounter the same Fashionable nonsense, which promoted the ‘Hockey Mom’ as the “ONLY” one to be speaking out. It was downright nutty, and is in utter denial. WFB built a movement on FACTS, but the fashionable, self destructive push of many Conservatives is alive and well.
There is a basic failure to understand the simplistic concept of POWER.
I hope cooler heads prevail, like those of reason in NJ, who selected the less romanticized Christie, who was simply the best for the General Election and the JOB.
We shall see, but there are many who simply play the game in a manner which weakens the opportunity. They look as if they will never learn, and continue to empower the disastrous Democrats forever.
StrngernFiction commented:
gorgo,
By your logic, which may well be spot on I must say, one would want to quietly vote FOR the ‘rats. But despite the fact that I agree with you that the best chance to save this country in the long-term is to have statism be seen to fail miserably (that people LINK the failure to excessive government, regulation, etc. not rich people being greedy is the key here), I just can’t bring myself to do anything but vote against ‘rats.
brainpimp commented:
This is the 3rd article by Jim Hoft that is way off base. Why is he here?
He is completely wrong. That is nothing more than the old RNC line. Who does that sound like? Jim is your rallying cry really “At least we aren’t as bad as they are” Gosh that sure sounds like “Well the unemployment would have been worse”.
When did the rules becomes 3 candidates D, R and a conservative?
AuntieMadder commented:
I wish I hadn’t read these comments.
Michael commented:
When you tell me the liberal Repub is “most electable” I have to wonder how you arrived at your biased view and why I should abort my campaign efforts for a better candidate. I’m much more persuaded by someone enthusiastically telling me, “Hey look at Sharon Angle, look at Christie in NJ, let’s bust our butts and get the Conservative elected. That doesn’t mean I’m going to pout and forego my right to vote in any election if the choice is between Socialist Dem and Socialist-enabler Repub.
bg commented:
++
imho, it’s negative quilt trip lecturn posits like
this one that empowers the Democrat party..
it’s the equivalent of “the war is lost”, again, jmho..
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bg commented:
++
duh re: bg #50
quilt = guilt
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liberal forever commented:
Hahaha, I love it. You brainless jerks will never take Congress away from us, and we should be in power for years, as my President is set to make our immigrants full citizens by Presidential Proclamation. You losers just keep fighting over the spoils, we will keep running things, and I can see the evil Capitalists put on trial, and you greedy conservatives will have to cough up that cash you’ve been hiding. Lol.
Sheila commented:
Gorgo, I’ve been called all the names that these movement conservatives are flinging at you in this thread, because like you I know that we long ago ceased to be a constitutional republic and this nation is broken beyond repair. Fight with words and votes says Dinoright, #11. Ah yes, let’s continue to play by the Marquis of Queensbury rules while the left presses its armed ambush towards the ultimate victory. Vote for any republican in the main election, insist others. Yes indeed, it’s certainly preferable to take the local train rather than the express when both are heading off a cliff. It’s really quite amusing, but this comment thread reminds me so much of what I heard in church last week – about people so desperate for “fellowship” and “ecumenism” that they are willing to compromise everything else – particularly the truth. No, politics is not the Gospel, but I still will stand on my convictions. Tribalism + democracy + stupidity = racist idiocracy. Decline and fall.
bg commented:
++
“the staus quo has got to go!”
that means both entrenched mambers of the Socialist Democrats, as well as Rinodem Republicans.. neither of whom place “we the people” first..
not to mention our identity not confused IslaMarxist president..
if you’re not fighting for what you believe in,
then you’re aiding and abetting the enemy..
might does not make right, right makes might!!
God Bless America/ns!!
land of the FREE.. not the FREELOADERS!!
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bg commented:
++
liberal forever @ 12:20 pm #52
hiding money?? oh no no no, it’s in Al Gore’s “lock box”..
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liberal forever commented:
Sheila and Gorgo, I love you guys! You’re taking the hit for Progessivism, so keep it up! These conservative whack jobs will never figure us out.
gorgo commented:
“That doesn’t mean I’m going to pout and forego my right to vote in any election if the choice is between Socialist Dem and Socialist-enabler Repub.”
I guess you don’t realize it but you’re admitting that voting Republican is too often a form of masturbation: intense, emotionally driven activity that makes you feel good for awhile, until you realize it was an unproductive waste of time that leaves you no better off than you were before…except in the case of voting RINO, you’ll eventually be even worse off.
Just make sure to wash your hands after either activity, since both are dirty.
Don Rodrigo commented:
Burns is right. We have to take back at least the House. If many Republicans in a GOP-dominated House are not conservatives, it’s a secondary problem to not having the majority.
There have been a few instances of Tea partiers endorsing Democrats! Idiots. What would a handful of Blue Dog Democrats be able to do against Pelosi, Reid and Hoyer? Nothing. If a Democrat has ‘Tea Party credentials,’ than he/she can switch to the GOP, for God’s sake.
Let me give you a good example of what I’m talking about: Scott Brown. He’s not a conservative, but we cheered his election because, by Mass. standards he’s way less liberal than the Democrats there, and his win sent a resounding message. A true conservative would not have won, so a Scott Brown will do.
I don’t like RINOS either, but, believe me, the number of truly conservative GOP reps will go up proportionately this election cycle, and will have a lot more influence than they do now.
Once the GOP can become a majority, then it’s time to start weeding out weaklings over time.
gorgo commented:
If we had Palin and Christie type candidates all over the country to vote for, I’d have hope for the Republic. If I have them available to me, they’ve got my vote. But as far as I can tell, they’re exceedingly rare. It should tell you just how screwed the voting game is when RINOs are more popular with the GOP than someone who thinks like Palin.
gorgo commented:
“We have to take back at least the House. If many Republicans in a GOP-dominated House are not conservatives, it’s a secondary problem to not having the majority.”
Doesn’t that depend on how many non-conservatives get swept in?
My biggest fear, pardon me for repeating it, is a ball-less Republican majority that is willing to do whatever it takes to get along with the opposition and, so, screws the nation’s conservatives again so they can look good in the press…they’d be like what passes for conservative lawmakers in England: instead of trying to change that country’s direction and undo the damage they’ve suffered, they run on the platform of “Yes it’s a mess, but we can manage it better for you than the Left can.” THAT is what I fear for the U.S.
gorgo commented:
#46
“gorgo,
By your logic, which may well be spot on I must say, one would want to quietly vote FOR the ‘rats. But despite the fact that I agree with you that the best chance to save this country in the long-term is to have statism be seen to fail miserably (that people LINK the failure to excessive government, regulation, etc. not rich people being greedy is the key here), I just can’t bring myself to do anything but vote against ‘rats.”
I confess, neither can I. And I’ll hate myself hate myself hate myself if I’m fooled again.
chilipalmer commented:
For this country to have a chance, Newt Gingrich must be viewed as the enemy he is. He should never again be allowed to speak at right of center groups, and people should not accept advertising from him. If Sean Hannity were half the ‘American’ he claims he is, he would never again allow Gingrich on his show.
RealAmericanStLouisian commented:
Context for this article: the St. Louis tea party (of which John Burns is a part) is trying to defend themselves after they distinguished themselves as cowards by not signing on to a letter condemning RINO Roy Blunt. Blunt voted for TARP and Cash for Clunkers, and he has a genuine conservative primary challenger. 28 different tea party organizations across the state of Missouri signed a letter making it clear that Blunt is *not* a tea party candidate, but the St. Louis tea party was too scared to join, because they enjoy the crumbs thrown down to them by the Republican establishment in exchange for their servitude.
Van commented:
I’m with John on this one.
Since it’s been such an item in the news lately, let me point out that we ought to try to look at this in the broader, fuller, context… by looking back, before looking forward, in order to try and get a broader view.
In 1992 we still had a relatively rational world, and when Bush 41 broke his ‘no new taxes pledge’, I and many others, refused to vote for him, or other RINO’s like him.
Because we did, we got Gingrich and the ‘Republican Revolution’, and managed to stave off the socialist assault for almost 20 years.
There was a counter balance to that of course, we got 8 yrs of Clinton, which I don’t think most people realize how damaging it was, legislatively and morally, to the nation.
The point is, you’ve got to look at the full picture and realize that you likely do not have a choice between Good and Bad, more often than not we only have a choice between ‘not so good’, ‘worse’ and ‘much worse’, and we have to remember to make that evaluation not only in relation to the immediate goal, but the lesser and later options. In ’92, it was a reasonable risk to allow the Presidency to be lost, in order to galvanize the like minded and make a strategic gain in the mid-term elections.
But as well as that strategy played out (there was far more than Welfare that was stopped in the following years, it’s worth going back and looking at what the ‘Contract With America’ accomplished), it would be foolish to forget that we also lost important ground due to our principled stand then.
The gamble was that for the loss of short term gains, we’d make some more valuable long term gains, and that given the then current climate and foreseeable future in 1992, it was worth the gamble, and on balance it proved worthwhile.
That is NOT our climate today.
We cannot afford to sacrifice a broad election today (though in some isolated instances, the earlier NY 92(?) with Scozzafava comes to mind) in order to make a point for a future election – that is a myopic, and IMHO, a foolish, meaningless, effort. For the same reasons that it was a wise move to campaign in that NY 92, AND for Scott Brown (and really, anyone who didn’t realize he was a RINO, and would perform just as he has, wasn’t paying attention – but it was still the better choice between bad and worse), it is a wise move today to look less at the blustery (and self defeating) faux ‘statement of principle’, and look at the wider context and Prudent, choice.
Any candidate, and believe me, it galls me to say it, but ANY candidate today, that is less left than the leftist candidate, is worth your voting for, and is worth your making an effort to get others to vote for.
BUT!
DO NOT LOSE SIGHT OF THE WIDER CONTEXT AND LONGER RANGE GOAL!
Because it is wiser to hold our nose and vote, or work for, a lesser candidate now, DOES NOT mean that we stop or pull back in our efforts to lay the ground work for the more perfect candidate in future elections. It does not mean that we stop letting those in the various legislators and levels of machinery know that we are STILL GODDAMN PISSED OFF and are coming for them, that they are targeted, and when the ammo is available, they will be fired – when it benefits US and our real Rights and interests to do so.
Our modern system of education has nearly eradicated all knowledge and comprehension of the virtue of Prudence – I’d suggest that we all pull out our Aristotle and Aquinas and study it well – make no mistake, without it, the Republic will be lost (and BTW, Prudence held big time sway with the Founding Father’s generation… go ahead… have a look at what they had to say).
indy jones commented:
The rinos are as big a problem as the socialists. Gingrich is as much a rino as the Maine twins, Lugar, or two dozen other republicans. When they show up on the ballot I simply refuse to vote or vote a third party. It will take a few election cycles but we will have a conservative Congress only if we are willing to sacrifice near term gains for long term gains. We have not been willing to demand more of republican candidates..that is why Bloomberg ran as a republican after loosing in the Democratic primary. Strip the fakes of their republican clothing!
bg commented:
++
you know i ehat to say this, and yes, i realize i might be taking it a bit out of context to illustrate a point, but non the less, this negative ‘do it for the good of the party’ lecturing is starting to sound an awful lot like another frequently echoed mantra..
“Everyone Must Sacrifice For the Greater Good”
bottom line:
both parties need to be purged & replenished with people who are care
more about the job they are applying for, which is to represent & serve
“we the people”, their employer, than they do themselves or each other..
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bg commented:
++
re: bg #67
who are care = who care
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bg commented:
++
ps re: bg #67
the President, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, etc, need to somehow be re-enlightened to the fact that “we the people’s” Government is not about THEM, it’s about US..
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EE commented:
This is the best explanation of the upcoming primary election that I have heard. Now more than ever we need to look at the big picture that is which Republican candidate can beat the socialist Democrat in November. Thanks for setting us straight on the most important election of our lifetime.
CapedConservative commented:
Disagree. If the general election choice is between Socialist or RINO Socialist Lite, I will vote for the real thing. I will no longer accept the lesser of two evils. I will choose the most evil to help people get to the end product sooner.
Obama vs McCain has been a very teachable moment. You really think if McCain had been elected that we wouldn’t still be on the slope to more and bigger government… less freedom? We would be. Perhaps just a bit more slowly. The “moderate” Democrats have virtually all caved to their far left on legislation. They reprepsent their “RINOs”. How about our RINOs? Well, it seems they too caved on legislation… only instead of caving to our right, they caved to the left. No more.
The election of Obama and his jamming of his agenda down our throats has only served to wake some people up and get them engaged. If it takes an even bigger dose of socialism to awaken the rest, so be it.
CC
eddibebbi commented:
In November, the IMPORTANT thing is getting the Liberals/Democrats/Socialists OUT. That means that all Conservatives should join together to vote for the STRONGEST Conservative party….surely the Republicans. While the Independents, Libertarians or Tea Party People may have correct ideas about some things (moreso than Republicans) you will cause a Democrat victory if you break up the Conservative vote by hanging in there for some party other than Republican. Democrats all vote for one party so we Conservatives cannot afford to scatter our votes around over more than one party.THIS is a time when Conservatives must vote together against the Liberal Democrat Party.