Sep 16 2010
O’Donnell Is Not The Tea Party
I really hate group think. I really hate being told by a mindless mob to get with them or else. It’s so socialistic.
Let me echo something I put in a comment at Hot Air while our site was down (and it may go down again – fingers crossed it won’t). There are MANY of us who have been at the Tea Party protests since 2009, been with the Tea Party in spirit since it began. Promoted it and applauded it for months now.
I never once winced when Tea Party backed candidates took on the establishment in PA, FL, CO, NV, AK, SC, etc. I believe the grass roots movement shaking DC to its core is exactly what is needed to give the nation any hope of recovering from the hyper-partisan crap we have been dealing with for the last 4 decades.
But let’s be honest here – the Tea Party is not going to be 100% right, 100% of the time. It is a grass roots effort, and occasionally results will be produced that are just not all that impressive.
Take Christine O’Donnell’s win in the GOP primary in DE. In that state there were two seriously flawed candidates for the GOP side. So flawed the only argument going on right now is which one was worse! I am not impressed by O’Donnell, though I have moments where I can connect with her (I did not know she was such a Tolkein fan). I don’t wince at her MTV discussion, I do cringe at her efforts to equate Creationism to Evolution (horribly ignorant stuff). I was not impressed with Castle – the epitome of the entrenched Political Industrial Complex. Thank god I did not have to vote in THAT primary!
But my issues with ONE candidate does not reflect at all on my views of the Tea Party or other Tea Party aligned candidates. Angle, Buck, Rubio, Miller, etc – none of them bother me. O’Donnell does. BFD! Tea Partiers need to get a grip – I don’t HAVE TO agree with your movement 100% of the time. Don’t come off sounding like big brother telling me I have to love everything your movement thinks, says, does or produces. Not going to happen.
There is no need for a silly civil war on the right (hint, hint DeMint) over the fact one Tea Party candidate did not win over the hearts of America. Heck, she did not get the support of all Tea Party organizations in DE!! Again – BFD.
The polls are showing a massive wave coming November that will easily lift nearly all the Tea Party challengers to smashing wins. For example, I am highly confident Angle will beat Reid – he is polling low 40’s. Which means over 50% of the voters in NV have decided they will not vote for him. He is the known quantity and their decisions were made months ago. Many voters have not decided to vote for Angle (yet), but there is a reason incumbents are dead when polling 45% – that is their ceiling come election day. A law of political physics. The late breakers will go to Angle. And in this year with a massive enthusiasm gap and a ‘throw the bums out’ mindset, Ried is gone.
The wave is so massive it could even raise O’Donnell to a win – especially since I believe it will wipe out Dems in WV, WI, WA, CA and CT. I don’t think Coons is a shoe-in. And being Reid’s ‘pet’ just cost him quite a few votes. So let’s not get too out of control here. The woman does not reflect the Tea Party or the conservative movement very accurately. She claims to believe in a lot of common ground, and she has some unique views too. So be it.
This is not over, but people need to chill out. Just because Tea Party supporters are not comfortable with O’Donnell it does not make them traitors to the cause (or to conservatism or the GOP). Come on folks, the right is supposed to be all about freedom of speech and freedom of choice. True patriots don’t go all ballistic when those rights are exercised. Not if they are ‘true’ patriots.
Focus on the big prize. Harry Reids defeat. That would be a Nuclear Bomb to the Demoncrats.
“The wave is so massive it could even raise O’Donnell to a win”
This is what Chris Matthews (of all people) believes…
“I supposed I had my eyes on something different. While others were seeing dead people, the defeated Mike Castle, who was supposed to be strong this November, I saw the strength of the flames that consumed him and will consume many others this rapidly approaching election night. I have waited all my adult life for an election in which voters have the fire to reach up and burn those who have been running the show for decades. But I didn`t know it would come from the right and center.”
Read all of what he said…
http://tinyurl.com/24bfuhf
How liberal IS DE?
“Gallup reported that 37.4% of the people of the First State describe themselves as conservative — or nearly double the 19% who describe themselves as liberals.
That gives conservatives an advantage of 18.4%.
That is a bigger advantage than conservatives enjoy in Maine, where both senators are Republicans.
The Blue Hen State is redder than California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Nevada, New Hampshire, Washington state and Wisconsin — states where Republicans are either favored or competitive in the Senate races.”
http://tinyurl.com/24yu4sp
If the “tea party” does nothing more then shake up the establishment of both parties, it will be a good thing. And I think that is exactly what it is doing. I don’t really care if every candidate is great, what is important for the country is to shake up the political guys to their very core. The Republicans had a perfect opportunity and they blew it with business as usual and they lost. President Bush was dealt a very difficult hand. The dot com bubble, then 911 and 1000 points lost in a few hours from the dow. The dems think Bush loved having to authorize 2 wars with a Department of Defense cut to the bone under Clinton (how do you think he balanced the budget during his second term?). The Republicans acted like spoiled children, while their President was loosing Americans fighting 2 wars and had to bargin for every penny to save their lives. So now the “tea party” comes along and says kick the spoiled, self serving bums out and lets see how the the ordinary people can do. Will they make mistakes, sure, but if it helps shake up things, I’m for it, because in the long run it will be the best for the country.
I saw this in FREEREPUBLIC, seems about right to me.
White House Insider on Obama: “the President is Losing It.”
September 16, 2010 2:38:06 PM MDT · by Nachum · 19 replies
NewsFlavor.com, ^ | 9/16/10 | Ulsterman
A longtime Washington D.C. insider, and former advisor to the Obama election campaign and transition team, speaks out on an administration in crisis, and a president increasingly withdrawn from the job of President. 2008 gave America an incredibly charismatic candidate for President of the United States. Speech after speech showed a candidate with increasing momentum as primary race after primary race concluded. And then came the nomination, more speeches, culminating in an election night victory. According to the person sitting across from me, those were incredibly exciting times, even for one who had been a participant with three previous presidential…
AJ…right on. This election will be the beginning of the real draining of the swamp. It will take a few election cycles to force the DC political crowd to understand that they were not elected to become some sort of minor royalty, but public servants who serve the people.
Some Democrats are trying to crow about “disarray” in the GOP ranks (Jonathan Chait chief among them) but even they are having a hard time believing that storyline.
Best analogy I’ve seen yet: visualize a tsunami. The tsunami strikes the ships out at sea first, and this is a HUGE tsunami, like the one in that famous japanese woodcut. The Republican primaries were like a fleet far out to sea which ran into the tsunami before anyone else did. A lot of damage was done, a good number of people were swept overboard, and some ships that were thought to be invincible were sunk. It was a harrowing and painful passage.
BUT – the tsunami has now passed over them, and today the GOP survivors are in pretty good shape and looking at smooth sailing from here on till November.
Meanwhile, on the beach, all of the Democrats are having a wonderful Party in their pretty little beach houses lined up on the sand. The food is good, the music is great, and the Drinks are on the House! Times couldn’t be better! But some of the more
astute among them are wondering why all of the water is starting to be sucked out of the bay out in front. They suspect something’s wrong, but life on the beach has been so good for so long that they don’t really believe it can end. Might as well have another drink.
Seven weeks till the Tsunami makes it to shore.
Welcome back.
Loved this post. Rove lost it on TV for a moment and probably reverted to an adult a few minutes later. But to read it all over the blogs, he is a criminal. Good grief. I am watching Malkin gloat ( a very smart woman that can make her opinion sound more like hate speech than anyone I have ever heard). Such a darn shame and waste of superior talent. I guess the commenters I am reading figured Rove didn’t get enough grief from the lefties for 8 years? Yep, he needed more from the Right. Go get him, that will show the DIMS!
O’Donnell is not a Palin but we need her to win. This is just more of that 100%er crap. I can’t get over how quick they were to attack without giving Rove one ounce of respect.
Coons the Bearded Marxist is Harry Reid’s pet. What does that make Harry Reid?
Nothing, person or group, is right all the time, but now you have a choice — the Bearded Marxist or a Conservative beginner. People have the wrong opinion when a newcomer doesn’t pan out sounding like a professional politician, which I thought you didn’t want in the first place, hence the Conservative beginner …
I think I am in a loop.
It’s becoming a time for choosing, freedom or tyranny, we have no third choice.
Lay off Karl Rove. One mistake doesn’t a devil make.
Well said WWS!
COD just raised over a million today. That should get somebody’s attention in DC. One thing in her favor is that the Democrats ran a sacrificial lamb because they thought Castle would be a placeholder until Biden ran in 2014. Coons is not a very strong candidate. She has a chance against a Marxist. We don’t have to like all the candidates but at least we should not attack them as losers. Let the Dems do that. Let the good people of DE sort this one out.
Unless Carper retires, Biden has nowhere to go except Governor, which is up in 2012 but the current governor is not term limited. If Coons wins, Biden would have to run in the 2014 primary against him so maybe the Dems want COD to win. Biden can beat her in 2014.
Rove will recover. He said something stupid in public, and he got hit with a brushback pitch as a result. As smart as he is *Supposed* to be, even he had no idea just how big and strong this movement has gotten – big enough to punish anyone that crosses it, even him. It’s kind of funny to see how hard he is working to walk his way back from the limb he went out on.
I think he never saw it coming. Must be quite disconcerting for someone who’s supposed to know everything. And I have to admit that I find it thrilling to realize that there’s a force now that easily outstrips the abilities of anyone on either side to control it.
One more thing – I believe that having a fight with Karl Rove is the *Best* thing possible that the Tea Party could have done to establish themselves with Independents. Don’t forget that most of these are people who don’t give a damn about Republicans – they just want to see Washington taken down a few notches. Picking a fight with Rove was the perfect way to establish their bona fides!
(of course, now the point has been made, so it can end)
See, Marsh, we don’t have a “Conservative” party or a “Liberal” party, we have Democrats and Republicans. You seem to be making the mistake that liberals are all Democrats and Conservatives are all Republican, that isn’t so. Delaware has a lot of people who consider themselves “conservative” yet are Democrats and vote Democrat. That poll doesn’t mean anything. Conservative isn’t “red”, Republican is.
People don’t have to be particularly conservative to be Republican or particularly liberal to be Democrat.
And DeMint is emerging as the winner as the Republican Establishment goes after him for helping COD win and decrease the odds of getting the Senate majority.
But his response is we’re better off with a gridlock. And a double whammy! He and COD are seeing an increase in donations within days!
AJ,
Good to see your site back up.
I agree with your comments on this, but I am a bit confused.
You typically have a particular article or link that you use to identify the source which you are critiquing. In this case, I am not sure what comments or writing you are focused on.
Your assessment of O’Donnell seem fair, given my complete lack of knowledge of the details in the Delaware press and complete reliance on the uneven, national coverage.
Still the conclusion you give about being patriots confuses me. Who is making that accusation? What context?
On its surface, supporting or not supporting O’Donnell has little to do with patriotism — I grant you that. Patriotism is a water’s edge notion in my book (“Politics ends at the water’s edge.”) Patriotism begins at the water’s edge: patriotism = support the troops = finding means to succeed tactical in their ordered mission.
I often critique based on choice of words. In this case, I just want to clarify if your critique is generic and risks being a straw man argument or if there are particular writings that you would have normally highlighted but did not because of website problems consuming your posting availability.
AJ,
Good to see your site back up.
I agree with your comments on this, but I am a bit confused.
You typically have a particular article or link that you use to identify the source which you are critiquing. In this case, I am not sure what comments or writing you are focused on.
Your assessment of O’Donnell seem fair, given my complete lack of knowledge of the details in the Delaware press and complete reliance on the uneven, national coverage.
Still the conclusion you give about being patriots confuses me. Who is making that accusation? What context?
On its surface, supporting or not supporting O’Donnell has little to do with patriotism — I grant you that. Patriotism is a water’s edge notion in my book (“Politics ends at the water’s edge.”) Patriotism begins at the water’s edge: patriotism = support the troops = finding means to succeed tactical in their ordered mission.
I often critique based on choice of words. In this case, I just want to clarify if your critique is generic and risks being a straw man argument or if there are particular writings that you would have normally highlighted but did not because of website problems consuming your posting availability.
The site is not quite up…
Crosspatch, in one respect I must disagree with your explanation about liberals and conservatives.
There are NO more conservative Democrats – I live right in the middle of where they used to be strong, and I can guarantee you that the breed has gone extinct. They exist no more, they have joined the choir eternal, they are ex-democrats.
There are *plenty* of conservatives who are Independant, of course, for all kinds of reasons – but there are NO conservative Democrats. Anywhere.
If you don’t believe me, just watch. In 7 weeks the last few who claim to be such a thing, men like Chet Edwards over in Waco, are all going to be wiped from the electoral landscape for good, never to return. They have no more constituents.
It truly is the end of an era.
Good to see you back up, AJ. I too am happy I did not have to vote in the DE primary. O’Donnell was a weak choice for sure, but that guy Castle — if he is not the embodiment of everything conservatives cannot stand about the Republican establishment, then no one is. I could not, as a tea party type, imagine being able to fill in the dot or punch the card for him. I actually was hoping he would win for the sake of the Senate but seeing that O’Donnell won and by the margin, I admitted to myself that perhaps this is just that type of year where strange results could happen — like her winning the election.
However, the behavior of the Republican intelligentsia has been just horrendous. Once O’Donnell won, they should have been honest and said that she was not their first choice as she does have some major flaws but now that the primary is over, the Democrat, Coons is as bad as they come and must be defeated. They should have backed her from that moment and started the assault on the bearded Marxist, instead of cataloging O’Donnell’s flaws once again. I am terribly disappointed in the behavior of so many people on the right this time around, both supporters and detractors of O’Donnell. Not our finest moment.
Well, I disagree. I know some, granted they are getting up there in years. They don’t like where their party is right now but they can’t bring themselves to be Republican. I happen to know about a half-dozen personally. My grandmother is one of them (bless her soul, she is in her 90’s). She, for example, just votes for whoever the Dem candidate is … votes a straight ticket.
Glad your back AJ.
What Rove did was either a stroke of genius, casting ODonnell as an idiotic, unelectable, ethically challanged bimbo as he and Krauthammer tried to do to Sarah in the beginning, or he and Ed Gilespie and Krauthammer have a vested interest in keeping the RINOs’ and Dems together in a herd so to speak.
Perhaps because that continues their Bi-Partisan Consulting and Lobbying firms!
I happen to believe, and you can call me what you will, but it’s my firm belief that Rove and Co. had a power, if not quite possibly, a financial interest in Castle AND Murkowski.
Rove was extremely unhappy the night Murkowski got tossed also, declaring it the end of a dynasty!
What they see is Sarah Palin backed candidates mostly Tea Party, but not all, tearing up their playground and their money tree state by state and replacing their RINOs’ with conservatives who will be beholdin to HER NOT them!
Rush was right it makes no sense why he would go on such an attack, UNLESS, my words now, it was BUSINESS!
Sarah IS a reformer and has appeared at just the right time given the mood of the electorate. She tore the GOOD OLD BOY CORRUPTOCRAT PLAYHOUSE down in Alaska sending some R’s to prison and destroyed a family dynasty there!
If they don’t destroy her she will do the same in DC, reduce the power and influence of lobbyists, stop the confiscation and redistribution of citizens funds and ramp up our energy production to bring us from the brink of Socialist implemented destruction!
She is building an army under the radar but some are waking up and they are desperate to try to preserve the status quo and their livelyhoods which have been fleecing the American public by loobyist firms and political consultations.
Even Chris Matthews is awake! I think Rove just thought it was a nightmare but DE confirmed it was for real! If I am correct they may have to get even uglier with Sarah to try to destroy her as they did ODonnell, unless they tried it already and it backfired only making her stronger(:!
IMNHO! Rip away AJ!