When Times Are Hard

[bushwacked]

Utah Republicans have denied Robert Bennett, a very conservative three-term senator, a place on the ballot because he's not conservative enough. In Maine, party activists have pushed through a platform calling for, among other things, abolishing both the Federal Reserve and the Department of Education. And it's becoming ever more apparent that real power within the GOP rests with the ranting talk-show hosts.

 

Not a good sign for the Republican party. When your primary appeal is to the looney fringe, you primarily become the party of the looney fringe, with a substantially limited influence and support on/from mainstream America. The tea-baggers biggest contribution to American politics may very well be the indirect benefit they are providing to Dems.

[bpwallace49]

Not that surprising, but still disappointing.

 

After Bush, the pendulum swung hard to the left. Not in terms of electing Obama, but moreso with congress. I was really hoping for when the mid-term elections swung back to the minority party (like it ALWAYS does). That more moderates would replace both the extreme left and right elements of congress so actual work could be accomplished.

 

It seems that neither party has learned from the hyper-partisan bullcrap that has played out for the last two years. having candidates that specifically pander to the looney fringe of either side certainly isnt helping . . . .

 

Either way, (to quote dmarc) we are all frucked

[driveby]

Utah Republicans have denied Robert Bennett, a very conservative three-term senator, a place on the ballot because he's not conservative enough. In Maine, party activists have pushed through a platform calling for, among other things, abolishing both the Federal Reserve and the Department of Education. And it's becoming ever more apparent that real power within the GOP rests with the ranting talk-show hosts.

 

Not a good sign for the Republican party. When your primary appeal is to the looney fringe, you primarily become the party of the looney fringe, with a substantially limited influence and support on/from mainstream America. The tea-baggers biggest contribution to American politics may very well be the indirect benefit they are providing to Dems.

[tosberg34]

Utah Republicans have denied Robert Bennett, a very conservative three-term senator, a place on the ballot because he's not conservative enough. In Maine, party activists have pushed through a platform calling for, among other things, abolishing both the Federal Reserve and the Department of Education. And it's becoming ever more apparent that real power within the GOP rests with the ranting talk-show hosts.

 

Not a good sign for the Republican party. When your primary appeal is to the looney fringe, you primarily become the party of the looney fringe, with a substantially limited influence and support on/from mainstream America. The tea-baggers biggest contribution to American politics may very well be the indirect benefit they are providing to Dems.

 

You provide me with great laughter.

 

The loony fringe of the left is currently in control of our government right now and YOU'RE complaining about the supposed loony right of the tea party. You have more fake drama than a daytime soap opera.

[Chavez]

The loony fringe of the left is currently in control of our government right now and YOU'RE complaining about the supposed loony right of the tea party. You have more fake drama than a daytime soap opera.

 

[Ursa Majoris]

You need to remember that anyone left of Genghis Khan qualifies as "loony left fringe" to some of our esteemed Huddlers.

[bpwallace49]

The loony fringe of the left is currently in control of our government right now and YOU'RE complaining about the supposed loony right of the tea party. You have more fake drama than a daytime soap opera.

 

 

Thanks tossberg . . you never disappoint when I need a laugh!!!

[rattsass]

Well, if you ask me. the lines are pretty f'ing blurry right now between right and left. The right talks about less government but never does anything about it. Obama has been nothing but the worst of Bush and more. Hell, this is the only time in modern history where the "radical" right talk shows actually have legitimate issues to throw at the Dems. We gave it to them and they have totally clusterf'd the whole thing up.

 

It should be clear by now, to all but the most hard core Castro lefties that the presidents agenda offers no solutions, and has pushed WAAAAAY too far to the left. I voted for that lying S.O.B and I couldn't be more ashamed. Hell, we would have been better off with those buffoons McCain and Palin. At least they would have had the media hawking them and keeping their worthless asses in line. This administration has been given carte blanche by the mainstream media to do as it pleases as we drift into Marxism like a bunch of stupid cattle.

 

People clinging to party lines right now are living a fools paradise. Neither of these parties has your best interest at heart, but at this moment in time the Republicans seem to have a more rational ideology than the Democrats. I don't know who this Democratic party is, but they sure as hell don't represent my ideas any more.

 

I have to agree. The "loony fringe" of the Republican party is making one hell of a lot more sense right now than the scary leftist running the White House. We have been screwed, and hopefully the electorate will wake up to that and start turning the membership in Congress, and get some people in charge that represent rational and responsible government.

[bushwacked]

I have to agree. The "loony fringe" of the Republican party is making one hell of a lot more sense right now than the scary leftist running the White House.

 

I would say your beliefs aren't reflective of the nation as a whole:

 

The percentage of people who say the Democratic Party represents their personal values and is in tune with the problems of people like themselves hasn't changed since November. The percentage siding with the GOP, however, has dropped by almost precisely the numbers now siding with the tea party.

 

Some 14 percent of Americans say the tea party is most in sync with their values, nearly matching the 15 percentage-point drop-off for the GOP over the past five months

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0050405856.html

[driveby]

With nearly all precincts reporting in Kentucky, Paul was drawing 59 percent of the vote to Grayson's 35 percent — a yawning lead over a candidate once viewed as a sure bet for his party's nomination and openly backed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

 

In his victory speech, Paul applauded the tea party movement and issued a stern warning to the political establishment: "I have a message, a message from the tea party, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words: We've come to take our government back."

 

"The tea party movement is about saving the country from a mountain of debt that is devouring our country and that I think could lead to chaos," Paul said grimly, laying in to President Barack Obama for his participation in last year's Copenhagen summit on global warming and accusing Obama of trying to "apologize for the industrial revolution."

 

Reactions to Paul’s nomination split sharply from the left and right. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who endorsed Paul in the primary, called the election a “wake-up call” in an interview with the Associated Press, describing the campaign as “an opportunity to not embrace the status quo but to shake things up.”

 

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine painted the Kentucky race as a victory for “the far-right Republican segment of the electorate,” calling Paul a nominee “whose ideas are outside of the political mainstream.”

[rattsass]

I would say your beliefs aren't reflective of the nation as a whole:

 

 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0050405856.html

My beliefs don't have to be reflective of the nation as a whole. Trust me, if they have lost me, they have lost MANY. Bloodbath coming, retribution is at hand.

[Azazello1313]

what is the tea party doing to the republican party really? one thing is the focus has really been brought back the size of government, rather than the "social conservative" issues. there is a more distinctly libertarian bent. the incumbents being swallowed up are the ones who many judge as being hypocrites who talk small government, and then delivered bigger government and bigger deficits under the banner of "compassionate conservatism", which turned out to be just big government activism with socially conservative values.

 

well you know what, those have been my biggest gripes with the republican party all along, so I am actually glad to see the whole tea party movement forcing things in those directions. I don't think the rabid anti-incumbent sentiment is particularly constructive -- I look in particular at people like bob bennett and john mccain and think we need MORE people like that in congress, not less. but on balance, this whole thing is good -- the proof is that it has people like bushwanked so skeeered.

[bushwacked]

......a victory for “the far-right Republican segment of the electorate,” calling Paul a nominee “whose ideas are outside of the political mainstream.”

 

 

Accurate info here.

[tosberg34]

I would say your beliefs aren't reflective of the nation as a whole:

 

 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0050405856.html

 

Keep on clinging, BW. Even a blind man can see the coming tsunami.

[bushwacked]

Even a blind man can see the coming tsunami.

 

Tsunamis are often indistinguishable from other waves until they near land, and even then they often aren't much higher in amplitude than other waves. One of the reasons they can be so deadly is specifically because people don't see them coming.

Edited May 19, 2010 by bushwacked

[detlef]

what is the tea party doing to the republican party really? one thing is the focus has really been brought back the size of government, rather than the "social conservative" issues. there is a more distinctly libertarian bent. the incumbents being swallowed up are the ones who many judge as being hypocrites who talk small government, and then delivered bigger government and bigger deficits under the banner of "compassionate conservatism", which turned out to be just big government activism with socially conservative values.

 

well you know what, those have been my biggest gripes with the republican party all along, so I am actually glad to see the whole tea party movement forcing things in those directions. I don't think the rabid anti-incumbent sentiment is particularly constructive -- I look in particular at people like bob bennett and john mccain and think we need MORE people like that in congress, not less. but on balance, this whole thing is good -- the proof is that it has people like bushwanked so skeeered.

Interesting points. And, honestly, truly embracing smaller government (ie: not worrying about who marries who, not building nations overseas, etc.) and trying to run our country more like a business is exactly the sort of thing the GOP needs to do in order for me to move that way. I've said it before, on so many levels, the GOP should be my party. It's just that I'm not down Gov't laying low when it comes to keeping big business in line and getting big when it comes to infringement of personal liberties and sticking our dicks in everyone else's messes all over the world.

[Azazello1313]

President Obama and the media are likely to focus attention on the stupidest lines that come out of the Tea Party movement. We are going to read over and over again that there is no public support to cut government spending, that the populists have no ability to govern, and so forth. I know that there are polls that purport to show that. But we have not run the experiment in which political leaders explain that spending needs to be cut, they cut spending, and people react to the reality afterward. My guess is that such an experiment would fare well, which may be why political leaders are reluctant to try it.

 

The political class does not want to take the Tea Party movement at its word. Instead, it wants to dismiss them as angry, bigoted, and ignorant. That is an obviously self-serving approach for the political class, and I think it is unfair.

[westvirginia]

Interesting points. And, honestly, truly embracing smaller government (ie: not worrying about who marries who, not building nations overseas, etc.) and trying to run our country more like a business is exactly the sort of thing the GOP needs to do in order for me to move that way. I've said it before, on so many levels, the GOP should be my party. It's just that I'm not down Gov't laying low when it comes to keeping big business in line and getting big when it comes to infringement of personal liberties and sticking our dicks in everyone else's messes all over the world.

 

Well said. I could have lived with the GOP until they started jumping into controlling lives. There's a HUGH difference in protecting the rights of the populace and controlling the actions of the populace. Politicians all seem to be loving the latter and completely disregarding the former. I don't know how else to give any of them the message other than tossing out the incumbents out on their ears.

[detlef]

Well said. I could have lived with the GOP until they started jumping into controlling lives. There's a HUGH difference in protecting the rights of the populace and controlling the actions of the populace. Politicians all seem to be loving the latter and completely disregarding the former. I don't know how else to give any of them the message other than tossing out the incumbents out on their ears.

To be honest, tossing the incumbents out was my main motivation in voting for Obama in '08. The less and less McCain started acting like McCain, the more he seemed to be pandering to the perceived GOP base, the more he basically became the incumbent. So I just decided to roll the dice with something that promised to be different.

 

As it turns out, it seems to be different in many ways that don't make sense and the same in ways that I'd prefer it not be. That said, I think many of the current administration's plans were doomed to fail by immediate knee-jerk opposition starting in mid January of '09. As I mentioned before, people didn't start digging in their heels against Bush until he proved he was an idiot.

 

I'm actually not convinced that compromise born from dissent is always all it's cracked up to be. It seems like a fine enough theory but often leads to watered down solutions that benefit nobody. Like the health care reform. There was a whole lot of back and forth that ultimately led to a toothless and expensive "solution". I think that we should have either gone all the way and created a true single payer system or essentially left it alone and simply cracked down on the insurance companies, making sure they weren't getting over on everyone. Instead, in an attempt to appease the dissenters, we ended up with this mess. And it's not like the right is any happier about what we got than they would have been about single payer. Well, at very least, they're still pissed as hell about it.

[dmarc117]

i despise the far left. the far right scares me.

[Duchess Jack]

Well, if you ask me. the lines are pretty f'ing blurry right now between right and left.

 

 

• Obama has been nothing but the worst of Bush and more.

• Hell, this is the only time in modern history where the "radical" right talk shows actually have legitimate issues to throw at the Dems.

• It should be clear by now, to all but the most hard core Castro lefties that the presidents agenda offers no solutions

• Hell, we would have been better off with those buffoons McCain and Palin. At least they would have had the media hawking them and keeping their worthless asses in line.

• This administration has been given carte blanche by the mainstream media to do as it pleases as we drift into Marxism like a bunch of stupid cattle.

• Republicans seem to have a more rational ideology than the Democrats.

• I have to agree. The "loony fringe" of the Republican party is making one hell of a lot more sense right now than the scary leftist running the White House.

 

 

you start out by saying the lines are blurry, but then go on to trash the left and current admin repeatedly. perhaps the line is not as blurry as you suggested

[detlef]

you start out by saying the lines are blurry, but then go on to trash the left and current admin repeatedly. perhaps the line is not as blurry as you suggested

I love that. Come out saying that you're sick of both sides so as not to be portrayed as a partisan hack, and then just launch into partisan hackery.

[Azazello1313]

this opinion is a few days old, but it seems relevant:

 

Voters in Utah are conservative, and they are recoiling from the fiscal profligacy in Washington today. Bob Bennett’s chosen campaign theme was that if he were re-elected, he would be the ranking Republican on the energy and water appropriations subcommittee and would be able to deliver for Utah. To say that this was off-message in today’s political climate is an understatement. That is why he lost.

 

Arkansas is a state that has traditionally elected conservative Republicans and centrist Democrats. It will be interesting to see how Blanche Lincoln fares. But there is nothing wrong with people who believe in certain values working to elect people who share those values and defeat those who do not.

 

The polarization The Post editorial board decries is a reaction to the radical agenda Obama is pursuing in our nation’s capital. Obama has eschewed the bipartisanship pursued by his predecessors, President Bush (No Child Left Behind) and President Clinton (NAFTA, welfare reform), in their first years in office. Instead, he has pursued a maximalist liberal agenda and refused any real compromise. When you pass a radical overhaul of health care along strict party lines, using clever parliamentary tactics to avoid compromise with the other party, it’s going to have a ripple effect across the electorate.

 

Conservatives are energized to elect candidates who will stand up to Obama and fight his efforts to expand the size and scope of government. Liberals want to elect candidates who will stand up for Obama and stand in the way of efforts to thwart his agenda. The tone has been set from the top.

 

from the same guy today:

 

Last night two centrist Democratic incumbents failed to stave off challenges from the left in Democratic Senate primaries. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter was defeated by left-wing challenger Rep. Joe Sestak. And Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln was forced into a runoff by her left-wing challenger Gov. Bill Halter.

 

But don’t hold your breath waiting for commentators to decry these shameful efforts at the ideological purification of the Democratic party. When Sen. Bob Bennett is challenged from the right, it is an ideological purge. But when centrists like Specter and Lincoln are challenged from the left, it’s democracy in action.

[dmarc117]

this opinion is a few days old, but it seems relevant:

 

 

 

from the same guy today:

 

 

the left has some blurry vision too.......

[WaterMan]

This administration has been given carte blanche by the mainstream media to do as it pleases as we drift into Marxism like a bunch of stupid cattle.

 

That sounds like the management for most jobs.