I just did some research

[SEC=UGA]

I have been intrigued by what some of these Tea Party/Repub candidates have been able to accomplish in the recent elections. Here in GA, Nathan Deal won the Repub nomination for governor. I've never liked him, we had a conflict a few years back, and thought that he was the last person that should be allowed to run the state. He has a history of ethics violations, but the esteemed grass roots of the GA R party were pushing him any way. On Monday he was shown with a double digit lead over the Dem Roy Barnes... Today, the newspaper reports, it is a long story, that he has about 2.3 million in debt that he signed on for his daughters business (after he already pumped 2 million cash into it) and is probably going to file for bankruptcy and sell his house, etc to try and erase some of the debt. I wouldn't have voted for him in the first place, but to have a guy in the governors office who just filed bankruptcy and is historically unethical just sounds like one who could be easily bought. Kinda scary.

 

Now, I just looked up this Christine O'Donnell chick that won her primary race... Holy cow, she appears to be a trainwreck... What the hell is wrong with voters? I mean, seriously, you guys actually, with all of this baggage and horrible track record, found her this appealing? The push to the far right, socially, was what began driving a wedge between me and the R party, now with these candidates popping up it seems less of a wedge an more of a chasm. For what it's worth, I give you Christine O'Donnell

[posty]

What the hell is wrong with voters? I mean, seriously, you guys actually, with all of this baggage and horrible track record, found her this appealing?

 

Well Obama won...

[driveby]

Good explanation here

 

What's happening? Conservatives have gotten tired of electing Republicans only to get bigger government and massive deficit spending. They are tired of giving their votes and campaign contributions to GOP politicians who pursue conservative goals halfheartedly if at all. They are disgusted that liberal gains, from new government programs to crazed federal court decisions, are seldom reversed but conservative policies like the Bush tax cuts come with an expiration date.

 

For many, Dede Scozzafava in New York's 23rd congressional district was the turning point. She was a liberal Republican, picked by party bosses despite her unreliability on the handful of issues on which conservatives had some chance of prevailing this year. When the polls showed she couldn't win, she threw her support to the Democratic candidate.

 

Rather than vote for Scozzafava, Tea Party activists pulled for the Conservative Party candidate, Doug Hoffman. They were not bothered by the party establishment's threats that this would cause them to lose the election. Better to an elect an honest liberal, they reasoned, than a liberal in Republican's clothing.

 

For how is it a victory to elect a liberal with an "R" next to her name rather than a "D?" What does it profit a movement to win an election but lose its soul? Conservatives are saying to the Republican Party: for years you have taken us for granted. Now you can either win with us or lose without us. And if a conservative candidate loses anyway, so be it.

[bpwallace49]

I have been intrigued by what some of these Tea Party/Repub candidates have been able to accomplish in the recent elections. Here in GA, Nathan Deal won the Repub nomination for governor. I've never liked him, we had a conflict a few years back, and thought that he was the last person that should be allowed to run the state. He has a history of ethics violations, but the esteemed grass roots of the GA R party were pushing him any way. On Monday he was shown with a double digit lead over the Dem Roy Barnes... Today, the newspaper reports, it is a long story, that he has about 2.3 million in debt that he signed on for his daughters business (after he already pumped 2 million cash into it) and is probably going to file for bankruptcy and sell his house, etc to try and erase some of the debt. I wouldn't have voted for him in the first place, but to have a guy in the governors office who just filed bankruptcy and is historically unethical just sounds like one who could be easily bought. Kinda scary.

 

Now, I just looked up this Christine O'Donnell chick that won her primary race... Holy cow, she appears to be a trainwreck... What the hell is wrong with voters? I mean, seriously, you guys actually, with all of this baggage and horrible track record, found her this appealing? The push to the far right, socially, was what began driving a wedge between me and the R party, now with these candidates popping up it seems less of a wedge an more of a chasm. For what it's worth, I give you Christine O'Donnell

 

What I just cant understand . . is when people like driveby promote the TEA party people, they have absolutely no idea that they are trying to get people elected . . on a platform of FISCAL CONSERVATISM . . . that are in bankruptcy or foreclosure.

 

You are asking people that cnat balance their own checkbooks . . to run a state or be a congressman.

 

Brilliant.

 

they are using the fire of the TEA party to get elected, then they get a sweet cushy pension and great health care forever. And the rubes that voted for them STILL dont get what they want.

 

Actually that last sentence goes for anyone and anything in politics. People are truly blind if they think the new crop of TEA party people will do anything to change the status quo . . . .

[driveby]

What I just cant understand . . is when people like driveby promote the TEA party people, they have absolutely no idea that they are trying to get people elected . . on a platform of FISCAL CONSERVATISM . . . that are in bankruptcy or foreclosure.

 

You are asking people that cnat balance their own checkbooks . . to run a state or be a congressman.

 

Brilliant.

 

they are using the fire of the TEA party to get elected, then they get a sweet cushy pension and great health care forever. And the rubes that voted for them STILL dont get what they want.

 

Actually that last sentence goes for anyone and anything in politics. People are truly blind if they think the new crop of TEA party people will do anything to change the status quo . . . .

Kinda like putting a turbo tax using tax cheat in charge of the IRS, I see your point.

[Duchess Jack]

Now, I just looked up this Christine O'Donnell chick that won her primary race... Holy cow, she appears to be a trainwreck... What the hell is wrong with voters? I mean, seriously, you guys actually, with all of this baggage and horrible track record, found her this appealing? [/url]

 

well the problem is that there are sheep on either side. Just as there were folk voting fpr a bumper sticker (Hope and Change) rather than a man or platform when it came to Obama - there are also a lot of people voting on other bumper stickers (Taxed Enough Already, Obama is a Socialist Devil) with the TEA Party. I sure these folk are in the minority on either side - but there are enough of them where their combined stupidity can change an election.

[The Mucca]

Here's whats wrong with voters

 

Oh wait, those aren't tea party voters.

[Azazello1313]

interesting metephor describing the tea party movement in this video

 

article by the same guy here

 

Perplexed journalists keep looking for the movement’s leaders, which is like asking to meet the boss of the Internet. Baffled politicians and lobbyists can’t find anyone to negotiate with. “We can be hard to work with, because we’re confusing,” Meckler acknowledges. “We’re constantly fighting against the traditional societal pressure to become a top-down organization.” So why would anyone want to form this kind of group, or network, or hive, or starfish, or lava flow, or whatever it is?

 

First, radical decentralization embodies and expresses tea partiers’ mistrust of overcentralized authority, which is the very problem they set out to solve. They worry that external co-option, internal corruption, and gradual calcification — the viruses they believe ruined Washington — might in time infect them. Decentralization, they say, is inherently resistant to all three diseases

 

that -- portraying the whole thing as hayekian spontaneous order and the embodiment in reality of the movement's own goals -- is about the most positive spin you can put on this tea party business. the most negative spin is that it's brainless populism run amok. I believe there is truth in both portrayals.

[bpwallace49]

Kinda like putting a turbo tax using tax cheat in charge of the IRS, I see your point.

 

I completely agree with you. A very bad idea, and should have been vetted better. Does trying to bait and switch make you feel better now?

[driveby]

I completely agree with you. A very bad idea, and should have been vetted better. Does trying to bait and switch make you feel better now?

Almost as good as it makes me feel reading your endless, pointless and just not funny Obama is a mooslim and is going to take over the world responses.

[bpwallace49]

Almost as good as it makes me feel reading your endless, pointless and just not funny Obama is a mooslim and is going to take over the world responses.

 

But I thought that is all you want to hear in your "echo chamber" of opinion articles?

[Perchoutofwater]

I wouldn't have supported either of candidates SEC=UGA noted, and yet I fell my local TEA Party best fits my political philosophy. At this point in time I just want smaller government. I don't want to legislate morality, unless you consider wanting everyone to be self supporting as a moral issue.

[detlef]

that -- portraying the whole thing as hayekian spontaneous order and the embodiment in reality of the movement's own goals -- is about the most positive spin you can put on this tea party business. the most negative spin is that it's brainless populism run amok. I believe there is truth in both portrayals.

Well said.

[millerx]

At this point in time I just want smaller government. I don't want to legislate morality, unless you consider wanting everyone to be self supporting as a moral issue.

Also well said.

[driveby]

But I thought that is all you want to hear in your "echo chamber" of opinion articles?

Opinion articles.

 

You know the longer you keep this up the harder it's going to be to scrub off that brown ring around your nose.

[cre8tiff]

I've said before, I think it is sad that the Tea party is eroding the Right just as the Green party and Nader eroded the Left in 2000-2004.

 

While I would like there to always be choices other than the big two, when one or the other is severely weakened by the lunatics of conservative or liberal movements, the whole thing becomes imbalanced.

 

Of course, some would argue that Obama has shifted things way left, but if that was the case, where are the moderates from the right? Why has Republican leadership allowed the wingnuts from the edges to grab the reins of their party? I really have a hard time believing any of these tea party candidates are electable. Very few independent voters would support them , IMHO. At least the Dems should lose a few seats, but to moderates, not these corksoakers.

 

Personally, I would like a message sent to fricken Pelousy and Reid. They have been horrific.

Edited September 16, 2010 by cre8tiff

[driveby]

I've said before, I think it is sad that the Tea party is eroding the Right just as the Green party and Nader eroded the Left in 2000-2004.

 

While I would like there to always be choices other than the big two, when one or the other is severely weakened by the lunatics of conservative or liberal movements, the whole thing becomes imbalanced.

 

Of course, some would argue that Obama has shifted things way left, but if that was the case, where are the moderates from the right? Why has Republican leadership allowed the wingnuts from the edges to grab the reins of their party? I really have a hard time believing any of these tea party candidates are electable. Very few independent voters would support them , IMHO. At least the Dems should lose a few seats, but to moderates, not these corksoakers.

 

Personally, I would like a message sent to fricken Pelousy and Reid. They have been horrific.

The people are trying to take back power and right or wrong, this is the only way they see to make that happen.

 

And much as you would like to characterize them as such, the vast majority of the TEA party movement are not angry, racist, lunatic fringe people. They are true conservatives and libertarians who are upset and sick and tired of the following:

 

What's happening? Conservatives have gotten tired of electing Republicans only to get bigger government and massive deficit spending. They are tired of giving their votes and campaign contributions to GOP politicians who pursue conservative goals halfheartedly if at all. They are disgusted that liberal gains, from new government programs to crazed federal court decisions, are seldom reversed but conservative policies like the Bush tax cuts come with an expiration date.

 

 

For many, Dede Scozzafava in New York's 23rd congressional district was the turning point. She was a liberal Republican, picked by party bosses despite her unreliability on the handful of issues on which conservatives had some chance of prevailing this year. When the polls showed she couldn't win, she threw her support to the Democratic candidate.

 

Rather than vote for Scozzafava, Tea Party activists pulled for the Conservative Party candidate, Doug Hoffman. They were not bothered by the party establishment's threats that this would cause them to lose the election. Better to an elect an honest liberal, they reasoned, than a liberal in Republican's clothing.

 

For how is it a victory to elect a liberal with an "R" next to her name rather than a "D?" What does it profit a movement to win an election but lose its soul? Conservatives are saying to the Republican Party: for years you have taken us for granted. Now you can either win with us or lose without us. And if a conservative candidate loses anyway, so be it.

[westvirginia]

I've said before, I think it is sad that the Tea party is eroding the Right just as the Green party and Nader eroded the Left in 2000-2004.

 

While I would like there to always be choices other than the big two, when one or the other is severely weakened by the lunatics of conservative or liberal movements, the whole thing becomes imbalanced.

 

Of course, some would argue that Obama has shifted things way left, but if that was the case, where are the moderates from the right? Why has Republican leadership allowed the wingnuts from the edges to grab the reins of their party? I really have a hard time believing any of these tea party candidates are electable. Very few independent voters would support them , IMHO. At least the Dems should lose a few seats, but to moderates, not these corksoakers.

 

Personally, I would like a message sent to fricken Pelousy and Reid. They have been horrific.

 

What you're missing is, obamessiah has lost the independents that elected him. People see him as arrogant, especially when over 70% of folks didn't want obamacare and he kept after it. People don't want to spend the money on this second stimulus, either, but he's still pushing it. He's determined that he knows best, and his "experts" in the echo chamber that is the White House aren't disabusing him of that notion. People are rightfully angry at being told they're too stupid to know what's good for them. And it's going to cause a big ol' shift in the balance of power in the fedgov swamp.

 

As for "tea-party candidates", many of these folks aren't that. They are just conservative/libertarian and the tea partiers are seeing that. They aren't any more lunatic than far-left obamessiah. They aren't white supremacists, or separatists. They don't really care about the "d" or "r" next to the name. They're looking for people who will reign in spending, repeal the HC monstrosity, won't pass cap & tax, and won't raise taxes on anyone. The obamessiah spent all that money, and the only people who got anything for it were those politically favored of obamessiah and his cronies in congress. I think the people just want representation they can trust not to spend money they don't have. To do sensible things that will actually encourage economic growth and hiring in the private sector, not to grow government. "We the people" are speaking out and they haven't liked those in government for nigh on 8 years, maybe longer. I know you want to call them nuts because you don't agree with them, but you're flat wrong about the majority.

[Perchoutofwater]

What you're missing is, obamessiah has lost the independents that elected him. People see him as arrogant, especially when over 70% of folks didn't want obamacare and he kept after it. People don't want to spend the money on this second stimulus, either, but he's still pushing it. He's determined that he knows best, and his "experts" in the echo chamber that is the White House aren't disabusing him of that notion. People are rightfully angry at being told they're too stupid to know what's good for them. And it's going to cause a big ol' shift in the balance of power in the fedgov swamp.

 

As for "tea-party candidates", many of these folks aren't that. They are just conservative/libertarian and the tea partiers are seeing that. They aren't any more lunatic than far-left obamessiah. They aren't white supremacists, or separatists. They don't really care about the "d" or "r" next to the name. They're looking for people who will reign in spending, repeal the HC monstrosity, won't pass cap & tax, and won't raise taxes on anyone. The obamessiah spent all that money, and the only people who got anything for it were those politically favored of obamessiah and his cronies in congress. I think the people just want representation they can trust not to spend money they don't have. To do sensible things that will actually encourage economic growth and hiring in the private sector, not to grow government. "We the people" are speaking out and they haven't liked those in government for nigh on 8 years, maybe longer. I know you want to call them nuts because you don't agree with them, but you're flat wrong about the majority.

 

+1 on all accounts.

[SEC=UGA]

Ok, ok, this O'Donnell chick is waaaaaay off of her rocker. I am all for voting out incumbents and removing some of the party loyalists from office, but if people like O'Donnell are the result of this, I am in favor of having the current president appoint senators for the term of their life.

 

This bitch is bat sh*t crazy.

 

(AP) Updated at 7:27 a.m. Eastern.

 

Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell is making light of comments she made more than a decade ago about having dabbled in witchcraft when she was in high school.

 

"How many of you didn't hang out with questionable folks in high school?" she asked fellow Republicans at a GOP picnic in southern Delaware on Sunday.

 

"There's been no witchcraft since. If there was, Karl Rove would be a supporter now," O'Donnell jokingly assured the crowd.

 

Rove, the former GOP strategist and adviser to President George W. Bush, has suggested that O'Donnell's win in last week's GOP primary cost Republicans a chance to retake the Senate seat long held by Democrat Joe Biden before he was elected vice president.

 

O'Donnell, a conservative Christian activist, rode a surging tide of tea party activism to an upset victory over GOP moderate Michael Castle, Delaware's longtime congressman and former two-term governor. She faces Democratic county executive Chris Coons in November.

 

O'Donnell Cancels "Face the Nation" Appearance

 

O'Donnell's comments about witchcraft were made during a 1999 taping of comedian Bill Maher's "Politically Incorrect" show.

 

"I dabbled into witchcraft. I never joined a coven," she said on the show, a clip of which hit the Internet as O'Donnell canceled Sunday appearances on two national news shows, citing commitments to attend church and the GOP picnic in Delaware.

 

"I hung around people who were doing these things. I'm not making this stuff up. I know what they told me they do," O'Donnell told Maher.

 

"One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn't know it. I mean, there's little blood there and stuff like that," she said. "We went to a movie and then had a little midnight picnic on a satanic altar."

 

Below is the clip with the witchcraft quotes from 1999 via Think Progress:

 

 

 

Russ Murphy, executive director of the 9-12 Delaware Patriots, a group that joined in the tea party effort to propel O'Donnell to Tuesday's primary victory, said the focus on her comments about witchcraft was just another attempt by pundits and political opponents to discredit her.

 

"They're going to be pulling for straws from the sky to do anything to stop this momentum, and they don't realize it's not going to work," he said.

 

CBS News congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes reports that tea party icon Sarah Palin urged O'Donnell to persevere in a Tweet following the airing of the old clip.

 

Palin urged O'Donnel to, "connect w/ local voters whom you'll be serving versus appeasing national media seeking ur destruction."

 

As Cordes reports, the candidate had already been dealing with the fallout from a 1996 MTV documentary where she equated masturbation to adultery.

 

"It's not just one of these clips, they're coming out one after another," CBS News political analyst John Dickerson tells "The Early Show". "If nothing else, it's a distraction and a barrier between her and trying to tell voters what she actually believes."

 

One possible tactic O'Donnell may employ to try and mitigate the damage done by the release of the old video clips, suggests Dickerson, is to paint herself as a target of a liberal media machine.

 

"The victim card is one Sarah Palin has played… it's a bit of a time-honored technique and it works with your supporters, apt to believe what you say," says Dickerson. He warns, however, that the tactic generally has very limited usefulness in gaining new supporters.

 

Independents and undecided voters are far less likely "to take it at face value that you are a victim and rally to your side. It might work a little bit, but she still has a big job to convince voters she can be their senator," says Dickerson.

 

O'Donnell's victory in the primary came after a bruising campaign in which her supporters and Castle's, led by state GOP chairman Tom Ross, traded attack ads, with Ross saying O'Donnell was a liar and a fraud who couldn't be elected dogcatcher.

 

Ross did not attend Sunday's Sussex County Republican Committee picnic. Sussex County GOP chairman Ron Sams said Ross was in Washington trying to drum up support from the national GOP campaign committees.

 

Despite her improbable primary victory, O'Donnell sounded upbeat about her chances in November.

 

"We're going to win this by uniting the party," she told supporters. "I'm very confident that we're going to win this election."

[Perchoutofwater]

Are you any more concerned about her comments as a teenager and young adult than you were Obama? Is she a crazy Christian or a crazy witch? The media needs to make up your mind. Seriously she is a poor candidate, but what the media and the left are attacking her on is very telling IMO. What policies has she stated that you are against?

[bpwallace49]

I hope all TEA party people win. Seriously.

 

The message of fiscal responsibility is a good one, but they wont be able to pass a damn thing. The left wont cut spending, and the right only wants to cut taxes . . and BOTH are adding to the bloated deficit.

 

TEA party people will have just as much impact as members of the Green party if they get elected. What rebels.

 

Instead of being bought behind closed doors like Dems and Repubs, O'Donnell may auction her votes to teh highest bidder to raise some cash to pay her delinquent bills . . .

[evil_gop_liars]

Are you any more concerned about her comments as a teenager and young adult than you were Obama? Is she a crazy Christian or a crazy witch? The media needs to make up your mind. Seriously she is a poor candidate, but what the media and the left are attacking her on is very telling IMO. What policies has she stated that you are against?

 

 

Perch you are one funny dude.

[SEC=UGA]

Are you any more concerned about her comments as a teenager and young adult than you were Obama? Is she a crazy Christian or a crazy witch? The media needs to make up your mind. Seriously she is a poor candidate, but what the media and the left are attacking her on is very telling IMO. What policies has she stated that you are against?

 

She is anti abortion EVEN in the cases of rape and incest. Game over... For me, anyhow.

 

That and she is basically violating numerous FEC rules and is surely going to get slapped down for that.

 

So, I have a ultra-religious, witch, that hasn't even sniffed office yet and is already violating FEC rules. She can't keep track of how much spends in her campaign, and finished her last campaign 20+ grand in debt, she can't balance her own books and reign in her own spending, how is she going to do this on the national level. She is running for US senate and from what I can tell from he life accomplishments, she hasn't ever held down a "real" job. She lives in an apartment,from which she runs her campaign and writes off 50% of said rent on her campaign calling her apartment a campaign office, against FEC rules. That's a start.

 

Also THis:

In 2003, O'Donnell moved to Delaware to work for the conservative Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) in Hockessin, and bought a house in Wilmington.[27][28] She registered a gender discrimination complaint against ISI with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), after which she was fired in 2004.[3] She then sued ISI in federal court for $6.9 million for wrongful termination claiming gender discrimination and that she had been fired in retaliation for filing the EEOC discrimination complaint. She said ISI's actions caused her mental anguish,[3][29] and that she had lost future financial earning power because ISI's actions delayed her education.[nb 3] ISI defended its action by alleging that she had conducted a for-profit public-relations business while on their time.[3][20] O'Donnell dropped the suit in 2008, stating she could no longer afford an attorney.[3][28][30]

 

O'Donnell has been described as a former Catholic turned Evangelical Christian.[1] She has stated that she prays on every decision she makes and that during the 2006 primary she, "heard the audible voice of God".[81]

 

In a 1996 discussion on CNN, O'Donnell advocated the teaching of creationism in public schools. O'Donnell was also critical of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, asserting that it is merely a theory.[82]

She served as a spokesperson for Concerned Women for America,[20] a conservative Christian political action group that opposes abortion[21] and seeks to apply biblical principles to other issues of public policy.[18][22]

Edited September 20, 2010 by SEC=UGA

[Azazello1313]

I wonder who would win a race between this chick and the south carolina senate dem candidate