Two Republican Establishment Examples Before You Vote In The Florida Primary

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Gingrich is getting pounded again as the Republican establishment tries to stop him.   The attacks are coming in hard now, and while Gingrich is none to conservative himself, but he has far more of it in his background than Romney and a better track record from his time in the House.  So in case you’ve possibly opened your mind to listening, here are two reminders of exactly who the Republican establishment is and why you should think carefully before taking their word on anything.

  1. The Senate just killed the motion of disapproval for Obama’s $1.2 trillion dollar debt ceiling increase.  Some Republican staffer commented about how red-state Democrats would suffer for it, which is completely beyond all comprehension.  All any Democrat has to do to deflect blame is remind everyone that this debt ceiling agreement was bipartisan, and possibly create an ad with McCain calling all the Tea Party types who didn’t agree with the approach that just handed the Democrats a win yet again Hobbits.  None of this would have been possible without the aggressive assistance of Boehner and McConnell, which won’t be lost on much of anyone.
  2. The House is passing legislation in a shady way.  This is either because the Establishment wants to short-circuit their own conservative caucus to maintain the status quo or they’re too terrified of Obama and Reid to resist the status quo.  They broke a few more promises too, and you can read the details at RedState.

This is the Republican establishment at work.  They’re the same establishment that wants Romney.  The same people that made the House the Other Democrat in spending after Gingrich left.  The same lot that led us to 2006 and 2008.  Why would the candidate they back be any different from them?

News link credits:  RedState, The Hill

That Tea Party Isn’t So Dead After All

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Would you like a better topic than the President’s State Of The Union speech?  On the off chance you’re curious about it, it can likely be summed up as ‘blah blah blah fairness blah blah Republican obstructionism blah blah green jobs blah blah I’m awesome.’   Instead, how about a few signs that the Tea Party isn’t quite as dead as its detractors would hope?

  • Governor Walker has $2.6 million cash on hand for the recall elections as of the end after last quarter, and raised $12 million since January 2011.  A good start considering how rabid his opponents are.  That whole ‘everything in Wisconsin is improving now that they’re not as influential’ thing isn’t sitting well with them and they’re still at it.  Still, it seems we have Walker’s back for now.
  • The Republican Senatorial nomination of Ted Cruz, DeMint’s pick for the seat to replace Kay Bailey Hutchinson has tied the fundraising of Dewhurst, the RINO Lieutenant Governor currently in the lead.  Cruz is gaining on him and Dewhurst’s support is dropping, but Dewhurst can self-fund heavily.  Cruz’ spike still shows strong growth and it wouldn’t be happening without Tea Party activism.
  • The Gingrich surge is more an expression of displeasure than anything else.  He’s not actually conservative lately despite some very strong past performance in that regard.  He is however fighting back, which is what the Tea Party and activists want.  The measurement here is that an establishment pick like Romney is on the verge of being thrashed heavily.  This doesn’t happen with weak conservative opposition.  People like the Bushes, Dole, and McCain make it through without much trouble, and we might just avoid a repeat.

Now for a more fun thought.  Perhaps the Tea Party isn’t dead.  Perhaps they just shifted to more practical activism from protests.  The ‘making noise’ part didn’t work for them, which would make the tactical shift a simple question of good sense.  Politicians may ignore protests, but threaten their jobs by ending other RINO tenures with primaries and they at least pretend to fall into line.

More smart, less loud, and definitely not dead.  Looking forward to a Tea Party 2012.

News link credit:  Hot Air

Last Haditha Marine Takes a Plea Deal

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No jokes now, folks.  It’s zero flak time, and this is definitely not funny.

The last marine to fall under the politically-driven witch hunt that was Haditha, SSgt Wuterich, has taken a plea agreement.  According to the report, it was his decision to do so.  I can’t help but to think otherwise.  Six years of chasing Haditha marines and it’s likely the government wasn’t going to just walk away with all aquittals.

My best wishes to Wuterich and all the other marines who didn’t deserve this.

News link credit:  Michelle Malkin’s blog

The Newt Win In South Carolina

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By now you’ve heard that Newt ran away with South Carolina in the primary.  The down side of this is that South Carolina is a proportional delegate state under the new rules.  This means that while Newt may get the largest share of delegates, he’s not taking them all.  Mitt still gets some of them, so for now the race isn’t going to be decided before it gets to other states like it was for McCain in 2008.  He had pretty much wrapped up the primaries and lost the general election around February of that year.

The biggest hit Mitt took wasn’t in delegates, but the meme of his inevitability.  Now he’s more like Mr. Inevi<CRASH>.  Since that’s pretty much all he has going for him besides the bogus electability argument (it’s what they say to promote all the non-conservative candidates nowadays), expect more shrill from his supporters.

Last, Mitt’s not the only one with something to lose.  If he doesn’t make it through the primary, it will be the first time since Reagan that the Republican establishment doesn’t get its way in a Presidential nominee.  Their reaction will likely be similar to 2010 as with Charlie Crist, Senator Murkowski, Karl Rove’s treatment of Cristine O’Donnell, and all the trouble we had with the NRSC trying to put milquetoast moderates into the race.

Still, it would be one more small victory.

News link credit:  Legal Insurrection