Tag Archives: tea parties

That Tea Party Isn’t So Dead After All

Posted on by
Reply

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

Time to Wait and See

Posted on by
Reply

It’s an unusual gesture to see from a Republican, but credit where credit is due.  Boehner responded to Reid’s threat to shut down the repeal of Obamacare with real nerve.  The letter shows uncharacteristic fight from the Republicans, and now it’s time to wait and see.

Wait and see for what?  Wait and see if Boehner is for real.  Wait and see if the Republicans use their one veto-proof power of “not appropriate” to shrink government and put us back on the path of sanity.

Then again, we can also wait and see if it’s business as usual.  If this letter was simply opposition theater.  Sound and fury for the benefit of the Tea Parties, believing that they’ll buy it if it’s not accompanied by real action.  If this is the case, there will be hell to pay for the Republicans come 2012.

So in the end, I’m not recommending we wait any longer than to see one way or the other.  Only a few months at most will tell the Republicans’ real direction.  Then we determine what to do from there.

Do We Really Need To Start This Early?

Posted on by
Reply

A Republican Presidential debate come spring of 2011?! Do we really need to start the Presidential campaign this early? The last Republican Presidential nomination process was too long, especially considering the fact it produced The Chipmunk John McCain as the eventual winner.

Yes, the term ‘winner’ is being used loosely here.

So, what’s to tell this early on?

  1. No candidates have yet entered the field, or not enough to make a difference.  If anyone has entered this soon and is doing more than building their ground game, their endless campaigning is going to be very, very old come primary season.
  2. We’ll see some candidates and know in advance what I’ve been fearing since Obama was first elected:  We have a field of complete losers, any of which will, if nominated, pull a repeat of McCain’s Epic Presidential Fail in 2008.

Furthermore, the Tea Party now exists where it did not in 2008.  As they have previously demonstrated in the recent Colorado governor’s race with Maes and in NY-23 by Scozzafava, deserting utter loser Republican candidates for third party runs is no longer out of the question.  In fact, said loser Republican drops to single percentage points in the end, a fate which may be repeated by some RINO loser if they’re awful enough in 2012.

But off topic to one of the few bright sides in 2008, McCain can’t bear the fact he lost to Obama, or so the reporting goes.  If it’s true, then every time he decides to go RINO, we can get on his nerves right back by reminding him of his Epic Presidential Fail.  Think about it:  We can be fighting his latest idiocy defensively for six years and be stuck with him, or he can be stuck with us.

As for the Republicans?  There’s still plenty of time not to bungle the 2012 Presidential nomination.  Whether or not they will use it to good effect remains to be seen, but their history since ’88 doesn’t leave much for encouragement.

Random Election Night News and Thoughts

Posted on by
Reply

There’s been a lot of analysis around the blogosphere today regarding the Republican beatdown of the Democrats last night.  You’ve likely read them already, so I’m just going to touch on a few random thoughts and bits of news I’ve yet to see, or bears repeating.  Random, because I can’t very well go about being organized on this blog.  It would be too rational.

  1. Republican Dan Benishek, the man running to replace that useless turd Stupak, won in his Congressional race.  I hope Benishek enjoys his victory, and Stupak spends the rest of his life realizing that he destroyed his career to damage his country when he caved on Obamacare.  Not that a Democrat would likely care.
  2. The Tea Parties were most effective at the state and Representative levels.  Statehouses, Governorships, and Congressional Representative seat pickups gained the most benefit from their efforts.  The Republicans gained Senate seats, but not with such regularity and we had to endure the frustrating Angle loss to Reid in Nevada.  However, the Tea Parties get two years to vet candidates now, as opposed to having to form from scratch and then scramble this time around.  That can only improve vetting and coordination on top of their current solid performance.
  3. Nancy Pelosi lost the gavel yesterday.  She did an interview with ABC where she’s spinning the same old “We took the tough votes to do good things” crap we’ll likely hear more of in the coming days as the shock settles on the other side.  However, she’s as much a martyr doing good works as I am a monkey’s uncle.  No good was done by her or her caucus during her tenure as Speaker, and we’ll be cleaning up her damage for years, if we can manage it at all.  Every Democrat who lost their jobs over Pelosi’s “good works” deserved it.  May they be forced to live with the rest of us in the mess they helped to create.
  4. California was a wipe.  The establishment candidates, those moderates running for governor and Senate that were supposedly perfect self-funding candidates had their rears handed to them, and the voters there also removed the 2/3 majority required to pass a budget, effectively rendering Republicans moot in the state.  Their collapse is on their own heads.
  5. In the special elections to replace vacated seats, Kirk won in Illinois by virtue of the fact his opponent self-destructed.  He’s the only Republican Senator that will be seated immediately.  Whether or not he is a Republican pick-up or Democrat retention by virtue of his voting habits yet remains to be seen.  Democrats Coons in Delaware and Manchin in West Virginia won their special elections and will also be seated in the lame duck session.
  6. 2012 starts now.  That includes finding candidates to remove RINO losers (though Snowe already has an opponent) and ensuring we don’t repeat the McCain Epic Presidential Fail of 2008.  Plus, the Republicans will have to be watched constantly, as they are prone to capitulate.  Should that happen, 2012 will be the start of Obama’s second term, and America will not be the country we once knew.

We’re off to a good start, but there’s work to do yet.  Don’t drop your guard or let up.