The American Spectator : It's Miller Time, America!

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It’s Miller Time, America!

By Robert Stacy McCain on 9.1.10 @ 6:09AM

It’s official: Alaska primary gives GOP insurgents a reason to cheer.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — David Cuddy showed up at Joe Miller’s campaign headquarters Tuesday evening about an hour after Sen. Lisa Murkowski conceded defeat in the Republican primary. He was greeted warmly by Miller volunteers who had gathered to celebrate in the second-floor office next to an insurance agency after a day of fretfully watching the count of absentee ballots.

Two years ago, Cuddy was one of six GOP primary challengers to Sen. Ted Stevens, and finished second, with 28 percent of the vote. Stevens went on to lose the November 2008 general election to Democrat Mark Begich by a margin of fewer than 4,000 votes. The winning campaign Joe Miller ran against Murkowski was in large measure a vindication of Cuddy’s anti-establishment challenge to Stevens. As Cuddy congratulated Miller’s team Tuesday night, he laughed: “Alaska Republicans don’t like big government — who ever dreamed of that?”

Miller’s victory was a vindication for a lot of people who have grown tired of seeing the GOP act as accomplices to the remorseless expansion of federal power. The campaign succeeded in large measure because the Tea Party movement has turned long-simmering conservative discontent with big-government Republicanism into an organized national force. Ever since the 2008 TARP bailout of Wall Street — for which Murkowski voted — more and more GOP voters have joined the insurgency that helped fuel the Miller campaign in accomplishing a rare thing: The defeat of an incumbent senator in a Republican primary.

The crowd gathered in Miller HQ Tuesday could not recall a recent precedent. True, Utah Republican Sen. Bob Bennett was ousted by his own party earlier this year, but that was a caucus/convention process, not a primary election. And Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter quit the GOP months before he could face conservative primary challenger Pat Toomey.

Many have credited Sarah Palin’s early endorsement with boosting Miller in their home state, and certainly she helped call national attention to the anti-establishment candidate. The leaders of the Tea Party Express say that it was Palin who prompted them to take a second look at Miller, for whom they spent $500,000 for campaign ads in the closing weeks of the primary.

Ultimately, however, the key factor in Miller’s victory was the candidate himself. A West Point graduate and veteran of the 1991 Gulf War with a Yale Law degree and a master’s degree in economics, Miller persuasively argued the case against a continuation of the GOP establishment’s “go along to get along” posture. Tuesday evening, after Murkowski had called it quits, Miller campaign manager Robert Campbell recalled how he first met the candidate at a fundraising event.

“I asked him, what do you see as your first responsibility as a senator?” Campbell said. “And [Miller] said, to determine if any of the bills in front of me are constitutional.”

It was that sort of plain-spoken conservatism that persuaded Campbell to join the campaign — he’d never held such a position before — and inspired scores of volunteers who served as the foot soldiers of Miller’s victorious army. One of those volunteer soldiers, a mother of three named Regina, festooned her four-wheel-drive truck with large Miller-for-Senate signs and dubbed it the “Joemobile.” Tuesday night, Regina was celebrating with other volunteers at an Anchorage pizza shop called the Moose’s Tooth Pub.

“It’s loud here,” she shouted into her cell phone. “It’s totally Miller time!”

About the Author

Robert Stacy McCain is co-author (with Lynn Vincent) of Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party (Nelson Current). He blogs at The Other McCain.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (60) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Siegfried X| 9.1.10 @ 6:21AM

THIS is the only thing that change America, defeating RINOs. By contrast, the November election is almost meaningless because things are always the same regardless of which party is in power.

Eventually though, if we defeat enough RINOs and humble the rest by finally electing some real conservatives, then we might have a conservative party again.

RINO hunting is job #1.

Mike Rogers| 9.1.10 @ 9:13AM

One of the most prominent RINO Hunters in recent years has been Pay Toomey - he was head of teh Club for Growth until he launched his campaign to take out Arlen Specter. A couple of years ago, he wrote a great article "In defense of RINO hunting"
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....mmentaries

Mike Rogers| 9.1.10 @ 9:14AM

Ummm "PAT Toomey"

(Note to self - recalibrate fingers when switching keyboard sizes!)

gypsy| 9.1.10 @ 12:50PM

Spot on sir! But I believe that it goes beyond hunting RINOs.... for example, why are we ALWAYS conceding that the Democrat party must be controlled by ObamaNazi loons? Is it impossible to roll back the McGovernite cancer, and bring back the sort of thinking that spoke of "we shall pay any price, bear any burden, help any friend, oppose any foe to ensure the survival and the success of liberty"? Can we not recall when the Democrats nominated ACTUAL war heroes, as opposed to the John "I was in Cambodia" Kerry types?

Seriously, there will always be differences between Democrats and Republicans. But lets try to remember that JFK not only pushed for the Peace Corps, he was also instrumental in protecting the Green Berets. Why the hell can't we have THAT kind of Democrat again?

John II| 9.1.10 @ 1:57PM

Well, there's Jim Webb of Virginia--but, like Kennedy himself long before Webb, THAT political package comes with a knotty ego problem.

Rebel Without A Pause| 9.1.10 @ 3:34PM

JFK was also the one who sold out in the Bay of Pigs and got a lot of freedom fighters killed by the Commie Castro. JFK was no conservative.

Siegfried X| 9.1.10 @ 4:35PM

It's because the Democrat voters regularly prune their tree so that only the most extreme left-wing candidates win. There aren't any "moderate" Democrats any more.

The Normal-American Community| 9.2.10 @ 12:26AM

Screw the 'Rats, of any and all stripes.

Take 'em out; we're not getting any younger. Let God sort them out.

Brettzky| 9.2.10 @ 2:39PM

Ret. Marine| 9.1.10 @ 6:33AM

Congrad's to you Mr. Miller and all supporters of the U.S. Constitution. This is yet another example of a clear thinking patriot. The statement pronounced by Mr. Miller "first to see if the bill is Constitutional" has a ring to it, the way it is supposed to be. This has been the problem all along with the party of "reaching across the isle." This is too another example of a grass roots way of saying, We the People have had it up to here, and we are not going to accept the norm as acceptable any longer. Change is in the air, it smells of victory.
Semper Fi.

drudge ette obama| 9.1.10 @ 6:46AM

I am glad he won. His background is quite interesting, better than 'bama's.

Alaska will be better off without the monarchy. What will Murkowski do now? What is she trained to do?

darcy| 9.1.10 @ 6:45PM

She's 53 years old. Does she have grandchildren? Maybe she can be more prominent in their lives. Who says you have to have a career to be a productive member of society? allowing, of course, that one doesn't need to work to put food on the table -- not likely here, huh, given Murkowski's lineage.

The world places a value on women in proportion to how much of the bacon they can contribute to the family's bottom line, how much prestige, and sometimes power, they can amass. I consider it all dross and dregs. Give me a woman of character who gives of herself for her children and grandchildren -- that is a woman worthy of honor.

The others are mostly selfish, sophisticated, worldly sorts who contribute little or nothing to nurturing integrity, character, honor, and wisdom in their progeny. But then in this postmodern age, such notions are so "yesterday."

The Normal-American Community| 9.2.10 @ 12:28AM

"What will Murkowski do now? What is she trained to do?"

I don't give a shiite - let her freeze to death in a dank alley. She deserves no better.

So why do YOU care?

DJ Rudz| 9.1.10 @ 9:04AM

Maybe she can become a commentator for Fox News.

danny| 9.1.10 @ 7:16AM

Way to go Alaska. Oh how we here in Texas long for the day that John Cornyn goes the way of Murkowski, as he surely will.

Big Java| 9.1.10 @ 8:50AM

...and Kay Bailey Hutchison.

gypsy| 9.1.10 @ 12:51PM

from your mouth to GODs ears!

Eric Cartman| 9.1.10 @ 9:34AM

Um, danny. I moved away from Texas a couple of years ago, but am moving back very soon. Just wanted to know if y'all ran out of tar and feathers while I was gone. Because I can pick some up on my way back if need be.

CJN Guy| 9.1.10 @ 4:24PM

Just as those of us here in Maine long for the same outcome for Senators Snowe and Collins.

darcy| 9.1.10 @ 6:48PM

Ditto that, danny.

RustyG| 9.1.10 @ 7:58AM

What was Trent Lott's quote from a couple of months ago? Something like "we need to co-opt these new guys quickly before the Demints get em".

The Normal-American Community| 9.2.10 @ 12:31AM

Trentie needs to get back to the San Francisco bathhouse and leave us the he!! alone.

Why do we have to wait for clowns like Trentie, McStain, OldbobDole and the rest to die of old age in order to get them the he!! out of our lives?

Kick their asses out into the frozen cold NOW. We're done with these lazy parasites.

Louis Jenkins| 9.1.10 @ 8:05AM

Yes it is Miler time. But I think it goes beyond the mere Tea Party candidate theme. TARP 2008 was a dreadful piece of pie, however, the folks in Alaska probably were sick with Washington, District of Criminals, interference anyway. Let's be honest, most of us here were fed up with the Feds to begin with (when ever that was).

Louis Jenkins| 9.1.10 @ 8:07AM

PS: RustyG, yes it was. It amazes me how the District of Criminals big dogs think they can "co-opt" these new guys. We're beyond co-option, and we're mad.

Siegfried X| 9.1.10 @ 8:12AM

Former Senate majority leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), now a D.C. lobbyist, warned that a robust bloc of rabble-rousers spells further Senate dysfunction. "We don't need a lot of Jim DeMint disciples," Lott said in an interview. "As soon as they get here, we need to co-opt them."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....id=topnews

gypsy| 9.1.10 @ 12:54PM

we are the borg...you will be assimilated!

Go f*ck yerself, Mr. Lott....your loser ways are over. Go pick the niblets out of your false teeth, you godforasaken has been

Fr. Bill| 9.1.10 @ 2:04PM

Hey, Gypsy,

Why the dissembling?? Tell us what y ou Really think!

Anna Keppa| 9.1.10 @ 2:10PM

Comments like that are why Mark Steyn refers to the former Senator as Trent "Vacant" Lott.

stephanie| 9.1.10 @ 8:28AM

Thank you Sarah Palin for endorsing this guy and screw you Trent Lott. We NEED rabble-rousers!

WRTolkas| 9.1.10 @ 8:41AM

"I asked him, what do you see as your first responsibility as a senator?" Campbell said. "And [Miller] said, to determine if any of the bills in front of me are constitutional."

That should be a plaque on every senator's desk. Unfortunately, I don't think Stabenow from Michigan can read.

Miss Stephanie, how was Washington? Do you have any insight from Beck's gathering?

Stephanie| 9.1.10 @ 10:50AM

Washington was great, WR! Sooo many people, good, happy God loving people. We walked by, on the Mall, the huge sign of MLK where I believe his memorial will go and there was a small group of lefties, mainly white, with ugly placards targeting conservative whites and of course Beck. We paid them no mind and moved on along toward the Lincoln Mem. When we got to the base of the Washington monument and then crested the hill, it was so over whelming to see the sea of people, thousands of them, together, peacefully, with no signs, just some flags. The spot for this was perfect, not just because of the Lincoln mem, but the Wall on one side, the Korean War mem. on the other and the WWll mem. behind. It couldn't have been better. Did you hear about the flock of geese that flew over at the start? A perfect V formation of geese flew over the memorial and straight down the crowd toward the Washington Monument. Devine providence. Thanks for asking.

NavyBrat | 9.1.10 @ 12:44PM

Stephanie. I was there, & I too saw the geese. Mimi & I were discussing it on another thread last night. Its almost like G*d was giving us His own "flyover." It was truly remarkable.

Dan Hirsch| 9.1.10 @ 8:51AM

If I recall correctly, back in January did not Scott Brown in Massachusetts say among other things that he'd read the bill before voting on it?

And now Joe Miller is going to see "if any of the bills before me are Constitutional" hopefully so he will vote against the un-Constitutional ones (Is there a SCOTUS in the house?)

Now, if we could just find some Senators and Representatives who would FIGHT against bills that they've read, that are constitituional, but just continue to make things worse!

That's what I'm talking about!

Nolite me conculcare!

DRed| 9.1.10 @ 10:36AM

I wonder how committed he'll be to cutting government spending when it comes to shoveling even more federal money towards Alaska.

Redstateboy| 9.1.10 @ 9:17AM

We get enough sensible Adults in Congress and may be we can do the sensible things... like Drill in ANWAR instead of being forced to drill 50 miles offshore and over a mile deep! Then we can pull the Fed. subsidies out from under the Ethenol Scam.. these are just for starters.

NavyBrat | 9.1.10 @ 12:45PM

Redstateboy, I LIKE the way you think bro!!! Open up ANWAR & let those thugs in OPEC go broke. Sounds like a winner to me!!!

Kelly Staples| 9.1.10 @ 9:26AM

Palin Power.

Stephanie| 9.1.10 @ 10:51AM

Ditto.

Hawker | 9.1.10 @ 9:37AM

We should have no doubt that the likes of Lott will attempt to run ruffshod over the newbees . We should make sure to let the new reps. and sentors know they had better not bow to the old dogs. We have not gone this far to let our guard down on anyone we send to rep. us after the Nov. election. That has happen to many times in the past . Its a shame we cannot trust without having to keep an eye on them ,but that is what we must do from now on.
Lets hope we now get involved and get them elected and stay involved .

Old Joe| 9.1.10 @ 9:57AM

I am a proud 65 year old Republican and have been all my adult life but I don’t contribute to the Republican Party because of Washington insider trash like Trent Lott and Michael Steel. Instead I send my contributions to individual conservative candidates. That is how we hunt for RINOs in South Louisiana.

gypsy| 9.1.10 @ 12:56PM

When I get postage paid enevelopes sent out by Michael Steele, I fill them with Monopoly money and tell them its worth every bit as much as their devotion to Reagans principles

joli| 9.1.10 @ 1:20PM

Considering how many people have done similar things, it is astonishing to me that the GOP is so color blind that they can't see their pink slip coming.

Texas Mom| 9.1.10 @ 1:41PM

I started donating directly the first time when John Thune was running against Dem Majority Leader Tom Dascle (sp?). I can't tell you how satisfying it is when you feel you directly helped defeat a lib! Since then I have continued to donate direct, including some RINO hunting!

AnyoneButNewt| 9.1.10 @ 10:39AM

Are you listening, Newt? Though I know you are super smart, I much prefer this new generation of up and coming conservatives. Furthermore, Newt, I'm sorry to say, can only preach to the choir. He doesn't excite or attract new voters to conservatism.

Clinton nee Publius | 9.1.10 @ 10:51AM

After stating last week that Sarah Palin and the Tea Parties had lost their mojo and influence, the State Media Collective responded to the recent polls and developments by saying...

crickets chirping

tonypal| 9.1.10 @ 12:13PM

While I'm confident that people like Miller will be victorious this fall, the message has been sent to the republican establishment. We will no longer tolerate watered down republicans. We will only accept the real deal. If that means sacrificing a senator or two in the short run, so be it. The long term future of the party has been strengthened due to the actions of the Tea Party, Sarah Palin and these new insurgents. This is critical because conservatism and fidelity to the Constitution are one and the same. So a stronger, more vibrant and more conservative republican party means a stronger, more vibrant and more conservative country.

Herr Morgenholz| 9.1.10 @ 12:13PM

The lack of pudding in this article is disturbing.

CJohnson| 9.1.10 @ 1:35PM

The hardest pol choice I have made was between Miller and Murkowski. I replayed the past 2 years and decided Murkowski would get from me the loyalty she showed Ted Sevens after he was falsely indicted...

Texas Mom| 9.1.10 @ 1:43PM

Hear, Hear! But Miller truly has an impressive resume so I am sure that helped make it easier...

WR Jonas| 9.1.10 @ 4:06PM

Some people who comment on this site are very thoughtful and energized . When a guy like Joe Miller gets elected they assume we have gained a victory for Conservatism and we all hope that the candidate will be successful and reflect our common values.
But please remember what really counts for any politician is what he or she DOES.
By their performance we will know if they are true to our principles.
The poison in the well is COMPROMISE. And the temptation to sell out principles comes wrapped in a warm. toasty bun and emitting mouth watering aromas. Insist on victory or honorable defeat but NO COMPROMISE. Let the Republicans like McCain know we will no longer accept ...COMPROMISE.

Sorry about the caps.

Audax| 9.5.10 @ 5:28AM

Just watch some of Joe Millers interviews and THEN tell me he will be a COMPROMISER....Haaa!

danny| 9.1.10 @ 7:45PM

Eric, I think we have enough laid back, but go ahead and bring some more so we can lay it on really thick.

Long Ben| 9.4.10 @ 12:30PM

Unless the Lord undertake the Democrat party is a lost cause. The problem with BlueDog Dems is that they have no place of power in leadership , and that has become more and more true by and large since 69 . BlueDogs have always came under party discipline. Phil Gramm quit the Dems because of it . Obamacare is a good example of it. When the leadership is under the thrall of , as well as a chief part of the corrupt KulturSmog the party is pretty much hopeless .
For this reason all people of common sense , conservative or traditional bent should never again waste their vote on a BlueDog .

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