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Another Perspective
The Party of Stars
The GOP talent pool of 2012 — the Democrats of 1960?
Will the Republican National Convention of 2012 — scheduled to be reaching its zenith one year from today — look more like a political version of American Idol?
Showcasing an explosion of fresh political faces destined to star in American politics for decades into the future?
Is it 1960 all over again? When the Democratic National Convention was showered with so much sparkling new political talent that it shaped both the party and the nation for the next quarter century?
Except this time, in 2012, it’s show time for Republicans? With a new Republican Kelly or Jennifer or Carrie just waiting to be discovered?
While today’s media follows the traditional ups-and-downs of the campaign trail (Perry is beating Romney! Palin is getting in! Palin is out! Ron Paul was second to Bachmann in Iowa! Santorum is gaining! Extra! Extra! Extra! Read all about it!) there’s something else at work in the GOP.
The 2012 Republican National Convention, which will begin on August 27 in the Tampa, Florida arena known as the St. Pete Times Forum, promises to be a rarity. A once-in-a-generation clustering of aborning political stars that has perhaps not been seen since Democrats gathered in Los Angeles in 1960 to nominate — after an extraordinary fight — Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy.
Indeed, the 1960 gathering of Democrats was perhaps the most remarkable political gathering of its kind in the last 40 years of the 20th century. Attending the convention that week in July were names known and mostly nationally unknown. Names that would become famous over the next quarter century, associated with all manner of historical events and national traumas, some for better and others decidedly for worse.
Let’s start at the top.
John F. Kennedy: Since January of 1960 — early in the election calendar in those days — the 43-yearold newcomer Senator Kennedy had been out of the gate as the presumed frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination. There were only seven presidential primaries, and he won them all. But not without a terrific fight. In what would become even more of a rarity over the next quarter-century of presidential politics, the actual nomination battle climaxed dramatically on the floor of the convention itself, as JFK won at the tale-end of the first ballot with the votes of the Wyoming delegation. He will go on to defeat Republican Vice President Richard Nixon by 100,000 votes in a legendarily close election. Assassinated in November of 1963, he becomes an American icon, the Arthurian hero of “Camelot” — a concept fashioned by his wife Jacqueline within weeks of his death and immortalized by author and JFK friend Theodore H. White in a Life magazine tribute to the late President. Administration battles: Civil Rights and the beginning of Vietnam, two crises in Cuba including one — the Cuban Missile Crisis — in which the world is walked to the brink of nuclear war.
Lyndon B. Johnson: LBJ, the canny Senate Majority Leader a Washington fixture but mostly unknown outside his home state of Texas, declares his candidacy with the primary season over and he untainted by any losses. As a Texan he pulls considerable Southern support. LBJ is not fond of the Kennedys, viewing the young JFK as an ambitious young upstart. LBJ pulls up a respectable but to him humiliating second. Yet when JFK surprisingly offers the vice-presidency to LBJ — a story of much Machiavellian intrigue — Johnson shocks many by saying yes. In a rare contribution of a vice-presidential nominee, Johnson is credited with carrying his home state of Texas for the Northeastern and Catholic JFK. He becomes president on the day of Kennedy’s murder. The following year he wins in a landslide over GOP nominee Senator Barry Goldwater. He launches the massive “Great Society” federal spending program and sinks the U.S. deep into the quagmire that becomes Vietnam. So controversial does he become that by 1968 his public appearances are frequently limited to secure zones such as U.S. military bases. He withdraws from a re-election race and he refuses to attend his party’s convention in Chicago. He also, with considerable Republican help, passes JFK’s Civil Rights bills. He dies suddenly from a heart attack days after Richard Nixon is inaugurated for a second term in 1973.
Hubert H. Humphrey: The senior Senator from Minnesota, it is Humphrey who has come closest to defeating JFK in the Democratic primaries, notably Wisconsin and West Virginia. He loses after a terrific fight and by Convention time is out of the race but present in the hall. Passed over for the VP nomination for his colleague and friend LBJ, Humphrey will be re-elected to the Senate in the fall and spend the next four years as the Senate Democratic Whip. He champions Civil Rights and arms control issues as the Senate’s famous liberal leader of the day. In 1964 he is picked by LBJ for the vice-presidency. He serves four tumultuous and frustrating years in the job. In 1968 he is nominated for the presidency and loses to ex-GOP vice president Nixon in another close election. On the sidelines, Humphrey returns to the Senate in 1970, runs again for the Democratic nomination again in 1972, losing. He remains in the Senate, declining a 1976 race many thought he could have won. He becomes the Senate’s elder statesman — the position of Deputy President Pro Temp created for him. He dies in 1978, given a state funeral.
Adlai E. Stevenson: The best known Democrat in the nation in 1960, the party’s 1952 and 1956 losing nominee against Eisenhower loses a draft-Adlai effort at the Convention. JFK makes him Ambassador to the United Nations where Stevenson becomes famous in a showdown at the UN with the Soviet Ambassador during the climax of the Cuban Missile Crisis. He dies of a heart attack three years later in 1965.
While there were other lesser candidates, these were the four in the “top tier” of the party at the 1960 Convention. Just below, milling around in the flashing spotlights of political fame, was a veritable platoon of future national political superstars.
Robert F. Kennedy: JFK’s younger brother, he was also in 1960 the candidate’s campaign manager. Already making a name as a Senate investigator of labor racketeering, the 1960 campaign would make him both famous and, by December, the new president’s choice to be Attorney General of the United States. As attorney general he pursued issues from civil rights to steel price hikes with what America would learn was his typical zeal or, in the eyes of his enemies, “ruthlessness.” After his brother’s murder, he inherits the “Camelot” mantle and is elected Senator from New York. In four years he becomes LBJ’s most hated intra-party rival. He runs for president in 1968 and is assassinated after claiming victory in the California primary.
Edward M. “Teddy” Kennedy: The youngest of the Kennedy brothers, Teddy gets his first taste of the limelight as the regional manager of the Western states in the 1960 primary fight. It is a smiling Teddy who is caught on camera on the Convention floor as he stands in the middle of the Wyoming delegation, knowing that it is Wyoming — his responsibility — that will provide the votes giving JFK his first-ballot win. Two years later at the age of 30 — the minimum age, he is elected to his brother’s old Senate seat. He will remain there until his death 47 years later. After the death of his brother Bobby, Teddy Kennedy is seen as the heir to “Camelot.” Immediately considered a presidential possibility from 1968 forward, he runs and loses the nomination in 1980. His personal life — a 1969 incident involving the death of Mary Jo Kopechne in which he leaves the scene of the accident, along with an alcohol problem — effectively keeps him from the White House. He becomes instead the “Liberal Lion of the Senate” — a major voice in an endless series of national events from Vietnam to Supreme Court nominations to health care and the election of Barack Obama.
About the Author
Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (73) | Leave a comment
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chuck| 8.30.11 @ 7:26AM
Jeffrey,
You forgot about DOCTOR Ron Paul. The Paulistas are going to go ballistic!
Jack in Wi.| 8.30.11 @ 5:47PM
Jeffry lord is just a neocon shill. He proved that in his last 2 colums.He and his arguments were so destroyed in the comment sections that the comment sections, had to be removed in a bizzare effort at thought control. No sane person will bother with him anymore. The only people with the money and following to go all the way to the convention are Ron Paul, and possibly Sarah Palin. Rick Perry is too dumb to stand up to close inspection an Romney has to many ideological and religious obstacles to overcome. Now someone else could get in but I don't know who that would be. Of course Perry has the Money and countryclub behind him so if he stays out of hot water he could go all the way. I think his foot in mouth desease will put him out of it early.
Alan Brooks| 8.30.11 @ 6:07PM
Jawohl.
Quartermaster| 8.30.11 @ 7:24PM
Zu Befehl, Mein Herr!
lily | 8.30.11 @ 9:28PM
Cut this "liberal lion of the senate" number on Kennedy, E.M. That alcolhol abusing, genetilia-obcessed, homicidal tub of lard was "The Boar Hog of the Senate."
I am a 28 years old doctor, mature and beautiful.and now I am seeking a good man who can give me real love , so i got a username Lindasunny2002 on--a'ge'l'es's'da'te.c óm--.it is the first and best club for y'ounger women and old'er men, or older women and y'ounger men,to int'eract with each other. Maybe you wanna ch'eck 'it out or tell your friends!
Quartermaster| 8.30.11 @ 7:24PM
So very true, Jack! Let us hope we never see another party convention like that of 1860. Those rivals were not the foundation of our republic, they were the destruction of it.
When the Revolution comes, Brooks and Lord will sent to the camps for proper education.
Clint| 8.30.11 @ 7:38AM
"Rasmussen Has Ron Paul Running Closest With Obama
Erik Hayden Aug 24, 2011:
Who does the president fare worst against in a head-to-head matchup? On Wednesday, Rasmussen released its latest nationwide early campaign survey. And right now, Barack Obama does well against Mitt Romney (46 to 38 percent) and narrowly leads Perry (43 to 40 percent) and Michele Bachmann (43 to 39 percent).
Which means, if you combine these results with the Rasmussen poll released Tuesday, the GOP candidate doing the best against the president is....Ron Paul? Yesterday's head-to-head poll showed the libertarian trailing the president 39 to 38 percent, by presumably the same methodology."
The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here.
Rise Up In Rebellion.
Mick Hawk| 8.30.11 @ 11:46AM
Yeah right. ... and John McCaian was the only one who could beat Hillary too.
Clint| 8.30.11 @ 4:35PM
Who You Shittin' Israel Firster.
You Israel Firsters Foisted The Serial Traitor To Conservatism, John McCain On The Republican Party.
Al Adab| 8.30.11 @ 5:05PM
My heavens Clint you are a myoptic one.
Clint| 8.30.11 @ 5:36PM
Tell Us All About MCCain-Feingold, McCain-Lieberman,McCain-Kennedy, Gang of 14, Opposing Bush Tax Cuts Of 2001 & 2003, TARP...
You're Up Israel Firster.
Al Adab| 8.30.11 @ 7:05PM
Clint,
I said nothing about McCain who represents exactly what is wrong with the GOP. That said Clint, perhaps you can explain why you believe one nation should not exist and other exist all on your say so.
Clint| 8.30.11 @ 11:04PM
Ya mean like The Founding Fathers "Declaration Of Independence" , Sport?
Hmmmmm ?
Israel Firster| 9.22.11 @ 7:41PM
hee,hee.
I got you Al Adab.
Israel First.
Victor| 9.22.11 @ 7:45PM
Israel First.
Israel Firster| 9.22.11 @ 7:38PM
I Like To Pretend & Post As Clint.
Israel First.
Alan Brooks| 9.22.11 @ 7:43PM
This is fun.
Obama & Israel First.
Clint| 9.22.11 @ 7:36PM
The Tea Party Has Changed The Dynamics Of Electoral Politics.
John McCain Was A Serial Traitor To Conservatism.
McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy, McCain-Lieberman, Gang Of 14, Opposing Bush Tax Cuts Of 2001 & 2003, TARP.
Have you considered| 8.30.11 @ 7:47AM
The lack of Ron Paul on this list just shows the bias of the author.
My favorite person on this entire GOP list is Ken Cuccinelli.
I would love to see him as a SCOTUS pick, assuming the Republicans win in 2012, and a vacancy becomes available.
Having the presidency is important, but it will be absolutely critical to take the senate in 2012.
Harry the Horrible| 8.30.11 @ 9:09AM
Ron Paul, aside from his loonish foreign policy stance, has two strikes against him: He's old and he's ugly. In our current culture, both of these cut deeply into his chances for election.
Clint| 8.30.11 @ 4:38PM
Ron Paul,
"I’ve offered to ride a bicycle for 20 miles in Houston when the temperature is 100° and the humidity is 100% and I will go 20 miles with them and then we’ll decide who’s the youngest."
Put Up Or Shut Up, Sport.
John Navratil| 8.30.11 @ 12:55PM
Have you considered,
Nothing can possibly get by Obama's veto pen. To get to 67 senators (69 to counter Snowe and Collins), requires a pickup of 22 of the 33 seats. That's all of the running Republicans and half the running Democrats. It's only mathematically possible and even that doesn't provide any margin.
It is critical the Obama NOT be president. Then, perhaps, the Senate can have some success.
As others have noted, this list was for the rising stars. At 76, Paul has risen. This will be his swan song.
coal carrier| 8.30.11 @ 7:57AM
The problem the Republicans have is not with their candidates but rather with the media, the TV talking heads and a large block of dumb voters with their hands out.
Obama can not run on his record. His campaign will be filled with innuendo, character assignation and name-calling.
Mike D.| 8.30.11 @ 9:49AM
And the race card played to the point of violence.
Deborah D | 8.30.11 @ 10:19AM
You are so right, coal carrier. Class hatred. Race hatred. Labor union hatred. And, don't discount Christianity hatred. Oh, and add to that scapegoating the Tea Party, Republicans in general, and those damn Congressional Republicans who have the audacity to attempt to rein in this destroyer of the American economy -- even a little bit. It's going to get ugly. I just hope it doesn't look like Minneapolis after the state fair or Chicago with its flash mobs of thieves or Madison after the Republicans had the audacity to win elections there. We'll see how much hatred our President of Some of the States can rev up.
Charlie Earl | 8.30.11 @ 8:19AM
Mr. Lord's shot at Ron Paul last week and his studied oversight in this piece is indicative of why the GOP has nearly run out it's string of relevance. Even if one disagrees with Paul, one must acknowledge that he exists, has been correct about Constitution, budget and FED and is presently a player. Neo-cons are so self delusionary..."if I ignore him, he'll go away."
WJ| 8.30.11 @ 8:54AM
I am not even a Paul fan but I have to agree. If this writer, whoever he is, is correct, then the GOP will lose it's relevance and it's ability to win elections. Perhaps Costa Rica won't so bad after all.
Deborah D | 8.30.11 @ 8:56AM
I think this was describing the "young guns" of Republicans...Rep. Paul is 76 right now. Now, perhaps he should have included his son, Rand, on the list.
talkradio55| 8.30.11 @ 10:43AM
This was a list of young, rising stars in the party. I agree, Deborah, that Rand Paul and a lot of the 2010 Tea Party winners (Kelly Ayotte, Mike Lee, Pat Toomey, Rob Portman) should also be included.
Deborah D | 8.30.11 @ 11:41AM
You'll get no argument from me, talkradio55. I'm not quite as familiar with Kelly Ayotte (I plan to research her now), but Mike Lee and Pat Toomey are both excellent...and I love that they can actually talk intelligently about the issues. That's been a Republican problem for a very long time.
I remember the name Rob Portman ... I'll check him out too.
Clint| 8.30.11 @ 4:39PM
Ron Paul,
"I’ve offered to ride a bicycle for 20 miles in Houston when the temperature is 100° and the humidity is 100% and I will go 20 miles with them and then we’ll decide who’s the youngest."
William R| 8.30.11 @ 6:33PM
John Bolton isn't young. He's in his 60s
Mick Hawk| 8.30.11 @ 1:00PM
Jeffery Lord was spot on about Ron Paul and his crackpots. Ron Paul is off base on much of his Constitutional opinions. Ron Paul is a Libertarian and not a Conservative and a Republican in name only. He has more in common with Liberals than he does Conservatives whom he and his coterie of kooks dislike intensely.
Clint| 8.30.11 @ 4:41PM
This Is The Same Propaganda The Left Used Against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Rush Limbaugh Exposed This Kind Of Propaganda Today.
The Bishop| 8.30.11 @ 8:29AM
An interesting analysis of history and the potential of future stars on the other side of the aisle. But, let's not forget the stars that will be in attendance at the 2012 Democratic National Convention:
1. Al Sharpton, lately of MSNBC fame where he suffers a stroke on camera and nobody notices.
2. Charles Shumer, well-manicured and slicked back spewing his venom with impunity and ideological accuracy - a true man of the people.
3. Maxine Waters, the corrupt and long-serving Congresswoman from the bankrupt State of California whose ethics have been challenged even in an ethically deprived institution. Her love and respect for the loyal opposition prompts her to tell the Tea Party to "go to hell."
4. Barney Frank, the bombastic Massachusetts Congressman who dresses smartly in Roman togas and has never seen male prostitution, even when it is run out of his apartment. This champion of Freddie and Fanny somehow manages to stay in power and influence even after he greatly contributes precipitous economic decline.
5. Barack Obama, self-anointed savior and champion of spreading the wealth around until there is none left to spread.
6. John McCain, the Arizona Senator who talks like a conservative Republican for a few months every six years and then reverts to his persona as the one most responsible for giving us the disaster administration that is currently in office.
What a show that will be!
William R| 8.30.11 @ 8:35AM
Rick Insanitorium is a GOP star??Why is this embarrassing joke given space at The American Spectator. By the way
William F Buckley foreign policy leftist.
http://dailycaller.com/2011/08.....y-leftist/
WJ| 8.30.11 @ 8:55AM
The only time in my life will ever use this term - Word.
W| 8.30.11 @ 10:27AM
Mr.Lord,
"a 1969 incident involving the death of Mary Jo Kopechne in which he leaves the scene.."
You make it sound as if Teddy was walking along and went home.
Why not write the truth, that Teddy was drunk, drove off the bridge into the water, swam ashore, left Mary Jo to die, and waited over 6 hours to report the "incident." During the 6 hours while Mary Joe suffocated and died, Teddy was talking to his lawyers and handlers, loyal flunkies of Camelot, on how to handle this " incident."
Why do you use the word incident when manslaughter or homicide by vehice while itoxicated is more accurate.
Al Adab| 8.30.11 @ 12:01PM
W, A good reminder for us all. Ted has his reward now and I dislike speaking ill of the dead. Yet, Truth is a defense.
W| 8.30.11 @ 12:52PM
Al Adab,
I agree.
Teddy always got a pass on the "incident" from the MSM. Other politicians suffered, such as resignations and impeachment, for "incidents" that were insignificant compared to the death of Kopechne.
I saw Teddy speak at a Jefferson-Jackson Democratic dinner a few years after this "incident." He was a terrific speaker and the audience loved him. He would have been president but for the incident.
Margie| 8.30.11 @ 1:07PM
Speaking ill of the dead is just a superstition. Speaking the truth about someone's evil behavior means you love the truth.
Al Adab| 8.30.11 @ 2:14PM
I don't disagree Margie. It is just a convention I choose to follow. What after all does it accomplish to suggest that Ceasar or Alexander were bloodthirsty human beings?
Margie| 8.30.11 @ 3:40PM
It keeps history fresh in the mind, Al. :^)
Al Adab| 8.30.11 @ 4:15PM
...and reveals the dangers of arrogance in power. There are lessons to be had as you say Margie.
Sean| 8.30.11 @ 12:29PM
http://www.chron.com/news/hous.....914428.php
Here is Perry on Health Care.
Justin Raimondo | 8.30.11 @ 12:32PM
"And in the armies of blue these men would collectively assemble upon election as one vent turned into another and another, there was even more of the future."
Will someone please tell me what this sentence means -- if anything? This piece is full of similarly incoherent ramblings that don't even make grammatical sense, let alone any other kind of sense. Does the Spectator employ editors?
Margie| 8.30.11 @ 1:12PM
Typical Leftist hack of "anti-war" .com infamy~ the website for the true believers of all things anti-American and Ron Paul.
The only thing you intellectually vapid Leftists have in your arsenal are spelling errors and insults.
Jack in Wi.| 8.30.11 @ 5:59PM
Margie I am glad you read Antiwar.com. and recognize it's editor. He and his site are treasures to those of us who have a love of truth and history. I believe there is hope for you yet Margie. By the way my son's long time girfriend is named Margie. She is a pretty girl with a much more pleasent disposition. I am sure that you could have one too if you worked on it.
Margie| 8.30.11 @ 6:15PM
I don't "read" at the website. Once I did, and it made me sick.
And I don't take advice from scum.
William R| 8.30.11 @ 6:35PM
I suggest you take a look at the contributors at AntiWar.com
I'd hardly call them anti american . Pat Buchanan is anti American??
chuck| 8.30.11 @ 8:40PM
No, but he is a fool. He's changed since before he ran for President against Bush in 1992.
Quartermaster| 8.30.11 @ 7:31PM
Yet, you read Jeff Lord? Come now, Margie.
Raimondo's question is quite reasonable. With Lord, the question is quite to the point.
But, I guess, we should all remember he was a Reagan functionary, or at least he wants us to do so. For me, that doesn't prove much given the trash he's posted of late.
Margie| 8.30.11 @ 9:35PM
"Yet, you read Jeff Lord? Come now, Margie."
Huh?
I never could understand you Paleo-cons (artists) nor the mind of the Paul-bot.
I mean, I know why you twist & turn the way you do, but I just don't get it.
As the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure.
You consider what Mr. Lord writes as trash~ I consider him a treasure. And he doesn't lie.
Clint| 8.30.11 @ 11:50PM
Margie Also Wrote This One Woman's Trash
Margie| 8.30.11 @ 6:11PM
Religion is a bastard, Clint.
It spawns people who think like you.
God isn't Religion, in fact He hates it.
If you read the Bible instead of believing what the Papists tell you, you'd know that.
You're A Screwball Fanatic Anti-Catholic Nouveau Western Pennsylvania Bigot Now.
Margie| 8.31.11 @ 12:45AM
And what about that isn't true?
Tell me where in the Bible God says we need Religion.
I'll wait.
Who Knows?| 8.30.11 @ 1:05PM
As a 1960 graduate from high school, your look back at that special (for ME) year certainly plucked the memory strings. How can I forget the excitement of the Democratic primary in my state of Oregon, when the JFK machine rolled, and in the Republican one Nixon and Rockefeller had it out.
Your curt, and in my mind sanitized, version of the highlights of each of the hotshots in that class of jackasses screams out to be expanded, by noting indubitable facts.
Over a decade or more ago, a low on the news receiving pole guy like yours truly was very surprised when a PBS show (of all places!) proved how JFK stole that pivotal 1960 election.
Just imagine how the world would have been different if Nixon had won! Should have won! DID WIN!
In Chicago, Mayor Daley provided just enough DEAD VOTERS to barely make Illinois a winner for JFK, without which votes, Nixon would have officially won.
In Texas, LBJ was also able to stuff the ballot box with phony votes for JFK.
Mind, this was PBS that was happy to set the record straight. In a way, I suppose, it was a case of IN YOUR FACE, sort of like crowing about how you robbed a bank, establishing your fortune that allowed you to safely grow it even further, AFTER the statute of limitations had run out.
If either Texas or Illinois had gone for Nixon, he would have won—again, officially.
Just think---for over FIFTY years, now, CW about that 1960 election has mostly focused on the then-new TV debate between the good looking JFK and a Nixon with a perpetual heavy beard look; and the “Nixon won with radio listeners, and JFK won with TV viewers” conclusion.
As for the 2012 Republican team of possible standout leaders, I think it’s a case of déjà vu, all over again---indeed, it’s the heretofore-dominant battlefield the Republican Party has always been fighting on:
The establishment East coast Rockefeller “don’t rock the boat” types verses their more freedom loving opponents from the “heartland”, epitomized by Ronald Reagan.
Perhaps Reagan made such an indelible impression on so many fresh youths when he was president, that we are simply harvesting the fruit of his myriad political seeds. As an old fogey, I can well recall watching some C-SPAN shows of Young Americans For Freedom back in the 80’s, so I’ll betcha a lot of the 2011 cream of THAT crop is what we’re HOPEFULLY about to see competing to come to power.
Occam's Tool| 8.30.11 @ 1:54PM
Perry/Rubio---that would be a nice combo to run the country for sweet 16 years.
Oh, and Ron Paul exists. So does Herpes Simplex.
Mick Hawk| 8.30.11 @ 3:15PM
I don't think so. Historically and as a norm, Veeps and Senators do not get elected President (only in exceptional cases). VP is the end of the line of a political career. I would not sacrifice Rubio for political expediency. We need his as Senate Majority Leader more than anything else. Don't kill him politically by parking him in the Veep slot.
Clint| 8.30.11 @ 4:46PM
" Perry has troubled relationship with tea party
Tea Party groups from New Hampshire to Texas are collaborating to criticize Perry's record on immigration, public health and spending and his former affiliation with the Democratic Party.
Austin Tea Party activist Don Zimmerman, like many tea party activists in Texas and New Hampshire, prefer libertarian Rep. Ron Paul in his third presidential bid. Paul, Zimmerman said, is the true tea party favorite.
"Ron Paul pretty much invented the national tea party," said Zimmerman, a member of the Texas State Republican Executive Committee. "It's really unfair for these other candidates to come along and claim to be the tea party favorite. It's almost like it's starting to lose its meaning."
The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here.
Rise Up.
Margie| 8.30.11 @ 5:00PM
"Perry has troubled relationship with tea party"
In your mind only.
Clint| 8.30.11 @ 5:40PM
Do Your Homework, Before You Run Your Uninformed Israel Firster Yap, Apocalyptic Crank Lady Victor-Margie.
" Rick Perry supported Lance Armstrong's 3 billion dollar Texas taxpayer funded medical research center. That’s like ObamaCare. That’s not free market.
Rick Perry, secured a 300 million dollar business handout slush fund for him and just the two leaders of the legislature to dole out to whomever he felt like being friendly to. That’s corporate welfare, a recipe for corruption, and as bad as the TARP bailouts that caused the Tea Parties to explode all across America. In fact, Perry gave 20 million dollars to Countrywide Financial, which later went bankrupt.
He supported a new state business tax. He set up toll road tax collection booths all over Texas highways. The Austin Tea Party and the Austin Toll Party booed him on the steps of the state Capitol for that.
Rick Perry, signed an executive order mandating young Texas schoolgirls to get the HPV vaccine, while his former chief of staff was a lobbyist for Merck. Perry's judgment was so bad the Texas legislature revolted against him and overturned his decision,"
The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here.
Carpe Diem.
chuck| 8.30.11 @ 8:43PM
Clint, you really come across as a bitter, bitter, person. Tone it down, state your opinions in a civil manner, and people may take you seriously. Until then, you're just a joke.
Clint| 8.30.11 @ 11:07PM
You're A RINO-CINO Apologist Flunkie Joke, Chuck
Quartermaster| 8.30.11 @ 7:34PM
We don't need Perry. Two Bush Republicans is more than enough for a lifetime.
Nite| 8.30.11 @ 10:37PM
The Bushes aren't running, and Perry is nothing like them.
RED CROW| 8.30.11 @ 9:05PM
Victor;
Cut this "liberal lion of the senate" number on Kennedy, E.M. That alcolhol abusing, genetilia-obcessed, homicidal tub of lard was "The Boar Hog of the Senate."
OK, yeah, I know...'Shouldn't speak (write) ill of the dead or, when I die, I'll go straight to Hillary!
PCP Smoker| 8.30.11 @ 9:41PM
JEB Bush? Lol. Jeff, please, don't encourage that type of thinking. Bush 41 sold out the Reagan revolution, while Bush 43 set the stage for Barack Hussein Obama. Get the ax, time to get rid of the Bushes.
Nite| 8.30.11 @ 10:36PM
I see the Democratic talking points about Perry are making the rounds again on this site. They have been hitting Free Republic pretty hard and all say the same thing. Tiresome. Clint, please use original thoughts. Perry is in his 3 term as Governor and has won by wide margins. If the people in TX did not like him, he would not have won a third term. I am from TX, so know his record very well. I plan to vote for him again in the next election.
Jack in Wi. | 8.30.11 @ 10:43PM
As Jesse Jackson says stay out of the Bush's.
POST American| 8.30.11 @ 11:38PM
--'60's Show' DIS-traction OP ---ALERT!---
Meanwhile, is everyone noticing, as 'Agenda 21'
is being brought up to speed in enabling the
consolidation of our Globalist RED China TREASON OP
---as well as rafts of population exterminating
---uh, we meant 'easing' measures,
not a word of criticism, or even comment on the
U.N.
Even John Bolton is nowhere to be found.
Surely ANY American leader, in this, the 11th
hour of the CFR/RIIA RED China TREASON
OP, should be calling out the UN, should be
calling for an end to US funding and membership,
should be callling for the Rockefeller 'dough-nated'
headquarters to be expelled from American
soil.
Likewise every other nation on the planet with
so much as a drop of self-respect.
REALLY ----'Agenda 21', which is now hiding
behind the names 'Smart Future/ Living/ Planning' is full blown EUGENICS Globalism,
is a bottomless nightmare of control.
"Understand, every leader who signed the
charter of the PRIVATE, corprate banking
and EUGENICS front U.N. in 1945 --was
guilty of TREASON against his own people."
-ALAN WATT
That would be Harry S. Truman, the man who
presided over the enabling of RED China and the
BETRAYAL of the people of Korea ---to say
nothing of Americans themselves.
-----------------DO UNDERSTAND
-----------------------------DO
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Mike McLaren| 9.1.11 @ 12:37AM
Slow news day, Jeff?
to hot for Neo-Jeff| 9.5.11 @ 7:19PM
I cant read or bother to respect someone who is so totally refuted that he has to take down the entire comment section of his article,
so that facts that rupture his nonsensical argument, usually delivered between paid ads begging obese seniors on medicare to order govt-bought scooters, and after the commercial break,
to oppose "big govt".
This guy is a typical failed Neocon, who doesnt want to accept that no one who is not senile , obese, and on medicade+social security is buying this nonsense anymore.
The Neocons like Jeff already failed with exactly the same proposals they are again touting.
they are fakes, not traditional conservatives, and need to go back to the democrat party where their Straussian forebearers came from.