The Spectacle Blog
Politico today has another story in the formerly mainstream media’s year-long series about division within the Republican Party. The theme throughout this journalistic endeavor is to interview Beltway GOPers about how divisive those candidates are who are supported by grassroots outsiders.
Today’s story is yet another whinefest about South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who criticized party colleagues over their refusal to demote Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski because she is waging a write-in campaign after losing the GOP primary to Joe Miller. And in this year of uprooting “the way we’ve always done things around here,” the establishment Republicans are upset that DeMint publicized aspects of the debate over Murkowski’s fate in a fundraising letter.
Dutiful reporter Manu Raju first questioned Status Quo Republican Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri:
“I personally think it’s very counterproductive.”
Next was Status Quo Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who was asked whether DeMint’s message was helpful to the Republican Party:
“No.”
Status Quo Republican John Thune of South Dakota:
“I would take issue with that.”
Status Quo Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah:
There “isn’t one sitting Republican in the Senate that isn’t supporting Joe Miller.”
Status Quo Republican Lamar Alexander of Tennessee:
“Our strong tradition in the Republican Conference is to have a free and open exchange and to keep that among ourselves. I’m always disappointed when some member of our conference decides not to follow that tradition. It makes it hard for us to be a team.”
Note to above Senators (except for Thune): If you were up for reelection this year you would have had primary challengers and very well could have lost. To make a comparison to my favorite baseball team, you are no longer the 2004 or 2007 World Champion Boston Red Sox. You are the aging team of 2010.
You are Mike Lowell.
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More Blog Posts by Paul Chesser
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/09/29/establishment-do-ya-mind-demin
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Kenneth E. MacAlister Jr.| 9.29.10 @ 6:54PM
Jim DeMint is right & the fact that his fellow Party members are denouncing what he said in that fundraising letter (which I received & read) proves DeMint hit the bullseye & these clowns denouncing him need to go. They don't want to change the direction the Federal government is taking this nation. They want their turn to continue bankrupting the country with their own out of control spending. This to me proves there is no difference between Democrats & RINO Republicans who prefer the staus quo. May they all face strong conservative opponents in primaries when their terms are up. The GOP establishment are their own worst enemy & no friend to the American people. Sen. DeMint, keep telling it as it is & damn the RINO establishment.
Greg| 9.29.10 @ 9:23PM
CONCUR! DeMint is the man and the sooner they get behind him (and the American people) the better, otherwise...
Should their desent continue, we are likely to see a Third Party emerge and the R's will be left behind...
Tea Party.
Scott Crandall| 9.30.10 @ 5:59PM
What these clowns don't understand is the level of distrust and frustration voters feel for the GOP (the "Stupid Party"). If these people can't/won't take the fight to the Left (the "Evil Party"), then they're done.
The Right doesn't need them (viz, the Federalists and the Whigs). There's the nucleus of a new party waiting in the wings. Don't these nitwits hear the clock ticking?
Walter| 10.2.10 @ 5:24PM
I've felt for a long time that the Repubs would disappear in the long term if there was a 3rd party of combined Conservatives and Libertarians. Such a 3rd party would move the R's into third place and require the third-place R's (since who would vote for Democrat-lite when you could vote for the real thing) to choose to go Democratic or Conservative and, after the Dem's sunk the country to a level that was undeniable to even the MSM, the 3rd party would become the 1st. Probably hold it too, as long as they didn't screw up.
Walter| 10.2.10 @ 5:15PM
Like I always say, they are not RINO's, they are CINO's (Conservatives In Name Only) and that usually only at election time. The rest of the year, they don't even bother to act conservative.
Tyler| 9.29.10 @ 7:10PM
God bless Jim DeMint. The fact that we have at least one conservative Senator with a spine gives me hope for the future of our country. The fact that so many Republicans are opposed to him lets me know we have a lot of work to do.
Hopefully after the election we have at least a few more who will be standing with him.
Tim*| 9.29.10 @ 7:10PM
We Tea Party Rebels are urging Our Kingmaker & Our Point man in The Senate , Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina to run for The Presidency in 2012 .
The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates .
Rise Up !
Greg| 9.29.10 @ 9:24PM
Go JIM! 2012! Run with Palin!!!!!
Tyler | 9.29.10 @ 7:14PM
Sorry, one thing I forgot:
https://senateconservatives.com/takeamericaback
Tim*| 9.29.10 @ 7:40PM
Time after time Jim DeMint has been The Point Man for Conservatism in The Senate .
"LAUER: But, but sticking to health care reform, let, let me, you know, give you your own words here. You, you were addressing the group Conservatives for Patients Rights about the health care debate and you said quote, "If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him." Now are you rallying conservatives to the cause of health care reform? Or are you rallying conservatives to the cause of breaking a president?
DEMINT: Oh, we need to put the brakes on this President. He's been on a spending spree since he took office. And we need health care reform. Unfortunately, when the President was in the Senate, I've probably offered more health care reform proposals than anyone in the Senate. And the President voted against every proposal that would have made health insurance more available and more affordable to people. His goal seems to be a government takeover, not making insurance more available. So I do think we need to stop the President on this. We need to stop his policy, because if we allow him to continue to ram things through Congress before we even get a chance to read them.
LAUER: But-"
The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates .
Rise Up !
JASmius | 9.29.10 @ 8:13PM
You know what? DeMint and his "status quo" caucusmates are *both* right. He's right in his message, and they're right that he's promulgating it destructively.
FWIW, the 'Pubbie examples Chesser cites are all in "red" states, so primarying would be fair game, unlike Delaware. What gives me the sweats is if DeMint follows the logic of his suddenly out-of-control purity mania and convinces all the TPer freshman his SCF touted this cycle to leave the GOP and go "independent". No surer way cometh political doomsday for "true conservatives" and "status quoians" alike than an aggrieved ideological Samson complex.
Makes me wonder if anybody up there still realizes that each needs the other if the Democrats are to be stopped from The One's transformational rampage.
Kenneth E. MacAlister Jr.| 9.29.10 @ 9:21PM
With all due respect sir I must disagree. You don't win the big game with players from the other team in your huddle. The Democrats already understand this & it's well past time The GOP get it through their heads. After what B.O. & his cronies have done to this country in a very short time I can't understand why anyone who is fed up with this Congress & this administration would want to place their trust in a bunch of 50% or less RINOs just for the sake of a majority those same RINOs will sabotage when the important votes come up. If the Democrats can elect lefties to office in "Red" states as they did in 2006 & 2008 when the electorate was fed up with Bush administration the GOP should be able to elect conservatives in "Blue" states this year with all of the anger directed at the Democrats for ignoring the wishes of the electorate. Conservatism works every time it's tried, but how can it work if The GOP won't try it in "Blue" states like Delaware to use your example. The Democrats do not compromise in "Red" states. They run left of center candidates in every state without fear of losing. The GOP could learn something from that, but I figure they won't. The GOP doesn't have the Democrats' conviction & backbone to convince the electorate that conservatism is the way to go. B.O. & the Democrats have proved modern liberalism does not work so why run Democrats of our own for the sake of a useless Republican majority? Until the day I leave this life I will never understand why The GOP & alot of their voters allow the Democrats & lefties to set the rules for how the game is played. Voting for RINOs out of political expediency is the ultimate form of surrender in American politics & makes the Democrats' jobs that much easier. The RINO strategy will eventually be the demise of The GOP, guaranteed! Take care & GOD bless!
Greg| 9.29.10 @ 9:27PM
Amen! Out with the freaking RINO's! By the way, those NE RINO's are whining now... oh, we need moderates they say... yeah, right. To vote with the socialist left.
Lester Jackson, Ph.D.| 9.29.10 @ 9:12PM
For all his colleagues' whining and as much as I admire him, Sen. DeMint has not named any names. In the email he sent last week, he said it "was more than I could bear" when "one senator after another stood up to argue in favor of protecting [Murkowski’s] place on the committee...."
Disloyal so-called Republican Senators who advocated betrayal of Republican voters and stabbing Joe Miller in the back are not entitled to protection of their identity. It is gross hypocrisy for them to seek concealment of their perfidy in the name of party loyalty.
Sen. DeMint should specifically identify these senators.
Greg| 9.29.10 @ 9:30PM
There is NOT ONE SENATOR , not one, I respect more than Senator Jim DeMint in today's Senate.
He has my support, has received it, and I will continue to support his recommendations... why?
He makes darn good sense and has strong conservative values, ranked #1 in that area.
Hank Archer| 9.29.10 @ 10:54PM
In the next election cycle Republicans need to ask every primary candidate to sign a pledge guaranteeing their endorsement of and support for whoever the party selects as the nominee and swearing not to run a write in campaign, regardless of the election's outcome.
Michael L. Hauschild| 9.30.10 @ 7:31AM
The Senators listed will all meet their comeuppance when as an alternative to the base they welcome back their comrade across the aisle “Hillary the unitary.” She will become the rallying point in maintaining their power structure and the elitist malevolence toward the electorate who have fostered the “new” young guns in assuming office. Obama will become the straw man, incestuous decorum the mandate, and the closing of ranks against the rabble the plan. The ebb and flow of power in our country for the last half century has vacillated between the Judiciary, the Legislative and the Executive branches,” always at governmental gain and always at the expense of “we the people.” By clinging to her non-chased skirt, they will perceive to “maintain” by the modicum of moderation their trappings of power. While the tea party has become the most powerful contingent in American politics, it is still without legislative voice. When our newly elected get to Washington they will languish in the back rooms and back rows of the hearings and committees. The emergence of the people and their revolution will continue despite the “traditions” imposed by the ruling class, the real focus will be 2012 when many of our six-year wonders actually have to face the wrath of the people they have burdened with regulation, loss of freedom and back breaking taxes
I believe in my heart that their will actually be a patriotic voting bloc emerge in the legislative branches, house first, that will place in a non-partisan manner and as a priority the country and the dire financial straits the progressives have placed us in. Tragically it will take at least another two years for the powers that be to realize the country is tired of condescending elitist buffoons whose foremost goal is clinging to power. During these trying times often the best come to the forefront; it would probably horrify him to read this but future generations will speak of DeMint with the same adjectives and awe as any visionary currently edified in marble.
Pat Morris| 9.30.10 @ 7:32AM
I must take umbrage at the Mike Lowell comparison. He has more class in his pinky than most of these whining politicians. And he knows when his time is up. Thank god for the Mike Lowells and Jim DeMints of the world.
PattyMor| 9.30.10 @ 12:02PM
The truth is, Jim DeMint has the conservative values of most Republican, not the RINO's or the Country Clubers. We are sick and tried of having to vote for the lesser of two awful candidates ala John McClain vs. Barack Obama. Look how that turned out -- not so swell as Obamster runs up the debt and is systematically destroying our institutions.
Donate to the Jim 's Senate Conservatives Fund and his to his slate of candidates.
Tim| 9.30.10 @ 12:55PM
If the republicans enjoy a vast victory in November, it should be "interesting" to see the internal power struggle/civil war that will break out. I doubt that a bunch of tea party backed radicals will quietly fill the back benches while all the fusty old moderate and reasonable bulls ascend to chairmanships.
It will get ugly.
Occam's Tool| 9.30.10 @ 11:53PM
Thune, ah, poor Thune. Was considering donating to his Pres campaign. Thinking of grass-rooting DeMint. He recognizes what Conservatism is all about: keep taxes and spending low at home, and kick America's enemies' asses abroad. Neither a neo nor a paleo be. The neo's don't recognize the importance of domestic conservatism, and the paleos believe that fellating terrorists will keep them at bay. (Don't believe me, Paulites? Check out your hero's voting record on foreign policy and compare blindly to Jesse Jackson Jr., Maxine Waters, and Dennis Kucinich. You won't be able to tell them apart because on foreign policy, THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE!)
Joan| 10.1.10 @ 8:45AM
I have more respect for Sen. Jim DeMint than any other Senator in office and I agree with him that Murkowski should be demoted and shame on the RINO's that voted against his proposal. I really wish he would have named names, but I am sure the public can find out with a little investigation on the internet
lee1233| 11.4.10 @ 5:54PM
The Tea Party Movement are the grass root patriots of today. Unfortunately, the political history of both parties is one of inside dealing to protect their power.
Observations to fix:
Representatives shall serve a max of six two year terms. Senators shall serve a max of two six year terms. All federal judges and Supreme Court Judges shall retire at age 72. Law degree is not protection against the ravages of father time. All contributions to political candidates, parties, campaigns will be immediately made public by name, address of donnar and the amount given. Any candidate standing for election to a political office defined by its geographical location excepting the president and vice president shall be disqualified from seeking office; any person or party or parties attempting to give such monies shall be tried for violations of campaign laws. Labor Unions saved Harry Reid from defeat; labor unions are not qualified to be elected senator. "The War is Lost" Senator Reid has violated and defiled every sense of decency and statesmanship necessary for a Senator of the United States. The Republican Establishment chose to support the Tea Party backed candidates for senator in Nevada and in Delaware and even joined the Main Stream Media and Obama's supporters in attacking their alleged faults. They won their primaries fair and square. They were betrayed by the power broker republicans; the Tea Party faithful will not forget. Barack H. Obama has shown his true colors; his actions to date have been the actions of a dedicated "Community Organizer" more intent in destroying our constitution than in reforming our out of control federal government. He clearly stated before a large crowd in Europe, "I am a citizen of the world." It is all about him.