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Former Sen. Bennett: GOP should be 'careful' before nominating Tea Partier
The Hill ^ | February 26, 2011 | Michael O'Brien

Posted on 02/26/2011 3:12:27 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

Republicans must "be careful" before nominating a presidential candidate identified with the Tea Party movement, a veteran former senator said Friday evening.

Former Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) warned his party against nominating a candidate too quickly after the early caucuses and primaries, urging the GOP to instead pursue someone with more national appeal.

"If you're going to nominate a national candidate, don't make the mistake of assuming that those who attend the early caucuses and the early primaries speak for the nation as a whole," Bennett said on Fox News. "If you're going to have a national candidate, you'd better have a national view."

Bennett was ousted from the Senate after losing renomination at a state convention to a Tea Party candidate, Mike Lee, now the Republican senator from Utah. He said that many of those Tea Party nominees, though, in other Senate races cost the party a shot at the majority in the upper chamber.

That should serve as a "cautionary tale" to Republicans as they look to nominate a candidate for president, Bennett said.

"The Republican nominee has almost always been closer to the center than the center of gravity in the Republican Party," he explained.


TOPICS: Utah; Parties; State and Local; U.S. Senate
KEYWORDS: 2012; backstabbers4romney; rinos4romney; rinos4romneycare; saboteurs4romney; teaparty; teapartyexpress; teapartyrebellion
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Did anyone think to ask former Congressman Alan Grayson his opinion, while they were at it?
1 posted on 02/26/2011 3:12:28 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Maybe they should be asking Witch Murky.


2 posted on 02/26/2011 3:14:10 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The people with "national appeal" aren't very appealing.

John McCain? Bob Dole? really, should we go that way again?

3 posted on 02/26/2011 3:15:03 PM PST by Tanniker Smith (I didn't know she was a liberal when I married her.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Thanks for the advice, loser.


4 posted on 02/26/2011 3:15:10 PM PST by Dr. Thorne (Buy Gold and Guns Now!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Bennett is entirely correct.

Before one may govern, he/she must be elected.

We will not decide who will be the next President, nor will the far-left. Rs and Ds wil always each get about 38 to 42% of the vote.

It's the middle of the roaders, the independents, who decide national elections. We will need a candidate who can attract them, not a Sharon Angle or Christine O'Donnell.

5 posted on 02/26/2011 3:17:23 PM PST by MindBender26 (Fighting the "con" in Conservatism on FR since 1998.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The same guy who said the Constitution is not at risk?
The same guy my friend saw reading girly magazines in the DC airport some years back?


6 posted on 02/26/2011 3:19:38 PM PST by Suz in AZ
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Pushing RINO Romney off ont6o us ...

Romney is not a TEA Partier so that is who bennett has to mean...

“national appeal” ???

Slippery as a banana peel but hardly our cuppa TEA...


7 posted on 02/26/2011 3:20:14 PM PST by Tennessee Nana
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“cost the party a shot at the majority in the upper chamber. “

yes it cost the RINO’s a shot at continuing to milk us dry for the communist takeover we see happening...

They are scared as hell, anyone on the left, they can see We the People will Not crawl into the graves they dug for us.

We Shall Not Be Overcome!!!

EL


8 posted on 02/26/2011 3:21:11 PM PST by Eureka_Lead (No political party has ever become a dictatorship when the citizens have firearms - Stay Vigilant)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“If you’re going to nominate a national candidate, don’t make the mistake of assuming that those who attend the early caucuses and the early primaries speak for the nation as a whole...”

Bill, BOOBY, with scant few exceptions, you mean like the candidates typically nominated by the go along to get along, establishment country club Pubbies in the past?

That’s most likely why the nation has become a fiscal BLACK hole.


9 posted on 02/26/2011 3:22:45 PM PST by Dick Bachert
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“If you’re going to nominate a national candidate, don’t make the mistake of assuming that those who attend the early caucuses and the early primaries speak for the nation as a whole...”

Bill, BOOBY, with scant few exceptions, you mean like the candidates typically nominated by the go along to get along, establishment country club Pubbies in the past?

That’s most likely why the nation has become a fiscal BLACK hole.


10 posted on 02/26/2011 3:22:51 PM PST by Dick Bachert
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To: Dr. Thorne

Ditto!


11 posted on 02/26/2011 3:27:40 PM PST by demkicker (Helping Democrats Become Extinct - Politically Not Literally!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It’s not like he’s biased or anything./s


12 posted on 02/26/2011 3:28:36 PM PST by skr (May God confound the enemy)
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To: Dr. Thorne

We cant rock the GOP RINO boat, can we?


13 posted on 02/26/2011 3:31:25 PM PST by max americana
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To: Tanniker Smith

This kind of thinking is exactly why Bennent lost his primary. You really get to see how these guys view governing, leadership,and conservatism after they no longer have to pretend. The problem is what we are hearing from him is the idea that we should strategize so that our candidate is a milquetoast one. Even the Tea Party candidates who lost did better than McCain. We didnt win this last election by acting like spineless tapioca filled bags of mush.


14 posted on 02/26/2011 3:34:14 PM PST by Maelstorm (Better to keep your enemy in your sights than in your camp expecting him to guard your back.)
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To: Tanniker Smith

This kind of thinking is exactly why Bennent lost his primary. You really get to see how these guys view governing, leadership,and conservatism after they no longer have to pretend. The problem is what we are hearing from him is the idea that we should strategize so that our candidate is a milquetoast one. Even the Tea Party candidates who lost did better than McCain. We didnt win this last election by acting like spineless tapioca filled bags of mush.


15 posted on 02/26/2011 3:34:28 PM PST by Maelstorm (Better to keep your enemy in your sights than in your camp expecting him to guard your back.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Regardless who we run for president, one fact will be clear in 2012 Bennett”

More RINO’s like yourself along with a lot more democrats will be voted out in 2012.


16 posted on 02/26/2011 3:34:28 PM PST by tennmountainman
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To: Paladin2

Bennett is a jerk. He couldn’t have picked a worse time to move to the left, as the election clearly showed.

You lost, Bennett. Now get a real job.


17 posted on 02/26/2011 3:37:04 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: MindBender26
It's the middle of the roaders, the independents, who decide national elections.

I disagree with the assumption that those who do not identify with the base of either party are necessarily moderates who like to split the difference.

A large portion of these people are in fact comparatively indifferent on specific stances, and evaluate the candidate as a package. Ross Perot really appealed to these kinds of people. A lot of the folks who supported him had no interested in a 50 cent gas tax increase. They did see his presentation as consistent and coherent. They embraced his demeanor and personality at least as much as his platform.

Some voters who do not ientify with a base also have a key issue that can get them to run counter, and it does not have to do with right or left per se. One issue that cost the Republicans a lot more than it was worth was the ban on Internet gambling. A lot of soft libertarian types who had been trending Republican saw that as a reason to go the other way. I would see Barack Obama as more likely to regulate Internet gambling than Sarah Palin.

Talented base candidates whip up the base, often sweeping up others in the moment. They also are more likely to force an opponent into making mistakes than a mushy-middle candidate who focus-groups his entire campaign.

Gerald Ford, Bob Dole, John McCain are mushy middle.
George H.W. Bush ran in '88 as Reagan II, winning big.
In '92, that was implausible, and he lost bigger.

Bennett didn't even see his own doom in his own state until it was way too late. This man's contact with the regular folks who decide elections comes only through proxies and white papers. He is unqualified to make the judgment.
18 posted on 02/26/2011 3:37:17 PM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

19 posted on 02/26/2011 3:40:10 PM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Former Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah)

That's all you need to know. Former Senator. What a whining baby. You are an out of touch RINO Bob. That's why you got thrown out.


20 posted on 02/26/2011 3:40:10 PM PST by Lazlo in PA (Now living in a newly minted Red State.)
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