Posted on 05/10/2010 6:23:20 AM PDT by shortstop
On Saturday, any number of national Republicans crapped their pants.
In the middle of the afternoon, as word twitted and texted out of the Salt Palace that three-term senator Bob Bennett had been denied re-nomination, the world changed for the powers that be in the Republican Party.
They got reminded who’s in charge.
In a two-year effort that predates the tea parties and the Club for Growth, the conservatives of Utah sent the message that good enough isn’t good enough. Either walk the talk or make way for someone who will.
It’s RINO season and we just got a big one.
Two years ago it was Utah Congressman Chris Cannon. Two years from now it will be Utah Senator Orrin Hatch.
And on Saturday it was Bob Bennett.
He is a good and decent man, a gentleman to all he meets. But he got crosswise of history and he got crosswise of principle and after too many decades in Washington he became a man of that world.
He explained to me once his standard of legislating. He’d learned it from his father, who was also a senator from Utah. The standard was that you balanced your principles against what would get 51 votes. You got as much of your principles into something that would get passed as you could.
Which sounds nice.
But which is exactly the problem.
It bastardizes principle and adulterates it, it makes stabbing a knife six inches into the taxpayers’ backs better than stabbing it 12 inches into their backs.It is exactly the philosophy that has kept the Republican Party from doing its duty over the last several years. Republicans are elected by making promises to people who believe in constitutional principles, but then they govern like wannabe Democrats.George W. Bush campaigned as a fiscal conservative and gave us free pills for gramma. The GOP controlled both houses of Congress and wasted the opportunity. Bob Bennett helped give us TARP.And Utahns gave him the boot.
Which should send a clear message to the Republican Party: Stand up for what’s right, or get ready to take your medicine.,p>
Yes, conservatives are mad at Democrats. Yes, the Obama Administration and the twin she devils Pelosi and Reid have wrought great difficulty for our country and our freedoms.
But that doesn’t give the Republicans a free ride. They had better not believe that they are the entitled beneficiaries of this patriotic ire.
Because when they step out of line, they’ll get taken down, too.
As Bob Bennett learned the hard way.
What is sweeping America is a rising tide of upset at a government that has grown too large and too intrusive, which is on our backs and in our pockets, which dictates from Washington without regard to the wishes and realities of our lives.
Any politician who will help us fight that, is our friend. Any politician who won’t, is our enemy.
The tide is rising, and it will sweep away everyone who opposes it. The Democrats learned that in Massachusetts and the Republicans learned that in Utah.
And come November, the lesson will be learned all across America.
Because what happened Saturday is a proof that our Republic works, that the people are in charge, that even the biggest and richest politicians can be taken down by the will of the people. It took two years of gathering storm, but Bob Bennett fell.
It’s like the school yard. You don’t have to fight all the bullies, you just have to beat one. Then the others know to respect you.
Saturday was about respect. It was about Who’s Your Daddy?
It was about holding elected officials to the oaths they swear and the Constitution they serve. It was about putting America back on an even keel.
It was about building momentum toward November.
This weekend we lost Bob Bennett. Soon we will lose John McCain. In November, we will lose Harry Reid and end the Pelosi speakership.
Because we are on the march.
And Saturday was a skirmish.
Saturday was a Concord Bridge, a crossing of the Delaware, a battle on the way to Yorktown.
The American people are docile. We work our jobs and raise our families, we live our lives in peace. It takes a lot to rile us up and turn us out.
But in the last couple of years we’ve faced an awful lot. And now we’re counting scalps. We’ve got Bob Bennett’s on our belt and we’re on the hunt for more.
November will be a slaughter.
And now the Republicans know to mind their Ps and Qs.
It’s like the old flag says: Don’t Tread On Me.
I hope we can continue to stay "riled up" and turn out in full force in November to defeat as many of the socialists as we can. Then repeal Obamacare, kill cap and trade, kill amnesty, then dump 0bama in '12.
Problem. As a lame RINO Bennett can do a lot of damage before he goes in November. He will now be free to go in with the other communists in the Crat Party.
Great essay! It’s open season on RINOs and ‘Rats!
True, but he’s not the only one in this position Lil-girl Lindsey has 5 years until re-election. There are plenty of others. Fortunately, McCain has to stay on the reservation, at least until the primary is completed, then he’ll be a free agent again - win or lose.
It is up to McConnell to keep the entire Senate focused on the long term right now. He’s done a pretty good job managing the minority, IMO. a 40 or 41 seat minority is a tough thing to deal with, and he has done admirably.
All in all, we also have public opinion winds at our back right now which hopefully we keep people like these RINOS on our side, there is no reaching across the aisle right now to advance liberalism because the country is going the opposite direction. The RINOS usually follow the pack.
When’s the last time that a USSC nominee was voted down or filibustered? I remember that one woman during Bush’s term who voluntarily dropped out of the race, but when was the last time a nominee was actually not Congressionally approved?
Interestingly, the liberals are pissed at the Kagan nomination because she’s not sufficiently progressive.
government too large...intrusive...on our backs...in our pockets...dictates from Washington without regard to the wishes and realities of our lives, and no regard to our Constitution.
And Romney introduced Bennett and supported him.
I suspect they will stay riled up, and that is the one thing we can thank oboingo for. He will not stop going on TV, and saying stupid things....he can’t help himself... and it will be a constant reminder what we need to to in November.
The American people are making their voices heard and they are loud and clear.
The American people want this movement to the left and socialism stopped dead in its tracks.
That means getting rid of all democrats in Congress and getting rid of moderate or left leaning republicans as well.
We do not want a totalitarian communist radical left leaning government and we the people will do everything within our power to see to it that we stop it if not now then certainly in November. Conservatives, independents and moderates are energized by the tea partiers and their movement and we will not rest until we take back our government from the commies who are now running things and take back our country for the good of all the American people, not just the few far left elitist commie radicals now running things.
>And Romney introduced Bennett and supported him.
Ah, Romney...
The last SC Nominees to fail to obtain Senate approval as best as I can remember are Robert Bork in 1987 and Abe Fortas in 1967.
We need to dump Obama as soon as the new Congress is seated. Don’t wait to November 2012. If he were not so dangerous in his ideological beliefs, his presidency to this point would be laughable because of his gross incompentence. The things he has done and advocated were crimes in this nation in times past, and I am not talking about the McCarthey years. As bad a Jimmy Carter was, at least he knew what it meant to be an American. Regardless of his citizenship, culturally, Obama is not an American. (I borrowed that last thought from someone else who said it here first.)
There is no excuse for electing less than hard line conservatives in red states. We have continued to lose ground because when the left pushes they get half or more of what they want and we lose ground we need people who are going to put the left on notice and are going to push them for a change and undo their damage.
You know — whatever clarity and incisive thinking follows, the writer’s opening word-picture left me disgusted.
Perhaps I am more visual than most readers. Perhaps he speaks like this within his circle of friends and colleagues. But I do not, and I believe formal English has its place.
Uck!
Lonsberry hits another one out of the park!
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