Posted on 08/07/2012 4:32:06 AM PDT by Kaslin
Americans keep behaving in ways that baffle the liberal mainstream media. Two examples figured prominently -- or should have -- in last week's news.
One is the runoff primary for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Texas. Former state Solicitor General Ted Cruz thumped incumbent Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, 57 to 43 percent.
Cruz won even though the Texas Republican establishment, from Gov. Rick Perry on down, endorsed Dewhurst. So did the Austin lobbying community, since Dewhurst as lieutenant governor has run the state Senate for the last 10 years (and, having lost this race, will do so for at least the next two).
Dewhurst has had a generally conservative record and had no problem getting elected and re-elected statewide four times. And he spent liberally from the fortune he made in the private sector.
To be fair, some MSM outlets did run stories on Cruz's rise in the polls since he ran behind Dewhurst by a 45 to 34 percent margin in the May 29 primary. And it's not uncommon for a second-place finisher to overcome the primary winner in a runoff.
But there's a pattern here that the big liberal press has been reluctant to recognize: Candidates from the GOP establishment are getting knocked off by challengers with less name recognition, far less money and the support of the tea party movement. The tea party was supposed to be dead and gone, you know.
There were two such victories in May, when six-term Sen. Richard Lugar was upset by state Treasurer Richard Mourdock in Indiana and when state Sen. Deb Fischer beat two well-known contenders for the open seat nomination in Nebraska.
Cruz, who is the odds-on favorite in November, has the credentials and policy positions to be a figure of national importance for many years. At 41, he could represent the second-largest state in the Senate for decades.
And there's a tradition of Texas senators taking the lead in public policy, from the days of Tom Connally and Lyndon Johnson and including John Tower, Lloyd Bentsen and Phil Gramm.
Cruz has a fine legal pedigree. He was a law clerk for Chief Justice William Rehnquist and argued nine cases (and won five) in the U.S. Supreme Court representing Texas. As a teenager, he memorized and gave lectures on the Constitution, and on the stump he emphasized the founding document's limits on the power of government.
The big media has assumed that tea partiers are potentially violent despite the lack of evidence of any violent behavior. That's why ABC's Brian Ross mentioned on-air an Aurora, Colo., tea partier with the same name as the movie theater murderer, although it's a common name and Aurora has 325,000 people.
In contrast, the MSM has been happy to celebrate the much smaller and often violent Occupy movement and characterize it as "mostly nonviolent."
Texas showed once again that many voters are eager to turn out and vote for tea party-backed candidates. Cruz won by about 2 to 1 in fast-growing exurban counties in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and metro Houston.
The MSM could hardly avoid reporting Cruz's victory Tuesday. But many news outlets ignored Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day Wednesday.
There were big crowds, long drive-up lines and record sales at the chain's stores, in response to the declarations by the mayors of Chicago, Boston and Washington that they would keep the restaurant out because of its owners' opposition to same-sex marriage.
That's not "Chicago values," said Mayor Rahm Emanuel, although there are many Chicagoans on both sides of this issue, just as many are on both sides, in varying proportions, throughout the country. But even many supporters of same-sex marriage like me were appalled at the spectacle of public officials barring businesses because of the religious or political beliefs of their owners.
In Huntsville, Ala., YouTube celebrity Antoine Dodson, who is openly gay, dined at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday. "That's what freedom is. We don't all have to believe in the same things," he told a Huntsville Times reporter.
"We all have our different beliefs and can still come together and still be friends and be cool with each other," he said. "So I'm here to be in support of the employees, and I'm also coming to get that spicy chicken sandwich."
Dodson presumably is not an expert on the Constitution like Ted Cruz. But he has something to teach the liberal mainstream media about the spirit of the Founders.
In Huntsville, Ala., YouTube celebrity Antoine Dodson, who is openly gay, dined at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday. "That's what freedom is. We don't all have to believe in the same things," he told a Huntsville Times reporter.
"We all have our different beliefs and can still come together and still be friends and be cool with each other," he said. "So I'm here to be in support of the employees, and I'm also coming to get that spicy chicken sandwich."
LOVE that Dodson ate at Chik-Fil-A and is smarter than his “song” makes him seem.
Americans are not punching bags for gays and other sicko rights-obsessed groups---and when they hit us, we'll hit back.....and then some.
We gladly engage in battles with hate-filled liberals, progressives, gays, LA Raza types----b/c WE are battling to preserve American values.
My grand daughter and I were at a Chick-Fil-A in Western PA last Wednesday and the place was overflowing {just like every other one in the Country}.
I don't know how many registered pubbies or demonRATs were in the crowd, but there were multiple Romney 2012 bumper stickers in the parking lot and not a single obama.
Talking with several folks, they all said the same thing, they can't wait until election day to vote this bum out.
I know it was a skewed sample of people, but there were a lot of them and there were no vocal obama supporters in the group.
This is not proof that even PA will go for Romney, but it was an encouraging and fun day.
Us Tea Party types don’t enjoy taking on The Establishment, but we don’t have a choice.
A much better option would be for The Establishment to look at the rank and file and pick candidates accordingly. For example, if in Texas The Establishment had taken Dewhurst aside and said something like:
“Dave, of course it’s your turn, but the voters are angry, very angry, and your history of doing the governor’s dirty work in sucking up to Illegals and many other things just won’t fly anymore. Your best best is to not enter this race, stay in the State Senate where you’re still, essentially under the radar, and have a few more non-productive sessions in Austin. Heck, we’ll even finance a plaque for you when you retire.”
Now that would have been great, and if the Tea Party keeps it up, it will happen, for we will become The Establishment.
The Tea Party sure knows how to pick ‘em. They picked Cruz and thumbed their noses at Dewhurst.
Loser Dewhurst spent $19 million of his own money-—AND was endorsed by Gov Perry.
Dewhurst musta figured his $19M “investment” in public office was gonna pay off.....once he got his hands on all that federal money.
ROTFL.
Of course, Michael Barone himself is part of the GOP establishment, a stalwart fan of gay marriage who would be glad to see Mitt Romney join Team Obama in support of it. When I read stuff like this, Karl Rove comes immediately to mind.
Wow, I did not catch that. Hmmm, gonna have to adjust the gaydar.
They want people to think the Tea Party is violent because that is what they are.
Instead of concentrating and commenting on the article you bitch about the author? *rme*
First suggestion for Chicago Values was 'pay off the alderman' (weekly) and hire six of his friends. Friends who won't show up for work except to pick up their paychecks... On random days of the month, Chick Fil A staff needs to shoot 10 or 12 customers - killing the majority of them... and register them to vote as Democrats. That's about it - easy to do business in Chicago is you know the rules.
His song was actually a rant to a local reporter about crime in the housing projects he was living in.
Another person made it into a song, made a lot of money, and gave half of it to Dodson. That's how he got out of the projects.
We had a saying when we were kids on that very idea you’ve expressed: “Takes one to know one!”
He'd probably say something like, "well, almost all of my friends and family think gay's should be allowed to marry and also some of my friends' kids are gay and I just think that allowing them to wed their partners, isn't a threat to the rest of us."
Excellent piece by Barone. He’s one establishment figure who seems to get it.
I spoke last night to a person I went to high school with.
He & his family live in Chico, Calif. He is VERY conservative.
I have often wondered how he survived there so long.
I has heard NOTHING about the Chick-Fil-A dustup from any of the town’s media...not radio or TV or the newspaper.
I pointed out to him he is living in one of the most LIBERAL towns in the whole USA. He will NEVER see news like this there.
I am trying to get him to look at Free Republic each day.
I has heard NOTHING “””
HE has heard NOTHING...... sorry
But the 'Duke of Earl'(/s) of that Ward(1), Alderman Jackwagon, who has final say on all permits in 'his Ward' (fiefdom), has not. And now I see some certified morons in the New York City Council are also on the, 'No Chicken For You' ;-) train. Plus some morons in Philly -- naturally. And that asshat fascist in Boston, Mayor 'Whereami?', Rahm's original fellow traveler is still playing his Mussolini game.
All I know is that these fascists and Morons don't give a Rat's Patoot about any of that Constitutional Rights stuff. Then again, they are all Morons and never got past the, 'We The', part of the constitution, are all dam lucky the CEO of Chick-fil-A is not suing them all individually for millions for personal damages.
(1) Ward: a division or district of Chicago ... for ... political purposes like massive Vote Fraud and handing out patronage jobs. But formal neighborhood names are not necessarily all in a single Ward, like the 100% Gay neighborhood of: Boystown (that IS the Official Name of that 'hood' - sick).
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