“Do you know with 100% certainty that McKatKiller will beat Akin? All of the bickering about Akin dropping out is playing into the hands of the Dems. Akin is a true conservative, of the likes the GOPe hates because they are now the Dims. Soon enough you will see NO differnce in party but only the name.”
Yes indeed, and the Tea Party is just fiscally conservative democrats. They are becoming as bad as the GOP establishment. Social conservatives have NEVER really been welcome in the GOP.....we SOCONs are to the GOP what Blacks are to the DEMS. We are to be seen not heard....just be sure to vote the way the GOPe tells you!
I thought the Tea Party had evolved into SOCONs, but I see now this is NOT the case. Many SOCONs are part of the Tea Party, but the Tea Party is socially conservative....they just want lower taxes...which is OK, but NOT enough in itself to move America in a healthy direction.
You hit on a key point.
Social conservatives, economic conservatives and national defense conservatives have overlapping agendas but don't always agree, and sometimes when we do agree, we don't agree on the order of priorities.
Look, I think Akin's comment was stupid. I've said it repeatedly, and I think he made Christian conservatives look really bad, and he has done serious damage to literally decades of solid conservative votes in the Missouri legislature and in the House of Representatives. I won't defend the comment, Akin won't get out, and now we have to decide what to do next.
I think it has become obvious in this race that Akin is willing to try to get major grassroots backing from social conservatives and try to win a Senate race without national Republican Party support. That is his decision and only he can make that decision and if the current polling data remains consistent he has at least a chance. This is Missouri, after all, where lots of conservative rural people still call themselves Democrats and will vote for a conservative Christian but will revert to voting Democrat if the candidates look similar on other issues. Akin might pull a victory off, just like secular Tea Party people have pulled off upset victories in other states.
I understand why the national GOP considers Akin radioactive. Fine. So let the national GOP put their money into races they think are winnable; they're going to do it anyway. Lots of social conservative Republicans didn't like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Rudy Giuliani very much, but we understood that they could win in California and New York even if they couldn't win in our states, and we let their supporters back their candidates without raising too much of a stink about their less-than-ideal views on other issues since we knew any Democrat would be much worse.
But don't have the head of the Republican National Committee run around saying "not one dime" goes to the Republican primary winner even if he's tied with the incumbent Democrat. That kind of talk really antagonizes Christian conservatives, does long-term damage, and is totally unnecessary.
The national GOP has now given lots of cover to moderate Republicans who see Akin as being a danger to their races in other states. Fine. You've made your point, so stay quiet now and let social conservatives try to win this thing in Missouri if Akin decides to stay in the race.