Posted on 02/03/2014 3:48:52 AM PST by Nextrush
Bathing in the expected unanimous endorsement of the Pennsylvania Republican State Committee, Gov. Tom Corbett delivered a pragmatic acceptance speech Saturday touting his fiscal management and avoiding social issues that have landed him in hot water in the past......
But the unanimous endorse masked what one dissenter described as "a Tsunami of discontent" within state GOP ranks.
Montgomery County tea party activist Bob Guzzardi, who lingered outside of the main hall, is Corbett's sole challenger for the party nomination.
Guzzardi acknowledged he is a dark horse in the race and even admitted he didn't expect to be included in any pre-primary polls.
But he argued that he would get enough petitions to be on the GOP primary ballot (May 20th), and would then tap into the discord within the party that has seen nearly half of commonwealth Republicans claim they'd rather see a different gubernatorial nominee.
"Once I get on the ballot I think my chances of winnig the nomination are very good because every one of the polls show he can't beat any Democrat," he said.....
During his acceptance speech, he (Corbett) addressed the anti-tax faction of the GOP that disagreed with the tax hikes he instituted to pay for the $2.4 billion dollar transportation package.
"I know that some of you weren't happy with the recent transportation bill," the governor said. "I didn't campaign on that....
"And I looked at it as 1.5 million children get on 31,000 school buses every school day, crossing 10,000 miles of roads that need to be repaired and across approximately 6,000 bridges that were structurally deficient," he added.
"If that isn't reason to get revenue to fix those roads and bridges, you and I are never going to agree," Corbett said to a smattering of applause. "It was important."
(Excerpt) Read more at pennlive.com ...
It will go to the construction companies and labor unions that support Republican and Democrat politicans in this state.
INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS=LINING THE POCKETS OF CRONIES
Corbett actually is quoted in the story as saying he did this tax hike for the sake of children and safety, the kind of talking points we'd expect from Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi.
And he expects me to vote for his re-election in the primary this May and the general election in November.
My a**........
A recent poll showed only 42 percent of Republican voters ready to support RINO Corbett in the primary with 35 percent undecided and 23 percent ready to support Bob Guzzardi, who's unknown outside of conservative activist circles in PA.
An incumbent governor who's only got 42 percent support in his own party for the primary looks like he's in pretty bad shape politically.
And it's this same thinking that has extended to the national level. If conservatives want to control both houses of congress and the White House, their only chance is to form a third party.
ABC (Anyone but Corbett)
Taxes are higher,
We still have that horrid "State Store" system - I can't buy a bottle of wine at my local market.
So what's the difference between Corbett and a Democrat?
“ABC (Anyone but Corbett)”
Does that include Allyson Schwartz? Because unless a viable Republican candidate runs against Corbett and beats him in the primary, the choices are Corbett or Schwartz.
PA Republicans have had three years to come up with an alternate candidate so as to get rid of Corbett. That Guzzardi nobody is the best they could find? If that’s the case, I guess PA Republicans need to suck it up and vote for Corbett again, or else ultraliberal Governor Schwartz will make Corbett and his 28-cent gas tax look like President Reagan slashing the income-tax rates.
I think putting pressure on Corbett is good as I opposed the transportation bill.
However, he has fought for elimination of the state store system, he has encouraged the natural gas industry and he is fighting for Voter ID.
We had a chance to nominate a more conservative candidate for governor, but Corbett prevailed.
He is not perfect (but we knew this going in). However, he is far better than any Democrat we are going to get.
The Pennsylvania GOP is not very conservative. The legislature is the stumbling block, not Corbett. If the legislature would send more conservative bills to him, he would sign them.
Unfortunately, Pennsylvania is still a pro-union, blue state that seems to be trending more blue.
The most conservative governor would still have trouble with the Republican legislature.
I think it is intellectually weak to think the governor alone can change years of RINO dominance in the legislature.
Ping for later read
Thanks for posting this.
“If that isn’t reason to get revenue to fix those roads and bridges, you and I are never going to agree,”
That quote is what I despise about politicians. What are they doing with the current 42 cents per gallon tax revenue that they already collect? That is already supposed to pay for roads and bridges. Will they start taxing bicycles and skateboards? It never ends. They already tax more than enough to pay for roads and bridges. The problem is that the money rarely ever goes to fix roads and bridges. They use it to line the pockets of union mass transit pensions. Roads and bridges should last hundreds of years, yet the state claims they need billions of dollars every year just to maintain them. I say bull$hit!
It can’t hurt at this point. Seems “GOP” in this state is some weird acronym for Democrat anymore..
There is no excuse to continue to put up with the business as usual politics or politicians in Harrisburg.
Corbett speaks of “pension reform” this year.
That RINO legislature you write about isn’t budging on that one...
Neither are they on state store reform or property tax reform.
The tea party groups backed a bill to eliminate property taxes and it was countered by a phony RINO bill to give the local school boards the ability to impose additional taxes on sales and income.
RINO’s need replacement at all levels and in my county, three conservative candidates are running in three House districts, plus one in a State Senate district.
By the way, do you support the efforts of the Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania in backing replacements for RINO’s in the legislature?
His “fighting” for things is good political show, but the Obama Administration (EPA) and the federal courts will make his “fighting” nought with their actions.
One other thought, I listen to the folks in the lunchrooms and water coolers. The madness that elected Kathleen Kane as AG two years ago from Penn State fans is ready, willing and able to boot Tom Corbett out and its no wonder his re-elect numbers are so low and Democrats lead him in the polls.
It might not matter in the end what you or I think about him.
The empty and meaningless words that come out of their mouths to create a phony political debate that fakes differences between D’s and R’s.
The big parties will try to keep third parties off the ballot and have been pretty successful in this state.
Maybe the Libertarians will get one on the ballot, but I would write in a name if I had to rather than vote for a D or R.
Schwartz will not have a Democrat legislature most likely so she would have a check on her agenda if the RINO’s are willing to check her.
She hasn’t won her primary yet. One guy who’s running against her is putting ten million of his own money plus three million from others into the campaign. He has 13 million and is on TV already while Schwartz only has 6 and a half million.
Let’s say that Schwartz doesn’t win the RAT nomination (I think that she will, but whatever). In that case, unless a viable Republican candidate beats Corbett in the GOP primary, the choice in November will be between Corbett and someone just as liberal on economic issues as Schwartz. And do you think that the GOP state legislature will be able to pass any tax cuts over the Democrat governor’s veto?
Either take out Corbett in the primary with a candidate who can win the general (he certainly can be more conservative than Corbett, but he can’t be some nobody with no record), or else support Corbett in the general; otherwise, a liberal Democrat will be governor.
Corbett is vulnerable in the primary to an unknown because he is vulnerable in the general.
Only 42 percent were ready to support him in the GOP primary with 23 percent for Guzzardi, who very few even know about.
Maybe an outsider like Guzzardi could take on a career politician like Schwartz, especially in our economic doldrums that could worsen as the year goes on.
In another post in this thread I noted how many Penn State fans have a big beef with Corbett that helped elect Kathleen Kane two years ago.
I think that beef is a big reason Corbett’s re-elect numbers are low in the polls, rendering him virtually unelectable anyway.
Corbett got 54% in 2010 (running 3% ahead of Pat Toomey), and he also won a majority (as AG) in 2004 and 2008. I’ll take him over a nobody like Guzzardi, irrespective of what recent polls (that oversample Democrats) say; it is way too early to call someone who won big four years ago as “unelectable.” The fact that Guzzardi is an “outsider” does not mean that he won’t suck as a candidate (and the fact that he’s never run in an election before, and has a résumé that would be fine for a state senate candidate but underwhelming for a gubernatorial candidate, makes me think that’s probably the case). But if Guzzardi somehow earns the nomination, all conservatives and Republicans should support him, and I hope I’m wrong about his viability in the general.
BTW, filing doesn’t close until March 11, so if Corbett is toast as you claim there’s still time to recruit a top-tier candidate to hold the governorship. Congressman Jim Gerlach (who is retiring) comes immediately to mind, as do Congressmen Mike Kelly and Mike Fitzpatrick. Heck, give Lynn Swann another chance. But a nearly 70-year-old political neophyte without a particularly compelling story to tell does not sound promising.
And as for the morons who voted for Kane for AG over Republican David Freed due to some parochial issue, I hope that they’re happy with Kane joining the suit to overturn PA’s law that limits marriage to one man and one woman, and building her résumé for a 2016 run against Senator Pat Toomey. Conservatives who voted for a liberal like Kane over the GOP AG nominee Freed were idiots; they had the chance to nominate someone more to their liking in the primary, but didn’t even run anyone else, and once the primary was over, they weren’t going to get Ed Meese as AG, they were going to get either Freed or Kane, and Kane was by far the more liberal of the two.
Corbett got 54 percent without my vote and Toomey got 51 percent with my vote in 2010.
I think between Penn State and the gas tax hike a portion of that 54 percent has evaporated putting Corbett at best in the mid 40’s for the general election.
We shall see what happens, but I am in the no vote for RINO’s camp now even more than before. Toomey’s caving in to Bloomberg and Schumer with his gun amendment proposal revealed his true stripes.
Pat Toomey is the most conservative U.S. Senator from PA since at least the 1950s (and probably longer). You’re correct that he’s not perfect, but he’s leagues better than Kane or Sestak. But, hey, to each his own.
You would seriously think that a senator from Pennsylvania would watch his back on the Second Amendment for his political survival, much less the principle involved.
But Senator Toomey proved himself to not be very principled in the aftermath of an insane person’s act of mass murder in Connecticut.
He ran scared in the face of Bloomberg’s emotional ad campaign and the only concession he made was to not have Chuck Schumer in the room when he was in the room to announce his anti-Second Amendment amendment.
My definition of “conservative” and the oath of office for a US Senator includes the phase “support and defend the Constitution of the United States” including its Second Amendment. Toomey failed his very oath of office by his actions in sponsoring and voting for the anti-Second Amendment amendment.
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