Posted on 06/01/2014 5:32:19 AM PDT by cotton1706
At the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans this week, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson tried to distance himself from the Tea Party groups that helped elect him in 2010.
If Ron Johnson was running any faster from the Tea Party he'd leave skid marks.
Back in 2010, the Wisconsin senator was one of the Tea Party’s first candidates. His upset victory over incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold in that deep purple swing state was seen as proof that a new brand of conservatism was on the march.
But Johnson, a businessman and political novice when he was first elected, told reporters at a gathering of grassroots conservatives activists in New Orleans this week that it may be time for that march to slow down.
“I think the conservative movement may just be maturing a little bit. You can be very doctrinaire, you can demand purity, but in the end if you want to advance policy that you want enacted you have to win elections,” Johnson said when asked about a recent spate of Tea Party losses around the country.
The Wisconsin Republican blamed national and local Tea Party groups for holding the GOP hostage. “My guess is that the Tea Party groups have always been separate from the Tea Party movement.”
Johnson burst onto the national scene after given a number of fiery speeches at Tea Party rallies before he was even a candidate, and told a reporter that he “did kind of spring out of the Tea Party.”
At the Republican Leadership Conference however, Johnson downplayed his involvement with the movement, saying, “I gave a speech at a few Tea Parties. I never joined a group.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
It is essential that constitutional conservatives police their own. Those who ask the Tea Party to support them better remember who brung 'em to the dance. We can't just put these schlubs into power and then ignore their perfidious actions afterwards. Johnson needs pressure now and an opponent at the first opportunity.
Well....
That approach certainly worked for Scott Brown, in Massachusetts.
The “tea party” activists manned the phones, canvassed the neighborhoods, got out the vote.....and he won.
Then he kicked them to the curb, and armed with his overflowing campaign coffers, and his army of consultants.....he got thrashed by a fake Indian....while the tea partiers stayed home and watched....
And it’s not just the purity issue…it’s also blithering geographic ignorance. We are never in a million years going to do better from Mass than Brown, Johnson from Wisconsin, etc. We just have to get the House under TP control and get the RINOs out of SC, Ga, Texas, Arizona, Mississippi, Oklahoma, etc, in the Senate.
It saddens me to see solidly conservative states send moderate squishes to represent them. It saddens me even more to see solid conservatives morph into moderate squishes the longer they stay in office.
Orin Hatch is a text book example; solid conservative for his first couple of terms, drifting into squish territory ever since.
I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of legislators who actually got better the longer they stayed in office. Twelve years should be about the limit. If they want to run again, they need to do something else for twelve years before being eligible to do so.
Legislation will get better only after they understand they are going to have to spend some time in the world they legislate.
Amen bros…and yes, you are correct - Hatch from Utah is a wasted seat too.
No, it is pointless
These desertions will happen until we have reached a critical mass in Washington.
A third conservative party would only weaken the Republicans and give elections to the Democrats like happened with Ross Perot’s party that gave us Clinton. A third party also gave us Woodrow Wilson. I don’t see a good trend there.
Like it or not we have a two party republic. What we have to do is work very hard to change the Republican Party to our liking. Surrendering the Republican Party to the establishment Republicans will only hurt our cause.
We must stay the course. We must expose sell outs like Johnson when they turn their back on us. We must continue to back candidates that espouse our values.
Political change does not happen quickly. The abolition movement that created the Republican Party did not happen overnight, it took decades. IN reality the Republican Party in the end was just a renamed Whig Party that adopted the abolitionist platform.
Don’t expect miracles. Don’t be discouraged by sell outs. If they talk down the Tea Party but continue to work for our values, be happy because it is still a success.
Just continue to work hard because it isn’t over and there is a long way to go.
I will not flame friendly Senators.
But it’s ok to flame friendly voters I suppose.
Lots of general blather there, but he doesn't provide any specifics he considers to be "bombastic" or "conspiricies", at least nothing specific in the short article.
Tea Party/conservatives need to be more discerning regarding politicians who claim either/both: Tea Party supporter and/or conservative.
Too many of these politicians run to the right for election and curve to the left to govern.
It doesn’t take that much effort to do some simple Google searching to find out who/what these people actually are.
Tea Party/conservatives need to stop projecting what THEY want a candidate to be, rather that what the candidate really is.
I'm ok with that. I'm ok with seeing the republican party destroyed if they don't get conservative.
/johnny
It isn’t much different that those who start their propaganda posts for their selectee with:
“Nobody is perfect, but ...”
Same tactic, different wording.
I'm from PA but support both Walker and Johnson {with money} as well as Lee Bright, Matt Bevin and now Mitch McConnell.
I'm for McDaniel but can live with Cochran and the FReepers that go straight off the rails when any pragmatism is raised will again go nutz, but they are the reason we have obama.
Any one that repeats the old canard that Mitt would be just as bad as obama is full of dog crap.
I refer you to Post#28
Johnson is NOT a conservative - why can’t you intellectually grasp that factual reality? (/rhetorical)
They are starting to talk about Russ Feingold running for his old seat. On a day to day basis I’m very happy with Johnson.
Did you see the way he got in Rockefeller’s face at a committee meeting last week?
Voting for the same [political party, for example], but expecting a different result is the definition of ___ .
Something has to change or there isn’t going to be much remaining. Another leftist progressive will solidify the fundamental changes the current administration have already made.
GOP-elites push the same progressive agenda, except that they do it at a slower pace. And the GOP-elites like the status quo too much to change things.
Doesn't matter. Mitt was unelectable, as proven by the fact that he didn't get elected.
/johnny
Cute advertising, a few speeches, NRA membership and a lot of people become emotionally invested. Too emotionally invested to admit they were wrong when confronted with voting reality.
There’s also inertia and a reluctance to admit how dramatically things have changed. America is a Christian nation, the military and LEOs are good guys. Therefore, just a few more Republicans over a few more elections and things will be back to the way they were. Too bad that’s a pipe dream that’s never coming back.
Johnson has fought Obamacare harder than any Republican other than Cruz. He does constant outreach where he pushes for its repeal. Check out where he gets in Rockefeller’s face in committee.
https://news.yahoo.com/video/senators-argue-over-whether-obamacare-160544031-cbs.html
He’s great on spending reductions.
I’m disappointed by his Tea Party statements and will be contacting him about it. But Russ Feingold is waiting in the wings.
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