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Ben Sasse and the battle over what kind of conservative leads the GOP
washingtonexaminer.com ^ | 10/8/22 | W. James Antle III

Posted on 10/10/2022 11:51:22 AM PDT by cotton1706

Conservatives are turning against each other in part because they have won the battle for control of the Republican Party. The centrists are routed, and liberals in the mold of Jacob Javits, the four-term GOP senator from New York, are as extinct as the Federalists or the Whigs.

As late as 2006, Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), with a lifetime American Conservative Union rating of 35.95%, could win a Republican primary against a conservative challenger. He is now in at least his fourth partisan configuration since that election. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) beat his eventual successor, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), in a Republican primary in 2004 despite a 41.86% lifetime ACU rating. Specter died a Democrat.

Moderate Republicanism is now an almost entirely blue-state phenomenon, a safety valve for Democratic excess in places that otherwise would lack a meaningful two-party system. Its adherents can get elected governor or become Cabinet secretaries (in a Democratic administration as much as a Republican one), but their aspirations end there.

Even the surviving examples of this species have adapted to a changing habitat, with many of them resembling Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) without the post-Massachusetts fallback option of a Utah Senate seat, privately more conservative than they can ever admit to their constituents. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan wrote in Reagan for president in 2020, not Nelson Rockefeller.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is arguably the most conservative lawmaker to lead Republicans in that chamber since Robert Taft. He has been savaged by the populist Right as a "Republican in name only" sell-out from the Tea Party to MAGA. Libertarians view him with suspicion despite his burying the hatchet with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). And McConnell may be the last member of the dreaded GOP establishment with any real power left.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Politics/Elections; US: Alaska
KEYWORDS: alaska; assistantdemocrats; elections; electionz; electionzzz; elekchunz; fakeconservatives; gopestablishment; january6th; kellytshibaka; lisamurkowski; nevertrumpers; nevertrumpexaminer; rinos; tds; trump; uniparty
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We won a lot of battles in the primaries this year.

November is the next test, and it's less than 30 days away now.

We'll be be better able to judge the real victories after the dust settles.

1 posted on 10/10/2022 11:51:22 AM PDT by cotton1706
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To: cotton1706

The grifter gang is hanging on.


2 posted on 10/10/2022 11:53:56 AM PDT by Fido969 (45 is Superman! )
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To: cotton1706

There is a reason there is an @$$ in the middle of Sasse.


3 posted on 10/10/2022 11:55:25 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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To: cotton1706

Given that Sasse, McConnell, Thune, Barrasso, Ernst, Capito, both Scott’s, Graham, etc etc aren’t Conservatives, I guess the title is moot.


4 posted on 10/10/2022 12:02:09 PM PDT by qaz123
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To: cotton1706

<< In the Reagan years, conservatives wanted small government and tight communities, traditional values and unfettered markets, >>

We still do. But don’t forget secure borders.


5 posted on 10/10/2022 12:05:18 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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To: cotton1706

What a whiny article. Javits and Chafee always voted with Democrats.


6 posted on 10/10/2022 12:15:09 PM PDT by Luke21
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To: cotton1706

He is decamping out of Nebraska awful fast to a very purple state.

Good post political post for him. But a hell of a fast move.


7 posted on 10/10/2022 12:16:25 PM PDT by redgolum (If this is civilization, I will be the barbarian. )
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To: cotton1706

No matter what happens, the purge of the GOPe has to happen first. So we are well on the way to making major progress in that area. Will feel better when the Romneys, McConnells, Grahams of the world are relegated to making commercials for the Lincoln Project.


8 posted on 10/10/2022 12:20:31 PM PDT by Codeflier (I am just going to assume you are a Democrat if you call me a Putin supporter and ignore you.)
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To: redgolum

The leftists in Gainesville are screaming like banshees about Sasse coming there.


9 posted on 10/10/2022 12:22:07 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator

So funny because they are getting one of their own.


10 posted on 10/10/2022 12:29:06 PM PDT by Codeflier (I am just going to assume you are a Democrat if you call me a Putin supporter and ignore you.)
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To: Codeflier

Believe me, for a University President, Sasse is about as conservative as you are going to get, maybe outside of Liberty University.


11 posted on 10/10/2022 12:29:47 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Vigilanteman

If you say Ben’s Ass it sounds exactly the same which I why I call him Ben’s Ass.


12 posted on 10/10/2022 12:33:28 PM PDT by DMD13
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To: dfwgator

Sasse’s Husker pride always seemed so fake to me. And it proved to be. He bugged out of there at the first opportunity.


13 posted on 10/10/2022 12:34:11 PM PDT by lodi90
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To: lodi90

Sasse was announced as the 15th president of Midland Lutheran College (now Midland University) in October 2009. At 37, he was one of the youngest chief executives in American higher education when he took over leadership of the 128-year-old institution in spring 2010. Sasse’s grandfather, Elmer Sasse, worked for Midland for 33 years, mainly as vice president of finance. The school was experiencing financial and academic difficulties; Sasse has been credited with “turn[ing] it around”, rebranding “Midland Lutheran College” as Midland University, instituting new policies (including spot quizzes and class attendance), and “prodigious fundraising”.

Sasse was installed as president on December 10, 2010. When he was appointed, enrollment was at a historic low and the college was “on the verge of bankruptcy”. During his tenure as president, enrollment grew from 590 to 1,300 students. When nearby Dana College was forced to close, Sasse hired much of its faculty and enabled most of its students to transfer to Midland.

One of the most interesting things was when Sasse was at Midland, they added men and women’s shotgun sports.

Like I said, maybe he isn’t Conservative by our standards, but he’s definitely in the 95% percentile of University Presidents, and my Alma Mater could have done much worse, and in fact, has done much worse recently. But at least he’s out of Washington DC, so it’s a “Win-Win”.


14 posted on 10/10/2022 12:38:25 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: cotton1706

The enemedia’s CONSTANT suggestion and rhetoric that most American Conservatives have bolted to the “far-right” are what makes these types of stories absolutely ignorant!

The fact is, the longer corrupt politicians swirl around in the D.C. toilet bowl, the further to the LEFT THEY DRIFT...taking them further and further away from their base which makes it look like the Conservative base moved, when in all truth the Democrats, republicans, and Deep State continue to roll into a tighter and tighter controlled circle - AWAY FROM THE CONSERVATIVES!!


15 posted on 10/10/2022 12:40:16 PM PDT by ExTxMarine (Diversity is necessary; diverse points of views will not be tolerated.)
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To: cotton1706

Correct. Trump was right when he said rebuild from within. And progress is being made.


16 posted on 10/10/2022 12:42:32 PM PDT by rrrod (6)
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To: dfwgator

He is many things.

Leftist is not one of them


17 posted on 10/10/2022 12:44:10 PM PDT by redgolum (If this is civilization, I will be the barbarian. )
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To: dfwgator

I predict he will show them some lefty love to gain favor.


18 posted on 10/10/2022 12:45:18 PM PDT by Codeflier (I am just going to assume you are a Democrat if you call me a Putin supporter and ignore you.)
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To: Codeflier

We’ll see. But he can’t be any worse than what we’ve had.

They made them do away with the “Gator Bait” chant for being racist, even though it was a black player who started it.


19 posted on 10/10/2022 12:48:53 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator

Sasse is a situational conservative. I’ve no doubt he will veer to the left as much is personally beneficial for him. He’ll try to keep his fake conservative grift going, though. Books, speeches, etc. That’s well paying.


20 posted on 10/10/2022 12:50:49 PM PDT by lodi90
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