N.J. Sen. Robert Menendez urges Democrats to drive wedge between GOP moderates, tea party

The Star Ledger ^ | 01/26/2010 | The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk

[GregNH]

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, is telling Democratic campaign managers to drive a wedge between moderate voters and tea-party-style conservatives to take advantage of tensions within the Republican party, a report in Politico said.

Menendez is distributing a memo to managers to take control of their Republican opponents' image early, and to make apparent the pressure Republican candidates feel from what he calls the "extreme right," according to the report. The memo from the DSCC said campaigns should ask upfront questions on issues the so-called tea party movement has taken, such as whether they believe in President Obama's birth certificate, whether Medicare and Social Security represents socialism, and if the country should return to a gold standard, the report said.

[GregNH]

This guy is in charge of the DSCC that ran some very ugly ads against Brown in MA. This too will backfire.

[j.argese]

This jackass couldn’t orchestrate flatulence.

[Cathy]

If the tea party movement is really atro-turf, are they admitting they were wrong, care, stupid - all of the above?

[achilles2000]

Hey Senator! There is no need to drive a wedge between conservatives and “moderates (aka “RINOs”). We are perfectly happy to give you David Frum, Kathleen Parker, David Brooks, Carly Fiorina, and a handful of others. There...now you have them all, but we warn you - they are high maintenance (Arlen Spector should have taught you that)

[NYRepublican72]

.... Medicare and Social Security represents socialism, and if the country should return to a gold standard, the report said.

Of course Medicare and Social Security are socialist programs, by definition taxes are collected and redistributed to others.

Is that issue really a wedge issue in the Republican party? Idiot. Keep on telling your members to pass 0bamacare.

[chuck_the_tv_out]

Hey, it beats actually having policies that the people want, I suppose.

Attack, attack, attack. It’s all the left are.

We should realize that they fight us like a war, and if they could defeat us militarily, they would. They only don’t for know because we would win. The solution to that puzzle is for us to defeat them now.

[Chgogal]

Huh, Senators Menendez and Obama voted for all the legislature in the Democratic run Congress of 2007 to present. The last deficit that the REPUBLICAN Congress was responsible for was $160 billion (ANNUAL NUMBER!!!).

Now the annual deficits total in the Trillions of dollars under DEMOCRATIC RULE. Menendez, if I were you I would hide and be very afraid. Yes, be very afraid. And remember if you DARE bring up legislation for ILLEGAL non-Americans, we will come after you via the ballot box. There will be nowhere to hide for a rabid spending Senator who insists on representing illegal non-Americans instead of Legal Americans.

NOW go and hide in shame and remember you and your fellow Dems birthed the Tea Parties.

[SamuraiScot]

Menendez is distributing a memo to managers to take control of their Republican opponents' image early, and to make apparent the pressure Republican candidates feel from what he calls the "extreme right,"

This guy's working for us, right? . . . Oh, he's working for us and he doesn't know it. Got it. You go, girl!

[chuck_the_tv_out]

“whether Medicare and Social Security represents socialism”

Easy answer: they represent liberalism, which is socialism sold by the drink.

Great. Now we know their ambush questions, we can prepare for them.

There are very easy answers to all dumb ambushments like that. The only problem is when you don’t expect them.

[Brad from Tennessee]

Sooner or later children get burned playing with fire.

[Wee-Weed Up]

Partisanship at it’s best. Not surprising it’s a Democrat with this idea.

[goldi]

Did you read the comments at the end of the article? Nobody but nobody likes this guy.

[mrmeyer]

If supporting the Constitution makes me an extremist, I accept that label with pride.

[albie]

Won’t work. Tea Party is bigger than the dems think and the allegiance is undeniable. What started as a handful of concerned patriots has blossomed into millions of pi$$ed off Patriots. Sleeping giant etc.

[justiceseeker93]

The whole idea behind this 'Rat strategy is to divert attention away from the radical program the 'Rats have already enacted and the additional noxious proposals that they wish they could pass (e.g., nationalized health care, cap and trade). Tarring the Republicans with "right wing extremism" just isn't going to cut it this year.

And, BTW, Sen. Menendez, so long as you ask the question, most of us do not believe that the purported Obama "birth certificate" posted (which is actually at best a Hawaii Certification of Live Birth) is legit!

[ZULU]

The Mighty Midget from Hudson County New Jersey wants to drive a wedge between those conservative, anti-big-government anti-tax, patriotic Tea Party People and the “moderates (read ‘Liberals’)”. How quaint. It already exists. And the real RINOs will be forced to change or

Whom does he suspect composes the vast majority of voting Americans.

The U.S. isn’t Venezuela - thank God, and even Venezuelans in an open and free election, would probably reject Obama’s role model Hugo Chavez.

[New Jersey Realist]

This a$$hole needs to be taught a lesson. May God bring a plague upon him.

[New Jersey Realist]

This a$$hole needs to be taught a lesson. May God bring a plague upon him.

[freekitty]

I thought the Dems knew. There are no moderate GOPers. So it’s gonna be hard to drive a wedge through something that doesn’t exist. :)

[orinoco]

Hey Menendez, Don’t feel so smug. We are are coming after you and will do everything we can to see to it that you are never elected to the U.S. Senate. You performance is disgraceful and your big government socialist voting record has hurt our country.