Posted on 10/21/2014 6:08:42 AM PDT by cotton1706
Republicans have the wind at their backs this year. But not every GOP nominee is taking advantage of that dynamic. As usual, some candidates are under-performing, proving once again that candidates and the campaigns they choose to run actually matter.
That should come as no surprise to anyone who watched Republican Senate nominees Todd Akin of Missouri and Richard Mourdock of Indiana implode in 2012 or Delaware Republican Christine O’Donnell and Colorado Republican Ken Buck lose in 2010.
But this year, the problem children are not candidates foisted on the party by the Club for Growth or tea party groups. This cycle, the problem is a handful of candidates favored by most in the Republican “establishment.” They looked like strong nominees (some even like slam dunks) a year before Election Day, but they haven’t acted that way.
In Georgia, GOP Senate nominee David Perdue continued to try to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory when he said that he was “proud” of his record of outsourcing jobs.
There clearly are benefits to individual businesses and consumers from outsourcing certain business activities, but the middle of a campaign is not the time to debate business strategy. Good candidates — experienced candidates — don’t fall into those kinds of traps.
Democrat Michelle Nunn has her own albatrosses — President Barack Obama and her Democratic label in Georgia — but Perdue has given her a campaign message that could help make the election about the Republican nominee rather than about Obama.
In Kansas, Republican Sen. Pat Roberts did the same thing when he allowed his re-election bid to be about him rather than about the president, the Affordable Care Act and the drumbeat of bad news over the past few months.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.rollcall.com ...
No need to worry, the dems have the voting machines already rigged.
Vote for a GOP candidate, the machine puts the vote for the democrat.
Elections are no longer legit.
Todd Akin
Richard Mourdock
Christine O’Donnell
Ken Buck
Sharron Angle
Please, may those five or any like them never resurface again on the national stage.
Angle nearly defeated a Senate majority leader.
Akin/Mourdock each had a bad sound bite, and their party deserted them.
It turns out now that the IRS really was targeting O’Donnell.
Here in NC we have the clothespin brigade...voting for Tillis while holding our noses.
What about George Allen and Connie Mack? They both lost
This meme gets repeated endlessly here on FR. It is, in all likelihood, the majority view. It is not mine.
The GOP Establishment is not unhappy with Ted Cruz. It is simply suspicious that Ted Cruz clones cannot win office in places like New Hampshire and Illinois. They are certainly right about that. It is, unfortunately, a fact of life in American politics.
Before I get shot for holding this opinion I will agree completely that "the GOP Establishment" is overreacting to this issue by a wide margin. They are picking leftist Republicans over our favored Tea Party candidates thinking they are "playing safe". In many cases but not all cases, this is a mistake. Our Tea Party guys and gals would pull a much bigger vote from the base than they would lose from the wishy washy Independents that are so sought after by the GOPe.
But the idea that the GOPe is no better than the Dems is simply nonsense. The GOPe runs the House of Representatives. That is better than having it in the hands of Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama. By a mile.
Two words....Chris McDaniel. And that outrage against all constitutional conservatives has been aided and abetted by the Republican powerbrokers who would rather lose elections than let constitutional conservatives win nominations. And they defeat us at any cost. RINOe is WORSE than the dems because they've worked so hard to thwart conservatives, in the party that depends on us to win.
Angle lost by 9%
Akin blew it badly when he wouldn’t step aside after that critical “legitimate rape” gaffe.
Mourdock’s mistake was even more boneheaded, knowing what was happening to Akin, decided to wade in anyway and make “child of rape is a blessing from God” comment.
O’Donnell was never in her race from the start, regardless of IRS activity.
Very true. Allen killed his own candidacy when he wouldn't STFU and stop apologizing after that "macaca" moment. Not sure about Mack's situation, other than he was going up against one of the Senate's "sainted ones."
I don’t know about Allen, but Mack had a lot of personal behavior issues to overcome, in addition to being a district-jumper when he ran for the House.
Immediately after the primary, the Republican mayor of Reno, Bob Cashell, who backed Lowden in the Republican primary, endorsed Reid for the general election, calling Angle an "ultra-right winger".[33][34]
After watching McCain and Romney run it is obvious the GOP doesn’t have the will to fight Democrats. They’ve already surrendered on the Obamacare issue. Take social issues out of the equation, and what is left? Exactly how is the GOP going to distinguish itself from Democrats? Democrats have Obama, and Republicans don’t...? They are all big government goons.
Cotton1706 gets it!!
BINGO my friend. A well deserved Bingo.
Nonsense. I wanted Chris McDaniel too. Look at my tagline. Would the GOPe trade Ted Cruz for Harry Reid? I don't think so. But in any case, explain how the GOPe let Ted Cruz get elected in the first place.
I'm hearing you, but she didn't do herself any favors with comments like this one she said to Lars Larson: "I hope that's not where we're going, but you know if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I'll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out."
Regardless of how we might agree with that comment, it's not one you make in the heat of a campaign.
“In reality, the Establishment didn’t care if it regained power. They want it, to be sure, but a higher priority was preventing any more conservatives from getting into the Senate.
This meme gets repeated endlessly here on FR. It is, in all likelihood, the majority view. It is not mine.”
I’ve been watching this stuff for a very long time. And the evidence is there. And you can follow the thread through their actions. I remember them desperately trying to prevent Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint from getting nominations.
The Senate is their House of Lords, and they work desperately to try to protect it from what they see as the “rabble” that is the unthinking, reactionary conservatives. They want to preserve the Senate as a bulwark against conservatism. And it’s games, unanimous consents, cloture votes, etc. are used to thwart conservatism, while advancing liberalism.
There is nothing okay about that campaign. Why would I trust them to have a majority of the US Senate?
You do know that the GOP-E House just passed yet another CR to fund the government that fully funds Obamacare, don’t you?
So maybe it’s just half a mile better then Nazi Pelosi.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.