Posted on 11/10/2010 4:41:37 AM PST by Hojczyk
Spencer Bachus is trying to dig out out of the hole he dug when he slammed Sarah Palin this weekend.
Bachus is in line to chair the powerful Financial Services Committee, but is facing a challenge from Ed Royce of California, and now from pro-Palin Tea Partiers who will watch this decision by John Boehner for signs of old boy networks trumping the new politics of grass roots activism.
Most of the focus of the Tea Party activists had been on the competition between Fred Upton and John Shimkus for chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, but with Bachus' shot at Palin the spotlight has shifted to the Bachus-Royce race.
If an obscure Beltway conservative can knock Palin and still garner the Speaker's blessing for a coveted chair many of the activists will have their first particular in a bill of indictment for business-as-usual.
UPDATE: Sarah weighs in. Now the story is huge for Boehner. Does he get into a fight with SP before he gets the gavel?
As I have been saying on the show today, there is a second aspect to this story, which is Congressman Bachus' cluelessness about how the new media works. You cannot slam Sarah Palin in Alabama and not know it will be driving talk radio and the blogs 48 hours later and expect to be leader of a major committee. It is a foreshadowing of new media cluelessness that could cripple GOP efforts when to comes to repealing Obamacare and engineering robust economic growth. Message discipline is the key to success these days, and Spencer Bachus does not appear to have figured this out.
UPDATE: Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe blasts Bachus comments. Expect more and more conservatives to distance themselves from Bachus. Hard to see John Boehner starting out his tenure by promoting the Alabama congressman. Go to article for links
Well no, it means the Tea Party will make new challenges in the primarys. The Tea Party is right to expect the Republican party to get a clue and to challenge them if it doesn't. If they lose, they lose. It's not a vote for Republican country club membership but for the country's future whether you agree with them or not.
Make no mistake. The DemocRATS are watching carefully. And the Clintons are getting everything ready.
If he can't, we really have entered a cult-like era of conservatism.
The Tea Party was about limiting government, cutting the deficit, getting the feds out of our personal lives, and stopping the destruction of our health care system and our way of life.
It was NOT about installing pro-Palin leadership in the house.
Bachus endorsed John McCain in 2008.
Sarah Palin ran with John McCain in 2008.
Sarah Palin endorsed John McCain in 2010.
Spencer Bachus is another hard-core conservative being attacked because he had an OPINION about the election that differs from the “accepted thought-speak”.
100% anti-illegal-immigrant
100% pro-life
A-Rating by NRA
Negatively rated by pro-environmental, NEA, pro-public-health groups, pro-abortion groups, and pro-gay-marriage groups.
92% - Christian Coalition
You’d be hard-pressed to find a single vote this guy took that was opposed by the tea party.
I’m tired of the Palin-bashing, but I hope we can stop purging our own strongest opponents when they don’t toe the group-think line.
Who would be a better Financial Chair - Bachus or Royce. That should be the only question. If Bachus is better, and we turn him down because he insulted Palin, then that says we have a leadership that is based on who you know and who likes you, kind of a “good ol boys” club, if you will.
They’d better wake up and fast.
I know the media is emphasizing and festering all such stories so I try not to get too excited but that remark, if quoted correctly, was pretty blatant.
Boehner needs to show some guts right now. Show he’s not just a pretty face.
"That's a lesson going forward," Johnson said. "As the article noted, (Bachus) was extremely complimentary of the tea party movement and Governor Palin in crediting them with the great turnout of conservatives that led to many of the successes on Tuesday."
It really was about a guy expressing an opinion that better candidates could have won the elections in Nevada, Colorado, and Delaware.
Now, if that meant having Mike Castle, I'm not sure I care that we lost the Senate, while Bachus really wanted to control the senate because he probably wanted to stop pro-abortion judges, and anti-conservative legislation. I think Castle was probably a bridge too far, Kirk was bad enough.
Bachus is a strong supporter of the tea party, but hopefully we can all accept that we need to do a better job in 2012 in picking candidates to advance the conservative cause. I refuse to accept the notion that Christine O'Donnell was the best conservative candidate available in Delaware. Because she was a really bad candidate. "I am not a witch"!!!
I wonder what the percentages are in the House. I mean dug-in semi-conservatives versus tea party types, both newly elected and already there.
Are you suggesting that Bachus should be primaried?
The GOP needs to learn that it can’t spit on its own supporters and expect to keep our support. Not one in ten of the people in Washington, Democrat or Republican, is anything but a criminal and a traitor.
Our nation is on the edge of the abyss. I don’t care about bizzaro special interests, corrupt businesses, or the pathetic personal ambitions of so-called public servants. We need bold action to save ourselves RIGHT NOW. GOP: get with the program or you will be swept away right with the democrats.
Why not?
Royce is also a good hard-core conservative. Bachus looks slightly better “on the issues” regarding financial stuff, but not enough to make a difference.
I agree that we shouldn’t be specifically punishing people for saying unpopular things (and I would note that he did not “attack” Sarah Palin, he said that candidates she endorsed lost where other candidates might have won. It wasn’t a personal attack on her, it was a statement of his opinion about the election.
i haven’t seen anybody on this thread argue that Buck, Angle, Miller, and O’Donnell were the best conservative candidates available in their respective states.
Although I should say that the problem was conservatives not stepping up to the challenge because they didn’t realise they had a chance. So in Delaware, O’Donnell was the only choice for conservatives.
But Bachus was really saying that we needed to find better conservative candidates, not saying that we needed to stop backing conservatives.
He also made his statement in the context of praising the Tea Party and Sarah Palin for the house takeover and for the enthusiasm and principle they brought to the electorate.
I think people are being way too sensitive. I’m sure Sarah Palin isn’t nearly as sensitive as some of her supporters pretend she is. It’s like they think she’s a fragile candidate who needs to be protected, rather than a strong person who can handle herself.
I don’t post that much, but will for this thread ...
We are watching John! No more RINO’s ... T-Party all the way!!
William
“It was NOT about installing pro-Palin leadership in the house.”
True, but it was also not about installing people that bash fellow conservatives. Independent thought is fine, but it often comes with consequences, as it surely should in this case.
Dissension on the team is welcomed by the DemCraps and the Dinosaur media. A replay of ‘94 is on the horizon if the pubbies don’t belly up to the bar.
There probably is some sensitivity to anything critical of Sarah, but please remember the context of the past 2 years. As for SP, her demeanor over the past 2 years suggests she doesnt get worked about something like this.
I do not know enough about bachus to suggest he be challenged in a primary. If what you have said about is true, and i take it at face value, it sounds like there are better choices for primary challenge.
It is true that some of TP candidates were not the best but they threw their names, their lives, on the line for all of us for better or worse, yet some conservatives and republicans thought it better to publicly before the election criticize their own side. That was outrageous. Yes all factions need to put up better candidates. COD wasnt the best, but Mike Castle was worse.
“I’m tired of the Palin-bashing, but I hope we can stop purging our own strongest opponents when they don’t toe the group-think line.”
Did he have to say what he said?
Why did he have to say what he said?
Was his statement a positive contribution to the cause?
Why did he not say something positive about the results achieved?
Was he looking for attention? (he sure got it)
What would you say about him if he espouse gun control while toeing the mark on all other conservative issues?
When one opens mouth and inserts foot, he/she can expect someone else to give him/her their foot in the derriere.
He comes across as trying to ingratiate himself with the Stop Palin “highball” (that’s a mixed drink for you youngsters) country club crowd in lieu of his presumed appointment from the TearJerker.
The message needs to be STOP OBAMA and his regime’s socialist agenda, NOT stop Palin or the Tea Party. Get it?
I think it's a little deeper than that. Although her character adds greatly to her appeal, the lion share of her political capital comes from the perspective that we see her as one of us, and when you disparage her you disparage us. That is the kind of cachet conferred on few politicians today and the of her jealously is palpable.
I certainly get it. These folks walk right into the media narrative.
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.