Taking back the Senate, Part One...
By mbecker908 Posted in 2008 — Comments (21) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
A great place to start would be in America's heartland, Nebraska. Jon Bruning has declared that he will run against Chuck Hagel.
We have the opportunity to see primary challenges against several Senators who have decided it's more important to represent the interests of institutional Washington DC than the interests of their constituents and the American people.
Retiring Chuck Hagel would be a great place to start. You can learn more about Bruning here...
This might be a nice icing on the cake. But I'd like to think that a better place to start would be defeating Mary Landrieu, or Tim Johnson, or Tom Harkin, or Jay Rockefeller, or Mark Pryor, or any other number of red state Democrats up in 2008.
I know I'm in the minority here, and am sounding like a broken record, but I just really think there are more pressing issues than ousting a Senator with a lifetime ACU rating of 85 (especially since, unlike South Carolina, there are several Dems here who could win an open seat). I've seen an inordinate number of diaries and posts here focusing on trying to purge our party of not-reliable conservatives (all of whom are objectively far off from, say, Lincoln Chafee), and which I think makes a lot more sense when you are at 59 seats than when you are at 49 seats. I hope taking on some actual Democrats comes in Part 2.
He is part of the problem, and a big part. He has morphed into the Republican version of John Murtha. He needs to get pounded in a primary and ignored for the rest of his miserable life.
While I prefer to see a Republican beat him in a primary and win the general, I also don't much care if he's replaced by a Democrat. Same goes for John McCain. Actions have consequences and these guys don't deserve to be elected officials.
____
CongressCritter™: Never have so few felt like they were owed so much by so many for so little.
Wubbies World, MSgt, USAF (Retired):
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("An argument is a sequence of statements aimed at demonstrating the truth of an assertion.); }
Landrieu, Harkin, and Rockefeller voted against cloture. Harkin is probably going to say that the immigration bill wasn't liberal enough, but I bet he caught hell from his constituents.
It is baffling to me that Harkin gets re-elected. He is much too liberal for his state. But, he does hold a powerful position on the Agriculture Committee. Daschel was too liberal for his state, too. But, the voters liked having the Senate Majority Leader from their state. It is more than political ideology and issues. There has to be good candidates. It also doesn't hurt to
get delicious pork for your voters.
My strategy would be to look for your opposition's weak senators. Try to get them defeated.
The senators, above, cannot be beat very easy.
Harkin is the most left wing democrat in the state of Iowa. I pounded him everyday regarding the immigration bill. This guy is beatable. This guy talks out both sides of his mouth. The problem is the Republican party in Iowa. We had a person to take on Harkin the last time but the party was behind Ganske who was a moderate to left of center Republican. Please let me write the ads to attack this disgraceful Senator. Harkin is a San Francisco liberal.
"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
Barry Goldwater
as you think
We should enforce adherence to certain core positions, yes...or the public gets confused as to just what a Republican is. And, our fellow combatants get demoralized as they are not supported (or actually betrayed).
But, we should be wise enough to allow the Republicans in bluer states to also represent THEIR voters
Therefore, we can not enforce "all" purity tests on our Senators sitting in seats we should NOT even have
The debate is over which purity tests are so critical that, when violated, we'd rather intentionally amputate a member of the body than live with it
Living as adults in a society with a debating governmental system...it MUST be bad enough that we decide we'd rather lose important votes and judicial lifetime appointments by 1 vote
Should rarely happen....gotta be really mad and a really savvy move to do so
Given that Nebraska is a fairly reliable conservative state, I wouldn't mind seeing a primary challenger. Yeah, I know, Ben Nelson, but Nelson was a two term governor not just someone who wandered in off the street. I'd like to see Bruning make a run at him. Ditton in SC.
Olympia Snowe? I hope she's still in the Senate when she's 90 cuz we aren't going to get a conservative Senator from Maine any time in my lifetime.
Romney or Fred.
You can tell a guy has little to go for himself when all his defenders can point to his some activist group's numerical rating.
Besides, why would we support a primary challenge to a Democrat? We're Republicans. We participate in Republican primaries, and then defeat the Democrats in the general.
Run like Reagan!
Does anyone know about the likelihood of Craig getting ousted in the Idaho primary? I called his office yesterday and made sure they know my family (3 votes) won't vote for him if he votes for cloture (which he did again today). Since I'm new to the area, I would appreciate some thoughts on the matter.
Craig is taking some heat. He failed in keeping the Republican primary open to all so he knows he is in trouble. The rumor at Canyon County is that Craig is likely not to run and that is why he is willing to push so hard for the amnesty bill.
Let's keep this train rolling....
Who else???? Both of my Kansan Senators wised up.
Until we only have 30 Republican Senators who all vote the same way on everything! Life will be so peachy then!
The first order of business is to get our majority back. FIRST. Sending money to primary challengers does two things: 1) It weakens our defense, and 2) it is money not going to our offense. Those two are surefire steps to stay in the minority. Focus on ousting Landrieu, Johnson, Baucus, Pryor, and Harkin (the only five this cycle we have a chance at), and when we get our Senate majority back, you can look around your own side and pick off who you want out.
Its easy and understandable to get caught up in the short-term, but that's not where the battle is won. The battle is won in the long-term. Let's put it this way: if Alito had been nominated in 2007 instead of 2006, he wouldn't be on the bench.
And anyone who tries to convince us otherwise is not going to get very far.
A political party is more that a football team - a lot of us don't just root for a guy because he/she/it has a "(R)" after the name.
Bottom line - we *can* take out Landrieu *and* Hagel, at the same time. (Most of the rest of your targets would be long-shots right now, anyway.)
with my vote because I live in Idaho. The only state I can ultimately police is the state in which I vote. Additionally, Idaho is a pretty reliable red state as far as I know. If Craig is ousted in a primary, we will likely still get a Republican in the Senate.
And until we realize that, we have a great shot at having 30 Rockefeller Republicans in the Senate. Remember when we had the majority? Before the a**hat "mavericks"?
WE GET THE MAJORITY BACK WHEN WE RETURN TO CORE PRINCIPLES. Not before.
at least if I don't find out anything I really don't like about Brunning ( like some revelation that he is secretly pro-choice).
Discuss the issues and vote your conscience. This place feels like Kos sometimes...
--
We would also like to know your advice for somebody like my daughter, who's going to graduate in two years, advice that you would give a young person.
SEC. RUMSFELD: Advice for a young person. Study history.
I look forward to him fleshing out his positions more in the future (example: partial birth abortion IS illegal), and I sent him an e-mail of encouragement.
The money that used to go to the RNC will be distributed to primary challengers like Bruning.