Posted on 11/07/2012 5:24:46 AM PST by ken5050
Quick observations: Obama won on the "cult of Obama." He did not help the Democrats down ticket per se. We hold the House; we'll lose a few seats, but the next GOP caucus will be slightly more conservative, a good thing. The Senate's the problem here..specifically, the leadership. McConnell has allowed Reid to run rings around him. He is not willing to stand and fight on principals..he wants to go along. This cannot stand. DeMint CAN win it, if he runs.
The Senate GOP has to go on the offensive. Shut the place down until we get a budget. Don't give in on the sequester. The Dems will cave, but we have to call their bluff.
Reid doesn't have the votes to win a simple majority on most of the liberal agenda. McConnell has 45, a solid 45, and at most one squish in the group. He can keep most legislation locked up. And there many among the 20 Democrats up in 2014 that really don't want to sign onto the Democrat agenda.
Preliminary exit polls show that overwhelmingly the country is against bigger government, and is worried about the size of our national debt. They will support a firm stand, a clear statement of the conservative position if it is presented to them.
Mitch McConnell is NOT the man for that job. he has been in the Senate for decades, and signed off on much of the expansion of our government, and the explosion of spending and debt. He will not make the case, he cannot lead the fight.
He needs to go.
As I write, there are 45 GOP senators in the next Senate, with two seats still undecided, though likely to go Democrat.
Thus, to win the leadership spot, one needs 23 votes. If DeMint announced, I believe he could get these senators to easily support him:
Flake, Fisher, Cruz, Barasso, Thune, Sessions, Boozeman, Rubio, Risch, Coats, Moran, Paul, Vitter, Johanns, Ayotte, Hoeven, Portman, Coburn, Toomey, Lee, Johnson.
With DeMint's vote, that's 22. Some may quibble with one or more names on the list, but the point is, we have a solid block of conservatives, who haven't served that long in the Senate, and owe no great loyalty to McConnell.
Crapo and Heller could be in this group, which is another two votes.
So where do we find the few additional votes that may needed?
We know that much business is done in the Senate based on personal relationships. But it is possible that among the senior, conservative Republican senators, there are a few not happy with the way McConnell has laid down on key issues, like Benghazi, and Fast and Furious...specifically Roberts and Grassley, that they might opt for change. Then there are others who would very much like to be committee chairs, and may well conclude that they have a much better chance of achieving it with DeMint as leader...such as Hatch, Shelby, and McCain.
Then there's the wild card, Lindsay Graham. If he intends to run again in 2014, he may well face a primary. If he failed to support his fellow South Carolinian for the leadership, that might cost him the race.
The point is, the simple math shows that DeMint can win this leadership battle.
He is the man to lead the fight against Reid.
It is time to take a stand.
FYI
Paul, Demint or Johnson should challenge McConnell and the other leaders.
McConnell and Boehner have to go. If they stay the GOP will lose the House in 2014. Nobody likes a loser. I personally will vote dim in 2014 if my Reps support them and survive the primary. I am so sick of these beltway GOP losers.
I don’t think he wants it.
As a Republican in Kentucky, I would LOVE to see DeMint oust McConnell. McConnell tried to cozy up to the Tea Party with a rally in Frankfort, KY some time back, but I’m not buying it.
There are likely to be some openings on the Supreme Court in the next four years. We need someone with the guts to block Obama’s appointees by any means necessary.
McConnell and Boehner will go back in.
It’s their turn.
Neither is worth a pint of sour owl pee, but they will stay./
DeMint has stated he will not seek re-election when his term ends, which takes him out of any consideration.
Jim DeMint was the first to jump on the RINO Romney bandwagon. I can’t take anymore hypocrisy.
I don’t see any sign that Jim DeMint is your guy...if by that you mean the senate leader you seek. He has to want it but he only wants out of the senate at his term’s end.
Ted Cruz has the drive and ability, but being a freshman it will never happen.
You would need to look elsewhere. Outside the DeMint, Cruz box, who have you got?
Mike Lee? Rand Paul? There are some good people there, but that doesn’t make them senate LEADERS.
“There are some good people there, but that doesn’t make them senate LEADERS.”
Well, considering the disgrace that our current senate leader is, just how special does one have to be to be senate leader? The bar is not very high.
All I’m saying is, you can’t make someone into a senate leader who doesn’t fit that type.
All I’m saying is they have to WANT it, and they have to be a leader type.
If there are better than McConnell there, who want it, and who can fit that type, more power to them.
The only ones I could think of were Mike Lee and Rand Paul and of those, only Paul might want it to my knowledge. I like Mike Lee but have no reason to assume he wants it or sees himself doing it.
Ted Cruz can run for the position if he wishes and he would have my support. That’s not the problem, the problem is they never make a freshman senator into the party’s senate leader.
Sure the bar is set low. But the original post was that Jim DeMint MUST do it...run for the position and take that leadership mantle. My response tells the story of the situation...DeMint only wants to retire from the senate. He does not want it and does not see himself in that role.
My comments were in the spirit of that TRUTH, whether we like it or not.
We might have a chance to save the country if when the majority leader in the United States Senate says that the American people want to single out a group of Americans for higher taxation,when they are already paying the bulk of the taxes,an American leader in the US Senate responds, the American people do NOT subscribe to class envy and it is not the American way to suggest that they do,SO GO TO HELL !
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