Posted on 11/16/2014 5:22:06 PM PST by ObamahatesPACoal
or Sunday comment bait, Mickey Kaus adds a new wrinkle to the old question of whether to nominate the purest conservative or nominate someone who can win. By his logic, nominating losing Tea Partiers like Christine O’Donnell and Joe Miller helped keep the surviving Republicans in line. Mickey first quotes Numbers USA CEO Roy Beck:
I suspect one of the reason we did so much better with the smaller group of Republicans facing re-election was that they are more likely to believe that they might face Primary oppostion from within their own Party if they support amnesty.
And then Mickey responds:
Translation:The Tea Parties did it. Not only had they threatened establishment Republicans with primary opposition, but they had actually beaten one … two … three of them. Nothing like fresh heads on pikes to, er, reinforce a persuasive (to my mind) policy argument. Score one for losing Delaware Tea Partier Christine O’Donnell, who knocked off establishment pick Rep. Mike Castle (who voted for DREAM) in the GOP primary. Even score one for Alaskan Joe Miller. He probably alienated Republican Lisa Murkowski by beating her in the primary, and ultimately she won reelection anyway as a write-in. But that’s just one lost Senate vote. By my count, Miller’s primary coup may have helped gain around tenvotes by terrifying GOP incumbents who might otherwise have been tempted by the prospect of a feel-good, bipartisan, MSM-approved pro-DREAM stand.
Tangentially, Joe Miller’s lawsuit is still going on. I had previously written that his suit was declared moot. Well, this filing disputes that with a single line (look at page six, at the sixth numbered paragraph). The last word on the appeal was that the Alaska Supreme Court heard the issue Friday, and recessed without issuing a ruling.
(Excerpt) Read more at patterico.com ...
Does he even mention Eric Cantor?
How might things be different.
Murkowski was unsuccessful in her attempted assassination of Miller the night he won the primary that ousted her.
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