Posted on 05/09/2012 6:32:03 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Not only did Tea Party-backed Richard Mourdock just put an end to Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar's 35-year U.S. Senate career, but it wasn't even close. NBC projected Mourdock, the Indiana state treasurer, the winner of the Republican primary shortly after polls closed, as he was trouncing Lugar by over 20 points. In and of itself, the crushing defeat of such a long-time veteran of the Senate would be a big story, but the importance of this development will be felt way beyond Indiana.
As I wrote earlier this week, a lot of pundits have been prematurely writing the obituary to the Tea Party, but Mourdock's victory demonstrates that the movement still has a lot of power. Tea Party activists will be tested again in Texas, where they hope to nominate Ted Cruz and Utah, where they hope to dump veteran Sen. Orrin Hatch in favor of conservative Dan Liljenquist.
Mourdock's victory not only means that this particular Senate seat is likely to be more conservative (assuming he goes on to win the general election in this traditionally red state), but it also puts Republican Senators everywhere on notice that no seat is safe anywhere in the country. Any elected Republican that doesn't pursue a small government agenda once in office risks suffering the same fate as Lugar. Had Lugar hung on, then a lot of people would have dismissed the Tea Party as a passing fad from 2010. But now it's clear that the movement has been underestimated once again. Tea Partiers have a lot more staying power than skeptics expected.
With the Republican presidential nomination going to the ideologically malleable Mitt Romney, supporters of limited government have recognized that their best hope for advancing the conservative agenda rests on the ability to elect as many principled conservatives to Congress as possible. That is, lawmakers who will be willing to fight for smaller government even if it means standing up to a president of their own party. The more victories the Tea Party racks up, the greater the chance that Romney will be forced to govern as a limited government conservative if elected, even if his natural inclination is to migrate to the left.
Awesome!!! I love it!
I call them the "Mad Hater's Tea Party" group.
GO ABO !
Leni
To me Lugar’s defeat is very bad news for Obama. I think it shows significant enthusiasm on the Right, which normally results in a higher turnout. Also, if Obama wins in November, Lugar’s loss should mean that Senate Republicans will be less “cooperative.”
I believe the political-media establishment continues to under-estimate and under-report the absolute disgust that about 35-40% of the voting populace feels toward O, the Dems, and the MSM. For example, AP stories picked up by Yahoo often have comment sections that run about 90/10 against O. And the more the MSM lies to promote the failed left-wing agenda,the greater the disgust. Hopefully, this will manifest itself into an “unexpectedly” large loss for O and the Dems in November. Wouldn’t that be sweet.
Lets hope and pray they do.
Hacth finagled his way out of a fair primary through that screwy caucus scam in the past but it didn’t work this time.
I hope his opponent uses this issue to his advantage.
Just donated a little extra to FR in honor of the defeat.....The price of a bottle of ?????. Better way to celebrate!
“I’m so tired of the anti-Romney, anti-Mormon hate posts that have poisoned the pages of FR for almost two years now.”
You confuse anti-Romney with anti-mormon.
Most here oppose Romney because he’s a lying snake, a liberal, and will be beat by Obama like a red-headed stepchild.
The Tea Party needs to close the primaries to registered Republicans only. There is a lot we need to do to can the one party state the GOPe designed while we slept.
Must increase momentum!
Support Scott Walker in WI.
Continue support for Mourdock in IN.
Back Cruz in TX.
Only the choir is happy for the moment.
Gotta get the congregation involved RIGHT NOW!
Not really comparable. Romney wasn’t challenging a long-time incumbent. For all intents and purposes, Romney was running unopposed, with votes for others merely to ‘make a statement.’
From your keyboard to God’s ears.....
LLS
And I’m in favor of the LIMITED time for copyrights and patents as expressed by this nation’s founders.
If your copyrights were treated as houses actually are ,then you would have to pay annual taxes regardless of whether you derived any income from those copyrights.Now THAT would be something to see;I can imagine the howls of those who think they and their descendants should never work again just because they had one good idea,as though their ideas sprang from nowhere instead of being built on the whole knowledge of those before.
The old Greeks spoke of restring on one’s laurels, and I got the impression it WASN’T a compliment.
There are many choices for VP, but Allen West is a liberal nightmare. He can draw up to 1/3 the black vote and resets the meme that Repubs are racists. That alone scares the dickens out of the DNC. He pulls Florida toward the Repubs. The military votes will swing his way. He will be a likely successor in upcoming elections. He fights.
The left will go after him with guns blazing.
I agree the Tea Party Pats are the answer no question.
I thought I heard on the radio this AM that he did say he would support Mourdock in the general election.
Come to a video chat of Tea-party types and some with old hand political experience at 9:00 pm Eastern weeknights on Facebook.
( I know some of you do not use Facebook. That is fine; just don't trash this idea due to your preferences.)
This group of several dozen was a Newt coalition group and now acts as an activist sounding board. We want to deny Mitt the nomination through state and Tampa challenges and/or change the Republican party at the grassroots level.
Facebook app for Video Conference
“...Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar’s 35-year U.S. Senate career..”
No one, Dem or Rep, can stay in office that long without becoming hopelessly corrupt. Term limits!
Right on!
LLS
Basically, while I don’t trust Romney’s “real opinions”...if he even has any...it makes more sense to go vote for him, then vote in the most conservative Govt you can, and then keep the pressure on Romney to at least veto the insanity that even a GOP congress is passing.
Romney will want to win again in 2016, so that is the key pressure point from the right. Even creating a holding pattern is a win IF people will get off their butts and start voting right in local, state and congressional races.
Much like Bill Clinton, Romney will tack wherever he needs to...unlike Obama. So in that sense he can be a movable object.
I am a little more hopeful of that with Romney than I would have been with McCain..who is just a dipstick. Romney is a dipstick that can be....shaped.
Far from perfect, but his binary (at least in illusion) choice system we have is what it is.
The key is to survive Executive idiocy while pushing the congress to the right in 2012, 2014 and 2016..which will push Romney Right.
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