Mark Levin: Thank you, Steve Lonegan

Steve Lonegan is a wonderful family man and patriot. He would have been a superb member of the House. But the DC RINOs, led by John Boehner, were opposed to him. You see, he would have been an independent conservative and they cannot stand that in the Capitol Building. So, the RINOs put up a candidate against Lonegan who they can control, and will control, and who loaned his campaign millions to use in an endless series of attack ads. This is the new modus operandi of the RINOs in all the races across the country. During the course of this campaign, Steve's newly born grandson, and only grandchild, became extremely ill. He stopped campaigning for some time while caring for his family. In another place and time, a man like this would have easily won a Republican primary. He's exactly the kind of person Republicans used to rally around and who are desperately needed in Washington. I am very sorry he was unable to beat the odds.

“He’s a self promoting gadfly telling you what you want to hear about how the establishment sucks to sucker you into your support, you may not see through him but the majority of NJ Republican voters clearly do as they’re rejected him time and again, he only won the Senate nomination because some clueless newcomer was his only opponent.”

You have Steve’s number down pat....Steve worked hard to manipulate & bully Tea Party Groups in New Jersey so he’d have a base of support whenever he chose to run again. Most unfortunately, this is all too common among candidates who seek the support of Tea Party groups....give them the anti-establishment spiel to gain their support. I’ve seen it over and over again to a nauseating degree, and it’s pretty much the modus operandi of “Tea Party” candidates. Sad so many TP folk are naive to it.

“You may like him, most people in NJ do not like him, that he is a jerk with a huge ego is the common opinion.”

To know Steve is to despise his nasty, disagreeable, mean-spirited self with an ego that knows no bounds. He publicly called MacArthur a “monster,” but really most understand Steve was projecting and was really talking about himself. He’s a repellent who turns his best friends into his worst enemies. Hiding his ugliness from those around him is quite the impossible task, trust me.

Actually the newcomer, Alieta Eck, wasn’t clueless (and she’s running again for Congress in a tough district). She’s a stellar human being and good candidate who couldn’t compete with Steve’s name recognition. Of course, Steve tried to have her thrown off the ballot.

“Then former Governor Reagan lost once (barely) to a sitting President, comparing Steve to him is ludicrous, this is his is 5th or 6th failed attempt to win an office higher than small town Mayor.”

Sixth. But it’s getting tough to count, eh? : )

“People like this are called “perennial candidates”. They are jokes and they almost never win, heard of Harold Stassen? This guy carpetbagged into that district from Northern NJ, why? Because he’s desperate to serve? No, because he’s desperate to be an important politician. He sounds like those establishment figures he rails against. I think it’s embarrassing to have guys like this associated with the conservative/tea party movement.”

Lonegan will do just about anything to get into office and it’s all about him. It is embarrassing as well as shameful to have him associated with our movement as well as our party. Steve conducts his scorched earth character assassinations of political opponents and Alinsky campaign tactics as well as the best of the leftists. This was the most dishonest campaign I’ve ever witnessed from someone supposedly on the right. There should be no room for such people in our movement or the Republican Party.

“If McArthur is no good (wait and see, I’m not at all convinced he’s a RINO because Steve says so) then I hope a prominent LOCAL conservative opposes him in 2016. Steve’s friend, RINO Leonard Lance had a tea party opponent that actually did better than Steve, lost by only 9 points, pity Steve supported Lance because Lance campaigned for him in the Senate race. So I guess being an establishment RINO is just fine with Steve as long as you support him? Doesn’t sound very principled.”

Spot on. Lance has been opposed by Dave Larsen three times counting this last...and Steve has supported his bud Lance over the more conservative Larsen ALL THREE times. According to the definition of some that would make almost any other conservative/Republican a RINO. Somehow this standard doesn’t apply to Steve. BTW, Larsen is actually sharper, more articulate, more conservative and more charismatic than Lance...and his challenges have made Lance more conservative...unfortunately Lance is still the darling of the local Sierra club....and Larsen has far stronger positions on energy issues. Larsen lost by EIGHT points to Lance doing FAR better than Steve against MacArthur. BUT keep in mind this is a very Republican district and whatever Republican wins the primary will also win the General. To support Larsen here, against the incumbent Lance, is not risking the seat. For those aware of this, and that’s surely Lonegan, it may be one of the better ways to discern who the REAL RINOS are..... : )

I have met gotten to know all these candidates personally some better than others, having worked with and been in the company of Lonegan the most. Very initially I was a Lonegan fan, but that changed quickly and early on. Character counts....Steve is a person of very poor character who cares little for those around him, while MacArthur is as decent as they come...thoughtful, considerate, hardworking, serious about the problems in our country, selfless and humble...placing the cause before himself. That more than makes up for the couple of issues where he may not be as conservative as I’d like...and on those he is open to discussion. He is, more than most I’ve met, VERY willing to engage.

Runyan was more conservative than the democrat he defeated (by 2 points) Adler, and MacArthur is more conservative than Runyan....We ARE moving the needle rightward. But the general election will not be easy and must be hard fought. This is by no means necessarily a Republican District....and we would have lost it if Lonegan had won. Congratulations to the Republicans in the 3rd district. They deserve a round of applause. They KNOW what they’re doing.

Very helpful background information about NJ politics in post #44.

I wasn’t aware of Alieta Eck’s background. It sounds like what happened to her is similar to what happened to Doug Truax here in Illinois. Truax was a West Point grad and decorated military vet making his first run for office, when the Jim Oberweis fan club decided to “draft” five time loser Oberweis (who has been running for office continually since 2002 and never winning anything above a safe senate seat). Oberweis jumped into the U.S. Senate race and Traux couldn’t compete with Oberweis’ millions and name ID, although he did surprising well after Oberweis decided to go on vacation a week before the primary. I think our liberal RAT Senator will now be easily re-elected but I hope I’m wrong. In either case, Oberweis’ fan club will eagerly run him again.

Unfortunately Impy and I didn’t find out about the Larsen/Lance primary until election day. Shame, Lance has been on my radar screen for “needs a primary challenge” ever since his cap n’ trade vote (as you noted, inexcusable since he’s in a GOP friendly district and yet he votes like a RAT on enviro issues). It’s interesting how Steve Lonegan’s cheerleaders love to scream about the “liberal Republican establishment” but will quickly change the subject matter when Lance’s name comes up.

On a related note, here’s an interesting development. Lonegan was asked if he would endorse and campaign for Chris Christie if the latter runs for President in 2016, and Lonegan’s response is that he would be an “@$$hole” (his words, not mine), if he didn’t. He says he “owes” Christie one after Christie campaigned for him for U.S. Senate:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/steve-lonegan-i-would-be-a-total-asshole-if-i-didn-t-support-chris-christie-in-2016

Since he was vehemently against Christie even BEFORE Christie started governing, I suppose his comments translate to “If Christie wants to write a check to me in 2016 for my latest political cause, I’ll be happy to campaign for him. If not, I’ll run my own vanity campaign as the “true conservative” for President, stay at 3% in the polls, and help split the conservative vote so Christie wins anyway”. That seems to be the rule of thumb for how Lonegan deal with the “liberal Republican establishment”.

Interesting background info. on what Tom MacArthur is like in person. I could only judge the guy by his website, though he does seem like a pretty decent guy and likeable enough to win a swing district that can go either way. I’d say he’s about an 85% conservative, which as you noted would be an improvement over Runyan (who was also decent given that there are a lot of RATs in his district). Of course this is lost on the Lonegan cheerleaders. I don’t think it really matters to them who runs, though, they’ll scream “LIBERAL RINO!!” as long as the candidate’s name isn’t “Steve Lonegan”. I sure hope we’ve seen the last of him but I doubt it.

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