Posted on 09/12/2014 7:33:21 AM PDT by cotton1706
Yes, Sen. Pat Roberts's re-election campaign has struggled, but not because he's too conservative.
Kansas Senate Republican Pat Roberts is in a re-election fix. There's an important lesson for the GOP in this mess—though it's not the moral the left is pushing.
Democrat Chad Taylor, a state district attorney, last week terminated his campaign against the three-term Republican senator, a move that paradoxically made the race competitive. Mr. Roberts had been betting the Democrat would split the vote with independent candidate Greg Orman, leaving him a clear path to re-election. Mr. Orman is instead now consolidating Taylor support and leading the Republican in polls.
The left has seized on the upheaval, insisting Mr. Roberts's poll numbers are a reflection of a broader failure of conservative governance in the state. Kansas Republican Gov. Sam Brownback is also struggling in his re-election bid, and Democrats are spinning about a "moderate" backlash to Mr. Brownback's conservative agenda, including tax reform. They'd like to tie Mr. Roberts to that narrative.
The truth of the Kansas Republicans' troubles is far more banal, and a warning to the party as a whole. Here's a new, concrete reality for the GOP: If you are an older, comfortable, elected Republican in Washington, you will be challenged. The Republican Party continues to undergo a sweeping member overhaul, as a new generation of reform-minded conservatives, backed by activists, looks to refresh the ranks.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
... the lesson for all Republicans is the sooner and more forcefully they embrace the party's new reformist spirit, the more united and prosperous the GOP.
Emphasis mine. And Kim, it's not the "party's" new reformist spirit, it is that of the "base". The Tea Party Movement. You can say it.
“....The Republican Party continues to undergo a sweeping member overhaul, as a new generation of reform-minded conservatives, backed by activists, looks to refresh the ranks.”
Describes my attitude pretty well.
Old line Repubs won’t hack it any more. The only diff between Repubs and Dim-bulbs is the number of flies that alight on them.
I’ll vote for a conservative, but NEVER EVAH for a RINO, or a dimbulbcrat.
I guess the definition of RINO has changed in recent years. Sen. Pat Roberts has a cumulative ACU rating of 86% making him one of the most conservative members of the US Senate. Throwing this senate seat away would be sheer insanity.
The Gerald Ford admirers (like McConnell) are aging, retiring, being defeated, or dying off.
KANSAS votes to empower OBAMA and Reid! How lovely. That will be the result of this mess.
Actuallu, I hope that every one of these Republicans who used chicanery to stop conservative challengers will lose to their Democrat opponents in November. Each and every one of them. I would rather my oppressors be openly Democrats than nominal Republicans. The result will be indistinguishable in the Senate. With the Sultan’s term coming to an end there will be a rush to get more far left and communist judges on the federal bench and the nominal Republicans will be just as enthusiastic to get them there as the Democrats are. The Government Party is consolidating and I suspect will formally merge after the next presidential election- become the Fusion Party, perhaps.
The problem with any of these ratings is that only a relative few votes are considered. Behind the scene stuff and legislation not introduced isn’t factored in. Couple that with occasional twisted logic and you get politicians who overall support bigger, badder unconstitutional government getting high conservative ratings.
Precisely.
One thing I’ve noticed over the years: There is something in common folks on both the far right and the far left have: They are perfectionists. They believe in some sort of political utopia where we all live happily ever after.
Truth is politics is a dirty, messy, often disgusting business. The crafting of legislation has often been compared with the making of sausage. Ronald Reagan famously once said politics is the world’s second oldest profession with a lot in common with the world’s oldest profession.
I’m a Poli Sci major. Politics isn’t really very complicated. In fact, it’s quite simple. When boil everything down when we vote this November we have just four basic choices:
1) We can vote Democrat. Every Democrat on the ballot this year is a proxy for BHO and in the US Senate races also a proxy for Harry Reid.
2) We can vote Republican.
3) We can vote third party-—which effectively voting Democrat.
4) We can not vote, which is also effectively Democrat.
It doesn’t get more simple. All of my life I have voted for the most conservative candidates available in the GOP primary. Then voted the straight Republican ticket in November. There really is no viable alternative out there. It ain’t rocket science. It’s quite simple.
Fight like hell for the reformers in the primaries, but vote for the pubbie vs. the dummie every time in the general. There may be bad pubbies, but there are NO good dummies (Coulter). That will necessarily mean a tactical Pat Roberts now, knowing full well, and starting to plan now six years in advance, that the next Senator from Kansas will be even more conservative than him. But that's a hell of a lot better than the prospect of Majority Leader Dingy Harry Reid for another two years!
Also keep in mind that the so called “independent” running against Roberts is a big time BHO contributor.
Independent my toocus.
In Kansas there is no other choice but to vote for Roberts, unless you are a liberal or Dem. Period!
Good summation, but I bet you won’t get anywhere with Freeper freedomfiter2 with it.
And maybe the SINGLE BIGGEST REASON to vote for Roberts is the high likelihood that the next Senate will be voting on new Supreme Court Justices.
Pat Roberts voted 'No' on both the wide latina and Kagan.
I’m from South Carolina. Lindsay Graham, whom I detest, is way ahead in the polls. I will either vote third party or refrain from voting in the senate race as a protest.
I suppose if you happen to live in a state where the outcome of the election is not in doubt, you might very well have the luxury of withholding your vote from the GOP candidate.
I have similar situation here in CA. Gov. Jerry Brown is way ahead of RINO Republican Neel Kashkari-—who is REALLY a liberal Republican. He makes Lindsay Graham look like a Jesse Helms Republican.
I could vote Third Party...which is a throw away vote.
I could leave that spot blank...which is also a throw away vote.
I could hold my nose and vote for Kashkari so that Jerry Brown’s election victory will be something less than unanimous.
One thing I have NEVER done and will NEVER do is vote for Jerry Brown.
These ratings mean exactly cr@p. Pat is too old, he is not a Kansan and hasn't been through out his entire career.
Kansas City is the problem. If a reasonably successful Republican Governor can not win re-election in Kansas, someone should start worrying about the future of the Republic, ours or Mexico's.
We have always had them, they have just been emboldened by a favorable Justice department and a weak opposition party.
Be that as it may, it would be foolish to lose a safe GOP US Senate seat.
Nothing in life is perfect. Least of all politics. We have to work with what he have and play the hand we were dealt.
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