Lonegan: NJGOP Needs To Rebuild With New, Conservative Leadership.

NJCSD ^ | Wednesday, 09 November 2005 | President

[Red Badger]

Time to go RINO hunting......Unlimited bag limit........

[RKB-AFG]

I warned that if Republicans nominated Doug Forrester that he would lose badly

People said the same thing four years ago when the GOP nominated a very conservative candiate for NJ governor. His loss was even worst.

I think the bottom line is that New Jersey is a liberal state.

[bpjam]

Forrester didn't actually lose badly by NJ standards. But I would agree than Brent Schundler would have been a better candidate. But, and I realize that this is selfish, I would rather have Schundler available to run for Corzines vacated Senate seat. The entire country would benefit from a conservative supply sides in the Senate while only NJ residents would have benefitted if you had one in the capital building.

But this may be the 4 years from NJ takes over Louisiana as the most corrupt state in the Union. I'm pulling for ya!!!

[Clintonfatigued]

That's the point, unfortunately. In an ideal world, Bret Schundler would have been elected Governor by a landslide in 2001, gotten a successor elected on the basis of his popularity, and been a shoo-in for Jon Corzine's Senate seat next year.

We have to deal with reality, and the reality is that New Jersey isn't a conservative state.

[Red Badger]

NJ displace LA? Ya'll gotta LOOOOOOONG way to go! In LA the corruption goes back to the French Pirates and smugglers era...........

[wideawake]

Forrester barely did any better than Schundler on a raw numbers basis.

And the state GOP campaigned for Forrester while they mostly sat on their hands for Schundler.

LET'S RUN A CONSERVATIVE NEXT TIME.

[Question_Assumptions]

I'd like to nominate Princeton for some of those 100,000 low income housing units...

[Rummyfan]

NJ is a fetid swamp politically. Any state that elects MacGreevey and Lautenberg (as a last minute replacement) and Corzine in successive elections is getting the government it deserves. When things get bad enough, the people will make the changes.

[nickcarraway]

No way. They are more against conservative, than Democrats.

[WhiteGuy]

You use "gop" and conservative together in the same sentence.

That association ended about five years ago.

[jjm2111]

"When things get bad enough, the people will make the changes." No, they'll leave and vote liberal in some other state.

[DogBarkTree]

Coming from an NJer I can tell you this state is beyond hope. Considering the huge wealfare populace, big labor influence, and large 3rd world immigrant numbers, there will never be a true conservative elected here in my lifetime. Time to move past this election and look forward to next year and 2008.

[d-back]

Amen to that, Wideawake.

The NJ GOP did nothing to help Schundler in 2001, and everything to hurt him. 9/11 killed any momentum he might have been able to generate to overcome the uniform hostility that the Left Wing media had relentlessly directed at Schundler for the months following his primary win. (We've got the NY Times and NY TV and radio stations in the North; the Philly Inquirer and Phylly TV and radio to the South; and our own left wing rag, the Newark Star Ledger, to contend with.) Yet Schundler still did way better than the media predicted.

Forrester ran against the issues that matter to me--abortion, gun rights--and even the Libertarian guy was better than Forrester on those two issues. That's why I pulled for the Libertarian yesterday.

If the NJ GOP wants my vote, they'd better run a conservative. But seeing how they operate, I'm not holding my breath.

[Tired of Taxes]

I think the bottom line is that New Jersey is a liberal state.

The voters here have one major concern - property taxes - and that's what really brings them out to vote.

Forrester's 30-in-3 deal just didn't bring the voters out. It wasn't a big seller.

Meanwhile, Corzine adopted Christy Whitman's idea of rebate checks, increased yearly. The rebate checks are what gave Whitman the vote here. Once in power, the Dems cut back on those checks. Here comes Corzine (a Dem) saying he'll reinstitute that GOP-backed program. (My husband pointed out, it's like the Dems purposely cut back the check amounts just so Corzine could ride in with the promise to reinstate them).

Then Forrester was viewed by conservatives here as turning his back on them with regard to other issues like abortion. He didn't seem to support school vouchers or anything that would bring more Republicans out to vote for him.

[Antoninus]

Hey Lonegan. If not for you, Schundler would have been our nominee. Thanks for giving us Dougy Forrester, 2x loser.

[bpjam]

But even Louisiana doesn't have the entire state controlled by one person. LA's corruption is at least bottom up whereas NJ is top-down corruption. Its easier for the mob to control one guy than hundreds.

Do you suppose its any coincidence that New Orleans and the entire state of NJ are places where there has historically been active mob operations? Its not like Baton Rouge or Wilmington, DE are big mob hang outs.

[Red Badger]

The mob goes where the money is........Like Willy Sutton......