Posted on 06/12/2007 11:18:58 AM PDT by dangus
RINOS could be gone in six years. For starters, Conservatives can prevent the renomination of three of the worst RINOs, with minimal danger of losing their seats to the Democrats:
Sen. Chuck Hagel, although only 60, was thought to be possibly retiring at the end of this session of Congress. He has been the leading Republican supporter of surrender to Islamofascism. He was a member of the gang of Seven Republicans who opposed the use of Senate Rules to prevent a Supreme Court filibuster, as well as a champion of liberal Senator Arlen Specter. And, behind only John McCain and Lindsey Graham, is the third biggest promoter of the Senate Amnesty bill. He is opposed in the 2008 by Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning.
Sen. John Warner opposed the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the United States Supreme Court. Although he has drifted slowly to the Republican mainstream, he even voted to bar gays from the Boy Scouts, and has been the fifth biggest promoter of the Felon Importation Act (also known as the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill.) At 80, he could easily retire after this Congress. Then again, a campaign by former Gov. Gilmore or (I kid you not) Attorney General Killgore might help inspire to retire with his dignity intact.
Sen. Lindsay Graham has to be about the most hated man in South Carolina. Elected in 2002 as a conservative crusader, Graham quickly moved hard to the left, becoming the poster child of sleazy inside-the-beltway whoring up to the liberals and "mavericks." Happy to vote conservative whenever his vote isn't needed, Graham was a founder of the Gang of Seven, he supported the McCain-Feingold Corrupt Incumbent Protection Act, and was the main point man on the Kennedy Immigration bill that even Jon Kyl disassociated himself from. He seems to have a preternatural knack for inspiring hatred, such as calling the vast majority of South Carolinians (black AND white) who oppose amnesty, "bigots," and sobbing to Barrack Hussein Obama that Obama was betraying conservatives who had "walked the plank" for him. If ever any Republican needs a knife in the back, Graham has always been most willing to deliver it. Fortunately, there is an ample supply of potential primary opponents.
Ted Stevens is pro-choice, pro-gay, and pro-illegal; he is also 83 years old.
By ousting Graham, Hagel, Warner, or Stevens, conservatives would almost certainly get someone more conservative to represent them. It's a little trickier to call for the ouster of Pete Domenici, who is also up for re-election. Domenici tends to be pro-life, but he has been a fervent supporter of illegal immigration. With New Mexico trending more and more liberal, what follows him could be worse. Personally, if no strong candidate emerges as a challenger, I'd hold my nose and re-elect Domenici. At 76, he is probably will serve only 7 more years, until 2014, by which time hopefully the New Mexico Republican Party will have re-established itself much better.
Thad Cochran is also up for re-election in 2008. He is fairly non-offensive, but has established a decidedly centrist voting record, taking choosing to side with Kennedy over conservatives a full 1/3rd of the time, making him more liberal than many of the very few notable white Democrats from Mississippi (such as DINO Rep. Gene Taylor). He will be 72 years old before being sworn in again. If he declines to run for re-election, he will almost certainly be replaced by someone more conservative.
2010:
George Bush and Rick Santorum pulled out all the stops to ensure the re-election of Arlen Specter over conservative challenger Pat Toomey. Santorum's re-election effort was doomed when Specter immediately pledged as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee to keep pro-lifers off the Supreme Court. Specter is not only the most liberal Republican, he seems to relish heaping cruelties apon staffers and purposely sabotaging other Republicans. Sadly, it may only be his health that keeps him from running for re-election; he is a 77-year-old cancer survivor.
Media whore, thy name is John McCain. But the man who consistently ensures he represents the Republicans on the Sunday talk shows by crusading for whatever pet issue 60 Minutes has drummed up is not looking likely to be re-elected. He is 72, but the savage brutality heaped apon him by his Vietnamese captors leaves him older and more distempered than most septuagenarians. More significantly, his once rock-steady 70% approval ratings have plummeted to below break-even. Surely, challengers must smell blood in the water of his red state. (Frankly, I hope State Senator Russel Pearce runs.)
After watching fellow liberal Ohioan Mike DeWine obliterated in his re-election effort, George Voinovich seems only to have redoubled his effort to infuriate the Republican base. Can the Republican Party of Ohio, devestated by liberalism and corruption rebuild itself by 2010? Those who defeated DeWine look like they will be soon feasting on the main course. Voinovich will be 72 in 2008, so he may even simply retire due to age.
2012
How bland is Dick Lugar? He ran for president, and couldn't even attract enough attention to have people make fun of his name. He has escaped conservative criticism in the very red state of Indiana, despite compiling one of the most liberal voting records in all of Washington. He is a member of the gang of seven, a pro-illegal stalwart, but he's also already 74. He may need help retiring, anyway.
I agree with you about John Warner. However, I would hesitate to say there is “no risk” of the GOP losing his seat when he retires. As things stand now, I would have to say that Mark Warner has the best shot of winning it and the talk is that the GOP would nominate Tom Davis who is almost as big a RINO as Warner.
Surrender? Hardly. I just recognize the fact that your brand of “conservatism” has nothing to do with a political movement or the political reality (not to mention the history of this country and Western civilization, in general)of the United States, and that you wear “conservatism” as a tribal badge, like a Blood or a Cripp wears a specifically-colored bandanna, if I had to bet on it.
If the last decade has shown us anything, it is that “Conservatism”, as a political movement of true, classical liberalism (ala Ronald Reagan), is dead. There are no more conservatives, only a small rear-guard of zealous hangers-on, who think they are carrying on the fight for our rights and civilization, bouyed by their religious fanaticism and misunderstanding of their own history. It lost it’s way when it began to forget that it was rooted in Classical Liberalism, when it bought the left’s attempt to redfine “liberalism” and finally, when the religious bigots in this country managed to buy their way into the halls of power.
As for who comes from what Red or Blue state, who cares? If the people of those states like the job that Graham and Hagel and the rest do, they will continue to vote for them.
Your calling them names doesn’t change that fact. That’s how REPUBLICS work, after all.
Tom Davis is a big piece of crap.
No Specter?
Sadly there wasn’t a ONE opponent for Richard Lugar in 06 (republican or democrat+ the indepedent/libertarian was a former democrat who didn’t sound libertarian, he sounded SOCIALIST! Still he garnered 24%).
And Spectre could kick the bucket anytime. But a rat would likely end up in the seat.
Stupid Northern VA (and RINO Repubicans): Too bad Virgil Goode is so old, he’d make a fine Senator!!
Let’s distinguish between the good RINOs and the bad ones.
Collins and Snowe have always been party loyalists, who vote with the party when their vote is absolutely needed. There’s no way they could be replaced by conservatives in Maine.
Lincoln Chaffee also came from a liberal state, but he was not a party loyalist. He defied the leadership and sank several important bills by one vote. We are better off without him, and his ideological soulmate, Jim Jeffords.
As for the others you name, that’s a matter that must be decided state by state. I would have thought that you could elect a conservative in Virginia, for instance, but the state seems to be going more liberal with each election.
Chuck Hagel and Lindsay Graham? Yes, I would agree that they have crossed the line and must go. I don’t know enough about their constituents to say if they should be replaced by good RINOs instead of disloyal ones, but they have proved themselves to be treacherous in the clinch, and that’s not the way even a good RINO behaves.
IMO, Graham and McCain qualify for idiot status. Time to clean out the Senate and start over. I just left a message at the RNC in DC that they should start whispering in these schmuck’s ears to start looking for their private sector jobs because they’re gone.
I agree. Unfortunately, the RINOs in Northern Virginia want a voice in the party, even though they are the first to vote for a ‘Rat like Mark Warner when they get a chance.
The best replacements for John Warner would be Randy Forbes, Eric Cantor or Jo Ann Davis. They are all solid conservatives and have a history of not backing down to the RINOs.
See what I said in #30. Forbes, Cantor or Jo Ann Davis are the way to go, they are conservative and young enough to serve a few terms.
There are other voters besides Democrats. Right now, the split in the national electorate is approximately 1/3 Dems, 1/3 'Pubbies, and 1/3 Independents.
And quite a few of those Independents are conservatives. I know, because I are one.
Everything that does end up happening in the future will also depend upon if “Shamnesty” legislation is successfully killed forever as well as if the creation of the very socialistic North American Union is also killed forever. If these two “very bad things” do eventually become U.S. law, then the Republican Party, conservatism, and the existence of a decent U.S. as a country will all eventually disappear probably forever! If conservatives truly end up prevailing over all of these bad things, then they can successfully target both Democrats at every political level and “RINO” Republicans at every political level for both the short-term and for the long-term all over the U.S.!
I finally woke up last time around and voted for the Libertarian.
If so, the Republicans will lose Warner’s seat. The only thing we can do is weigh in heavily in the primaries.
AMEN to Randy Forbes!!
I thought he was a Cuban.
Go back to sleep.
The “power base” of the Virginia GOP is clearly Virginia Beach/Chesepeake and Henrico County with the edge probably going to VB/Chesapeake. From everything I’ve seen Forbes has a lot of allies within the higher ranks of the party.
I’d agree with those who think the seat might well go to Mark Warner, who remains extremely popular for whatever reason, if John Warner is defeated in the primaries. I can’t imagine Virginians electing Jim Gilmore to the Senate. The man has some good conservative credentials but he was basically a one-trick pony. “No car tax” won’t get him elected again.
Maybe Kilgore could win, but he’s have to run a heck of a lot better campaign than he did for governor. Other conservatives mentioned in one post are barely known in the state.
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