I throw the challenge flag on that one. He recruited what appeared to be moderate democrats to run.
If they always vote the party line (extreme left) while in congress does it really matter what they pretended to be in the election?
Posted on 05/07/2009 12:03:33 PM PDT by calcowgirl
For those writing Republican centrism’s obituary after Arlen Specter’s party switch, holster your quills.
In fact, if the next few weeks go well for the GOP, it might pave the way for a whole new chapter in the left flank of the right-leaning party.
The month of May will be huge, recruiting-wise, for Senate Republicans, with decisions expected from several big-name candidates, including Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, Rep. Mark Kirk (Ill.) and possibly Rep. Mike Castle (Del.).
All would instantly be formidable — with Crist and Castle favored at the outset — and all are noted centrists. They would not only give Republicans a chance to win again, but give Republican centrists a chance to be a force again.
Kirk and Castle routinely rank among the top handful of GOP centrists in the House, and Crist and Ridge are already drawing heat from some conservatives for their decidedly middle-of-the-road records as governors.
But those aren’t the only potential GOP candidates with centrist credentials. Two possibilities in New York — former Gov. George Pataki and Rep. Pete King — are also strong examples, as would be former Sen. John Sununu in New Hampshire if he runs. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is strongly indicating that she’ll run in California, and Rep. Jim Gerlach is considering running in Pennsylvania.
Indeed, it seems almost every Republican recruit who will have any chance of winning this cycle will be a centrist.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
It seems rather elementary to me - political science 101, if you will. Apparently, many are under the delusion if we just get Tom Delay to run for Governor of NY, or even Mayor of NY that the people in New York will have some kind of conservative epiphany - bravo sierra!
Rahm Emanuel is now a political genius, as well as a king maker because during his tenure of the DCC, he recruited moderate, even right-leaning Dems to run in contested districts. It paid off. Now, the Dems have a bunch of extremely liberal congressman in chairmanships and leadership positions, because their moderates voted them in.
But, this politics thing must be too complicated for me to understand because I'm frequently told that it's better to have just 28 or 30 votes all the time out of a 100 than it is to have 51 most of the time. I need to work on this new math.
I am not advocating "ideologically pure" candidates, but neither do I advocate supporting unprincipled political opportunists.
What exactly is an "mixed electorate"? Are they anything like groups composed of non-conservatives who voted for Reagan, twice? And please, do not even attempt to convince me that the days of Reagan are behind us. His ideals are still as much 'in vogue' today as they were in the 80s and even before that.
What good does it do to support and elect a Spector over a Toomey? Even if you win, you will still have a politician caucusing with the Dems! I will admit that I am still able to hold my nose in the general election and get the candidate MORE aligned with my views... but I will fight like Hell in the primaries for a candidate that will actually support our party platform. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
In the meantime, I have to wonder why we still have to put up with weenies like yourself who surrender before the first shot is fired. This is a conservative site. I will not apologize for supporting conservatives!
Check out the Cicero quote on my homepage for my opinion of you and every other RINO-booster...
Really? Even in San Francisco and NYC?
We're not talking national elections here...we're talking regional...and very liberal regions.
“Keep telling yourself that....
By having the majority in Congress and the Senate the democrats like Henry Waxmen, Pelosi, Frank and Durbin have real power.”
The lefties are overreaching - both inside the R party and the D party. It’s high time for Conservatives to take a stand. We must oppose RINOs in the primaries and probably in the general election as well. If a RINO wants to make public Conservative proclamations and promises, maybe he can earn our trust during the election - but giving him your support, before asking him/her for something is the WORST negotiating I’ve ever heard.
We must force RINOs toward us in both the primaries and the general election if necessary. Otherwise they WILL disregard us.
Conservative Americans would be better off if all their Specter type neo-cons jumped to the Democrat party and screwed them up too by making them continue to export jobs and money to the world and get into another endless nation building slog in Iran.
Reagan was elected almost 30 years ago. You're acting as if the country has been in some kind of vacuum since then and that the electorate is identical to what is was in 1980. It isn't. It's a completely different country, with different demographics - both age and racial - and a different set of challenges.
People who believe that you can parrot Reagan's talking points and expect them to be as relevant today as they were 30 years ago, have a "head in the sand" mentality. Until conservative politicians can talk to the majority of Americans in a vernacular with ideas that are relevant to issues in 2009 - without being labeled as RINOs or whatever else, it's going to be a long time in the desert.
So the left-leaning “Hill” likes the centrist (RINO) members of the republican party. Well knock me over with a feather.
Centrists today are still considerably to the left of, say, a centrist would have been in the US in 1963. If FDR was the USs’ first lurch to the left, the second major lurch was in 1963. Both parties have been to the left of 1963 ever since with similarities between the parties growing ever closer.
Govt. growth under Bush was large, now it is unprecedently massive under Obama...the competition for growth of govt. is unrestrained between the two parties. I do not think ‘centrist’ is relevant anymore.
Moderates like spector, snowe ,collins, grahmnesty MCain?
bleh...I’d rather have my hands clean with 38 conservatives and remove the “bi-partisan” myth when the liberal republicans RUN to the other side of the isle on critical votes...like the stimulas package..
powell still thinks he’s a republican too...
I throw the challenge flag on that one. He recruited what appeared to be moderate democrats to run.
If they always vote the party line (extreme left) while in congress does it really matter what they pretended to be in the election?
BUMP! No friends of conservatism, to be sure.
Really? Show me one post that implies such a thing.
Personally, I think Wilson took the first big lurch to the left. Of course, FDR left a much more massive footprint.
The thread is about Senate races, not regional elections.
Maybe I’m the only one who thinks this way. Keep telling yourself that.
Districts with a large amount of independant voters with centrist views is a mixed electorate in my opinion. The Reagan Democrats were socially conservative, working class people with nothing in common with country club repubs but far less with limp wristed leftists like Carter. I have no idea why they vote dem save for the fact they they don’t have any attraction to Romney repubs or morons like Michelle Bachman.
Reagan attracted a lot of votes because he projected strength and conviction and yes, conservative/limited government principles that most people prefer.
Yeah, that matches up with todays version of "conservative", but let's not give them the wiggle room on redefining "conservative" to mean "centrist RINO".
If restoring the Constitution's Republic isn't a candidates #1 goal, then I don't even want to discuss them as "viable".
List 3 "Reagan talking points" that you think would not resonate today.
The races are far from national mandates, such as Reagan had, especially since there is no Presidential election in '10.
To think that a Senate race ISN'T about the demographics of a particular region is not being realistic.
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