Posted on 09/10/2010 8:28:01 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
I wondered yesterday whether Palin’s endorsement would pave the way for other prominent righties to weigh in. Here’s the answer, just across on Twitter:
I’m proud to endorse Christine O’Donnell for US Senate in Delaware. She will stand strong for the principles of freedom.
Did he hold off because he wasn’t convinced until today that O’Donnell can win, or was he under pressure from grassroots conservatives to jump in because Palin had taken a stand? Either way, DeMint has made his feelings about races like this crystal clear in the past. If O’Donnell wins the general election, great; one more “true conservative” in the Senate. If O’Donnell loses the general election, no big deal; a principled, conservative, RINO-free minority will guarantee total victory for “true conservatism” … eventually.
I’ve been criticized by some of my Republican colleagues for saying I’d rather have 30 Republicans in the Senate who believe in the principles of freedom than 60 who don’t believe in anything.
Let me make myself even clearer: I’d rather have 30 Marco Rubios in the Senate than 60 Arlen Specters.
But, if that were the case I wouldn’t have to settle for 30, because strong conservatives who believe in a constitutional limited government like Marco Rubio will pave the way to a new Republican majority that will keep our promises to the American people!
The best way to re-earn the trust of the American people and to reclaim a Republican majority is to find and support more candidates who believe in the Principles of Freedom.
A hypothetical for you to kick around in the comments: How long would it take, and how much horrendous Democratic legislation would have to pass, before our roughly 50/50 nation was ready to elect 60 Marco Rubios to the Senate? (Per the latest Florida polls, we’re not yet assured of having even one Marco Rubio in the Senate.) And a second hypothetical: Assuming that 60 Rubios were — eventually — elected, would all 60 be prepared to act on “true conservative” principles under all circumstances? Remember, when polled, even a heavy majority of tea partiers say that the benefits of Social Security and Medicare are worth the costs.
I’ll leave you with the audio flashback below from the Andrew Wilkow show on the eve of Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts. (The post I wrote about it at the time is a fun read in hindsight.) If 30 Rubios are better than 60 moderates since they’re more likely to ensure eventual total victory for true conservatism, why on earth did any of us support Scotty B over Coakley? Better to elect her and accelerate the Democrats’ wrecking of America so that “true conservatives” can start rebuilding sooner, no?
Update: Commenters are calling foul on comparing a general election like Brown v. Coakley to a primary like Castle v. O’Donnell. Fair point — except that the logic of the passage from DeMint’s speech that I quoted destroys that distinction. His argument is that electing RINOs is counterproductive because it ruins the GOP’s brand as defenders of the Principles of Freedom. The best way for Republicans to “re-earn the trust of the American people” is to take principled, unified stands in the Senate against statist Democratic policies — and Scott Brown destroys that unity, as we saw with his vote on financial reform. If the path to total conservative victory runs through a pure Republican caucus, then we should prefer electing Democrats to RINOs. Which, as I explained above, is why this is a win/win endorsement for DeMint. Even if O’Donnell beats Castle but loses the general election to Coons, as most people expect, it’s still a win for “true conservatism” because it keeps the Republican membership in the Senate pure and principled. No Mike Castle there to dilute it.
Here it comes...
Unless he has a 10 point lead. He loses. The undecideds and the new voters always break HARD for the outsider or the conservative. In this case, she is both.
I wish these had come a week ago, but I pray folks on the ground are playing attention now.
Lord, we need 6 radical outsiders in the US Senate. Please.
If Christine wins the primary then she will win the general. I can only say that in this part of the country the sentiment is very anti entrenched politician. At least that is what I see. We need people like her in office in DC.
Get rid of the ‘ruling class’!
https://secure.piryx.com/donate/ObyCSaw9/Friends-of-Christine-ODonnell/fresh
Let’s just hope the rest of the GOP follows suit ( where the heck is Michael Steele in all this? He’s been AWOL all this time ).
It looks like the Tea Party influence is getting to be too big to ignore.
Screw Steele! He’s a Castle man.
Give to Demint’s Senate Conservatives PAC and bypass the GOP establishment. It will be money well spent.
It is not so much and anti-entrenched politician, it is an anti-elitist, anti-Rat, anti-RINO year.
Nailed it.
I’m here in OCMD and Castle ads are all over local TV and radio. He is a smarmy f***nozzle.
Shhhhh!!! What the heck are trying to do? Jinx things? I hope Steele is somewhere chilling in the Bahamas, myself. The further away he is from November, the better.
Wooo Hooo that train is out of the station and blowin down the tracks...
go Christine!
Ping
The point being made is clear...there has to a line drawn in the sand......having a Senator Castle who will disappoint again and again like Snowe or Collins when push comes to serve is not worth it...yes he will vote Republican but 1/3 of the time. What’s wrong with FR people on here just wanting to hang on with a bunch of RINO’s and called it a day? they will just take us back to 2006 all over again.
As Palin would say, the GOP leadership still doesn't realize that the conservative grass roots majority won't simply “sit down and shut up” any more.
How about Christines ads? Are you seeing them? How many Castle to how many Christine?
What stations are you watching? Cable? Salisbury, MD local affiliate? Philly? Balt? DC?
His entire logic is based on a faulty premise, that Mike Castle would beat the Democrat and O’Donnell can’t.
The fact of the matter it, he doesn’t know that. Sure, I will admit from the look of things Castle might stand a better chances to win than O’Donnell. But he’s translating that better chance into a 100% certainty. Castle we win for sure, and O’Donnell we lose for sure.
When in reality, the difference is probably no more than 25-30%. Castle might have a 65 to 70% chance to win, and O’Donnell a 35 to 40% chance to win.
People said that Pat Toomey can’t win, Randy Paul can’t win, Marco Rubio can’t win. They used to say that Reagan can’t win. Yet Reagan won, and the other three are all on their way to victory. These people who think they know the future and can say who can and can’t win really should take a look at themselves in the mirror and realize that they don’t know nearly as much as they think.
I have to wonder what took DeMint this long, given that Castle is a notorious career, fossil RINO. It had to be Sarah’s endorsement because Tea Party Express jumped in weeks ago. Do you know if other squishy senaotrs have endorsed Castle? I can’t find a list of Castle’s endorsements by fellow politicians. His biggie was Chris Christie
I suspect both Palin and DeMint got a glimpse of a very recent internal poll and felt that O’Donnell has a chance to win.
Steele is a RINO.
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