Posted on 11/03/2010 7:06:37 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
Long-simmering tensions within the Republican Party spilled into public view Wednesday as the pragmatic and conservative wings of the GOP blamed each other in blunt terms for the party’s failure to capture the Senate.
With tea party-backed candidates going down in Delaware, Colorado and Nevada, depriving Republicans of what would have been a 50-50 Senate, a bloc of prominent senators and operatives said party purists like Sarah Palin and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) had foolishly pushed nominees too conservative to win in politically competitive states.
(snip)
Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott put it plainly: “We did not nominate our strongest candidates.”
Had Republicans run Castle in Delaware and establishment favorites Sue Lowden in Nevada and Jane Norton in Colorado, Lott said, Tuesday would have turned out different.
“With those three we would have won and been sitting at 50 [senators],” he observed.
Another high-profile senator went even further, placing the blame for the Senate GOP’s failure squarely at the feet of Graham’s South Carolina colleague, DeMint.
This Republican senator said that the tea party was the “big winner” by helping bring enormous energy behind GOP candidates Tuesday, but he said that “Sen. DeMint was the big loser.”
“It’s like you’re on the five-yard line ready to score and the quarterback calls the play and some member of your team tackles one of your members and keeps you from scoring,” the senator said. “We came tantalizingly close to a majority.”
“I’m completely mystified by it,” the senator said of DeMint’s tactics.
The senator credited House Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner for keeping House Republicans unified behind a common purpose but he said that DeMint took a selfish path that hurt the party’s common cause.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Yeah the very SAME media that DROVE LOTT from the Majority Leader position for his praise of THURMAN.
Stupid RINO.
The Nazis at Politico are pushing Pavolian buttons and stupid conservatives are drooling.
Ignore these Nazi pigs.
That is true.
With 51 votes the GOP liberals controlled the agenda in the Senate. With the current construction of the Senate the so called “conservative” Democrats control the agenda and all attention will focus on them as their elections speed up.
I never wanted the Senate. Too many losers would have caused chaos. These are the people Lott calls friends. Better to keep the chairmanships out of Republican hands there until we build a stronger conservative caucus. 2012 will be a much better year given the states are far more fertile ground for conservative possibilities. Delaware? Give me a break. Lott wanted it for power but conservatives don’t need nor should want a state that would require that much liberalism from its representative.
Either you’re a bad toss or you’re concerned about a felony battery conviction.
He’s not that fast anyway. I bet you could do it.
Maes was the tea party candidate. The "establishment" never really had a candidate, the other moderate candidate was flaky, and tancredo did not run in the primary.
Grahamnesty and Lott are the epitome of what is (and has for some time been) wrong with the Republican party. If they’re unhappy, then I am most definitely thrilled!
How would electing some RINO POS help America pull herself up out of the socialist hole dug by THEM?
Since RINO’s ALWAYS look to compromise principle so to advance their OWN political gain, thus aligning themselves with the enemies of freedom, what good are they to America? Answer: They are not worth the time of day.
The best thing we can do for America, is to IGNORE the RINOs... turn our backs on them, walk away, and let them drift into obscurity, where they belong.
TO HELL WITH CONSENSUS! BI-PARTISANSHIP BE DAMNED!
You do not compromise with the enemy... you DESTROY him.
RINOs need to be politically rubbed out of existence.
COD, Angle, Buck, and McMahon served their purpose. They defeated the establishment prick who would have blurred the lines and created low conservative voter turnout and depressed Republican candidates in down-ticket races. Without them on the ticket, most of those Congressional Republicans and in state legislature races would have likely lost. They offered voters a clear choice in the general, and voters went with the socialists. That's what we want - we want to liberal Democrat to be responsible for any mess that happens, not the liberal Republican.
Yeah, and if the establishment had any principles we would trust their choices in candidates.
VERY good points.
Wow... It looks like we may have a few more scumbag “go-along, get-along” big government Republicans to flush down the toilet. Funny how they don’t mention all the tea party inspired wins, especially that guy who never before ran for anything knocking out Feingold.
In any event, a 50-50 Senate gets Biden as the tie breaker.
Of course, Politico cannot be trusted even a little bit, so I take this writer’s claims and musings with a grain of salt.
Graham needs to go. When is he up for re-election? Surely there is a strong conservative who could defeat Graham in the primary.
Conservatives should note it, then ignore it and focus on putting the brakes on Obama's agenda by stopping funding for that agenda, while tying it up in court, and by constantly attempting to rescind it until 2012, when Conservative reinforcements can be mustered in Congress and the Presidency.
Leading up to 2012, Conservative grassroot $$ should flow to places where it is likely to provide: the inherent power of the funds; the inherent power of the "message" of who is receiving it and; the inherent power of the "promise" of the votes in 2012 that are associated with the funds being given.
The "selfish path" was taken by those who didn't get behind, and in some cases bad mouthed, the primary winners. The RINOs want business as usual. They just don't get it. Election after election, conservatives held their noses and voted for the socialist light candidates only to see them act like democrats. Turn about is fair play. By not getting behind the conservative candidates, the RINOs have slapped us and told us to shut up. What goes around comes around.
Fixed it fer ya, Trent.
No RINOs, ever again. EVER!!!
We already purged Lott, or rather had him purged for us, but he won’t go away!!
re: “fetal position”
I think it’s more like they want to bend over for him..... eeeeeewwwwww
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