Posted on 11/04/2010 7:40:26 AM PDT by blitzgig
The world's most exclusive country club, the U.S. Senate, is in for a shock come January. Five Republicans handed their membership cards Tuesday have promised to shake up the chamber famous for its accommodation - otherwise known as caving to liberal ideas. Because individual senators have a greater ability to shape national policy than individual members of the House of Representatives, sending a handful of fiscal conservatives to the upper chamber will make it difficult for President Obama and congressional Democrats to get away with spending as usual.
Pennsylvania voters, for example, gave the nod to former Rep. Pat Toomey, who recently served as president of the Club for Growth, a limited-government group known for mounting primary challenges against squishy Republicans whose records are weak on reducing taxes, expanding trade, promoting school choice or rolling back regulatory excess. That is not the resume of someone likely to sell out his principles just to be re-elected or to advance to a leadership position.
Mr. Toomey will be joined by three Club for Growth-endorsed senators-elect: Florida's Marco Rubio, Kentucky's Rand Paul and Wisconsin's Ron Johnson. In what was arguably the most eloquent acceptance speech Tuesday night, Mr. Rubio demonstrated that he understands his mandate is to reverse the big-government course down which Democrats have steered the country since the 2006 election. "We make a grave mistake if we believe that tonight these results are somehow an embrace of the Republican Party," he said. "What they are is a second chance - a second chance for Republicans to be what they said they were going to be not so long ago."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
They could turn out to be Mitch McConnell’s worst nightmare.
don’t forget the feller from Utah...he replaced a RINO in the primary...
Tea Party had a solid positive effect for governance even in the Senate — and even more so in the House. And the State Houses. And the State legislatures.
: )
These new senators will be the dumbocraps worst nightmare. Thank goodness. So sad for obami the commie. LOL!
Perhaps. But 5 freshman senators don't carry much clout, and they certainly aren't going to force through any big changes on their own, or just by saying so..... especially since the Democrats still control the Senate.
The call politics "the art of the possible." I hope these guys can be effective -- but they're only going to get what's possible, and not everything they want.
What they maybe can do, is begin the necessary process of incremental moves rightward, and begin voicing in a coherent and compelling way the reasons why.
This editorial is so true. It’s too bad we didn’t take the Senate but this is the 2nd-best scenario: our seats are very close to the 50% mark and we have some rising new stars who are NOT going to sit in the corner and mumble about “reaching across the aisle”, like Dumbo McCain and a whole host of past “Republican” Senators.
I would rather see Fiorina, O’Donnell, and Angle in there too... but we have to settle for what we’ve got and we’ve got a lot!
Tea Party is responsible for Sharron Angle, Christine O'Donnell, and Ken Buck -- three losers in winnable races that made the difference between majority and minority.
They're ten percent of the GOP Senators. If they work together that's a hard number to ignore. If they get others to join them then they can influence a lot.
Illinois also elected a repulican senator, Mark Kirk, this article specifically talks about the Fab 5. Some in Illinois say he’s a Rino, so we’ll have to wait & see how well he helps the conservative cause.
Agreed -- that's sorta what I was trying to say. If they can stir up the general conservatism among Republican senators ... and if the Republican senators as a whole can create and maintain a workable strategy for incremental gains ... that is what will make a lasting difference.
But even if they team up, they're not going to have much impact on their own.
I worked for, donated to and have met Pat Toomey and I don't believe he will betray us.
Pat really believes in the reasons we sent him there and will stand against all pressure, from the press, the President and the pubbies.
If this crew betrays us, then for me it's time to exercise my first two Amendment Rights; piece-ably assemble and then carry the piece.
Piece usage is a last resort, but even a last resort is a resort.
The author forgot Utah’s Mike Lee!
“Smart, Savvy and I think will someday be the Speaker!”
“Tea Party had a solid positive effect for governance even in the Senate “
Especially in the Senate: WE HAVE 40+ CONSERVATIVE SENATORS!
Under Senate rules we control everything but budget bills- and we have a CONSERVATIVE majority in the House to stop those.
Republicans did well too.
But not as well as conservatives LOL!
Ah, yes. Perhaps a "rino." That little term is going to be the death of conservatism. It's meaningless in itself, except as a means to divide ourselves.
Forget that Kirk is certainly better than the Democrat alternative. NOOOoooooo.... he might be a "rino," and only vote with the R's 70% of the time, instead of 0%. But purity is better than progress, right?
Instead of tossing that mindless POS word around, perhaps it's better to start defining what a "true Republican" really is.
And more importantly, maybe conservatives really need to start playing politics like adults -- planning ahead and making progress where and when they can -- instead of going on like a bunch of spoiled brats who want everything, or nothing.
FWIW, does anyone remember the double digit leads Pat Toomey was opening up here in Pennsylvania in early October?
I cannot prove it, but I'm pretty sure it was due to some desperate Democrat ads claiming Pat Toomey is more conservative (therefore, extreme) than Rick Santorum. They seemed like such a great idea given that Santorum couldn't even crack 40% against our now senior senator Bob Casey, Jr. in 2006, the main competitor to Al Franken for the title of "dumbest member of the U.S. Senate with a penis."
Long story short, the Toomey = Santorum = conservative = extremist ads were short-lived (and the only ads which had more truth than fiction) and the RATs went back to the Toomey = Wall Street = Free Trade = Lost Jobs shtick shortly thereafter and the race begin to tighten again.
Most are overlooking the importance of this. Obama will get zero Senate confirmations for the next two years if the Repubs hang together and tell Obozo to go to hell the next time he sends a Marxist/racist/hatemonger for confirmation. They CAN stop a nominee. Now they may grow the balls to do it.
The Tea Party made Republicans relevant again and gave them enough credibility to win the biggest swing in more than 60 years. Exit polls showed that voters wouldn’t have elected Castle and to get a purple state to evict its own sitting senate leader is quite a challenge.
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