Posted on 10/30/2011 8:27:20 AM PDT by rabscuttle385
LAS VEGAS — For most Republican politicians, there is no smear more loathed, more insulting or more politically perilous than to be called a RINO — a Republican in Name Only.
Not for Linda Lingle.
“I’ve been called a RINO before, which I don’t mind,” the former Hawaii governor told a crowd of diehard Republican activists huddled in a Las Vegas ballroom. “There are a lot of people who support these RINOs, whether it’s me or [former New York Mayor] Rudy Giuliani or [former New Jersey Gov.] Christine Todd Whitman.”
(snip)
And from Lingle’s point of view, moderate Republican candidates such as herself are the GOP’s silver bullet and its best hope for expanding the map and retaking control of the Senate.
(snip)
Lingle’s record as governor includes...tax increases for mass transit projects and cigarettes, and [she] spoke out for expanding renewable energy.
(snip)
Meanwhile, Lingle knows exactly the role she sees herself playing in the Senate. She points to another centrist Republican woman, her close friend Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), as an example of the approach she will take.
“She’s been able to be very true to her values. She doesn’t always go with the party leadership, but they respect her,” Lingle said.
Describing an “executive caucus” of former governors and mayors who bring pragmatic experience to the Senate, Lingle said she expects to be one of the lawmakers called upon to serve in Gang of 12-like arrangements...
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
The Maine twins DO NOT vote liberal 80-90% of the time but their act has worn thin and it’s time to throw them out-won’t happen. Lingle on the other hand is better than Akaka just like Scott brown is better than 40 years of Ted Kennedy. Let’s help them win one or 2 terms and then when they act like the Maine twins it’s time to toss them out. Heather Wilson in NM is another.
Although they have both “improved” slightly, in 2008, Susan Collins got an 80% liberal rating and Olympia Snowe got an 88% liberal rating from the ACU. That’s horrible for a Democrat, nevermind a Republican.
“There are a lot of people who support these RINOs, whether it’s me or [former New York Mayor] Rudy Giuliani or [former New Jersey Gov.] Christine Todd Whitman.”
Those lot of people are called democrats and they do support RINOs until the time they run opposite a member of the democrat party.
I’ll still take her over Hirono or Case. And I’m not saying that Hawaii can’t elect someone more conservative than Lingle (I’m sure it can); I’m saying that it won’t elect a more conservative nobody, and we have no bench in Hawaii (Aiona’s and Djou’s losses last November killed any chance we had of building a bench of moderate-to-conservative Republican officeholders who could win a U.S. Senate race).
Nominating Lingle is pretty much our only shot at winning the Senate race next year, not because she’s a moderate, but because she has the type of experience and résumé that most Hawaii voters would expect before even considering voting for a Republican for the Senate (their standards are much lower for Democrat candidates), and has the name ID and fundraising ability that a Republican needs in order to run a competitive race. Hopefully Lingle can beat Hirono or Case (thus preventing the Dems from holding the seat for another 36 years—if Hirono or Case win, Hawaiians will keep sending them back to the Senate until they die or retire), and Djou can win back his U.S. House seat; in 2014 Aiona can try again for the governorship and in 2016 Djou can run for the Senate seat that Inouye (if he lives that long) will finally be vacating.
I’m not sure if Aiona would even want to try for a rematch. The fact he could only muster 41% in a good GOP year against a certifiable hippie Haole moonbat wasn’t good. Since statehood in 1959 (excluding 1982 & 1994 when the anti-Dem vote was split), his was the 2nd worst showing for a GOP Gubernatorial candidate (Fred Hemmings in 1990 got the lowest, at 39%).
“in Hawaii, she’s as good as we can hope for”
Sadly this is true. Unicorns and menehunes are more observable in Hawaii than true political conservatives. Just ask Sam Slom, the only republican in the state senate - and about the only true conservative in the whole state.
It is very hard to defeat the entrenched democrat bureaucracy of Japanese public workers. I love the Asian people, but they will vote democrat to save their jobs. Hawaii is a strong ethnic-voting state.
Lingle is on record as opposing any tax on millionaires.
Just what we need. Another susan collins, olympia snowe, RINO cockroach. They’ve done so well in the past running our country into the ground.
Your sentence stated that Lingle is a fiscal conservative, but left out the second half, which is, let me guess, a social liberal. Right?
If so, you are sadly mistaken. Liberal social policies can NOT work hand in hand with conservative fiscal policies. Why? Because social policy drives the budget. Liberal social policies drive a liberal fiscal policy.
Certainly we are better off with Brown and Lingle than a Democrat, but it is a matter of increments.
O RINO, where is thy sting? I read the article. I don't see her stabbing anybody. She is who she is. She's up front about it. She's the best chance Republicans and, well, conservatives have in Hawaii. If you want to attack her, you'll attack her, but don't pretend she's the aggressor.
I also think that Linda Lingle is our only shot at victory and she forces DemocRATS to spend money and resources that they’d rather spend elsewhere. As for the losses in the state legislature, in 2006 and 2008, a liberal perfect storm swept across many northern tier and Pacific states, the result of an anti-Bush backlash that local Republicans were powerless to stop.
I was mildly shocked that Aiona did so poorly.
I was completely floored. I knew he was trailing, but most GOP Gubernatorial candidates have performed well in HI going back to statehood. Given the year, he shouldn’t have received less than, say, 47%. I don’t understand the appeal of a dingbat like Abercrombie who has done absolutely nothing to warrant election to any post of responsibility.
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