Posted on 12/25/2011 9:37:10 AM PST by Qbert
Sen. Dick Lugar (Ind.) facing a primary contest from the right in his reelection bid said past Tea Party-backed challenges had “killed off” Republican efforts to take the Senate in the past and could undermine a GOP majority again in 2012.
“A Republican majority in the Senate is very important, and Republicans who are running for reelection ought to be supported by people who want to see that majority,” Lugar said in an interview which aired Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.
“I think the majority of Tea Party people understand that too,” he added.
Lugar who is facing a tough primary challenge from Tea Party-backed Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R) said he was the best GOP option to win the seat and that past attempts by grassroots groups to install candidates they found more conservative had backfired. "If I was not the nominee it might be lost," he said of his seat. "Republicans lost the seats before in Nevada and New Jersey and Colorado where there were people who were claiming they wanted somebody who was more of their Tea Party aspect but they killed off the Republican majority."
"This is one of the reasons why we have a minority in the Senate right now," he claimed.
Lugar said that conservative Indiana voters looking for a candidate should look at his record. "I would say to them respectfully that it is me."
"I have a very conservative voting record over the course of the time I've served," he said.
"Certainly unique, I think, in the Senate, of having been a farmer, a small businessman, a Naval officer, a mayor, a school board member. These are grassroots functions that people are dealing with."
Lugar also denied claims Senate Republicans had undercut the House GOP in the payroll tax fight and warned that the protracted fight would make it “very difficult” to find a year-long tax holiday extension.
Lugar defended the Senate compromise negotiated by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) He said McConnell was committed to a year-long extension but that the deadlock necessitated a short term deal.
“I think that Mitch McConnell offered an avenue, an approach that said this is a serious business, we have to talk about a year solution, but this is not likely to be resolved in the next few days,” said Lugar.
He said senators were forced to act to avoid the wide-ranging repercussions if a deal was not struck saying that wage earners would have seen “the tax holiday go… apart from those who are unemployed on unemployment compensation or the doctors in Medicare.”
He said the Senate GOP position was “why don’t we, as a matter of fact, talk for a period of time but do so after the 1st of January.”
Lugar sounded a pessimistic note about reaching a deal in the next round of fighting over a yearlong extension.
"I think it will be very difficult. Just as the committee of twelve found it would be very difficult even if the objective was to reduce the deficits, the problems of our balanced payments.”
“We just simply find it’s difficult to do in this context, but not impossible," said Lugar.
Lugar said his provision to fast track an administration decision on the Keystone XL pipeline helped sell the deal to Senate Republicans. “One factor that led the Senate to come to a conclusion was the Keystone pipeline,” he said.
“At least 20,000 new jobs, six and a half billion dollar investments from the Canadians and much more oil independence for the United States. A real winner, but President Obama because of environmentalists surrounding the White House apparently literally said we won't do anything until 2013. We said you need to make a decision within 60 days.”
No, it requires 51. 51 is more than 49, you know. Gives you the ability to control committees, calendars, and all sorts of neat stuff that have to do with controlling the levers of power. Republicans held it from 1995-2007, with a few brief interruptions to do idiots like Jeffords. To say 60 is required for a majority means there has only been on majority party, for about six months, in our lifetimes, and Harry Reid currently controls nothing. Sort of a silly thing to assert.
And I offered a suggestion as to where he could put the Christmas card he sent.
What the H - E- Double Hockeysticks does Lugar know about a Republican majority? He’s been undermining Republican thought and missions for years.
I just found out that I have an extra “Is it 2012 Yet” magnetic bumpersticker. I put it on my steel front door. Looks great!
It’s not about a majority, it’s about the right thing!
Controlling the legislative agenda is one thing. Passing legislation is quite another. In the Senate you are going to need 60 votes to do that, and if you don’t do that it does not matter how many committees you control.
Japan still has an Emperor.
“A senate majority takes 60 seats” ???DUHHH
#1 RINO
Is he feeling the pressure?
don’t forget Lugar’s passion for “L.O.S.T.”
They are cronies of the couple of Republican senators who imagine they have a shot at heading up committees or subcommittees where he would otherwise be the chair (given a Republican victory in the next election).
United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has Richard Lugar as it's ranking minority member. He could end up as the Chairman. If he's not there, Bob Corker would end up as the chairman, unless, of course, the Tea Party can ease him out in the primaries.
So, let's say we remove the two top Republicans on the committee, that would take us to James Elroy "Jim" Risch who the Democrats claim is the 13th most Conservative member of Congress.
Negatives for James are that he was born in Milwaukee and grew up in the very Leftwingtard environment that comes with Wisconsin's then prevailing political culture.
Guess he has "his friends" and they are "not" Lugar's friends.
Is this just a move by Priebus to get control of the Foreign Relations committee for his commercial sponsors?
And 'splain to me why some idiot Republican staffer somewhere touted Risch as "a complete substitute for Senator Larry Craig" (whatever that meant).
Gad!
Can we find these party staffers and stuff their mouths with cotton balls or something.
Controlling the legislative agenda is one thing. Passing legislation is quite another. In the Senate you are going to need 60 votes to do that, and if you don’t do that it does not matter how many committees you control.
““A Republican majority in the Senate is very important,.....”
.....and the main reason for people like Lugar to be primaried and sent packing!
“We gave the republicans a senate majority and they squandered the chance to do anything substantial.”
When did they ever have a majority?
With ‘Republicans’ like Snow, Collins, Jeffers, Chaffee, et al...ad nausium, there has never been a real Republican Majority in the Senate! We need one now!
Primary them all out.....NO more elite elected ruling class.....NO more elected aristocracy!
This year needs to be an electoral ‘open season’ on both RINO’s and Democrats!
PS there is no such thing as a ‘conservative Democrat’ None whatsoever. Zilch. Nada. Zippo.
Sadly the RAT party can be summed up in 3 words & they are SOCIALISM,SODOMY & SLAVERY, but what is even worse is that the GOP can be summed up in the following 3 words SUCKING DONKEY DICK! Is this a harsh message absolutely but it is also the blunt truth that needs to said to the face of Republican elites every time they show their faces to the Republican base.
“Guess we will always have Democrats.”
While historically there has been a ‘Democrat’ party for a very long time, beginning in the early 1800’s, it has never been my cup of tea.....
That said, the Democrat party no longer exists in anything more than a name ..... a shell of it’s former self......Activist socialists/communists became a force within it in the 1970’s, and have now taken over what was once the Democrat party.
Lets be honest...... the ‘Democrat Party’ is the US version of the International Communist Party.
“And their retirements should be capped.”
Just having retirement plans in and of itself creates and reinforces the idea of a political ruling class.
Retirement plans should be eliminated for both elected officials and their ‘staffer’ hanger ons if we truely want to re-establish a responsive and responsible government.
Get rid of the ‘pros’ and we’ll get back to closer to what the Founders intended. Governance of, by, and for the People.
By JUANA SUMMERS | 12/25/11 9:46 AM EST
Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) says Republicans could lose his Indiana Senate seat if anyone but him is the nominee.
“If I was not the nominee, it might be lost,” Lugar said in an interview aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”.
Lugar pushed back on a Washington Times report that described him as “perhaps the most vulnerable Republican senator of the 2012 election cycle.”
“Well, I’m not certain it — that I’m the most vulnerable and I’m not sure it just happened,” Lugar said. “In other words, I would just say that our campaign has already enlisted hundreds of volunteers from all the backgrounds that I’ve talked about. We’ve made 517,000 calls already, just to the spectrum of people who might vote in the Republican primary.”
The moderate Indiana Republican said he has been fundraising aggressively, and is actively courting the tea party vote.
Ahem, that is a (THE) problem. Apart from that, with his broad, scholarly background the man could have been a decent president. Yeah, yeah, I know.
Let Lugar's defeat make him a posterboy for RINOs everywhere including the Mitwit.
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