Posted on 11/08/2013 6:12:47 AM PST by cotton1706
On the surface, Bradley Byrne’s victory over tea party firebrand Dean Young in Alabama’s 1st District GOP runoff boosted business’s battle for control of the Republican Party.
But a deeper dive into Tuesday’s results reveals this was not as clear-cut a win for business groups looking to send friendlier conservatives to Congress following last month’s government shutdown.
Byrne captured the GOP nomination in the runoff to replace former Rep. Jo Bonner by 4 points over Young. It’s a stunningly slim margin given Byrne and other outside groups outspent Young by 10-to-1. Young also had virtually no help from outside groups like the Club for Growth, receiving only a small burst of spending from failed Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle’s super PAC.
In fact, local operatives blame Young’s “impulsive” personality and controversial remarks for his defeat — not his stance on the issues.
Thus, the numbers and circumstances around the race give both sides fuel going into 2014 Business can claim victory in Round 1, but tea party groups have proof that even with a lackluster candidate, their grass-roots network is strong.
“There is a big, big difference between tea party philosophy and being angry,” former Alabama GOP Chairman Marty Connors said of Young’s loss. “And the answer is that if tea party people select candidates who can hold their tongue and be articulate and not angry but forceful, I think that they will rightfully take control of the Republican Party over time.”
Looking toward 2014, business’s next challenge lies in a handful of races in other areas across the country: In Michigan’s 3rd District, where businessman Brian Ellis is looking to oust tea party Rep. Justin Amash, and in Idaho’s 2nd District, where tea party candidate Bryan Smith is looking to oust business-friendly Rep. Mike Simpson.
(Excerpt) Read more at rollcall.com ...
Just in the last several years, we have removed from office Arlen Specter, Bob Bennett, and Richard Lugar. We prevented Mike Castle, Charlie Crist and David Dewhurst from becoming sentators. We made Lisa Murkowski fight for her life.
With each election, with each cycle, we're learning and gaining strength. In normal times, Thad Cochran, John Cornyn, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Mike Enzi, Lamar Alexander and Pat Roberts would not have primary challengers. But these are not normal times.
To change or repeal the laws, we need to change the lawmakers!
If only GOP-e would be as dedicated to fighting Socialists as they are to destroy the TEA Party, the country wouldn’t be run by Big Government/Big Business to the detriment of freedom and the survival of the Middle Class.
There are not enough millionaires to win elections. If the TEA Party stays home on Election Day 2014, the Democrats win....particularly if rich Democrats finance a Libertarian candidate, as they did in VA. There is nothing more gullible than a Libertarian voter.
“Tea Party Firebrand Dean Young”??? Dean Young Co-Opted the Tea Party Label in his Ads, but he was a fraud. Young is a Wealthy Lobbyist who falsely tried to portray himself as a big time conservative. He ran the dirtiest campaign I have ever seen in a Republican Primary filled with false allegations and self promoting claims. He was and is no more of a “Tea Party” candidate than the Democrat Byrne will face in the Primary. Too many people fell ofr his lies, but Byrne prevailed.
“And the answer is that if tea party people select candidates who can hold their tongue....”
In other words say what we tell you to say.
Dean Young had the audacity to speak of God and the Constitution in the same breath.
That’s a very extreme stance according to the “controllers.”
I would think most of these “Libertarian” voters are children of the powerful Perotistas from 1992. They think they want Republican economic policies and Democxrat “sexual freedom”.
What? I’ve met Dean Young. I’ve been a guest speaker at past TEA Party rallies where he was also speaking (before he ran in this race). That man is not a fraud; he’s a Bible-believing Christian. Bradley Byrne, the Democrat who claims he’s now a “Republican,” is the fraud. Byrne was running lying ads about Dean Young, and even the mainstream media called Byrne out on it.
Best summation I've ever heard. I believe in fire but I also believe in discretion and knowing when to shut up and not pushing it too far. If a TP candidate can find that line they will be successful as we've seen here.
What are the three biggest positions Bradley Byrne takes on the issues that you disagree with?
Is he pro-choice? Is he for Obamacare? Is he against our 2nd amendment rights? Is he for amnesty? Does he want to increase spending, or raise taxes?
Do you believe Bradley Byrne, Charles? Do you trust that he’s sincere and not just another RINO, simply saying what conservatives want to hear just to get elected, while asking Democrats to cross over and vote for him?
I have no reason to believe or not believe him at this point.
Do you have examples in his prior record where he won an election promising one thing, and then did something else?
And does your response indicate that his stated positions are not a problem, but just your trust that he will live up to his promises?
Other reports have indicated that BB is a conservative, and that the tea party was not really fighting him and backing his opponent.
He’s a Democrat posing as a “Republican.” I guess that doesn’t bother you. I don’t give a rip what he *says*.
That is not true about the TEA Party not fighting Bryne. The TEA Party groups in the Mobile area (I know a number of members there) were fiercely against Bryne and strongly backed Dean Young.
It really doesn’t matter now. Distric 1 is saddled with Byrne.
He hasn’t been a democrat since 1997; in the 1990s, the southern conservatives were still democrats.
So no, your labels don’t bother me. What would bother me is an actual issue you could mention for which Byrne is on the wrong side of the issue. Because in the end, that is what matters I think — whether a politician has the correct policy positions or not, not what label you want to throw at them.
So I’ll ask one last time — what positions does he have that you find unconservative? What previous promises did he make as a politician that he then broke when he got elected?
I’d love to be “saddled” with byrne, based on the information I can find about him. He’d be a hell of a lot more conservative than my current representative, OR the republican who previously represented me.
Yes, it’s easy to see that you like him very much. I don’t. And, as I already said it doesn’t matter to me what he claims about his positions. Everyone will just have to wait and see whether or not he’s telling the truth.
From one article:
“Among the lists of individuals and Pacs Young criticises for abandoning him are Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, The Tea Party Express, Citizens United and Club For Growth.”
I have written two columns on Dean Young, the second one including Byrne after the first primary election:
Conservative Dean Young faces former Democrat Bradley Byrne for U.S. Congress in AL
Congressional candidate gets Hell's vitriol by standing for marriage
As I have already said, it's a done deal, so what any of us thinks about it doesn't matter.
I don’t know anything about Byrne. You expressed opposition, and so I asked what policies you didn’t like, and you have yet to explain in summary form what things Byrnes has said he would do as a representative that you don’t like.
I wasn’t following the Alabama race. From what I read, the two candidates were both a lot more conservative than what I am dealing with here in Virginia, and I had no say in Alabama.
Now that one guy won the primary, the left is tripping over itself to proclaim the winner some mushy establishment guy, so they can sell the narrative that the tea party is dead.
I think they are lying, because I see no evidence that Byrnes is some establishment RINO hack that beat a tea party guy. I’d rather argue that a good conservative won the race, and that the tea party is still as strong as ever.
But some folks who are “tea party” seem to want to work very hard to prove the liberals right on this one.
And maybe they are, and you sounded very sure of yourself, so I hoped you could explain all the wrong policies Byrnes was supporting, since I couldn’t find them on his web page or in the papers.
And so far, your biggest complaint about Byrne is that he was a democrat. Well, Reagan was a democrat once as well. Which doesn’t mean that democrats turn into good conservatives, but it suggests it can happen from time to time. That might be a great reason to have voted for Young instead of Byrne. But Byrne won. So now the question is — what does Byrne SAY that makes him a RINO and makes it so we would not want him to get elected?
There is the site for what Byrne says about the issues. You will find nothing objectionable there, but as I already said, I don't believe him. He has already been proven to have LIED about Dean Young in television ads; he solicited Democrats to cross over and vote for him, and he attacked Dean Young for Young's view on marriage, in order to pander to those who support homosexual "marriage."
John McCain, Lindsey Graham and other fake Republicans all say "conservative" things to get elected, and then they turn around a vote like Democrats. In Alabama, politicians have switched from Democrat to "Republican," not because of any ideological awakening (as in Reagan's case), but because Democrats now have a much harder time winning there. It's a cynical switch.
Again, this is a good reason to support Young in the primary. But the primary is over. It is time for the General Election.
Would you try to damage Byrne in the general election simply over the fears that he might be lying? Because I’m pretty sure the democrat is certain to support democratic policies.
Wait, Charles! I already said it’s over. Bradley Byrne is in. The Democrat doesn’t stand a chance in that district. That’s why I kept saying it doesn’t matter what either of us thinks about Byrne at this point. Byrne will easily win the seat in the general election, likely by a good margin. The “real” election was the Republican primary run-off, which Byrne won.
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