Posted on 05/15/2022 3:31:31 PM PDT by T Ruth
MEYERSDALE, Pennsylvania — Unless either Dr. Mehmet Oz or David McCormick pulls out a miracle between today and Tuesday evening, just over 20% of the Republican primary electorate is going to nominate Kathy Barnette for U.S. Senate.
This would mark the first time in modern Pennsylvania Republican primary history that such a complete unknown wins with no statewide infrastructure to support her candidacy, zero money, and little scrutiny. If she succeeds, she will have upended a race between two capable candidates who, up until a week ago, seemed to be locked in a two-man contest.
This would also mark the first time in Pennsylvania Republican primary history that an insurgent candidate has ever won a primary race. ***
***
*** There is no state party to rescue Oz or McCormick, because the party didn’t even have the spine to endorse in this race. ***
As a consequence, the party’s decision not to endorse in the governor's or Senate races has had long-reaching implications. By failing to do so, it left a ridiculous number of candidates in the race for both offices — in particular for the governor's race, where nine candidates stayed in long past their expiration date. This allowed the eccentric, far-right Doug Mastriano to suck up all of the oxygen.
In short, if Barnette wins — and everything at this moment points in that direction — she will undoubtedly run shoulder to shoulder with Mastriano. They’ve endorsed each other, they campaign together all the time, and they hold the same outsider standing — even outside of Trumpworld.
It is hard to find any pathway where either of them will win in November, even in the remarkable conditions available to Republican candidates right now.
***
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Really? LOL. You win.
Not falling for anything. I don’t GAGS, really. But the MSM will be all over her tweets, which are described as homophobic and Islamophobic. And that will panic the PA GOP, who want somebody who can win, which is what they said about Mittens in 2012. But they’ll be saying it again. She could double down on those tweets, and she could also call her critics racist, but she’ll have handlers telling her not to, who will sometimes prevail and sometimes not, so she won’t have a consistent message and it’ll all be about these stupid tweets.
Where did you get your list of 29 members of Congress have dual citizenship? I tried to find this list and could not find a current listing. What I did see was some former members who claimed dual citizenship ... many w/ Israel. I’m not doubting you, just would like to see the names of the other people.
I personally don’t see how you serve two masters. How does one support America first if they have their other foot in Canada? Mexico? Israel? Russia? Turkey? To name just a few.
I do not trust Mehmet. He has not been the least bit consistent in his political beliefs. He is an opportunist and there has to be a better choice. But we will find out Tuesday.
I see absolutely no way for Oz or McCormick to win....
Both have shown they can’t hunt. After spending 30 Million each they both have sat at around 20% support through the entire primary (closed primary only GOP voters don’t back either of them)... Yet they are somehow going to inspire support not only among the GOP faithful but the independents as well? Not likely to happen.
Both will play at BEST as a generic R candidate, and they will be facing a Solid D candidate... That’s not a recipe for a victory in the fall.
Even before Barnette stormed onto the scene in the debates, I have stated and stand by it, if there is a race where the Democrats are likely to buck the general Red Wave this fall its the PA Senate race if Oz or McCormick are the nominee. Yes, they are that bad.
Only way I see OZ or McCormick winning is if the D brand is so damaged by Biden and the Economy that a ham sandwich would win as long as it has an R beside its name.
Barnette is probably the ONLY candidate I think WON’T disappear in Fetterman’s shadow, if she comes out swinging like she did in the GOP debates, she’ll do fine. Little black woman giving as good as she gets against the 6’9 Beast that is Fetterman will stand out... Oz and McCormick simply doing the Gary Condit Smirk every time they get punched, won’t get them anywhere, just like it didn’t in the GOP debates.
Barnette and Mastriano’s biggest issues with the fall are the GOP establishment will work against both of them harder then they have worked against any Democrat... because they don’t want either of them... They both will have to battle both sides to pull out the fall campaign.
If Barnette is the nominee the Senate is Strong D vs Unpredictable R... and I’ll take that match up over Generic R vs Strong D anyday in this state.
The funny thing about unvetted Barnette argument is, she’s the only one of the 3 who has actually run for office before... Yes she lost, but she actually outperformed Trump in her district... (the establishment screams the first part, but always ignores the second part when attacking her). Oz and McCormick are completely untested as candidates, even in this race they have simply talked to the connected and worked the organization, not the electorate.. neither have any real on the ground support here to build from, just the party structure.
The Governor’s race, You have more of a Generic D vs Genericish R... Shapiro will have his party behind him solidly and as I said Mastriano likely will be facing his own party undercutting him at every turn..
Barnette and Mastriano are both going to have to do this with the Grassroots behind them... Barnette I believe has the personality to pull it off, not so sure about Mastriano....
Personally I think Barnette is going to excite a lot more people than Oz or McCormick ever could if she pulls off the upset tomorrow... We will see. Mastriano.... really not sure... that race is winnable, Shapiro is a generic D candidate, doesn’t excite anyone, but solidly has the D machine behind him... not sure if Mastriano has the personality and presence to pull it off...
Historically, Governors house tends to switch parties after 2 terms... and there is a red wave coming... so at a baseline R’s should have the advantage for the governorship... but honestly haven’t been following the Governor’s race closely. Mastriano clearly has had the race locked up for about a month in terms of the primary.. and has pretty much held a lead most of the cycle.
Will see what happens in General land.. but I would bet dollars to donuts the GOP e will continue to attack him and offer nothing but token support through the general election... we will see. They don’t want him...
“I do not trust Mehmet. He has not been the least bit consistent in his political beliefs. He is an opportunist and there has to be a better choice. But we will find out Tuesday.”
exactly he’s an opportunist, I don’t care about his dual citizenship, he’s a fraud, and a transparent one.. and he hasn’t sold here and not likely to suddenly start selling if he takes the nomination.
I’ll take my chances with Barnette over Oz anyday, and I know I am not alone. Even the folks that are planning to vote for Oz that I speak to, aren’t excited about him... Idea that you can put Oz (and to a lesser extent McCormick) down in places like Tionesta, or Latrobe, or New Castle, or Clarion, etc etc etc, places where the GOP have to not only win but win big in order to counter the urban centers, and excite folks is comical, especially when put up there beside Fetterman... and Oz is going to excite and dominate?
Not going to happen, he’ll play no better than an average R at BEST... He’ll do ok with the low information suburban housewives who watched his show there, but out in the T, he will underperform if he’s the nominee.
GOP establishment of PA are delusional thinking this guy can sell and excite out in the T... I don’t like Fetterman’s politics, but I fully expect him to outperform a Genetic D in the T... especially if the option is a fraud like Oz or a wall street Bush republican like McCormick.
Good analysis. Thanks.
Thanks for the comments.
Emphasis on “was.” She’s gone native. Her badmouthing and personal attacks on Barnette & Mastriano are the type of garbage I expect to see from leftist propagandists, corrupt establishment hacks and concern trolls.
Why is it “badmouthing” to report facts?
Barnette has run a stupid and novice campaign. She EASILY could have
*Supplied the CORRECT DoD form (which even Richard Baris posted on Twitter in an hour. Instead she dodged posting all sorts of other forms that did not supply the needed info. This was duplicitous, as it took as much time to supply bad forms as the right one.
*She has NEVER owned up to her America is full of white superiority/is a racist nation BS. (She said she feared for her son every time he went out the door.) “Institutional racism” is her phrase. You wouldn’t tolerate that from ANY DemoKKKrat.
*She said she wouldn’t support any other GOP candidate if she should lose. That’s a major loser tag right there.
*I don’t fault her for comments about homosexuals or Muslims, but it’s stilly, stupid, and clueless to think you can say that today as a candidate running to represent all the people, including those groups.
Zito hasn’t “gone native.” She continues to report really, really accurate stuff. It just doesn’t happen to agree with what you want to hear right now.
“She said she wouldn’t support any other GOP candidate if she should lose. That’s a major loser tag right there.”
Her exact words were “I have no intention of supporting globalists” - a subtle difference I admit, but words are important.
Besides, isn’t that exactly what Trump did in 2016? At one of the debates, all 20 Republican candidates were asked to raise their hand if they would support whoever wins. Trump was only one who declined to raise his hand.
A lot of people saw it as a show of strength. He was confident of victory so he didn’t see the need of discussing a plan B.
There are so many RINOs in government I think we need a reminder that being the Republican nominee doesn’t guarantee you are any better than a Democrat.
I think the right answer should have been “I might support the winner - it depends on who it is.”
Correct. But big difference with Trump. If he lost, he’d walk away. We hope this person would have a future in politics, but not like that.
I see what you mean, but ballsyness is in demand. I think she’s reading the room right to signal that she cares about the Republic, not the Republican Party.
Party loyalty is a thing of the past (I hope).
Because she wasn’t reporting facts so much as offering opinions and conclusions based on her personal feelings on Barnette & Mastriano. “She/He can’t win.” She can’t make such a definitive conclusion. It’s as absurd as the garbage we were subjected to in 2015/16 regarding Candidate Trump. Zito is letting her personal disgust for the candidates poison her analysis to the point of being establishment talking points and propaganda. Most of us here expected better from her, which is why I and others accused her of “going native.”
Zito was 100% right. Barnette was a fizzle. Got stomped.
I know what you mean, but next cycle we need MAGA/Trump loyalty.
Because at some point, everybody has to know where someone stands when they elect them, not just “vote my conscience.”
“…we need MAGA/Trump loyalty.”
That’s true, but none of the MAGA/Trump people I know here in PA like Oz at all, and we certainly don’t think he’s MAGA. Trump’s endorsement of Oz was bewildering at best.
I guess there are a lot of Hannity watching Republicans in PA - but I wouii on ent call them MAGA.
MAGA people were so disappointed that Trump had to put out a statement defending his decision - which was kind of lukewarm - he basically said he picked Oz because he had a better chance of winning than Barnette.
You ought to look at where Oz’s support is coming from (Baris has explained this a lot) TOTAL MAGA country. working-class.
No, she was projecting her subjective personal and hostile opinion of Barnette in a general election (along with Mastriano, who did win his nomination), so she certainly wasn’t right. Barnette was hardly a “fizzle”, nor did she “get stomped” (really ?) as she outperformed better than anyone could’ve imagined in a race where she was massively outspent and had the entire establishment (and sadly, President Trump) against her.
No, the only real losers in the Senate race are PA Conservatives. They’ll have no legitimate choice between either the Turkish Mohammadan or the RINO McCormick, whomever gets the nomination. Both are a disgrace and neither are worthy of office. I’d write in Barnette’s name in the general.
What appeal does a Turkish Mohammadan with a long history of leftism have with MAGA working class (other than for trusting President Trump’s awful endorsement) ? That doesn’t pass the smell test by any stretch.
I guess I have been overgeneralizing what it means to be a MAGA voter.
A lot of self-described MAGA FReepers have been insisting the MAGA candidate is whoever Trump (King of MAGA) endorses - meaning Oz.
I did not want to believe that - the MAGA people I know would judge for themselves whether a candidate is MAGA - independently of an endorsement -even the endorsement of the MAGA King himself.
But if what you and Baris are saying is true - I was wrong - there are apparently tons of low information MAGA voters out there in MAGA country who will blindly follow Trump’s endorsement.
Frankly, I’m disappointed by this - I was hoping the MAGA movement was comprised more of independent thinkers who would be looking for candidates that really championed MAGA issues, rather than vote based on an endorsement.
On the one hand, I love it that Trump’s endorsement is so powerful. On the other hand, I’m pretty f’kin sure Oz is a RINO in the making.
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