Top Senate Conservatives Decimated by Retirements & Defeats as Evidenced by This List

The New American ^ | July 15, 2002

[rightwing2]

As can be readily seen by the above list, the loss of three of four of the top six conservatives (Helms, Smith, Gramm and Thurmond) in the US Senate is an absolutely crushing defeat to the conservative cause! Bob Smith’s surprising defeat at the hands of a much more moderate big govt challenger, John Sununu was especially troubling to pro-life conservatives. What we have here is all the outspoken conservative leadership of the US Senate completely wiped out by retirements and a stunning primary upset with their leadership being replaced by conservatism of a different stripe if it indeed can be called conservatism at all—big govt conservatism. While Clinton in 1998 declared that the era of big participant is over” Republicans have gleefully reversed that proclamation by inaugering an era of big govt deficit spending that would have made even liberal Democrat President Bill Clinton blush. Compassionate conservatism is nothing but a catchy new moniker for describing big govt fiscal liberalism and bipartisan pragmatism and moderation on social issues. Now this has apparently replaced the traditional conservatism of Jesse Helms, Bob Smith, Phil Gramm, Strom Thurmond, and Bob Barr? Very sad indeed! Without Smith, Barr, and Helms you have a New Republican Party of big govt compassionate “conservatism.” Time for traditional conservatives to mobilize for a comeback to recapture their party from the big govt Clinton policy supporting types that have stealthily taken it over.

Muster the troops and pass the ammo because we are readying for a fight. We are going to relegate all of the RINO Rockefeller Republicans to the ash heap of history with their fellow socialists where they belong. Maybe not this year, maybe not next year, but sometime soon. You can bet on it! The first battle begins in earnest in November when we will elect a new Senate Majority leadership. Nickles should be our choice for Majority Leader and we must unite to defeat Santorum (who never met a pro-abortion or RINO candidate whom he didn’t support or endorse) from his likely bid for the Asst Majority Leader position. I would support John Kyl or James Inhofe for Asst Majority Leader. Then once we have got a united conservative Senate Republican leadership like Nichols/Kyl, we need to eliminate all the RINO Committee Chairman like John McCain and replace them with real conservatives. With God's help and a lot of hard work in concert with the efforts of those conservatives still in the Senate, we will be successful.

[rightwing2]

BUMP!

[rightwing2]

While Clinton in 1998 declared that the era of big participant is over”

Typo here should read: While Clinton in 1998 declared that "the era of big government is over”

[The Old Hoosier]

How can you put stock in a ranking that has Strom and Voinovich ahead of James Inhofe, and Pat Roberts ahead of Sam Brownback, a true conservative who doesn't even come up on the radar here?

[cynicom]

Bush and the electorate like Dole. A conservative by no stretch. A true conservative went down to defeat.

[The Old Hoosier]

But what genuinely surprises me is that these guys think VOINOVICH is a conservative. I've never heard anyone say that before. I would have thought they'd decimate him as a total RINO.

[rightwing2]

How can you put stock in a ranking that has Strom and Voinovich ahead of James Inhofe, and Pat Roberts ahead of Sam Brownback, a true conservative who doesn't even come up on the radar here?

Jim Inhofe is a true conservative hero who scored #4 I think last time around so he is in the top five I think overall. Brownback on the other hand scored 58% and thus didn't make the top ten list this time around. Maybe next year he will vote more conservative.

[The Old Hoosier]

I like Voinovich, but I definitely didn't think these guys would.

[The Old Hoosier]

But what can you say about a scale where Pat Roberts beats him? And George Voinovich, for crying out loud!

[rightwing2]

Voinovich isn't a RINO, he's a conservative moderate.

Not true. Voinovich is about to jump from the #5 ranking conservative Senate to #2. He has consistently scored in the top ten conservatives. He is a solid conservative as his conservative ranking here shows not merely a moderate conservative.

[Corin Stormhands]

Where's George Allen on this list?

[Coop]

George is apparently hanging out with his good RINO buddy Sununu. :-)

[LS]

Good point. Why don't we see what the "conservative principles" are that this survey supposedly measures.

For ex., conservatives are divided on issues of "free trade." Depending on how you stack a survey, you could get totally different results.

[The Old Hoosier]

Yes, and I suspect that that's exactly why Voinovich is at the top. I never considered Roberts to be particularly conservative, either, but definitely not as much as Brownback.

Another thing: based on his free trade record, I wonder why Larry Craig doesn't even show up here, compared to someone like Phil Gramm.

[The Old Hoosier]

Don't get too excited about him. He's not even pro-life. Although he is at least for waiting periods, parental consent, and against human cloning.

[rightwing2]

Where's George Allen on this list?

Sen. Allen, who supports legalized abortions for any reason during the first two months of pregnancy, scored a 53% on this list which puts him on the high end of the "moderate" range.