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Bennett’s Loss in Utah a ‘Damn Outrage,’ ‘Non-Violent Coup,’ Part of Larger Intolerant GOP...
Newsbusters ^

Posted on 05/09/2010 12:31:19 PM PDT by Sub-Driver

Bennett’s Loss in Utah a ‘Damn Outrage,’ ‘Non-Violent Coup,’ Part of Larger Intolerant GOP Narrative By Brent Baker Created 05/09/2010 - 14:41

“This is a damn outrage,” a disgusted David Brooks, the faux conservative columnist for the New York Times, declared on Sunday’s Meet the Press reacting to Republican Senator Bob Bennett’s loss Saturday at Utah’s Republican convention which chose two others to compete in a June primary for the seat. Brooks fretted he was punished for being “a good conservative who was trying to get things done” by “bravely” working with Democrats on health care and supporting TARP. “Now,” he repeated, “he's losing his career over that. And it's just a damn outrage.”

Sitting beside Brooks on NBC’s roundtable, liberal Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr,. a former New York Times correspondent, saw “almost a non-violent coup because they denied the sitting Senator even a chance of getting on the primary ballot.”

Over on Fox News Sunday, NPR’s Juan Williams expressed exasperation: “This is evidence of how the American political center is losing, on the right wing of the party a guy like Bob Bennett, who is a right-wing conservative, is being driven out because he’s not sufficiently conservative?”

ABC’s Jake Tapper brought Rudy Giuliani aboard This Week to address the handling of the Times Square botched bomber, but wouldn’t let him go before bringing up Bennett’s defeat as proof of an intolerant GOP: “Are you worried at all that the Republican Party is not only growing more hostile to more liberal to moderate Republicans such as yourself, but also conservative Republicans who are shown to, at least shown an ability to work with Democrats?”

Later, during the roundtable, George Will answered the presumption Bennett was the victim of an ideological purity test:

This is an anti-Washington year. How do you get more Washington than a three-term Senator who occupies the seat once held by his father, a four-term Senator, who before that worked on the Senate staff and then as a lobbyist in Washington? He’s a wonderful man and a terrific Senator. But the fact is, he’s going against terrific head-winds this year and he cast three votes: TARP, stimulus and an individual mandate for health care. Now, you might like one, two or all three of those, but being opposed to them is not outside the mainstream of American political argument.

Brooks admired those very votes from Bennett, hailing the Wyden-Bennett health plan as “a substantive, serious bill, a bipartisan bill, with strong conservative and some liberal support. So he did something sort of brave by working with Democrats which more Senators should do and now they've been sent a message to him don’t do that.”

As if this would convince conservatives, Dionne pointed to how “you just had an election in Britain where David Cameron, the conservative, almost got a majority by saying we need to de-toxicfy, take the rough edges off conservatism, appeal to a broader constituency.” But he didn’t get a majority with that approach!

From the May 9 Meet the Press:

DAVID BROOKS: This is a damn outrage, to be honest. This is a guy who was a good Senator and he was a good Senator and a good conservative, but a good conservative who was trying to get things done. The Wyden-Bennett bill, which he co-sponsored -- if you took the health care economists in the country, they would probably be for that bill, ideally. It was a substantive, serious bill, a bipartisan bill, with strong conservative and some liberal support. So he did something sort of brave by working with Democrats which more Senators should do and now they've been sent a message to him don’t do that.

The second thing is the TARP. Nobody liked the TARP. But we were in a complete economic meltdown and sometimes you have to do terrible things. And we're in a much better economic place because of the TARP. So he bravely cast a vote that nobody wanted to really cast and now he's losing his career over that. And it's just a damn outrage.

E.J. DIONNE: I agree with David on this. And I think that something’s happening inside the Republican Party that I think in the long run won't be good for the Republican Party. You just had an election in Britain where David Cameron, the conservative, almost got a majority by saying we need to de-toxicfy, take the rough edges off conservatism, appeal to a broader constituency. And here you have a state party convention, by the way, not a primary. It's almost a non-violent coup because they denied the sitting Senator even a chance of getting on the primary ballot. And I think the party in the long run risks a backlash among voters who may not be liberal at all, but don't like this kind of politics.

And before people on the right crow too much about this, it is a party convention in Utah. I would imagine the left would win a party convention on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. So let's not, sort of, make this into a bigger thing than it is. But it is a big deal to dump somebody like Bob Bennett.

From Fox News Sunday:

JUAN WILLIAMS: This is evidence of how the American political center is losing, on the right wing of the party a guy like Bob Bennett, who is a right-wing conservative, is being driven out because he’s not sufficiently conservative?...If I lived in Utah, I’m going to give up Bob Bennett and his seniority and connections?

BILL KRISTOL: Why do you need the seniority? To bring the pork home?

WILLIAMS: To bring the pork home?

KRISTOL: That’s worked well over the last several years.

WILLIAMS: Oh, so you’d sit here and say, “oh TARP was terrible, bailouts were terrible,” even though we saved ourselves from depression? That’s rational? That’s good, inspired caring about America?


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Utah
KEYWORDS: rino
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To: demshateGod
These people are “outraged” that representative democracy has worked ... Amazing, the naked tyranny.

Ain't it, though? Imagine, a free people exercising their Constitutional right to a republican form of government, deciding for whatever reason they choose that enough is enough, they will send someone else to Washington on their behalf. Shocking, simply shocking.

101 posted on 05/09/2010 1:29:05 PM PDT by MozarkDawg
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To: Sub-Driver

David Brooks is a !amn outrage.


102 posted on 05/09/2010 1:30:39 PM PDT by Houghton M.
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To: Nucluside

You read my mind. I almost wrote Orin Hatch should be next. While we don’t need firebrands we sure as hell don’t need soft Republicans who are all ready to compromise and don’t act as good standard bearers of the constitution. Career politicians are our problem, they are used to going along with the same phony debates where the question isn’t whether the sovereign citizen is going to get screwed or not but merely a question of how much.


103 posted on 05/09/2010 1:31:18 PM PDT by Maelstorm (Tyranny thrives when the people are silent.)
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To: Tex-Con-Man

“You can tell you’re on the right track by the people you piss off.”

I like Ted Nugent’s quote, also: “You can tell you’re over the target if you’re taking flak!”

Bingo! Record the names of the elected ‘Pubs and Party officials who are bitching about Bennett and put them on the list for retirement.


104 posted on 05/09/2010 1:36:31 PM PDT by Nucluside (ready)
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To: GOP_Lady
But when I read another article where a person claimed TARP as their sole reason for doing so, I just shook my head.

That wasn't the sole reason, but one might think so from the news coverage. I've been noticing the written and TV reports on the Bennett story, and TARP, the stimulus and his working with the Dims on part of Obamacare have been mentioned. But what no report has mentioned is that Bennett voted Yes on amnesty for illegals.

I guarantee the his amnesty vote was a reason for many who opposed him (just as Utah threw out Chris Cannon), but you'd never know it from the news coverage. It's as if they just don't want to mention his Yes on amnesty.

105 posted on 05/09/2010 1:36:39 PM PDT by Will88
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To: writetolife
"I am going to wildly speculate that Karl Rove is quietly orchestrating a shakeup within the GOP through the Tea Party movement. 2010 and 2012 are going to see candidates that conform to the views of Rove’s faction within the Republican Party(Ailes, Limbaugh, Cheney etc.). It might just work."

Your speculation is wildly wrong. Both Rove and Cheney endorsed Bennett. Google it.

106 posted on 05/09/2010 1:37:19 PM PDT by blaquebyrd
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To: Maelstorm

Agreed. WE can be the firebrands.


107 posted on 05/09/2010 1:38:36 PM PDT by Nucluside (ready)
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To: perfect_rovian_storm
TARP was a scam and don’t give me that nonsense about paying the money back. With what, other bailout money? Phony ‘profits’ from cooking their books and lying about the value of their ‘assets’?

Yea, they bamboozled a large number. Still they don't get it.

108 posted on 05/09/2010 1:40:17 PM PDT by Digger (If RINO is your selection, then failure is your election)
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To: omega4179

“it IS A Depression.”

Not even close!

What’s needed is a depression as bad or worse than the 30s!


109 posted on 05/09/2010 1:40:19 PM PDT by dalereed
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To: GOP_Lady

“The choice was that or let the economy crash. “

That’s exactly what is needed and it could happen yet!!!

A full blown depression as bad or worse than the 30s is what is desperatly needed!!!!


110 posted on 05/09/2010 1:44:01 PM PDT by dalereed
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To: Sub-Driver

Is nobody on the talking heads going to call this “Democracy in action”, which is what it is?


111 posted on 05/09/2010 1:47:36 PM PDT by OrangeHoof (Washington, we Texans want a divorce!)
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To: Sub-Driver

I love to watch RINO’s whine!


112 posted on 05/09/2010 1:48:53 PM PDT by Grunthor (Over YOUR dead body!)
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To: Sub-Driver

Somebody draw a warm bath so David can wash the sand out of his nether parts.


113 posted on 05/09/2010 1:50:22 PM PDT by RichInOC (No! BAD Rich! (What'd I say?))
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To: GOP_Lady

Evidently Mitt Romney’s endorsement didn’t actually work?


114 posted on 05/09/2010 1:52:12 PM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network (Palin / Rubio 2012)
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To: Sub-Driver

If this is what the people in his state want why are people so upset? Bennett needs to be gracious and move on.


115 posted on 05/09/2010 1:54:42 PM PDT by linn37 ( "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples money.)
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To: Sub-Driver

The cockroaches have awakend the Orkin Man. Scurry, scurry now, little men.


116 posted on 05/09/2010 1:57:37 PM PDT by dtrpscout (A bad dog is better than most good people.)
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To: GOP_Lady
I usually don’t agree with Juan Williams, but I do in this instance. I’m just as outraged that the financial crisis happened as you are; however, TARP was necessary and the financial institutions have repaid their money with interest. That does not make me a socialist. I’m just a realist at times. The choice was that or let the economy crash. It’s not a hard decision to make.
Thomas Sowell himself supported the initial TARP bailout - he admits as much, while saying it was a mistake. When the waters are muddied enough that even Thomas Sowell loses his bearings momentarily, you have to cut Bennett a little slack on that one. How do you know that the next guy will do any better when the next storm hits?

But then there's the other two issues on top of that.

the fact is, he’s going against terrific head-winds this year and he cast three votes: TARP, stimulus and an individual mandate for health care. Now, you might like one, two or all three of those, but being opposed to them is not outside the mainstream of American political argument. - George Will
I think that those last two votes were stinkers. And I think that putting incumbents on notice that they don't have sinecures can be done in no other way than denying renomination to someone who seems to have gotten too comfortable. And, IMHO, the sending of that message to Republican incumbents is precisely what upset Williams and Dionne. Because while in reality they hold no brief for Democrats going along with Republicans, they feel entitled to expect Republicans to be more bipartisan than the Democrats. This action by Utah Republicans rejects that assumption.

117 posted on 05/09/2010 1:59:28 PM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion ( DRAFT PALIN)
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To: Sub-Driver

Cleaning the sewer, that is this Congress, one RAT and one RINO at a time.

They can start packing now; we want them vacating We The People’s house ASAP after November.


118 posted on 05/09/2010 2:13:19 PM PDT by ExTexasRedhead (Clean the RAT/RINO Sewer in 2010 and 2012)
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To: Sub-Driver

Who is David’s main butt-buddy these days?


119 posted on 05/09/2010 2:14:12 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (FYBO: Islam is a religion of peace, and Muslims reserve the right to kill anyone who says otherwise.)
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To: Sub-Driver
EJ Dionne agrees with David Brooks. gee whaddasupprise. What does that tell you?
120 posted on 05/09/2010 2:16:00 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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