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

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[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?

[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.

[JDW11235]

“Trying to figure out what this means, what’s outrageous? Free elections, the right of the people to chose their representatives, democracy in action? What exactly is the outrage?”

All of the above to our wanna be dictators and their “king-men” supporters.

[fightinJAG]

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

Bill, I gotta hand it to you. You nailed it right on the head. Another way to say "bring the pork home" is "earmarks." And there is nothing that the American people would like better than to strip these congresscritters of the ability to impose earmarks at all!

While, obviously, entitlement spending is the worst driver of federal spending, if there were no earmarks -- no ability, whatsoever, for these critters to "bring home the bacon" -- there would be a lot fewer things to spend our money on. Period.

STARVE THE BEAST. STOP SPENDING.

[Verginius Rufus]

To borrow a line from Voltaire, it's a good idea to kick out a RINO senator from time to time, pour encourager les autres.

Maybe some of the supposedly conservative senators will take a hint.

[fightinJAG]

I also agree with you and Juan Williams here. That said, we did what we had to do, now we need to stop spending. We need a 100% earmark moratorium so we stop spending on stupid stuff. Period.

[behzinlea]

Pure BS.

All TARP did was delay the collapse and guarantee that it will be orders of magnitude GREATER when it DOES happen.

[lawdvd]

Brooks - “he’s losing his career over that. And it’s just a damn outrage.” Career? This is the exact mindset that conservatives have been fighting. It’s not “his” seat. Bennett served at the pleasure of his constituents and no longer had their backing.

Was there this much carping and talk of ideological purity when the Democrats ousted their former vice-presidential candidate in a primary because he wasn’t liberal enough?

[Secret Agent Man]

Yes. Everyone is entitled to earn a living. That does not mean anyone has a right to a specific job.

That was my point, I hope you still got it.

[marktwain]

The Progressives lost a certain “Heads I win, Tails you lose” formula. That is what they are mad about.

[Diogenesis]

Abu Juan "Let Americans eat dog food" Williams is a sicko.
He supports terrorists. Period. And of course, RomneyCARE.
And both Romney and Abu Juan Williams support .... Obama.

---

“Romney praises Obama again
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney praised President Obama
at a GOP fundraising dinner Wednesday ..
"I also think it's important for us to nod to the president when he's right," Romney said....
Romney, who spoke at a dinner for the National Republican Senatorial Committee,
said he's pleased with the president's plans to "finish the job" in Iraq and Afghanistan
-- lines that drew applause from the partisan audience. He also applauded the president
for standing up to the auto industry.
"I hope he continues to be tough ....The former businessman even offered faint praise for
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, saying that after a series of initial missteps,
"I think he's finally getting close to the right answer."

[maddogconservative]

This is the back-scratching establishment in Washington. When Lieberman lost his nomination in the primary the same people were complaining about coups, Dims moving leftward, expunging the center, etc...

And the dims have done pretty well for themselves.

Now we just have to get rid of the rest of the TARP Turncoats...
Lamar Alexander (TN)
Richard Burr (NC),
Saxby Chambliss (GA)
Tom Coburn (OK),
Susan Collins (ME)
Bob Corker (TN)
John Cornyn (TX)
John Ensign (NV)
Lindsey Graham (SC)
Chuck Grassely (IA),
Orrin Hatch (UT),
Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)
Johnny Isakson (GA)
Jon Kyl (AZ)
Richard Lugar (IN)
John McCain (AZ)
Lisa Murkowski (AK),
Olympia Snowe (ME)
John Thune (SD),

Not one of them should make it out of their primary.

[denydenydeny]

This is a damn outrage, to be honest

In two years encompassing TARP, the Porkulus, the quadrupling of the annual deficit, the health care abomination, government-by-Czar, the Cap and Trade abomination that has passed the House....THIS is what Brooks finds not merely an outrage but a "damn" outrage?

Newborn infants have more of a clue than this idiot does.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

even though we saved ourselves from depression

Except that's not what happened.

[blackie]

You have got to be kidding!!

Juan Williams is 99% wrong all of the time and this wasn’t one of the 1% times!

You can’t borrow/print money to prop up a failed system and say it’s good, inspired caring about America!

[DPMD]

Funny that we don’t hear the same wailing from these leftists when conservatives are voted out of office.

A handy rule of thumb is to oppose anyone who Brooks or Williams brands a “right wing conservative,” or a “centrist.”

“Centrism” has been killing the US for decades mainly because the Republicans are the only ones who have been obeying the Left’s demands that Republicans must be centrists.

Any decent encyclopedia would define “centrist” with photos of McCain, Graham, Chaffee, Snowe, Collins, Specter, Lugar and Hagel.

The country, not to mention the GOP, needs centrists like Gloria Steinem needs more fish on bikes.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

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.

---

Finally we start the process of terminating career politicians!!!!!!!

[Liz]

“This is a damn outrage,” a disgusted David Brooks, the faux conservative columnist for the NYT, declared on Sunday’s MTP wrt Republican Sen Bob Bennett’s loss at Utah’s Repub convention....

SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW? Pukeneo David Brooks is dumping on conservative activists...a-g-a-i-n.

This is yet another chapter in the pukes religious cleansing of the Repub Party and kicking conservatives to the curb......if we don't salute smartly. Now if you detest Brooks, you will despise this media prostitute.

==================================================

Announcing the Winner of the 2008 Best Election Night Performance Award in the category of: "Neos Know Nothing About this 2008 Republican Disaster."

Billy Kristol (pukeneo chieftain and McCain campaign mastermind)

"Thank you very much. But I could not have done it without the help of all the
punkeos--David Frum, Michael Gerson, David Brooks, Richard Perle.....and
my Dearest departed Daddy."

"Sniffle---my Dearest Daddy (who was Giuliani's foreign policy advisor) said,
"The historical task and political purpose of neoconservatism is.....to convert the
Republican Party and American conservatism in general, against their
respective wills, into a new kind of conservative politics suitable to
governing a modern democracy."

"Sob."

"I especially want to thank punkneo Douglas Feith for faking documents on his
home computer so we punkneos could dupe our lapdog, President Bush."

"Without Doug we would not have been able to transfer trillions of US dollars
into the Mideast, into the pockets of war profiteers, which enabled Richard Perle
to startup an oil business in Iraq with his cut."

Kristol smirked: "Making Iraq safe for Perle's oil business with US tax dollars was truly a noble punkneo effort."

==============================================

AS FREEPER TADSLOS COGENTLY POSTED: "People forget that candy-a** Kristol, and his crony, metro-sexual David Brooks, are the original makeover artists for McCain post-2000. They are McC's original groomers and media switch operators.....obsessed with religious cleansing of the party. Kristol at his most smirkiest---urging McCain to fire his 2008 staff, to start all over at the 11th hour, as McC's numbers tanked. Shows how how ill-conceived, advised, equipped and poorly managed McC's campaign was. But then, what else to expect from a Republican candidate made up of neopunks Kristol and Brooks."

Watching Kristol smirking and squirming in his Fox seat election night as McC lost was a consolation prize to this abortion of a losing 2008 election cycle.

===========================================

COMMENTS The 2008 political entrail readings showed the crucial conservative base stayed home. Too bad the pukes "forget" to tell McC that would be one outcome of the punkneo-RINO bi-partisanship.

Be aware Americans, that many senior neocons are rank opportunists who squatted in the Repub Party for stealth purposes-----they are actually former Trotskyites that flew the coop when Stalin executed their hero.

The pinkneos blow whichever way the Beltway Winds are blowing-----spewing their elitist Endless War thingy, co-opting whoever's in power. Obama’s sex life is really improving as the pukeneos line up under the Oval Office desk. Rahm is installing a Take-A-Number machine to control the neo traffic. Here's hoping Obama's got the stamina for all the lewinskys coming his way (/snix).

=============================================

BTW, there is a reward out for anyone who can determine what the pukes actually does for a living. None of the pukeneos have any visible means of support, unless you count:(1) media prostitution, (2) infiltratng the US government, (3) endless think-tank pontificating on how nice it is to have US troops invade foreign countries, (4) squatting in the Repub Party, hoping to destroy it from within, and, (5) kicking so/con Repubs to the curb.

[clintonh8r]

Juanita Williams seems to get more stupid by the week.

[fightinJAG]

All true. However, I also believe there are instances where experience (which is something quite different from mere seniority — um, see, e.g., Senators John Kerry and Barack Obama) is very necessary and welcome. No team has ever won a Super Bowl with all red-shirt freshmen.

We’ve seen what happens when people who have no clue how Washington actually works get into power.

But I like what’s happened here to Bennett. And, in Utah, you are going to get a R Senator most likely anyway, so this doesn’t pose any threat to gaining a majority. It’s a nice shot across the bow, just like the Founders intended.