We nominated them through a GOP primary. If you don't accept the results of the primary, then join another party. O'Donnell finished off the political career of a RINO--an accomplishment all by itself. She also helped shake up the Rep establishment in Delaware. Ask fellow FReeper Fishtalk about Delaware politics and that race in particular, something she was deeply involved in.
Angle was a good conservative candidate. The RNC helped torpedo her by withholding funds. And with the heavy SEIU involvement, I have no doubt that there was widespread voter fraud. Harry Reid would more than likely beat any candidate the GOP put up under those circumstances.
Calling O'Donnell and Angle "clown candidates" reveals more about you than them. They got in the arena and put themselves before the voters. They won their primaries the old fashioned way--they got more votes than their opponents. So blame the voters for their nomination.
Absolutely nothing they passed in the House can even get a vote in the Senate. That very kind of "preferring a loss" mentality may mean the Tea Party caucus can never actually accomplish anything. Simply having an (R) Senate Majority Leader makes all the difference in the world. It means we could have gotten votes on our House passed bills. Even if crapweasel Castle and electable candidates from Nevada and Colorado voted no on much of it, we would have still been getting votes, passing some stuff and forcing Hussein to veto popular bills.
A lot of ifs and buts. Obama could still had the veto and it couldn't be overturned. Bush had control of both Houses and still couldn't turn things around. He passed the biggest expansion of Medicare, the prescription drug program that represents an unfunded liability of $7.3 trillion; he signed McCain-Feingold rather than vetoing it; he doubled the Department of Education with "No child left behind;" he added $5 trillion to the national debt doubling it from $5 trillion to $10 trillion; and he tried to push an amnesty down our throats first with Hagel-Martinez (which passed the Rep controlled Senate), and then McCain-Kennedy. The bottom line is that having a majority is not in and of itself enough. You have to have the right people with Rs after their name to change things. We need to win votes on issues, not just vote on them and see them go down the rat hole.
Like I said, you have to weigh each case individually. The goal for rational people who live in the world of political reality is to nominate the most conservative candidate who CAN win. There is no point in nominating people that haven't got a chance. O'Donnell not only didn't have a chance, she was a national joke and made the very conservative activists that were supporting her look ridiculous.
I am active in the Tea Party movement and GOP politics. I understand political reality, especially living in Northern VA, which has been transformed into a Dem bastion over the past 30 years I have been living here. 33% of the residents of Fairfax County, the largest county in the state, are foreign born. They along with the Beltway bandits and crony capitalists have made the area the richest in the country and more and more Democrat. For the first time in the history of VA and Fairfax County, we will have the ballot in two languages, Spanish and English. Kerry was the first Dem since 1964 to win Fairfax County.
In order for Romney to win in VA, he will have to at least break even in NoVA. That will be no easy task. The Dems are better organized and funded. They have been registering new people almost since the day Obama was sworn in. It is going to be a very tight race. I am working with an outside conservative group (the GOP is hopeless) to identify and get out Rep voters. Romney and Allen are going to have a very hard time carrying VA. In another 10 years, I think VA will be a blue state. That is political reality my friend. Demography is destiny.
Once he blew up his campaign and turned himself into a liability for the GOP, conservative movement and the pro-life cause it was time for him to step aside. Again, the seat is vastly more important than Akin's politicians ego or bruised feelings.
The GOP poured gasoline on to the fire. They were on a seek and destroy mission from the very start. Sunday Akin made his verbal gaffe and by Monday the hammers of hell were upon him from the GOP and the conservative media. There was absolutely no attempt to salvage his candidacy. This is the reason I strongly believe the Rep Establishment saw this as a way to get someone to replace Akin who was more acceptable ideologically.
They made a huge gamble and it has backfired on them. So far, Akin has dug in his heels and essentially told the GOP hierarchy "Go f**k yourself." I would have felt the same way. My own party didn't stand by me and to make matters worse, they did it all very publicly to humiliate me. At least concede that the GOP handled this very badly. Praise in public, criticize in private. They could have developed some sort of face-saving scenario for Akin at the very least. You don't do this to a good and decent man. It is the lack of fairness that angers me the most.
The GOP has elevated the level of Akin's liabilty. They have raised the stakes in a meat cleaver approach to push him out of the race. I hope Akin stands his ground. Let the chips fall where they may.
“If you don’t accept the results of the primary, then join another party.”
Don’t tell us to get out the party, a**hole. We have as much right to be here as you.
The chips will fall as expected, Akin loses, and we all remember what an idiot he was. Yippee. That make you happy? Do you feel you win something from following this debacle to it's conclusion? Nothing changes. Candidates that make campaign ending ridiculous statements are still going to be asked to step aside. What is the value of a loss in this state compared with replacing McCaskill with a Senator that will vote to overturn Obamacare? This just proves that Akin and his hardcore supporters are stubborn boneheads who put ego over principle.
This is the reason I strongly believe the Rep Establishment saw this as a way to get someone to replace Akin who was more acceptable ideologically.
Oh BS. Quit with the persecution complex. Akin was obviously the weakest of the candidates. That is why McCaskill and the Democrats put 1-2 million in the GOP primary to help him win the nomination. The left didn't do this just to burn off some extra money. They made a cold, hard calculation that Akin was most likely to implode - and sure as heck enough, he did. No one tried to force Akin out when he originally won the primary. Money was slated to pour in from the party and SuperPAC's to help him win. And Akin was on track to win too, until he stated that women's bodies magically seal up and prevent pregnancy via rape. And please don't try to defend this statement when even Akin doesn't anymore.
O'Donnell finished off the political career of a RINO--an accomplishment all by itself. She also helped shake up the Rep establishment in Delaware.
Good grief, for love of all that is good in this world, please stop defending this woman. O'Donnell is a complete flake. It's like some of you people are looking at her and purposefully ignoring all the bizarre behavior. This is the woman that whined that the "establishment" wouldn't support her after having 4 years previously lost a GOP primary race and then abandoned the party and ran a complete failure of a 3rd party write-in bid. And on top of all the shady stuff that surrounds her, there are now allegation that she stole ideas from a fellow conservative and tried marketing it to Al Gore's current TV.
I am active in the Tea Party movement and GOP politics. I understand political reality, especially living in Northern VA, which has been transformed into a Dem bastion over the past 30 years I have been living here.
Ah, almost neighbors then! I am in Fairfax County and agree with your points about VA, demographics, etc.
“I would have felt the same way.”
Therein lies the entire problem. With Akin it’s all about feelings. With you it’s all about feelings. There are no feelings in politics. We need to WIN. Period.