Posted on 01/13/2013 7:33:08 AM PST by EternalVigilance
Official Washington hailed the deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff as a significant bipartisan accomplishment. However, voters around the country viewed the deal in very partisan terms: Seven out of 10 Democrats approved of it, while seven...of 10 Republicans disapproved.
Just a few days after reaching that agreement, an inside-the-Beltway publication reported another area of bipartisan agreement...while Washington Democrats have always viewed GOP voters as a problem, Washington Republicans "in many a post-election soul-searching session" have come to agree. More precisely, the article said the party's Election 2012 failures have "brought forth one principal conclusion from establishment Republicans: They have a primary problem."
As seen from the halls of power, the problem is that Republican voters think it's OK to replace incumbent senators and congressman who don't represent the views of their constituents. In 2012, for example, Republican voters in Indiana dumped longtime Sen. Richard Lugar in a primary battle.
This infuriated establishment Republicans for two reasons. First, because they liked Lugar and the way he worked. Second, because the replacement candidate was flawed and allowed Democrats to win what should have been a safe Republican seat.
So, according to Politico, the Washington team is gearing up a new effort to protect incumbents and limit the ability of Republican voters to successfully challenge establishment candidates.
That makes sense to those whose sole goal is winning a majority in Congress rather than changing the course of government policy. Seen from the outside, though, it sounds like the professional politicians are saying that the only way to win is to pick more candidates like the insiders. Hearing that message, the reaction of many Republican and conservative voters is, "Why bother?"
That's why more than two-thirds of Republican voters believe GOP officials in Washington have lost touch with the party's base.
(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...
Conservatives aren't running away. They've simply learned that Republican "leaders" are mostly not reliable in the fight.
Big difference.
That’s the proof of our success: the RINOs are desperate!
I flat can’t understand how anyone could see that news to mean anything else (and no one has tried to tell me it does -to their credt).
And like most desperate ideas it won’t work.
Wherever they’re able to do this, if anywhere, third-party conservatives will emerge. Such candidates in the general election are more of a threat to them than in the primaries. They don’t have to win just get enough votes to defeat the RINO.
The MSM's "demonization engine" is finely tuned to take out Republicans and third parties. A massive influx of conservative voters and candidates into the Democrat Party would mess them up for a generation. How are they going to accuse a conservative black Democrat of being an Uncle Tom?
Conservatism's best chance is to re-emerge as a noisy Democrat faction.
“My wife and I changed our registration from stupid party to independent two weeks ago. Liberating and refreshing! “
I’ve thought seriously about doing the same thing. But in so doing, you realize that you are making the GOPe stronger and guaranteeing that we have RAT governments forever! It’s not unlike those who are “trying to have a better life” by moving to the backwater places in the country where the infestation has yet to take hold. I submit that those who switch rather than fight are almost as bad as the RATs, because they are assuring RAT control in perpetuity while they ( like you) are enjoying a “feel good moment.” It ‘s like saying the fight is now too hard and I’m going to go crawl in a hole and try to not see what’s happening. No matter where you go, or to what party you switch your registration, the “current real world” will ultimately find you, and that includes Texas!
That’s what the Soviet leaders told their citizens before it collapsed.
Russia is many times better off than before the Soviet collapse.
Screw their system. Duty to abolish it.
And, this is a surprise to whom???
Left the GOP myself.
Well, to paraphrase Ronaldus Magnus, you didn't leave the GOP, the GOP left you.
Republicans need the majority to stop Democrats.
I will gladly take Snow, Brown and Lugar in place of these Democrts. I can't believe anything I read on FR any more because I know the bias of most of the Freepers--the "IN" thing is to hate the Republican party more than the Demcorat party. That is why you're willing to lie to make your point.
Too bad poster no. 10 totally misrepresented the truth but that has become par for the course on FR and all the suckers here on FR love it.
If we can barely muster enough numbers to defeat Democrats by hanging together, how do you think we can win the numbers game by dividing the existing Republican party with enough numbers to defeat both the Dem party and the Republican party?
Excuse me, I'm no math whiz but I can figure out this one.
There is no other way. We look at the primary as the place we move the REPUBLICAN party to the right the best way we can. AFTER the primaries, we have no option but to vote a STRAIGHT REPUBLICAN ticket--anything to defeat the Democrats and for the love of our country, do not think that defeating even a RINO Republican and replacing them with Democrats is advancing the cause of conservatism, because it's advancing the cause of liberalism.
voting for liberal Republicans will never, ever, under any concievable circumstances get you a more conservative Republican Party
Are you saying it’s better to replace a RINO with a Dim than to keep the RINO?
it is better to have an enemy who is not wearing YOUR uniform and pretending to be on your side until he frags your tent
It is always preferable to keep a liberal Republican than to replace that liberal Republican with a Democrat and I fear the anti-Republican fervor is so out of control here on FR that many are losing sight of what must be done to retain majorities because right now at this moment I would love to have back Olympia Snow, Richard Lugar and Scott Brown that those Democrats. They have cost us the majority and if you’re happy with what we have now, this means you’re happy to have Majority Leader Harry Reid. I hate it. It’s time many on FR wake up and see how the game is played. We have to outnumber them, even if we have to use RINOS—I’ll take them.
you mean anti-liberal fervor, which would be more accurate
Keep right on trying to convince yourself it’s better to elect Dims than to elect a Republican whom you consider not pure enough—it’s a losing proposition. You are Democrats’ best friend, and also on the side of evil because with your lack of a sane strategy you cede all ground to Dims and continue to dig holes waiting for those you deem good enough to come along. Besides that, how many times have you really liked a certain politician and you would think they are good enough and then they turn around and do something you don’t like so now that person passed from the “acceptable” category and then they do something you like and they pass back to the “acceptable” category. We are dealing with flawed human beings here—it is not realistic to expect perfection. ALWAYS vote for the best choice put before you at the moment.
NO, I mean anti-Republican—you believe it better to elect a liberal Democrat than a less than perfect Republican. You’re happier with Angus King, Elizabeth Warren and Joe Donnelly than Olympia Snowe, Scott Brown and Richard Lugar. This is dumb and because of this stupidity, we still have Democrats in charge in the Senate and we still have that nutcase, Harry Reid as majority leader. Give me Snowe, Brown and Lugar, any day to Dingy Harry.
I am convinced that voting for liberals will never further conservatism. I am convinced that caving to the Democrats on every issue is not going to further conservatism.
I will not vote for Democrats even if they have an R by their name.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.