Posted on 02/07/2013 6:50:50 AM PST by Perdogg
Let’s put ideology aside for a moment.
Karl Rove, architect of the George W. Bush-era Republican victories, says he’s sick of fanatics running his party into the ground. So he’s devised a strategy to preemptively sink unelectable candidates early in the process. He’s formed a new super PAC to implement this strategy. It’s called the Conservative Victory Project, and it’s led by a guy named Steven Law, who was the head of another super PAC, called American Crossroads, which went something like 0-7 in the 2012 election cycle. (Not that anyone’s counting.)
Grass-roots conservatives, needless to say, are quite perturbed. “I’m filing the paperwork to form a super PAC to support freedom-loving conservative alternatives to (Karl Rove) on FOX,” tweeted former Rep. Joe Walsh. Surely, he won’t be the last to counter Rove’s efforts
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
The tape of Akin saying the words is what sunk him.
The media feeding frenzy around the tape was completely out of the control of the Republican Party and there was nothing they could have done to stop it. Had the entire party backed Akin to the hilt, the media feeding frenzy would have been TEN times worse, and beyond hurting Romney, probably would have caused the Republicans to lose a couple of other close Senate and House races.
If the facts didn’t object to your characterization of Todd Akin, I would agree. But read the bio below. This is why Akin was NOT a fly-by-night candidate like O’Donnell. It is also why I think the media feeding frenzy is what injured Akin and not the content of his words.
Congressman Todd Akin was born in New York City on July 5, 1947. Akin served in the Missouri state legislature for 12 years before successfully running for the United States House of Representatives in 2000. Akin is a conservative Republican with uncompromising anti-abortion views. He received negative national recognition for controversial comments regarding rape made during his 2012 senate race, of which he ultimately lost to Democrat Claire McCaskill.
Early Life
William Todd Akin was born in New York City on July 5, 1947, to Nancy Perry and the Reverend Paul Bigelow Akin. The family relocated to St. Louis, Missouri when Todd was a child. Akin attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, earning a degree in management engineering. He eventually applied this training to a career in engineering at IBM and the Laclede Steel Company.
Akin was involved in the military and theology, as well as engineering. He served in the Missouri National Guard from 1972 to 1980, and completed a graduate degree in divinity at the Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis.
Political Career
In 1988, Todd Akin ran successfully for a seat in the Missouri House of Representatives. Akin was subsequently re-elected to this seat five times between 1990 and 1998. Over his 12 years in office, Akin voted for the legality of concealed weapons, and against increases in both taxation and funding for education. In 1995, he opposed Governor Mel Carnahan on the issue of state funding for abortions.
In 2000, Akin ran to replace outgoing Republican U.S. Representative Jim Talent, who resigned in order to run for governor. Akin was elected to the House, and was re-elected five times thereafter.
Akin’s record in the United States House of Representatives has been consistently conservative and is informed by his Christian beliefs. He is anti-abortion in all cases, including instances of rape and incest. He is also uniformly opposed to embryonic stem cell research. Additionally, he has spoken out against gun control, gambling and taxation. During his tenure in Congress, Akin has earned high marks from the American Conservative Union and the National Rifle Association. He has also found support from Tea Party organizations.
Akin’s leadership positions in the House have largely been related to the military. He has served on the House Armed Services Committee, including a position as chairman of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee.
http://www.biography.com/people/todd-akin-20943207
Karl Rove does have a point in that if we nominate bad candidates or good candidates who say stupid things, then we lose. Mourdoch and Aiken were just stupid, stupid guys to wade into the territory they did.
The problem is that Rove shoots his mouth off, when he doesn’t have a replacement candidate ready to go. It’s like quitting a job before you have another one lined up. It’s insane!
We are doomed to panem et circenses
I couldn't care less about Rove's gravy train. The sooner it jumps the tracks the better.
When a brand turns against its loyal customers and demands they change, that brand dies.
Guess what Rove wants to do.
The Tea Party is a start-up, and there will be a learning curve. The GOP-e is a mature organization, and they put up leftist candidates well coached to talk right and operate left.
Those folks who are willing to take the risks of running for a new political party are risk-takers and more likely than some to have a few skeletons or at least oddities in their closets.
So rather than throw these guys over, let's find a way to smooth things over for the new guys, or coach them on handling the press.
In an ideal world, the press would ignore these things like they've ignored the Menendez prostitution scandal. But we've got to work around that. The press will work with Rove to make sure that no true conservative ever runs for office again. We won't beat that by chucking folks under the bus every time Rove and the press get wrinkles in their underwear.
“We need to do better if we hope to take over the United States Senate. We need to get better conservative candidates and win.”
Why thank you captain obvious. However past performance is the best indicator of future performance.
Rove may be the wrong person to play kingmaker, but what’s wrong with the sentiment?
Rove is asking donors to support HIS organization to get involved in primaries. Rove wants this because this is his way to "redeem" his status by presumably, in his mind, winning the primary and the general. He wants to be the so called 'genius' again after embarrassing himself.
In short, Rove wants to keep his lifestyle.
“We need to do better if we hope to take over the United States Senate.”
And do what? The same old nothing but bigger government, higher taxes and more spending? Today, there is no difference between the Whigs and the Communists. Look at the last two Whig candidates for President, compared to Elmer Fudd.
They can do whatever they want and I’ll do what I want. If we collide, then so be it. Deo vindice
I agree. It was very poorly handled.
I think the worst part was the piling on IN SUPPORT OF the media and democrats.
But, your point is excellent. Had the Republicans worked back-channel to get this fixed, even with a solid candidate as a replacement (Not one who'd just LOST to Akin in the primary), I don't think we would have lost that Missouri seat for SIX more long years.
We had our own Thompson style candidacy here in Pete Hoekstra. What was supposed to be close turned into a blowout for Debbie Stab-me-now.
This guy needs to read my new tagline.
I can also give you Tommy Thompson, Pete Hoekstra, Connie Mack, and Rick Berg who lost winnable (arguable in Hoekstra's case, but I thought it should have been close) races.
Ideology is only one part of what is or is not an electable candidate.
I think the point is to have articulate conservatives not just conservatives.
A conservative who has no communication skills is utterly useless and easily destroyed by the MSM.
An ARTICULATE conservative will have the skills to deal with the MSM.
We have articlate and skilled conservatives so we can avoid the idiocy of an akin or other opportunist.
But of course by that time, there wasn’t going to be a viable candidate, so the best thing to do was to go to war with the army you have.
>he is directly responsible for the loss in the Missouri Senate Race
That line of “thinking” will only lead to more arm chair gynecologists getting nominated to lose the election.
akin sunk himself with his own mouth and should have stepped down. It looks like some have not learned from his mistakes.
And be replaced with whom?
There is no reason to presume, even in very liberal states, that conservative views make a candidate less electable. That has been proven time and time again. Conservatism and electability are not related measurements. Some conservative candidates are electable and some are not. Same with non-conservative candidates. The problem comes from people like Rove and even some of his critics here who conflate those measurements.
>Not one who’d just LOST to Akin in the primary
Why is it some refuse to accept the fact that the democraps are the ones who made akin the primary winner?
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