Posted on 05/14/2022 10:08:59 PM PDT by TBP
When Republicans make choices to vote for a candidate based on their stances, credentials, personality, or any other valid criteria, I never hold it against them. We may disagree, but one of the beauties of our constitutional republic lies in the way individual voters judge candidates. It’s the job of candidates, their campaigns, and their supporters to make cases for them and against their opponents. Whoever does the best at this generally wins.
There is only one criteria that chaps my khakis when cited by conservatives as their reasoning for voting for or against someone: Electability. While I completely understand the surface-level logic behind it, the Republican Establishment uses this as their primary angle of attack against America First patriots they don’t like. That’s why when I hear people say U.S. Senate candidate Kathy Barnette from Pennsylvania is unelectable, I shake my head.
Let’s look at reality. Those in corporate “conservative” media at Fox News, Newsmax, Breitbart, and others are playing the “baggage” card against her. They are playing on the gullibility of Republican voters who fall for the Republican Establishment’s scam over and over again. If it were true that “baggage” based on past remarks or controversial opinions were disqualifying, then Donald J. Trump would never have won the primaries, let alone the 2016 and 2020 elections (the latter of which was stolen, of course).
By the Republican Establishment’s standards, Ron DeSantis and Greg Gianforte should never have won their gubernatorial elections. Like Trump, DeSantis and Gianforte had major baggage attached to them, FAR more than what’s being attached to Barnette. By the Republican Establishment’s standards, Mitt Romney and John McCain should have won their presidential elections while Jeb Bush should have been the 2016 presidential nominee.
Their standards are dead wrong. It’s a con. It has been proven time and again that their semi-logical but mostly flawed approach to primary candidate selection is the antithesis of how elections actually play out. We need bold candidates who paint with bright colors, not people like Dr. Mehmet Oz whose policy stances are bland pastels. He likes to stay on the fence on nearly every issue because he fears controversy. He wants to seem electable.
Those who don’t want to vote for Kathy Barnette because they don’t like the things she’s said in the past or they believe her resume is questionable are absolutely fine in my book. You’ve done your research and you chose a different candidate, which I absolutely respect and even admire. I disagree, but we don’t have to agree on the right path for every issue. We love America and we want to make things better, so I have no ill will to those who make that choice. We will still fight side-by-side against the radical leftists regardless of how the primary on Tuesday turns out.
However, those who think they’re doing the right thing to beat the Democrats by picking the “strategic” choice of someone with less baggage do not earn my respect. They are the gullible people who allow the Republican Establishment to stay in power. They are the people who encouraged Donald Trump to surround himself with “strategic” choices like H.R. McMaster, Rex Tillerson, John Kelly, Mike Pence, Omarosa, Anthony Scaramucci, Mark Esper, Jim Mattis, John Bolton, Jeff Sessions, and Reince Priebus.
Anyone who thinks Kathy Barnette has too much baggage to win in the general election denies what Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Greg Gianforte, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, and Lauren Boebert taught us in recent years.
As I noted in a previous article, the rumor spread by Sean Hannity and others that she had an “embarrassing” loss to a “weak” Democrat in the 2020 congressional race is absolutely false:
What Hannity doesn’t mention is that the “weak” Democrat was Madeleine Dean, a Democrat incumbent in a very blue district. Compared to Dan David who ran against Dean in 2018, Barnette dramatically outperformed him, getting 48% more votes than David got in his race against Dean two years earlier.
Hannity and others are hoping that voters will equate losing in 2020 in a congressional race to a loss in 2022 in a senate race. This is unambiguously false and extremely disingenuous for them to rely on the ignorance of many voters. Her very strong performance in a very blue district is why she would almost certainly win in a statewide senate race.
Kathy Barnette is a fighter. She is a passionate Christian and a staunch America First patriot. If you disagree with her stances or qualification, I accept that. If you’re trying to strategize to get another RINO to DC, I stand athwart.
Prove it in court. Do you have evidence or just your opinion?
Preserving Trumps reputation as king maker is far more important than Barnette nomination. But you need higher IQ to understand strategic options.
Of course she can, just like President Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016. This requires us to stop the rampant election fraud though that happened in 2020.
We have polls and then we have people betting real money such as PredictIt. I use PredictIt more so for trends more so than hard numbers, people reading news and then adjusting bets. It’s like Zillow, they may be way off on YOUR house value, but they do aggregate thousands and tens of thousands of data points in your area from recent sales and those trends are fairly accurate. Your house may be really worth $450K and Zillow has it as $550 or $400k, but if they show prices going up or down in your area, it’s a pretty good bet that your house went up or down too.
So some fun numbers from PredictIt:
Who will win the 2022 Pennsylvania Republican Senate nomination?
Oz 46
Barnette 37
McCormick 26
Trend the last few days: All about flat.
Who will be second in the 2022 Pennsylvania Republican Senate primary?
Barnette 37
Oz 37
McCormick 31
Trend the last few days: Barnette UP, Oz UP, McCormick DN
Who will win Philadelphia County in the 2022 Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary?
Oz 53
Barnette 27
McCormick 25
Trend the last few days: All about flat.
Who will win the 2022 Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial nomination?
Mastriano 96
Barletta 5
Trend the last few days: Mastriano UP BIG, Barletta DN BIG
https://www.predictit.org/markets/2/Congress
A message to Donald Trump, Sean Hannity and Greg Kelly:
Oz is persona non grata. He and McCormick are total RINO maggot scum!
Send us true conservatives or we will vote for the Rat. It is as simple as that. Never again will we hold our nose and vote for the democrat-lite candidate. Nope, never, ever again.
Shoving Oz and McCormick in our faces is an insult. No one in my family, friends and co-workers will ever vote for either one of them. We will vote for Mastriano in the governorship race and write-in Barnette’s name for the senate race. The establishment and elites (looking at you Hannity) need to be taught a lesson.
This is the first article I have read that accurately describe what I call “Team Player” republiCAN’Ts.
These are the people that never really graduated from high school Their “team” has to win, regardless.
This is how we got mccain, romney, collins, murkowski etc.
They believe that elections are popularity contests.
You get it!!!!!
Not even in Oklahoma or Texas.
In Pennsylvania?
Don't be ridiculous.
Correct, but only as payback for the fact that the 35% of registered Republicans who despise populists or nationalists won't turn out for our people, and haven't for decades.
OK, believe what you like.
Besides, I would rather lose with Barnette than win the seat with Oz
Turn out the vote on Tuesday, and you will get your wish.
Let me be clear - I abhor Dr. Oz, and the very thought of voting for him is an obscenity. I get your concept - when I was younger, I sent money to Christine O'Donnell, for heaven's sake.
The GOP is not going to become, cannot become, a vehicle for national salvation. The sooner it is destroyed, the better the chances for our survival as a people.
And the Pennsylvania Senate race is the instructional video for why this is true.
Well stated.
“Kathy is the real deal”
So was Rubio - until he wasn’t.
By now, the warring sides have obfuscated everything so each side believes a lot of conflicting data.
I don’t think she can win because I have listened to her in the debates and on podcast interviews.
She’s not ready for prime time…definitely not for a Senate seat.
I hope she uses this race as a platform to be better whatever her next race will be.
Maybe, but which 4 years?
If it was prior to 1/21/2017, so what?
Your recollection, with out specifics, is a worthless as your post, it is just another keyboard cowboy hip shooting.
You call her an obama in a skirt, what a racist prick you are for that comment.
Skin color is your filter? That is really racism.
I'm embarrassed for you, as you are too ignorant to be embarrassed for your self.
She can win if she plays offense and hits the economic and education issues hard, rather than answering allegations that she is mean to Muslims.
Kathy is an Afro Heritage woman
She has a definite shot at Philadelphia. She then has a definite shot at the state.
Yup! Especially since her opponent will be Lurch who profiled an innocent black man and pulled a gun on him when he hear some shooting.
Shove your China Dave propaganda where the sun does it shine.
She was the only one who was capable on the debate stage. Oz and McCormick just can’t handle it. Lurch will eat them for lunch. Kathy can handle him.
Trump, Reagan, DeSantis, Paul, and Cruz were all unelectable. How did they do?
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.