Christine O’Donnell, the Tea Partiers, and the Republicans
So.
Christine O’Donnell has won the Republican primary in Delaware, handing Mike Castle a defeat. In a way, she also handed a defeat to the Republican establishment itself, serving notice that the usual rules do not apply this year, and that being anointed by the party not only does not have the usual clout, it’s more akin to the political kiss of death.
I’m not happy that she won, for the simple reason that I don’t think she can win the general (see this for some of the accusations that will come her way). And it’s the general I care about, not the internecine intra-Republican battles that her victory represents.
What profit if conservatives win the battle but lose the war? Mike Castle may have been a RINO of sorts, but he was only a half-RINO or semi-RINO who represented a vote against Obamacare. And he was very likely to have won the election against his Democratic opponent Coons, whereas O’Donnell is very likely to lose. That’s what’s called a Pyrrhic victory.
I know the purists among you say, “so what?” It’s an old argument, one we’ve had here before, and one we’ll probably take up again. Back in May of 2005 I wrote:
I don’t think that conservatives really have a death wish for the Republican Party. It’s that the extreme wings of either party are just that: extreme. As such, they tend to be inherently less practical, less willing to compromise, and more inclined towards ideological purity and purges.
But that’s not the whole story. I have become convinced that the purists believe that their ideas are so inherently logical and so obviously right (as in “correct”), that if the electorate were to just listen to candidates articulating those positions properly, even in blue states (with the possible exception of Minnesota and Massachusetts, so deeply blue as to be indigo) the scales would fall from voters’ eyes and they would elect the conservative candidates.
Back then the situation was different; the Republican Party was not in the ascendance. Now it is (look at what happened in Massachusetts, one of the two states I mentioned as being the bluest of blue). The electorate is now so upset with the political establishment on both sides that it is possible—although unlikely—that even a candidate as extreme as O’Donnell could win in blue Delaware. But the problem is that not only is O’Donnell extreme, she is also very flawed as a candidate.
It is the opposite of the situation in Massachusetts last winter. Back then we had a Republican nominee, Scott Brown, who was articulate, savvy, likable, and with very few skeletons in his closet (and those were rather attractive ones, such as his nude-ish magazine layout years ago in his modeling days). His opponent Coakley was a poor and arrogant campaigner who helped him out by committing a series of gaffes that offended even the Democratic voters of Massachusetts. Plus, Brown was no extremist; he was Republican-lite, and not really that much of a stretch for Democrats in the state to vote for.
Couldn’t the Tea Party in Delaware have come up with someone better than O’Donnell to carry the conservative flag against Coons? I don’t know, not being familiar with internal Delaware politics. But at any rate they did not, and O’Donnell is the candidate we have. And of course it is possible that she could even win, with the electorate feeling as angry as it does, and her proven ability to come from behind. Stranger things have happened.
If I were in Delaware, I’d cast my vote for her in the general. But I wouldn’t be all that happy about it.
[NOTE: The national Republican Party is refusing to give O’Donnell money because they don’t think she has a chance (probably also because they don’t like her). You might recall that the same thing happened to Scott Brown, who didn’t seem to suffer a bit from the problem because a big internet campaign was launched to support him. It may be somewhat harder to get the same thing going for O’Donnell, but we’ll see. ]
Christine O’Donnell is probably less flawed than BHO. Castle was no prize, nothing has been lost since he was just a political RINO. The Republican Party better understand this clear signal from the voters. If the GOP can find more qualified conservatives to run, they will be welcomed. I bet that Christine will win in November because she will still be the better choice for the people of Delaware.
I am torn by this.
1) I see the Powerline Blog and I see the alternative viewpoint. They are a powerful voice and they were not in favor of O’Donnell.
2) I have my issues with Mike Castle’s voting record – what is the deal with all the accusations against O’Donnell. Do they have merit? What is the biggest complaint with merit?
3) It is time now for the moderate Republicans to support the nominee. Period. Unfortunately the polling shows supporters of Mike Castle will fall to the Democrat…. THIS YEAR??? Are you idiots in Delaware??? Why is it a 60/30 supporters of Mike falling to the Democrat? I’m baffled and disappointed.
I’ve just started researching the issue – so call me late to the game.
All I want is some clear explanation as to why O’Donnell can’t be supported. I don’t want any stupid accusations that have no merit (Nyom).
For instance:
1) Did she do Barney Frank type deals?
2) Taking 20 years to repay college loans is NOT a good enough reason – that’s one of the things that Karl Rove mentioned last night on Hannity – an aside: Watching Karl Rove last night on Hannity made me sick. It was awful.
3) Did she advocate a position (from her mouth) that is unsupportable?
Make it simple for me Karl !!! Give me something that I can say ok – I get it.
And I will not support the National Republican Party but I will send money to Christine O’Donnell’s campaign.
The Democrats are dangerous but the Republicans basically are stupid.
Some choice.
BTW,
1)Powerline blog’s issues are mostly with Mark Levin – not O’Donnell. I was wading through post after post trying to find the meat against O’Donnell.
2) Karl went on about O’Donnell worried about her personal safety and looking behind bushes…
Well I’m sorry Karl, if she’s worried about her safety it’s not always paranoia… nor nutty. nor does it make her unelectable.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2010/09/christine-odonnell-on-roves-un-factual-remarks-and-republican-cannibalism.html
So we’re going to replace the semiliterate innumerate hack lawyers who run the country with semiliterate innumerate marketing hacks? (Shout-out to Maria Cantwell.)
It does seem to me that O’Donnell is running because of the revenue stream it brings in. (Ditto for Newt Gingrich if he declares.)
But I bet you could identify Senators and Representatives who are at least as badly qualified as she is. (Joe Biden’s name comes to mind immediately.) However, they have fig leaves like being born into the right family, getting a nominal law degree, or a “track record” of previous offices.
Unfortunately O’Donnell’s opponent sounds like he could be to the left of Obama.
I expect that Republican/Conservative/Tea Party ideological purity will allow the Democrats and the President to win in November and continue to transform the country.
It’s better to have a true Conservative at least try to win the seat than a RINO win and vote against important issues to Conservatives. Cap & Tax is a killer for the economy and should not even be considered by a Republican if they want support from Conservatives. The fact that Mike Castle votes in favor of this nonsense deems him ineligible to be the R vote. He’s useless and then the Dems can just blame the Reps when the tax fails and destroys the country because a few RINOs voted for it. I’d rather have the blame fall solely on the Dems.
Really, whatever O’Donnell’s failings are, they are no worse than any other member of Congress, ie. Frank, Rangel, Pelosi, Reid….I could go on…..and they win.
So bottom line is…after 2 years of destructive policies and spending….people are ready for a CHANGE! Out with the old and in with the new. Look what all their old experience and political savvy have brought us in the last few years.
I disagree with your criticism of “purists”.
1. It’s a selective term of derision unfairly applied to one designated group when it cou;ld be applied to EVERYONE at aany time. It’s unfair, as applied.
2. It is all about November and it isn’t. The purists, as you call them, have a long term strategy and goals. What good is it to elect a Castle, Specter, McCain in the long run? At the end, they do more harm than good. At the end, they are Dem-lite. At the end, they mean that we lose and Libs win. The argument against the purist is that we can delay the inevitable defeat and make is slower and more excruciatingly painful.
3. I am from PA. I NEVER voted for Specter when I had the chance, as a protest I voted for the 4th party UFOlogist ahead of him. History proved me right and the pragmatists wrong. If they had ;listened to people like me, everyone would have been better off. The ‘people in the know’ – in the end – weren’t in the know. They were wrong and they did real harm to the nation.
4. I’m more or less a recent subscriber to the Limbaugh Rule – find the most conservative and vote for them. Period. All the rest will come out in the wash. Start calculating more or less liberal and you’re just another variety of liberal.
An addendum to the Limbaugh Rule is fighting for our candidate warts and all. Is O’Donnell a b it off? Tell a fib or two in the past? Fine. Does she have 100 freaking thousand dollars stashed in her refrigerator? Did she steal land and money ala Reid, Clinton. Did she plagiarize like the VP (and perhaps Obama?)
Did they give up on their hoodlums? No. Do we give up on our less-than-perfects? Yes.
Genius, it is said, is the ability to decide what is important. what is important is get what amounts to a traitor out of the White House, not show purity of soul. The extreme right just gave the traitor a victory. I remember Washington’s words after seeing American troops run from the British, “do I have troops as these?”; they can apply to the extreme right wishful thinkers.
The extreme right could get Obama re-elected, in fact there is a very good chance of that happening if they alienate the middle-independents to point they will stay home on election day or vote for a less undesirable candidate.
And before I forget, remember Obama is not as unpopular as the commenters at Neo Neocon seem to think (although he should be).
O’Donnell’s supporters hurt the country.
Shouldn’t the best candidate for a house or senate seat in Delaware be the person who most faithfully represents the wishes and interests of the [eople of Delaware, regardless of how “pure” or “moderate” that candidate is? Shouldn’t that trump both purity and electability?
I have to say, you people using terms like “extremist” and purist etc. are logically contradictory, and “extremists” your wn self.
Tell me – what is an “extremist”/ I will answer – it is what Liberal Dems tell you that it is. You are no more than their tools.
Everyone is a purist insofar as they believe what they believe. Everyone is an extremist insofar as their views are their views. They belive them and hold them extremely well, and closely, and for good reason.
The people who don’t do this – pay attention – are otherwise known as mindless idiots who can be led by the nose and will buy anything.
Buck up people!
We HAVE a Republican nominee. She was chosen by Republican people! THAT is the wya we do it in America. We DO NOT have a system where credentialled party parofessinoals choose people. We do it ourselves!
You want to be a real “extremist”? Criticize your own nominee, and while you’re at it just become a Dem. They are ding it too!
We have been through this before. In 2004, this was also the big push by the RSNC. Judges. Remember the “nuclear option”? What happened? The Rino Senators, McCain, Graham, DeWine, and others sabotaged the whole thing. What is the point of electing these jerks when they stab us in the back? This is really the party’s fault. They should have found a different candidate than Castle. This wouldn’t be happening if they were paying attention.
Mike Mc says it well (except for typos).
It is rather humorous that a segment of the punditry label the person that just won an election as unelectable. O’Donnell’s opponent, who has been a career politician in Delaware, who has a large political organization, and who had the support of the national GOP could not beat this “flawed” candidate. But, he is the only one who can beat the Dimocrat? Please.
I am a life-long Republican. I chose the GOP when there was no party in sight in the Florida of my youth. I have stayed faithful to the party all of my life–for one reason. The GOP was the best vehicle to represent my political values. I am sick to death of choosing the “lesser of two evils”, and even sicker of being lectured that I must do so. I sense that a lot of Americans feel the same way. My message to Neo, Krauthammer, Rove, et al, is get to work and help the actual Republican candidates get elected, and quit complaining because they don’t fit your template. The rest of us have been doing just that for generations.
Having read through the comments here, and as I am a leader in the Tea Party/9-12 movement, I can say with utmost certainty that many people still don’t understand the wave of momentum coming at them from this movement. Last night I spoke with a decidedly experienced political strategist and he told me that Carl Paladino didn’t stand a chance against party choice, Rick Lazio in NY. I begged to differ. As smart as I think this guy is, he’s judging events in 2010 with old school knowledge. Suffice to say, I was right and he was wrong. Many of the pundits have been wrong with their assessments of the Tea Party’s. Wishful thinkers at best! Stay grounded in reality, it’s all around us!
@ELEM,
Bingo!
We DO NOT have a system where credentialed party paraprofessionals choose people.
we don’t?
So explain to me why almost every presidential candidate and president since my birth has been a CFR member?
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd is CFR member…
CFR has provided Obama over 340 of their members for appointment to his Administration. What other organization in the world has the power to advance such a list and thereby control the Administration of each President?
go thorugh this list then tell me that we dont have a system where credentialed paraprofessionals choose people…
Membership Roster
(as of September 15, 2010)
http://www.cfr.org/about/membership/roster.html
Afghanistan Czar – Richard Holbrooke (CFR member)
Border Czar – Alan Bersin (CFR member)
Climate Czar – Todd Stern (CFR member)
Economic Czar * – Paul Volcker (CFR member)
Mideast Peace Czar – George Mitchell (CFR member)
Science Czar – John Holdren (CFR member)
Weapons Czar – Ashton Carter (CFR member)
WMD Policy Czar – Gary Samore (CFR member)
Bill Clinton is a CFR member, but his wife isnt…
Both Peter and Timothy Geithner are CFR Members
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is a CFR member and so is Robert M Gates
John Kerry is a CFR man, and so is John McCain…
Palin and Biden are not…
Aimee Carter is a member…
President Carter was a member…
both Mark and Zbigniew Brzezinski are members…
those not members of this organization may be members of the other sister organizations, like the trilateral commission… and or the bilderburgs (who just had their meeting)
Alexander, Keith B. was at bilderburg…
[he is the director of our national security agency]
Max Boot… (who is also a CFR member) was there
Eberstadt from the american enterprise institute..
Richard holbrooke (which explains his absence in CFR)
also there was the Secretary General of NATO,
President and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company
President and CEO, Alcoa Inc.
CEO, Siemens AG
Editor-in-Chief, The Economist
President, European Investment Bank
Chief Research and Strategy Officer, Microsoft Corporation
Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell plc
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Vice Chairman, Morgan Stanley International
Executive Director, UN World Food Programme
David Rockefeller was there, he heads CFR which was started by his family, and intimately tied to the Obama regime…
besides CFR, Trilateral commission, Bilderburgs, there is also American Enterprise Institute, and various other connected organizations.
all this we pay ZERO attention to!
we USED to not let world leaders meat out of our view, it kept collusion down.
“Mom! i dont want vegetables…”
“ok dear, i will let you pick”
“goody!!!!”
“you can have either peas or carrots”
Neo, you disappoint, seriously disappoint.
Media pundits are fond of describing political races as “neck and neck”, and other horseracing metaphors. But overlooked is that racehorses all run in the same direction. The media has also tried its best to make us all think like pollsters and political scientists (a title I despiae): who is electable? So for the neck-and-neck, we get RINOs, who are deemed “electable”, against Dems, who we abhor: “Don’t waste your vote; vote for the schmoe, he’s electable.” And get a bunch of Castles, McCains, and other aisle-crossers, generally liars to boot.
The Buckley Rule is still invoked, though long inoperative because it irrationally requires voters to predict outcomes instead of voting for their preferred candidates who allegedy cannot win because the Ruling Class has so decreed.
A final shot against your calling O’Donnell flawed: The obscenely flawed Rangel came in first. I accept her alleged flaws, if true, like I do Vitter’s mini-flaw. I do not require perfection; I require dutiful respect for truth in campaigning and execution of elected office.
Start thinking outside the box, Neo. It is liberating. Difficult, hard-fought, lots of defeats, but liberating and wholly American.
“”What profit if conservatives win the battle but lose the war?””
Neo
I disagree. This wrongly assumes the war can somehow be won by using part time traitors simply to increase our numbers. That is the short term battle win. The long term war strategy demands we focus on the ideological liberal lunacy at the core of the problem.
The Tea Partyers are only foolish extremist if their willingness to take chances in the high stakes game of freedom and liberty doesn’t pay off. Much like the risk our founders took to give us this great country in the first place come to think of it.
In a way, she also handed a defeat to the Republican establishment itself,
My biggest gripe against that establishment is that it appears to regard being distinguishable from democrats as extremist, and to actually want to defeat democrats as beyond the pale.
–
“The common law is the will of mankind, issuing from the life of the people.”
Justice Department employees informed the Spectator that this quote originated from a globalist manifesto published by C. Wilfred Jenks, a former labor leader and key proponent of “international law.”
so why is our new justice department moving to socialist black from red white and blue, and quoting Jenks etc?
ah well…
maybe the tea party will fix this?
Exiting AF Intel Chief: No US Air Superiority
http://www.military.com/news/article/exiting-af-intel-chief-no-us-air-superiority.html?ESRC=sm_todayinmil.nl
The U.S. Air Force’s former top intelligence officer warned a roomful of generals this week that the U.S. has lost its air power advantages and is dangerously ill-prepared to stop the gap-closing efforts of China and Russia.
[dont forget to look up the problem with counterfeit parts]
Art,
What was the point of that exercise? Could I not also post ten times, a hundred times, a thousands times more examples of the contrary if we peruse all of American history?
Reflex cynicism is not a virtue dude.
It is important to note that Mike Castle was seen as unbeatable which would greatly reduce the number of solid, mainstream Republicans willing to run and get beat.
Secondly, beating a RINO with a weak but conservative candidate should concentrate the minds of other RINOS when important votes come up in Congress.
The main point to take away from O’Donnell’s win is that any member of Congress who votes for irresponsible bills like Obamacare, cap & trade, the stimulus bill, etc. is likely to get voted out of office unless they are in a heavily urban, liberal district (Rangle’s district comes to mind).
That applies to RINOs as well as Democrats in normally Republican districts.
O’Donnell is raising money like crazy today and the Republican “powers that be” are coming around already.
I’m not well read on her but so far, from what I’ve heard her say, I like her principles.
I think she’s got a damned good chance of winning. Could it be any harder than a Republican winning Ted Kennedy’s old seat? (Which was an early part of the wave we are seeing get bigger and bigger.)
“I have become convinced that the purists believe that their ideas are so inherently logical and so obviously right (as in “correct”), that if the electorate were to just listen to candidates articulating those positions properly, even in blue states …the scales would fall from voters’ eyes and they would elect the conservative candidates”
Bingo! I heard Rush spout this nuttyness just today.
The national Republican party announced it’s giving O’Donnell money. Cf. Ben Smith of Politico.
Hmm… a candidate the Democrats hate and the Republicans disavow?
Sounds like she has the “throw all the bums out” vote sewed up. Now let’s see if her district actually means it.
O’Donnell has already done more to influence the course of the next Senate than Castle could have accomplished if he’d won both the Primary and General election.
RINOs and purple state dems are now on notice that supporting the Obama agenda is not a career enhancing move.
The Obama agenda is dead and Christine O’Donnell is the major suspect.