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Joe Miller

Up The Establishment

Submitted by LowDownCentral on Fri, 09/24/2010 - 11:22
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Conservative Tea Partyby Lance Thompson

The media has focused on the growing rift between new conservative stars and their Tea Party backers versus the old guard establishment Republicans.  This difference has been highlighted in races in Florida (Marco Rubio over Charlie Crist), Alaska (Joe Miller over Lisa Murkowski), and most recently Delaware (Christine O’Donnell over Mike Castle).  In each case, a conservative outsider has overcome long odds to beat an experienced but more moderate candidate backed by the Republican establishment.  This trend shows every indication of continuing.
 
Christine O’Donnell, now the Republican candidate for Delaware’s open Senate seat, will face Democrat Chris Coons in November.  Polls show O’Donnell trailing in double digits.  This is a familiar situation to conservative candidates this year.  Marco Rubio trailed governor Charlie Crist by double digits in the Florida primary before winning the Republican Senate nomination.  Crist then declared himself an independent (refusing to return the millions in Republican campaign funding he had already received), and again took a double digit lead.  This race has reversed to Rubio’s advantage.  Joe Miller in Alaska was also behind in the polls before his win over Lisa Murkowski.
 
In all of these cases, old guard Republican strategists and pundits warned voters that the conservative Tea Party candidates were too extreme, and would not have the appeal to win.  Let’s examine both arguments individually.
 
First, in an era of rampant and unchecked socialism rammed through by an ultra-liberal President and Congress, there is no other possible cure than a conservative resurgence.  We didn’t get socialized medicine, skyrocketing debt, and a crippled economy by half measures and bipartisanship.  We arrived here thanks to a Democratic steamroller that paved the way for every item that’s appeared on the liberal wish list for the last two generations.  The only way to reverse this trend is to put strong, principled, undiluted conservatives in office and in power.  Moderates will not do.
 
Second, the fact that Tea Party candidates are prevailing all over the country, in states previously thought too blue to bother, demonstrates that the enthusiasm, power, and momentum this election year is with conservative candidates who connect with the people.  The pundits who now tell us that these candidates, once nominated, can’t win the general election are the same ones who told us earlier that these candidates would not win in their primaries. 
 
Have we not nominated moderate conservatives before?  Wasn’t John McCain known for reaching across the aisle?  Wasn’t he always tougher on conservative Republicans than he ever was on Democrats?  His even-handedness and bipartisan reputation was supposed to guarantee support from independent voters and the press.  Instead, his inept campaign was so ineffective that an opponent with no executive experience, less than one full term in the Senate, and no discernible aptitude for world leadership beat him handily in 2008.
 
And even when the Republicans place moderate, established, electable candidates on the ballot, and they do actually win, they are notable undependable when needed most.  Moderate Arlen Specter enjoyed the support of the GOP and President Bush over conservative challenger Pat Toomey for the 2004 Pennsylvania Senate primary.  Specter prevailed and paid back the GOP with liberal votes on the judiciary committee and by switching parties prior to his 2010 re-election bid.  He failed to win the Democrat nomination, and is now thankfully out of politics.  Moderate electable candidates do not serve conservative causes or interests.
 
If we believe in conservative principles, we must nominate and elect conservative candidates.  This year, more than ever, watered-down, moderate, half measures are not enough.
 
The American people are restive.  They are preparing to throw out a record number of Democrats from Congress and state governments across the country.  If the Republicans who replace them don’t put our nation back on the right course, they will be thrown out as well.  We won’t get a second chance to get it right.
 
Christine O’Donnell is a principled conservative.  She deserves our support.  The establishment may fight her tooth and nail.  But Christine O’Donnell has already defeated them.  They just don’t know it yet.  Burt Lancaster said it best in the film “Sweet Smell of Success,” when his character, powerful columnist J. J. Hunsecker, tells struggling publicity agent Sydney Falco that Falco’s influence is over.  “You’re dead, kid.  Go get yourself buried.”

 

That Was The Week That Was #6.

Submitted by Skip MacLure on Sat, 09/18/2010 - 11:27
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In this series of weekly articles I usually cover a few of the week’s main story lines. This week, however, a large amount of time has been given in the media to the last of the primary elections… and the fallout that has followed. With only forty five days until the general election, it seems only right that I devote this page to this one topic.


Miller and Murkowski - Just when you think it's over....

It was announced yesterday that Lisa Murkowski, beaten in the Alaska Senatorial primary by Joe Miller, will run in November as a write-in candidate. The bitter irony of this act is that the Republican establishment, of which the Murkowski dynasty could be considered a part, has spent the better part of the week condemning the Tea Party for its support of Christine O’Donnell.

While old guard Republicans are saying that it’s better to get a Party member into the Senate, regardless of how far left they lean, than to risk loss by running a Conservative candidate, one of their own is taking the risk of splitting the Republican vote.

I have always held Karl Rove in high esteem, and I regard Charles Krauthammer as, possibly, my favorite op-ed columnist. I can see where they are coming from with their opinions on risking the loss of elections, but my instincts and, dare I say, morals, tell me that they are off base on this one.


Charles Krauthammer

In Krauthammer’s article of September 17, he used the analogy of a baseball batting average, with Mike Castle at .667 on the voting history of health care (no), the stimulus (no) and cap-and-trade (yes). He questioned whether it would be more agreeable to have a Democrat elected with an average of .000.

That’s being a little too selective, in my opinion. If you look at the broader picture, Castle is pro-choice, voted against the Iraq troop surge, voted for TARP and the Fannie Mae – Freddie Mac bailout, voted to increase taxes on oil companies, voted against controls on eminent domain abuse, voted for the cash-for-clunkers program…. the list goes on. He may show an overall Republican voting agreement figure of 80% plus, but that covers every single vote, down to whether the House restaurant menu should be updated. As for gun control… need I say it?

With this sort of batting average on serious issues, it appears that a moderate Democrat could be a preferential alternative to Mike Castle. What is the difference between a Democrat and a RINO voting against the wishes of Conservatives? Why he ever joined the GOP is a mystery to me. Perhaps the Democrats had filled their membership quota for the year?

I have said on many occasions that if I was to run for political office, I would rather lose heavily while voicing my true beliefs than to win by giving the electorate what they want to hear. It is this ideal of being true to oneself that drives the Tea Party. If they pulled the plug on a Conservative candidate, to give a RINO, and the GOP, a better chance of success, it would undermine the very principles that the movement is founded on.

America is not some reality show, where the producers decide to keep someone popular in the House (or Senate) to beat the ratings of the another network. This is the reality – the Republican Party must give the full support that is deserved by Tea Party candidates. Christine O’Donnell and Joe Miller won their respective primary elections fair and square.

Everyone, please, do the honorable thing and give them all the help you possibly can in the run-up to November. Time is running short, we need to pull together now to create an unstoppable force that will halt the tide of socialism. Stay true to your beliefs and have faith – the rest will come naturally.

I would like to congratulate Ron Johnson on his primary success in Wisconsin. Regular readers probably know that Ron was endorsed on the skipmaclure.us website. He has a difficult battle now with Russ Feingold, but I’m sure that if anyone can pull it off, Ron can. Please support him in any way you can.

I’ll finish with a quote from Jim DeMint: “I’ve been in the majority with Republicans who didn’t have principles and we embarrassed ourselves and lost credibility in front of the country. Frankly, I’m at a point where I’d rather lose fighting for the right cause then win fighting for the wrong cause”.

(Editor Dee is in for Skip today)

Who Are The NRSC? Why Do They Back Liberal Republicans?

Submitted by Skip MacLure on Wed, 09/08/2010 - 11:03
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Yesterday, I wrote about establishment Republicans and their apparent opposition to all things Tea Party. Just who the heck are these people?


John Cornyn

We have just had a key election in Alaska. Incumbent Republican Lisa Murkowski went down in defeat to Joe Miller in the Senate primary. Joe Miller was the Conservative ‘Tea Party’ candidate. The head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee flew to Alaska to aid Lisa Murkowski with the primary. John Cornyn (R), Junior Senator from Texas, had said that his committee will observe strict neutrality.

According to Miller’s campaign there are still national operatives in the state, and they suspected an effort to sway the election results in favor of Murkowski. There were still some 1,500 absentee votes yet to be counted.

According to Tea Party activists in Cornyn’s home state of Texas, protests were held at all of Cornyn’s offices to make it clear that they did not want the GOP or the NRSC interfering with Alaska’s primary race. There has been a pattern of interference, back-room deals and underhanded tactics where Conservative Patriots and their candidates have been concerned.

The people are speaking their choices. There is a Conservative tsunami just over the horizon. If the RNC and the NRSC think that we will stand still for more of what we got from them when they were last in power, they have another think a- comin’.

The National Republican Party has been an abject failure. We need only to look around us to see the result of that. It was the irresponsible actions of the (then) majority party under George Bush that are directly responsible for Barack Hussein Obama being in office.

There are more primaries coming up soon. Delaware’s Republican primary is on Sept 14. The Tea Party Express has endorsed strong Conservative Christine O’Donnell over US Representative Mike Castle, the choice of the RNC and NRSC. It’s like this folks… Mike Castle is one of the biggest RINOs in Washington. This dude has been in virtual lockstep with Barack Obama’s agenda from the beginning. He needs to be defeated and it looks very much like he will be.

Message to the RNC. Keep it up and you’ll see the destruction of your party. You’re under as much scrutiny as the DeMarxists are. You worked very hard to lose our trust. Now you’re going to have to work much harder to get it back. Backing RINOs isn’t a very good start.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2010

Murkowski Out In Alaska.

Submitted by Skip MacLure on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 09:15
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Another incumbent, this time a Republican, has fallen by the wayside. Lisa Murkowski becomes the the seventh incumbent to fall to the wrath of the voters this year.


Joe Miller and Lisa Murkowski

Murkowski was defeated by conservative lawyer Joe Miller of Fairbanks for the Republican primary. Miller came out of nowhere, backed by the Tea-Party groups and aided as well by an endorsement from Sarah Palin.

I’m thinking that even the thickest of the Democrat faithful must be aware of the upcoming shellacking that the DeMarxist government of Barack Hussein Obama is going to take in November… only 62 days away now.

We as Conservatives must now rededicate ourselves to the final drive to the November 2 elections. Mark Levin calls the upcoming elections “the most important of our country’s history”, and I have to agree. Never have I seen and felt so much intensity on the run up to an election.

It has nothing at all in common with the rock ‘n roll concert glitz campaigning of Barack Obama and his DeMarxists on the way to the presidential elections. It has everything to do with the voice and power of the American people. In March of this year, I wrote that the American genie was out of the bottle and once loose would take down the liberal monster. I’m happy to have been proven prophetic. We’re not home free yet, not by a long shot.

That’s where you come in. You’re looking for some way to help but don’t know how? It all starts with your community and by backing conservative candidates whenever they are running. It’s all grassroots, just like the Tea Parties and the Patriot groups. America is rising up and speaking out and we will not be denied.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2010

Why Lisa Murkowski Lost

Submitted by Matt Moon on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 18:27
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[It's been 1 year and 4 months since I wrote my last blog post here. For readers of The Next Right, I left my position as the RNC's Deputy Research Director back in May and am currently a Senior Communications Strategist with New Media Strategies in Rosslyn, VA. It feels good to be back in the blogosphere.]

Lisa Murkowski has now conceded. I have a great amount of respect for Joe Miller, but I have been a loyal supporter of Lisa Murkowski since her 2004 campaign. As a conservative from Alaska, I have disagreed with her positions on a few issues, but I believe she has been a good Senator for Alaska. Murkowski has been a thoughtful policymaker among her peers as well as an articulate leader on several key national issues including energy security.

Yet despite the enormous amount of admiration I have for her, I believe Murkowski has no one to blame except her own campaign for what is a stunning primary defeat. Bottom line up front: Lisa Murkowski's primary campaign should serve as a lesson in what not to do when you are being attacked by your opponent.

There has been a lot of talk about how wrong the polls were, the ballot initiative concerning abortion, and why Lisa Murkowski decided not to "go negative" on Joe Miller. Yet it's just not as simple as that. Here are four very interconnected reasons why Lisa Murkowski lost:

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