Sarah Palin's Fault

Not wanting to be outdone by Politico, the New York Daily News released their own hit piece today which includes quotes from well known GOP operatives such as " a household name and a big time player in Republican circles", "other party elders", "a well-wired Republican political consultant", and "another GOP consultant". Some of these Republican strategists have awfully long names, don't they?

These anonymous sources claim that if Republicans don't win the Senate, it's Governor Palin's fault because she's endorsed Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle, and Carly Fiorina. Christine O'Donnell must be closing the gap in the polls against Chris Coons even without much help from the GOP Establishment and the NRSC as President Obama and Vice President Biden will be campaigning in Delaware. This seems to indicate that the race is tighter than public polling may indicate. After annihilating Senator Reid in a recent debate, Sharron Angle has a lead in the Nevada Senate race. In the California race, Carly Fiorina is statistically tied with Ma'am Boxer. These women are still poised to potentially win their races.

Specifically, the NYDN piece asserts that Governor Palin's endorsement must be toxic, especially in California:

Palin is extremely unpopular among indie voters, especially in California. A recent Field Poll found that 69% of California independent voters have an unfavorable opinion of Palin. And independents are nearly a quarter of the California electorate.

Even worse for GOP senatorial and gubernatorial prospects in the Golden State, two-thirds of independents say they're less inclined to vote for a candidate Palin has endorsed.

This must come as a shock to Carly Fiorina supporters. Fiorina has been endorsed by Governor Palin and sees herself as a "practical commonsense conservative like Sarah Palin" (see the 4:00 mark):



Carly Fiorina has embraced Governor Palin's endorsement and has run as a true commonsense conservative. She finds herself neck-and-neck with Boxer with less than two weeks to go before the election. On the other hand, gubernatorial candidate, Meg Whitman, has eschewed any association with Governor Palin, and find herself trailing an unpopular former Governor, Jerry Brown. If the polling numbers that the NYDN touts ring true, then California voters wouldn't be supportive of Fiorina, but would be supportive of Whitman. However, midterm election polling of these candidates seem to indicate that Fiorina, who has embraced Palin's endorsement, is fairing better than Whitman who has tried to distance herself from Governor Palin.

Governor Palin has encouraged partying like it's 1773 after election day in a few weeks, but it seems the media and some of the faceless, spineless members of the GOP want to prematurely point fingers like it's 2008. In fact, anonymous sources say that these unnamed GOP operatives are in contact with geologists and seismologists in Alaska. Remember, in 1964, just a few months after the Heath family moved to Alaska, a 9.2 magnitude earthquake hit Alaska. Now, obviously, this earthquake had to be due to then Sarah Heath's arrival to the state, right? Because Governor Palin is culpable for any potential political earthquakes or natural earthquakes, these GOP operatives are petitioning scientists to rename the space between tectonic plates causing that massive earthquake 46 years ago, "Sarah Palin's Fault". You heard it here first.

Crossposted here and here.

Charles Krauthammer Re-Writes the Buckley Rule

In his latest column in the Washington Post, Charles Krauthammer triples down on the idea that it was a "capricious" decision for people like Governor Palin and Senator DeMint to endorse Christine O'Donnell and her victory in Tuesday's primary means that Republicans won't have a chance to take back the Senate in November.

He begins first by contradicting himself (emphasis mine):

Bill Buckley -- no Mike Castle he -- had a rule: Support the most conservative candidate who is electable.

...

Of course Mike Castle is a liberal Republican. What do you expect from Delaware? A DeMint? Castle voted against Obamacare and the stimulus. Yes, he voted for cap-and-trade. That's batting .667. You'd rather have a Democrat who bats .000 and who might give the Democrats the 50th vote to control the Senate?

Buckley's "rule" is to support to the conservative candidate most likely to win, yet Krauthammer willfully states that Castle isn't even conservative. Castle is an entrenched, establishment liberal Republican. Many seem to emphasize the supposed electability at the expense of political principles. Principles cannot be sacrificed at the expense of theoretical expediency. Surprisingly, Peggy Noonan of all people seems to get it in her recognition of the Tea Party movement that nominated Christine O'Donnell:

So far, the Tea Party is not a wing of the GOP but a critique of it. This was demonstrated in spectacular fashion when GOP operatives dismissed Tea Party-backed Christine O'Donnell in Delaware. The Republican establishment is "the reason we even have the Tea Party movement," shot back columnist and Tea Party enthusiast Andrea Tantaros in the New York Daily News. It was the Bush administration that "ran up deficits" and gave us "open borders" and "Medicare Part D and busted budgets."

Returning to the Krauthammer article, to be fair, he too has a good grasp of the "Tea Party" movement, but he doesn't make the connection between what the Tea Party values and how those values influence their vote:

Indeed, it[the Tea Party Movement] is among the most vigorous and salutary grass-roots movements of our time, dedicated to a genuine constitutionalism from which the country has strayed far.

And its complaint that it is often taken for granted by the Republican establishment (interestingly parallel to the often-heard African American community's complaint against the Democratic Party) is not to be dismissed. Tea Partyers should not, as many of them fear, simply be used by the Republican Party as a source of electoral energy while their own candidates are ignored and dismissed. But the question is: Which of their candidates?

He then goes on to essentially argues that it's fine for voters to nominate "Tea Party" candidates, but only in states like Alaska and Kentucky where they are more likely to win, supposedly, than states like Delaware. Should Tea Partyers in more liberal states then not vote their principles and nominate more moderate candidates instead? Is "Buckley rule" applied differently in these states?

Regarding Governor Palin's understanding of the Buckley rule, let's see her apply this to one of her endorsements in a liberal state, shall we? In the California Republican senate primary, Governor Palin endorsed Carly Fiorina over who many people saw as the more conservative, Tea Party candidate, Chuck DeVore. Interestingly, polling just before the primary in June showed that more California Tea Partyers supported Fiorina than DeVore, but I digress. Fiorina was perceived as more electable than DeVore (and as current polling shows is poised to potentially defeat "Ma'am" Boxer). Governor Palin noted this in her endorsement on Facebook (emphasis mine):

Carly has been endorsed by the National Right to Life, the California Pro-Life Council, and the Susan B. Anthony List. She is pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, pro-military, and pro-strict border security and against amnesty. She is against Obamacare and will vote to repeal it and prevent the government takeover of private companies and industries. Carly is also a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. Like me, she is a member of the NRA, has a 100% NRA rating, and she and her husband are gun owners. She is pro-energy development and believes as I do in an all-of-the-above approach to energy independence. She is against cap and tax. And most importantly, Carly is the only conservative in the race who can beat Barbara Boxer. That’s no RINO. That’s a winner.

Governor Palin understands that if one is to use the Buckley rule, one must embrace both the principles of the candidate and the probability of that candidate's election. As previously mentioned, Fiorina is neck-in-neck with Boxer. O'Donnell, while currently trailing overall, is leading among both Republicans and independents in the most recent poll. For both of these Palin endorsed candidates, their electability and their conservative principles are present.

While Krauthammer has a good grasp of what the Tea Party stands for, he seems to miss the point about how the Tea Party should manifest their principles via their vote. The GOP Establishment was sent a message; it's about conservative principles, not Republican politics.

Related:Mark Levin at his best via the Right Scoop (H/T Stacy):



Crossposted here.

A Message Has Been Sent to the GOP Establishment

In recent weeks Alaska and Delaware have become the setting for a battle between the GOP establishment and the commonsense conservative movement. A few weeks ago, Joe Miller's win in Alaska GOP senatorial campaign sent political shockwaves throughout the nation, as a conservative, Tea Party candidate defeated a RINO, establishment incumbent. The National Republican Senatorial Committee released a short statement of support for Joe Miller following his victory However, their statement is essentially all the support that they have given to the Miller and the commonsense conservative movement.

Within the last week, Christine O'Donnell received the support of America's leading conservative voice, Governor Palin, Congress's leading conservative voice, Michele Bachmann, and the Senate's leading conservative voice, Jim DeMint. What did that lead to? O'Donnell defeated RINO, Establishment backed candidate, Mike Castle, by a considerable margin. Of course, such news leaves Establishment commentators and pundits with their proverbial panties in a wad. Former Bush advisor, Karl Rove, proves to serve this point rather well:



Interestingly, the candidate whom Rove preferred to win once voted for an impeachment resolution for his former boss, President Bush, but I digress. Suffice it to say, for the Establishment, party politics trump party principles, even going so far as attempted deal making.

A "top Republican official" shared similar sentiments to Rove's following O'Donnell's win:

"Until she demonstrates some viability in the polls we are not going to have any money for her," a top Republican official told CNN. "It is now incumbent on Sarah Palin, Jim DeMint and the Tea Party Express to help support her. They got her here. Now make it happen."

Mike Castle has already stated that he will not be endorsing O'Donnell in the general election, and when asked if the NRSC should support O'Donnell in the general election, a campaign operative said, " they should save their money."

The Tea Party Express has replied:

"We encourage the NRSC to take a night off, get some sleep, and reconsider their rash statements. It is because of inexcusable conduct in Delaware and Alaska that so many conservatives have turned to the Tea Party Express, offering their support and their donations.These people have lost faith in the NRSC as just another big-government, Washington, D.C.-based organization that has contributed to the problems this country currently faces.

"If the NRSC is committed to defeating Democrats in November, then it is time for them to honor their mission statement and do just that. If they fail to do so, then they can expect millions of conservatives to continue to steer their donations and volunteer hours elsewhere.

"Wake up NRSC, the reason the tea party movement has grown into such a powerful force is because of the failures of establishment organizations such as yours to honor the principles of the Republican Party platform. You tried to force through the most liberal Republican in Congress on the voters of Delaware and they rejected you. Wake up, you are defying your own base, and will end up an irrelevant and impotent organization that serves to only amuse the corrupt political establishment in Washington, D.C."

We often hear of Governor Palin saying, "the planks in the Republican platform are strong", and the Tea Party Express echos these sentiments in their statement. When you look at the candidates the NRSC has supported--Murkowski and Castle-- you see candidates who have supported cap and trade initiatives, who don't support repeal of Obamacare, and who are not pro-life. Are these the kind of strong planks that the Republican party stands upon? The obvious answer is "no".

Much of the Establishment and the GOP have not supported conservative candidates and have even called endorsements by conservative leaders like Governor Palin, who do support the conservative candidate, "destructive","irresponsible", and "capricious". However, the American people have spoken with their voice (and their campaign dollars), and the people of Alaska and Delaware have spoken with their vote. If you don't stand on the planks of the party, you will end up walking the proverbial plank to your own political peril. A "big tent" Republican party is a noble goal, but it is bound only to collapse if its stakes are driven into shallow ground of inconsistent, moderate principles. A message has been sent. It's not about political establishment; it's about political platform. It's not about supposed political expediency; it's about political principles.
This race is also about party unity and the GOP establishment realizing the the candidate to their ideological Left is the true opponent, not the candidate on their ideological Right. Some say that primary wins for candidates like O'Donnell spell a loss of a chance at a Republican majority in the Senate, but what's more important? A Republican majority or a conservative majority? Is the GOP establishment more concerned with putting politicians into office with a "R" behind their name or candidates whose policy positions represent what that "R" truly stands for? Governor Palin called for party unity, as did O'Donnell. If the Republican establishment does not stand behind the candidate that bears their name, they have defeated themselves and have handed victory to the Democrats. A message has been sent to the Republican establishment; it's time for the Republican establishment to join with the commonsense conservative movement to send a message to the Democrats.


Crossposted here.