Tea Party Cuts Cantor a New One

I can't quite follow the train of thought here, but the Tea Party has managed to "win" primaries before, replacing a more or less electable moderate Republican with an unelectable right-wing fruit-cake.

Sarah Palin pre-dates the Tea Party, but she's a prime example of their contribution to moving the American electorate back towards the centre.

There are roughly 45 members of Congress today to contradict that impression.

No one wins 'em all, but the TP has a better track record than the establishment GOP. They put up Romney--for crying out loud--who couldn't whip a complete, pompous, mom-jean wearing ass in the middle of the worst recovery since the Great Depression, and several scandals and derelictions of duty, any one of which was worse than Nixon's worst.

That's the character assassination version, together with a lot of myth and manufactured lore. In fact, Palin's got an annoying accent, but she's a lot more accomplished, qualified, and experienced than the

Cheers, James Arthur

is on this contest. Turns out Brat was a Wall Street basher and tarred Cant or with his closeness to Wall Street.

agger money was put into Brat's campaign. I would say tea bagger types did support Brat, based on the rude booing they did when Cantor was speaking at a GOP event.

were quite active.

open-the-gates "Yessir Mr. Chamber-of-Commerce" Cantor.

head then place a "Don't tread on me" flag on your lifeless body, getting booed is getting off easy.

anaged to "win" primaries before, replacing a more or less electable modera te Republican with an unelectable right-wing fruit-cake.

ion.

Not exactly a majority.

ishment GOP.

Unsurprisingly, since every one of their candidates has knocked an establis hment GOP candidate out of the race.

ompous, mom-jean wearing ass in the middle of the worst recovery since the Great Depression, and several scandals and derelictions of duty, any one of which was worse than Nixon's worst.

Romney did make things easy for Obama. Romney was exactly one the kind of v ulture capitalists that had created the worst financial crash since 1929, a nd Obama didn't even have to lie to do a Karl Rove on him. It should have b een obvious that that was going to happen but the GOP put him up anyway.

And Obama is anything but an ass. Being pompous is part of the job-descript ion of American presidents and other figure-head heads of state. His fashio n choices may not appeal to you, and you are convinced the the Keynesian pu mp-priming reaction to the GFT couldn't possibly work and hasn't worked (de spite the fact that the Great Recession hasn't been nearly as destructive a s the Great Depression was, but your ideological preferences do influence y our judgement.

contribution to moving the American electorate back towards the centre.

and manufactured lore. In fact, Palin's got an annoying accent, but she's a lot more accomplished, qualified, and experienced than the 2-year s enator from Chicago ever was.

Tina Fey never went in for parodying Obama. All Fey had to do to make money out of Palin was to recycle the stuff Palin had said (albeit with better c omic timing). If she'd wanted to parody Obama she'd have had to pay writers to create new material ...

As for "experienced", Obama never got around to firing anybody because they wouldn't fire some ex-brother-in-law of his. Troopergate was never any big deal, but it's the kind of experience most people would prefer not to see in the White House. Recalling this may be "character assasination" but the episode didn't reveal a particularly attractive character.

And the woman is an air-head. Obama might not have lived up to his Harvard education, but at least he got there. Palin's academic record is less impre ssive."Community organiser" isn't an impressive job title, but it's probabl y a more politically educational role than "sportscaster"

managed to "win" primaries before, replacing a more or less electable mode rate Republican with an unelectable right-wing fruit-cake.

ssion.

No, but it's a big percentage of battles undertaken.

blishment GOP.

ishment GOP candidate out of the race.

That doesn't follow. The point is that a large number of newcomers overcame incumbents possessing all conceivable advantages, and got elected.

pompous, mom-jean wearing ass in the middle of the worst recovery since th e Great Depression, and several scandals and derelictions of duty, any one of which was worse than Nixon's worst.

vulture capitalists that had created the worst financial crash since 1929, and Obama didn't even have to lie to do a Karl Rove on him. It should have been obvious that that was going to happen but the GOP put him up anyway.

Romney was anything but a vulture, but he failed to explain his simplest policies to the voters. A bunch of voters I spoke to thought (because Obama's bald-faced lying ads on TV told them) that Romney wanted to eliminate taxes on high-earners.

I was able to explain in two sentences that the Mittster wanted to reduce marginal rates AND exceptions, so as to collect the same revenue with a simpler system.

I did in two sentences what Romney couldn't manage in three debates and a zillion campaign events. I got voters from red-faced angry at the injustice to "oh, that makes sense" in less than a minute.

A candidate can't win if he can't explain himself, and Romney couldn't.

Obama won on lies and slander, mostly. He didn't have much else to go on.

ir contribution to moving the American electorate back towards the centre.

senator from Chicago ever was.

ey out of Palin was to recycle the stuff Palin had said (albeit with better comic timing). If she'd wanted to parody Obama she'd have had to pay write rs to create new material ...

No, that's part of the lore. Obama's appearances were riddled with gaffes, malaprops, mispronunciations, etc., a complete laugh-fest. It went unexploi ted because American reporters, personalities, and networks are Obama-supporter s.

ey wouldn't fire some ex-brother-in-law of his. Troopergate was never any b ig deal, but it's the kind of experience most people would prefer not to se e in the White House. Recalling this may be "character assasination" but th e episode didn't reveal a particularly attractive character.

Obama never even had a *job*, for crying out loud. He's only ever been a rabble-rousing, destructive, protesting activist trying to tear things down . He's never made *anything*.

d education, but at least he got there.

He most likely got there for reasons other than merit, since he himself has admitted his high school grades were awful, and refuses to release the details of how awful grades got him into Columbia, then Harvard.

impressive job title, but it's probably a more politically educational rol e than "sportscaster"

Palin was a mayor, and a governor of an actual state, wherein she acquitted herself most ably.

She sounds ditzy, but there's a lot of horse sense under that cover, and a great deal of craft running a lot deeper. Lots of smart women act ditzy as a defense mechanism.

Consider Palin's prognostication on Russia & Ukraine, for which she was ridiculed as a fool, versus Obama's urbane, "intellectual" "reset", which was praised.

-so/ "In 2008, when she was the GOP vice presidential nominee, Palin questione d in a speech whether then-Sen. Barack Obama would have the foreign policy credentials to handle a scenario in which Russian President Vladimir Put in invaded Ukraine."

"Saturday Night Live parodied her remarks in a now-famous sketch with Tina Fey, who played Palin on the show, saying "I can see Russia from my house." "

"In October 2008, Foreign Policy labeled Palin's prediction as "strange. " "

So, if Palin's a know-nothing ditz, what's Obama?

Cheers, James Arthur

e:

as managed to "win" primaries before, replacing a more or less electable mo derate Republican with an unelectable right-wing fruit-cake.

ression.

Before the electorate got to realise quite how seriously swivel-eyed the ri ght-wing fruit-cakes they'd been conned into electing actually were.

Winning a primary by being more right-wing than the other candidate isn't a s difficult as doing a useful job once elected.

tablishment GOP.

Any rebel group within an organisation starts of with an initial advantage when it begins the process of white-anting the organisation.The usual long- term effect is to dramatically weaken the divided party.

blishment GOP candidate out of the race.

The GOP had been playing the right-wing card for a bit too long, and were c orrespondingly vulnerable to a clique who played the very-right-wing card. Since it's actually also the swivel-eyed loon card, it wasn't a good strate gy, even if it was a tactical success.

Since you are pretty much a swivel-eyed loon yourself, you may not have rea lised this.

e, pompous, mom-jean wearing ass in the middle of the worst recovery since the Great Depression, and several scandals and derelictions of duty, any on e of which was worse than Nixon's worst.

of vulture capitalists that had created the worst financial crash since 192

Opinions differ on this point, but he was rather more into "rescuing" bankr upt companies than he was into creating new companies.

voters I spoke to thought (because Obama's bald-faced lying ads on TV told them) that Romney wanted to eliminate taxes on high-earners.

marginal rates AND exceptions, so as to collect the same revenue with a si mpler system.

But any intelligent voter would have realised that it was going to be a lot more politically expensive to eliminate exceptions than it was going to be to reduce the higher marginal rates. Romney probably didn't want to go the re, since he'd have been quizzed on the detail by rather better interlocuto rs than your's.

ce

Sadly, it doesn't, but that never worries you.

True. Any coherent an sustainable explanation of what he was really going t o do would have shafted him

Predicting what Romney was actually likely to do probably was slanderous. " The greater the truth, the greater the libel". Since Romney didn't get elec ted, we'll never know whether the predictions were true or false.

Since you "know" they were false (though they were probably correct) you fe el free to call them lies.

heir contribution to moving the American electorate back towards the centre .

th and manufactured lore. In fact, Palin's got an annoying accent, but she's a lot more accomplished, qualified, and experienced than the 2-year senator from Chicago ever was.

oney out of Palin was to recycle the stuff Palin had said (albeit with bett er comic timing). If she'd wanted to parody Obama she'd have had to pay wri ters to create new material ...

Tina Fey's autobiography is pretty explicit about it.

ns, etc., a complete laugh-fest. It went unexploited because American repor ters, personalities, and networks are Obama-supporters.

Sober individual make errors of action - mostly miss-statements - about onc e every thirty minutes. Obama's human. The only slip I've seen reflected th e fact that he knew what he was going to say, but had changed the phasing f rom the stuff that went onto his teleprompter. He acknowledged the slip and went on - human error. The audience wasn't going to burst into laughter - they all had plenty of practice at public speaking, and had had similar stu mbles themselves.

they wouldn't fire some ex-brother-in-law of his. Troopergate was never any big deal, but it's the kind of experience most people would prefer not to see in the White House. Recalling this may be "character assasination" but the episode didn't reveal a particularly attractive character.

wn.

"Community organisor" is a job. I've not seen any suggestion that he ever r oused a rabble - it's really not his style.

ard education, but at least he got there.

He probably interviewed well, and had interesting things to say. It's the s ort of talent you'd expect to see in a future president. He'd also moved ar ound a fair bit during his school years, and probably knew more about the r est of the world than most of the competing candidates.

He probably represents a better choice than George W Bush did ...

an impressive job title, but it's probably a more politically educational r ole than "sportscaster"

ed

She was a train wreck. Ask any left-wing commentator.

She's probably brighter than a horse - not a lot but some.

ditzy as a defense mechanism.

But she really isn't one of them.

was ridiculed as a fool, versus Obama's urbane, "intellectual" "reset", which was praised.

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The US President. He can't tell home truths about Russia without up-setting the Russians. Palin isn't constrained in that way, and doesn't seem seem t o have enough sense to realise that upsetting the Russians is something to be avoided unless you can get something constructive out of it.