We’ve discussed this here before: the NRA looks for candidates who maintain senior status, which means that the organization is heavily pro-incumbent, provided the candidates they endorse have a stable record on protecting gun ownership.
Which raises the question, why is the NRA supporting those whose records on gun rights are not terribly impressive, when many of the groups members are strong constitutional advocates, and as such, are far more likely to be TEA Party supporters than not.?
And what should we constitutionalists do about it?
The NRA has had some odd endorsements before. John Dingell of Michigan, for example, was a Weeniecrat on oh so many issues, but he reliably was pro-gun, so they would endorse him.
As for the endorsements of the not so impressive on the gun issue, might we have the classic case of choosing the electable but not impressive “sure thing” vs. the impossible dream candidate?
So many of us took so much ribbing when we pushed for Christine O’Donnell over RINOey Mike Castle, only to have Ms. O’Donnell commit gaffe after gaffe and implode, and end up with a Commiecrat Chris Coons victory. Those of us who wanted Todd Akin to win also winced when he stuck his foot in his mouth, resulting in Commiecrat Claire McCaskill, who should have been dead and buried as a politician, coming out of her political coffin once more.
NOTE: Unless candidates are clearly beyond the pale, as Juan McAmnesty McClimatefraud McLame or Mitchy McBitchy McConnell clearly are, I don’t find impugning and insulting people who honestly disagree on the “electability vs. principles” question to be helpful. So let’s not throw out insults, okay?
I suppose we could set up a helpful list of issues where the GOP candidate had either have it Right or be ruled out from the get go. Amnesty and immigration is one, Climate Fraud is another.
Which are yours? Pro-life or else? Well, then no GOP candidate will ever come out of California, not even in the still patriot Interior of the state.
And how severe the issue? Jesse Helms always made sure his NC farmers were pork barrel taken care of, but better him than any Demunist candidate, no?
Are electoral victories possible at all anymore? Yes, it is demoralizing to “lose more slowly”, and I share the frustration here of all.
But it is also demoralizing to lose, period.
When I watched well-meaning Tea Party candidates like Sharron Angle or Christine O’Donnell or Todd Akin walk into obvious (at least to me) media traps and implode, I felt like I was in some Warner Bros cartoon from hell where Tea Party Wile E.Coyotes were endlessly doomed to fail, with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert faced Roadrunners providing an endless “meep-meep” (stick out tongue) taunting.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think there was a “sweet spot”, presidentially with Uncle Ron Reagan and congressionally with the Gingrich GOP Congress before Karl “Hispandering” Rove mucked it up, where principled rightism / conservatism / classical liberalism / libertarianism was reconciled to pragmatic power politics and could actually *win*. Or as closest to the ideal sweet spot that could be achieved here on Earth anyway.
In the Uncle Ron era, there was talk of a three legged conservative stool: (1) the business Right people, (2) the social / religious Right people, and (3) the foreign policy Right people. I would add (4) the classical liberal / libertarian/ conservatism / call it what you will ideological intellect Right people as a fourth stool leg.
Is there a way to get the stool in balance again?
Or to put it another way, is there a political “finishing school” that can teach our Tea Party Patriot candidates to be ready for prime time? We must defeat the Establicans, but another round of Angles and Akins won’t do that.
Richard Viguerie is getting old, but he understood, that “the New Right must dress for success”. His book “Conservatives Betrayed” is a damn good analysis of what went wrong in the second term of Bush the Younger especially, and to a lesser extent in the first term as well.
They consistently endorse Harry Reid.
Enough said.
I canceled my membership years ago.
What should we do?
Why, ignore the NRA’s endorsements, of course. At least when we know better.
Treat their endorsements as a data point. Nothing more, nothing less. Make up your own mind.
“We must defeat the Establicans, but another round of Angles and Akins won’t do that. ”
Maybe Fiorina’s victory in the California governor’s race can lend us some insight. Or maybe Mitt or Jeb or Charlie Crist have some ideas about staunchly feinting left for big wins. The bad losers need to learn from the good losers how to win through losing the right way.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/01/13/GOP-Myth-About-Conservative-Candidates
“Maybe Fiorina’s victory in the California governor’s race can lend us some insight. Or maybe Mitt or Jeb or Charlie Crist have some ideas about staunchly feinting left for big wins. The bad losers need to learn from the good losers how to win through losing the right way.”
Sigh. I should have expected nothing but insults.
How about Tea Party primary winners who actually go on to *win the general election*, without shooting themselves in the foot?
No, that’s not concern trolling.
“How about Tea Party primary winners who actually go on to *win the general election*, without shooting themselves in the foot?’
Like Ted Cruz?
Where are your trophies coach?
7. Concern Trolling
1. Skim until Offended
2. Disqualify that Opinion
4. Disregard Inconvenient facts
>Like Ted Cruz?
YES! He is *in office*, right? That’s not a hard concept to grasp, now is it?
>Where are your trophies coach?
It that supposed to be a thought? I was *looking* for a coach, not claiming to be one.
>7. Concern Trolling
>1. Skim until Offended
>2. Disqualify that Opinion
>4. Disregard Inconvenient facts
You are good at projecting, aren’t you?
Vote as we please.
If the NRA were going to punish me for not voting in line with their endorsements, they would have revoked my Life Membership long ago. And being a Life Member means I never have to give them another penny if I don’t want to, but they still have to count my ballot for the board of directors.
The point is, Stab candidates lose too. Tarring the whole Tea Party with the Sharon Angle brush is okay, but pointing out the Stabs’ picks for president in ’08 and ’12 also lost, is an insult?
Here’s what’s insulting: the Stabs have been waging war on their own party’s base for most of the past decade. Sane people would recognize electoral suicide in that behavior.
“YES! He is *in office*, right? That’s not a hard concept to grasp, now is it? ”
Oddly, you did not appear to have grasped it prior to my mention of him back when you were still fretting so obstreperously about the bad branding represented by Angle and Akin.
“It that supposed to be a thought? I was *looking* for a coach, not claiming to be one.”
Yes, it’s a thought. Did you think you were going to magically declare it otherwise? It applies to your “advice” and “finishing school required for tea party types” attitude perfectly. That is probably why you thrashed so under its weight.
“You are good at projecting, aren’t you?”
I’m just identifying what was set before me.
The point is, Stab candidates lose too. Tarring the whole Tea Party with the Sharon Angle brush is okay, but pointing out the Stabs’ picks for president in ’08 and ’12 also lost, is an insult?
Whoa. The Jumping to conclusions here is getting near Snake River Canyon records.
I just want my Tea Party candidates to actually *win*. Is there some way to prep them, vet them in advance, so they actually do?
To quote the cited Breitbart article, “In Missouri and Nevada, the Tea Party was largely divided among two other candidates, allowing Akin and Angle to sneak through.” Anything we can do on that front? That is not rhetorical, I am asking…..
Here’s what’s insulting: the Stabs have been waging war on their own party’s base for most of the past decade. Sane people would recognize electoral suicide in that behavior.
And where have I said otherwise? I want to vote for the best primary candidate I can.
But don’t tell me getting kicked in the political nutsack doesn’t hurt.
“Oddly, you did not appear to have grasped it prior to my mention of him back when you were still fretting so obstreperously about the bad branding represented by Angle and Akin.”
And this was mentioned exactly *where* before me? Hint: I am comment #1…..
Yes, it’s a thought. Did you think you were going to magically declare it otherwise? It applies to your “advice” and “finishing school required for tea party types” attitude perfectly. That is probably why you thrashed so under its weight.
Uh, no, I didn’t, and no, it doesn’t apply to my “advice”, which wasn’t advice. To quote *your own* cited Breitbart article, “In Missouri and Nevada, the Tea Party was largely divided among two other candidates, allowing Akin and Angle to sneak through.”
Once again, is there anything we can do on that front? That is not rhetorical, I am asking…..
“I’m just identifying what was set before me.”
No, you aren’t.
Sex sells, so the saying goes, so flash a bit of political sideboob.
>7. Concern Trolling ANGLE AKIN ANGLE AKIN ANGLE AKIN
“only to have Ms. O’Donnell commit gaffe after gaffe and implode, and end up with a Commiecrat Chris Coons victory.”
“But it is also demoralizing to lose, period.”
“Which are yours? Pro-life or else? Well, then no GOP candidate will ever come out of California, not even in the still patriot Interior of the state.”
“is there a political “finishing school” that can teach our Tea Party Patriot candidates to be ready for prime time?”
” Tea Party primary winners who actually go on to *win the general election*, without shooting themselves in the foot? ”
“No, that’s not concern trolling.”
>1. Skim until Offended
“Sigh. I should have expected nothing but insults.”
>2. Disqualify that Opinion
“YES! He is *in office*, right? That’s not a hard concept to grasp, now is it?”
” It that supposed to be a thought? ”
“You are good at projecting, aren’t you?”
>4. Disregard Inconvenient facts
Prevalent lack of much if any Stabo success in elections
OK, paleomerus. Keep on believing what you want to believe. I tried.
Sure ya did.
Go fuck yourself.
3. Attack Attack Attack
maybe we should talk about cupcakes
The thing[s] that the NRA hasn’t quite grasped yet is that Democrat 2nd amendment “supporters” will only vote for the 2nd when their vote doesn’t matter on crucial 2nd legislation. Those kind of votes should be dumped from all consideration as to their rating. That goes for the Senate votes where it is the breaking or sustaining of the filibuster that is the real vote that counts.
How someone vote when the chips are down and their own Party is against the 2nd is what should count for a rating. That said right now the support for any Democrat is simply supporting the control of that house by either Reid or Pelosi and that right their should damn any support for a Democrat running for Congress.
As for Aiken/O’Donnell. Having to run against not just the Democrat, not just your own party establishment who won’t back you (unlike the Democrats who will attack-attack-attack for whoever is on the ballot on the [D] line), not just all the media who will lie about you on air while covering for your opponent, but also the entire federal government bureaucracy which was “sic-ed” on the tea party and all those they supported. That makes winning just a bit hard.
>That makes winning just a bit hard.<
that's team pw is the civil rights movement
Curmudgeon
I take your points seriously as I *do* live in CA
But the state has moved so far left it is almost a feudal state, where the media holds so much sway that an almost senile Jerry Brown is coasting to victory cause his gaffs are NEVER COVERED and the last time the GOP rallied to do an electable governor we ended up the Ahhnold. (and yes, I voted for him becuz I thought he would actually do the pragmatic stuff).
It comes to the point where Leftists are replacing the middle class with the dependency class and stuffing the ballot box. Limited-government Americans can’t compete with that.
Ted Cruz needs to stay in the senate
he’s a very good senator
i’m tired of every whore piece of shit in the US Senate thinking they oughta be president
just cause that fascist george soros ball-licker became president with no meaningful experience doesn’t mean all the other whores need to throw their hat in
Well we don’t want to go off half cocked that’s for sure. Perhaps target a few individuals and shoot them emails with bullet statements aimed at the issue. Perhaps with links to magazine articles clipped onto them. It could be a barrel of fun. Especially if we avoid triggering recoiling repercussion.
Twitter hash tag them to death.
That’s the point: they do win.
Except when the Stabs endorse their Democrat opponents.
There were rookie mistakes in 2010. In 2012, Todd Akin really wasn’t all that much of a Tea Party guy; the Stabs just like to make out like he was. For Teh Narrative™.
But if we keep having to listen to people telling us the Tea Party isn’t ready for prime time when the actual non-anecdotally obsessed with Akin and Angle results demonstrate that they are, I think we’re entitled to get a little grumpy.
>Twitter hash tag them to death.<
make work programs proggtards rejoice. don't do anything useful.
there’s nothing all that aberrant about Akin
he’s entirely 100% representative of social conservatives and their beliefs
this is who they are
Piss off, hamster.
Yeah it was so sad that he was right and they were liars that were paraded around as having the true truth[yness]. Kinda like “Climate Chaos” and the hundreds of other narrative lies that have been swallowed whole by a public that trusts the sociopaths that batter them around.
There are so many lies stacked on lies and even we believe at least some of them because refuting them all takes a lifetime of embittering work.
fuck off, griefer. Go suck some butter tarts.
>this is who they are<
{Thus the conflict between the aims of life and the aims of the system is not a conflict between two socially defined and separate communities; and only a very generalized view (and even that only approximative) permits us to divide society into the rulers and the ruled. Here, by the way, is one of the most important differences between the post-totalitarian system and classical dictatorships, in which this line of conflict can still be drawn according to social class. In the post-totalitarian system, this line runs de/acto through each person, for everyone in his or her own way is both a victim and a supporter of the system. What we understand by the system is not, therefore, a social order imposed by one group upon another, but rather something which permeates the entire society and is a factor in shaping it, something which may seem impossible to grasp or define (for it is in the nature of a mere principle), but which is expressed by the entire society as an important feature of its life. }
havel
it is helpful to read peeps who lived under low class proggtards. hi nyt!!11!!
I think the trick to get results is to reject short term goals like, winning for the sake of winning, even when those goals are attractive (like winning) and even though we’re being aggressively hard-sold on them (Hillary! 2016 weesa gonna die!!!!!!) in favor of medium term goals, like actually having a conservative party that represents conservative interests instead of whatever the D.C. establishment considers “conservative enough.”
And the way to do that is to treat the establishment the exact same way they treat us, which is to say, refuse to support them at every turn.
Long term the solution is to devolve power back to the state and local level so we don’t have to give a shit about what happens in the swamp. Let it, and the political class, fester.
>he’s entirely 100% representative of social conservatives and their beliefs<
oh take a cupcake dear
Darleen you yourself just did a post where you said that rapists should be listed as “father” on the birth certificates of rape babies
personally it creeps me out a little
>Darleen you yourself just did a post where you said that rapists should be listed as “father” on the birth certificates of rape babies<
@ less then 20 weeks abortion ok? or gosnel?
nononono
cupcakes are not on the agenda in casa pikachu
my new thing is roasting garbanzo beans
it’s super simple except for the timing
you use the canned ones – drain and rinse and you have to dry them (I just use a cloth towel)
toss them with olive oil and seasoning – and you have lots of room to play around – my last batch I did maharajah curry (and salt) – which I liked a lot cause it makes the place smell so good
I had a big can from goya and it pretty much covered a whole cookie sheet (you only want one layer of beans on the sheet is what the recipe said)
so I put them in with some chicken on the top rack
at 450 for like 35-40 minutes, which was a lil too long, but you want them to get crispy so they’re snackable
anyway they’re insanely healthy – especially cause they’re loaded with protein, so that’s my new thing lately
Mr. Gosnel is gonna be a movie star is what the hot airs are saying
to be clear i did the garbanzos on the top rack while the chicken got started below
then after the garbanzos were done I dropped it down to 350 or so to finish the yard bird
what’s for dessert
oh?
dessert is chunkered up mexican papaya with a scoop of breyer’s 80-cal a serving vanilla ice cream
some green tea might fun. i like the constitutionalists peeps. raw
green tea mochi is a summer favorite
but I’m very goal oriented just now
Actually Darleen’s post was about ephemeral social constructs trumping natural, biological reality, the social misconstrual of reality being something of a theme around here after all.
But then anything having to do with reproduction frightens and confuses you, so your misapprehension is expected.
I don’t think they even know what a pistil is
i do 1911!
on 2nd thought nevermind
No hashtag for you.
that makes me think of Mr. bravo romeo delta, sadly and fondly
for he has goned away
like Mr. BMoe and the sausage king and Lt Colonel General Private John and our mildly truculent friends thor and nishizonoshinji
happyfeet’s one redeeming feature is that you know which side he is on, his protests to the contrary notwithstanding.
– Tolerating hf is a bit like preferring Benedict Arnold over Hitler.
– So they say that…..
– But then again the senile Moonbeam sez, because with a Progressive theres only two states of matter in the universe, Climate disorder and racism. If shit don’t burn like it should then set the damn stuff on fire.
>because with a Progressive theres only two states of matter in the universe, Climate disorder and racism <
the proggtard narrative uber alles
The NRA is unabashedly single-issue. That means they will endorse the Democrat, if the Democrat is an incumbent, and has a decent (B or better) rating. The NRA-PVF’s ratings are clearly defined:
As an example, Kentucky, the NRA-PVF supports Mitch McConnell. If I lived in KY, I’d vote against McConnell in the primary for obvious reasons.
As charlesaustin suggests above, treat the NRA-PVF endorsements as a data point. In my case, I once always followed their advice, which resulted in me voting for Al Gore in the ’80’s, as well as many blue-dog Democrats in local races. It’s easier now, since the blue dogs were taken afield and shot by Nancy Pelosi, and the Democrats are coming out of their pinko-red-Liberal-Fascist closets.
‘feets, there’s no amount of ‘LOOK! Cupcakes – Turtles! – Cute Musics! – Garbanzo beans!’ posts you can put up to cover your nassty, hatey, mainline progressivism anymore.
I’m suggesting you retire your yellow-tard avatar and the ‘happyfeet’ attachment, go back to Central Planning and apply for a new script.
You’ve blown your cover for good. What began with your freakout over the Kevin Jennings fisticuffs and continued with numerous, contemptible, vile-spewing hatreds against Sarah Palin and Tim Tebow (and his mother), and against Darleen for that matter, for their strong anti-Abortion, pro-God views, shredded your clever disguise. Your agenda here going forward is now guaranteed failshit.
Like the Democrats, you are now out of the closets, unclothed. Blech.
is Sarah Palin still a thing?
What Sarah Palin is, is a woman. Women are not “things.”
that doesn’t answer my question
Your question is inane.
no it isn’t you’re just saying that cause you grumpy
It is inane. In fact, almost nothing you ever say is ane.
oh so you’re doubling down on the inane thing
I see how you are
Try a mirror, coward. If you can find one that won’t shatter at the sight of you.
I’m more gruntled than you are.
Disarming by design, our ‘feets. An expert at nuanced subject-shifting.
Watch for his first-comment on any posts he seeks to derail, though. Those are teh evil nuggets, designed to cause a post to disintegrate before it even gets started.
The only proper response to the anity-deficient is to borrow a page from Limbaugh: illustrating absurdity by being absurd.
i hear you but i gotta tell you
it’s a good thing i got a thick skin and several mantras what help safeguard my self-esteem
you guys are too much
That stuff that keeps your head from flopping around when you walk? That’s not skin.
i made a new cocktail for today it’s very simple but very tasty and nice for to keep your metabolisms cranked up
you take a shot and a half of disaronno – just throw it in your shaker – with two teaspoons of instant coffee! then shake it up with cubed ice and serve in a martini glass
it gets a nice crema … and I float a lil tito’s on top too but that’s optional
please to enjoy
it’s a good way to kill a bottle of disaronno, which can otherwise linger for many many moons and even entire presidencies sometimes
several mantras what help safeguard my self-esteem
Stuart “Doggoneit, people like me” Smalley is not a valid lifestyle coach. Cowardice is its own reward.
People who need mantras for their self-esteem probably don’t get much opportunity to look around and see constructive things they’ve done.
balderdash is what that is, Mr. McGehee
pure unadulterated balderdash
I get the feeling the pikashit has a lot of “Participation” and “Student of the Week” certificates hung up around the basement under the corner bodega that he calls “home”. (He’d probably want to live in his mother’s basement instead, but she managed to drop him off at the mall that day and have everything packed and gone before he found his way home again that day.)
right now i mostly have up a texas artist named robert hamman – paintings he did of the river walk in the 70s – i just had them reframed and they really turned out nice
i still have three more to frame but they’re from a different set and I’m a do them up different
they’re kinda like this one but with more blues and greens and they make me wanna go away from this dreary dirty desert city, and i think this might be the year for it
but then I remember my orthodontist and I feel like i must see that relationship through, and I make another cocktail, and I abide
Still not ane.
thank you petronius arbiter you are my compass you are my guide you are my north star
it is your favor I most endeavor to win, and win it I shall
What a pretty display of flares and chaff from the griefer.
Maybe you should randomize the colors and sounds so it’s prettier.
Here’s a self-esteem mantra: “I made that. Obama can kiss my ass.”
Obama sucks donkey balls
I would settle for the “Obama can kiss my ass’ even without the “I made that”, because I don’t need the prerequisite of having to make anything in order for him and his narcissistic camp followers to kiss my ass, both #Collectively and #OneAtATime.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/378228/narcissistic-creed-kevin-d-williamson
I love it when you guys get into little slap-fights with each other. Curmudgeon, you seem like a sensible person. Belay all that. If your candidate isn’t wearing an American Flag shirt with visible bacon greasestains, clutching a double sausage corndog in each hand with eyes rolled back in skull and gibbering in tongues from the divine touch of Jesus, then they have no place in the Conservatard Movement. Got that? Take your inane talk of strategy and victory back to Liberal Land where it fucking belongs. Paleosauraus dinosaurus has got your number, buddy. You are tainted by the stink of logic and reason and must be purged.
Because people who say “conservatard” are great judges of good sense.
Aw, did the troll with the need for attention return yet again?
>Conservatard Movement.<
go back to the bowel movement you fishy smelling clown
You are tainted by the stink of logic and reason
Facts and reality? Not so much.
“Paleosauraus dinosaurus has got your number, buddy. You are tainted by the stink of logic and reason and must be purged.”
Yes refusing to suck someone’s concern trolling dick as they get all twitter bitchy is a now form of “purging”. Because microaggression.
now sissy that walk
Sorry ‘feets, I can’t hear you over the sound of Joyce Carol Oates loudly sucking donkey balls for another Oprah Book Club award.
she’s so cool god bless her
moar hall and oats!
Sara Smile
FOXFIRE IS A CONTRIBUTION! Trying to stop the taliban from pushing walls over on gay people in a soccer stadium, not so much. We need fewer bridges and more stories like ‘Hills Like White Elephants’. Also muffins or an organics hot toddy or some shit.
Actually it’s the persistent presence of people like hellomywasstevethenmileycyrusbutnowimafish, and frankly happyfeet, that cause misunderstandings like the failure of palaeomerus and curmudgeon to communicate. Not every concern is trollish, but that sometimes gets lost in the neverending game of whack-a-troll.
Curmudgeon seems a reasonable sort to me. I didn’t agree 100% with what he said up-thread, but I hardly think he is a concern troll practicing seminar tactics.
freshovenbakedcodfish is obviously an asshole, but it seems there are those here that are incapable of making the distinction between an obvious troll and a honest contributor with a different perspective.
I don’t know, maybe Mr Goldstein has a business strategy capitalizing on diminishing returns I don’t understand. If so, carry on.
I think it’s more a matter of high frequency commenters accustomed to smacking down trolls forgetting that there are other commenters who don’t comment as frequently.
There’s also the hazards of the format. Wry sarcasm, for example is hard to distinguish from blunt rebuke in cold digital print. And it’s hard to remember to be charitable when your busy trying to avoid stepping in the shit that invariably gets dropped in any thread.
Well, I kinda missed how
was an insult to him.
Likewise.
Establican loser by association maybe? I dunno. Anyway that hard to be charitable observation was meant to be universal. But I should have been clearer.