Yes I would. We’re not fishing buddies or anything, but we are on a first-name basis.
<Cue Paul Simon’s Still Crazy After All These Years >
In an effort to not talk about her own shortcomings (like being nicknamed “Chicken Swapper” and having more than half a million dollars in unpaid campaign debts from previous election losses), the Tea Party darling began to diss incumbent Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison for supporting the Governor.
[
If one thing is clear from the debate, it’s that Hutchison will stand beside the man who anointed him. Gov. Brian Sandoval hand-picked Hutchison to run and they share campaign staff. If Sandoval challenges Sen. Harry Reid in 2016, the lieutenant governor would fill the governor’s seat.
Lowden tried to exploit the Sandoval-Hutchison relationship. She attacked Hutchison for voting in favor of Sandoval’s budget that expanded Medicaid and extended $600 million worth of taxes that were scheduled to sunset.
“I’m sorry to see my opponent is attacking the governor’s policies,” Hutchison said. “I support the governor’s budget.”
Lowden also critiqued Hutchison’s votes in favor of implementing the Silver State Exchange, Nevada’s floundering health care enrollment marketplace that’s come under scrutiny for glitches similar to the federal system.
Riding on the governor’s popularity, Hutchison stood firm on his decision, saying “Brian Sandoval signed it into law.”
](Two takeaways from the Sue Lowden, Mark Hutchison lieutenant governor debate - Las Vegas Sun News )[
Lowden also accused Hutchison of using Gov. Brian Sandoval “as a crutch.” Hutchison countered by asking her why she keeps criticizing the popular Republican governor, who endorsed him for the No. 2 job in the state.
“It’s a shame that you have to keep using the governor’s name as a crutch,” Lowden said as their debate over Obamacare devolved into personal attacks. “You’re running on your own here.”
“Brian Sandoval signed it into law,” Hutchison said of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange, then wondered why Lowden was slamming the governor. “She wants to be his partner, and she’s insistently criticizing him.”
](Las Vegas News | Breaking News & Headlines | Las Vegas Review-Journal )
According to this , the TP as a whole ain’t doin’ so well.
Figuring out how strong is the amorphous entity called “the Tea Party” is not easy. One can’t join it officially, for the most part, and paradoxically (for pollsters) some people who support the Tea Party ideologically and in their voting patterns may not consider themselves members or supporters when asked by a pollster. According to a recent Gallup poll, 41 percent of Republicans consider themselves “supporters” of the Tea Party—but that’s down sharply from 61 percent in 2010. (Nationally, among all voters, support for the Tea Party stands at 22 percent, down from a high of 32 percent in 2010.) And, according to Gallup, Tea Party types are far more focused on the traditionally low turnout primary elections in 2014 and on the general election later this year, with 52 percent of Tea Partiers saying that they are “enthusiastic” about 2014, compared to just 35 percent of “all other Republicans.” So, in theory at least, the Tea Party is poised to have a big influence on this year’s GOP vote.
So far, however, anti-establishment Tea Party candidates haven’t won a single major statewide race in GOP primaries, including their big loss in North Carolina to a more traditionally minded, establishment-backed right-winger last week.
Various other polls, including NBC News/Marist, New York Times Upshot/Kaiser Family Foundation and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution have all shown evidence of Tea Party weakness and the strength of the Chamber of Commerce–oriented, Karl Rove–backed, Wall Street–linked GOP establishment. The AJC poll showed, in particular, that the Tea Party isn’t likely to win in Georgia, where the Democrats might have a shot at picking up a Senate seat, especially in the Republican candidate is a Tea Partier. The Washington Post, reporting on the polls, says that they “confirm an emerging trend of the 2014 primary season: the Republican establishment has the upper hand over the tea party.” And the Post adds that where the Tea Party has strength, it’s in states that don’t really matter in a presidential contest: Mississippi, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska.
As for Sasse:
But even in Nebraska, where the Tea Party might pull off a victory, it is in disarray, according to U.S. News and World Report. One local Tea Party activist told the reporter, “The Tea Party is unraveling.” Adds the magazine:
The five-way Republican Senate primary has revealed an unusual test case for the conservative wing of the Republican party. What happens when the top candidates in the race are all conservative enough to win a fraction of support from the tea party, but one is anointed the choice of outside groups from the Beltway?
In Nebraska, the traditional labels of “establishment” and “tea party” are blurring so much that some Nebraska GOP voters are dubious as to why the national conservative groups felt the need to get involved in the race at all. Some voters in the state say the race is a perfect example of how the national tea party has lost touch with the grass roots supporters who helped them rise to power. In recent months, media reports have shown many groups are spending more money on their infrastructure than on candidate who can further their causes in Congress.
As a result of all the confusion, it isn’t clear whether or not a Sasse win in Nebraska will be seen as a Tea Party win, since Tea Party factions (including FreedomWorks) are on all sides.
Yeah, but I think your links in posts 3 and 7 were apropos.
The difference between Tea Party and mainstream GOP positions needs to be measured in angstroms, or perhaps with paragraphs that start off, “Let ε>0.”
adaher
May 16, 2014, 8:16am
27
Not sure who the Tea Partiers were in this debate, but it was hilarious enough to make Yahoo’s front page:
“The key is getting our land back from the feds. And here’s my plan of attack. The three best men for the mission are myself as governor, because I’ve got a master’s in raising hell. … Here’s my plan of attack, OK? You go in there and you use spiritual warfare. Everybody talks about the natural, but I want to talk about the other realm we exist in. You bind those evil spirits that are behind the feds with the blood of Jesus, the name of Jesus and the power of entombment of the Holy Spirit, the power of agreement, the word of God. Take air superiority and then roll in with your tanks on your ground….Blitzkrieg!
A moderator interrupted him.
“Mr. Brown? The question was about taxes.”
adaher:
Not sure who the Tea Partiers were in this debate, but it was hilarious enough to make Yahoo’s front page:
“The key is getting our land back from the feds. And here’s my plan of attack. The three best men for the mission are myself as governor, because I’ve got a master’s in raising hell. … Here’s my plan of attack, OK? You go in there and you use spiritual warfare. Everybody talks about the natural, but I want to talk about the other realm we exist in. You bind those evil spirits that are behind the feds with the blood of Jesus, the name of Jesus and the power of entombment of the Holy Spirit, the power of agreement, the word of God. Take air superiority and then roll in with your tanks on your ground….Blitzkrieg!
A moderator interrupted him.
“Mr. Brown? The question was about taxes.”
Yahoo News: Latest and Breaking News, Headlines, Live Updates, and More
Thanks for posting this. I don’t know what is more disturbing:
Actually, he seems to be talking about insurrection through prayer alone.
Good luck with that.
Wait, he says that he has a “master’s in raising Hell”, but then goes on to say that his plan is to put Hell back down? He’s not even consistent in his lunacy.
adaher
May 16, 2014, 3:30pm
31
The other guy’s opening statement was to assure voters that he’s not crazy. Standing next to that guy, he’s pretty sane, actually.
A winning primary slogan: “I’m not quite as crazy as the other guy!”
adaher
May 16, 2014, 3:45pm
33
The other guy’s slogan: Spiritual Blitzkrieg! With tanks!
I so much hope that SNL is working on an Idaho Governor’s Primary Debate sketch this week. Although I’m not sure how they could top the real one.
According to this , Gov. Otter “insisted” on including the two ultracrazies in the debate.
Probably because it:
Makes him look sane by comparison, and
Diverts attention from the real challenge of State Sen. Fulcher.
CJJ
May 16, 2014, 6:58pm
38
E. J. Dionne had a pretty good analysis of this in the Washington Post. This race–along with other Republican primary battles–is hard to interpret if you insist on equating “Tea Party” with “Grass Roots Political Movement”, but it makes a lot more sense when you realize it’s factions within the donor caucus:
The language commonly used to describe the battle going on inside the Republican Party is wrong and misleading. The fights this spring are not between “the grass roots” and “the establishment” but between two establishment factions spending vast sums to gain the upper hand.
Their confrontation has little to do with the long-term philosophical direction of the GOP. Very rich ideological donors, along with tea party groups, have been moving the party steadily rightward. Political correctness of an extremely conservative kind now rules.
“That says ‘master’, does it? Oh, I should really change that to ‘petty dabbler’; I hate to put on airs.”
VIDEO
I am loving this Idaho thing. I hope all the GOP debates are like this.
<grabs popcorn><tries not to laugh popcorn thru the nose>
