For establishment GOPers, party loyalty often a ONE WAY street
Grassroots conservatives are reminded often about how they need to shut up, accept some diversity, and vote FOR whoever the GOP nominates. Quite often, conservatives hold their noses and do their duty as Republicans on election day. But how consistent are moderate establishment types in following their own advice?
I saw an analysis of the 2008 North Carolina governor’s race by former John Locke Foundation blogger Jeff Taylor. He noted how interesting it was that — in the general election — McCrory handily won Charlotte-area precincts that ALSO went for Obama and Kay Hagan.
In 2012, McCrory handily beat Democrat Walter Dalton. An awful lot of Tea Partiers — us included — stood up for Pat McCrory and voted for him, even though he didn’t exactly WOW us. But the GOP nominees for Council of State — mosty all of whom campaigned to McCrory’s right — didn’t fare so well. It’s pretty obvious from looking at the vote totals that thousands upon thousands of people who voted for Pat McCrory DID not vote for Dan Forest or any of the other GOP Council of State candidates. I talked with a number of Council of State candidates and campaign staffers from that year who tell me they got next to no help from Team McCrory.
Fast forward to 2014. Republican US Senate candidate Greg Brannon is being criticized for not marking Mitt Romney’s name in the 2012 general election. Brannon says — due to his discomfort with Romney’s moderate-to-liberal decisions while governing and campaigning — he wrote in the name of another Republican politician. Of course, Brannon’s action did not cost Romney the election. In fact, post-election studies found that 4 million people who showed up for John McCain in 2008 did not show up at the polls in 2012.
In 2012, the establishment got angry at The Tea Party for primarying long-time Indiana senator Richard Lugar. The primary was ugly, and Lugar lost. A lot of Lugar’s forces sat on their hands in the general election — allowing a Democrat to pull an upset. Tea Partiers claimed — to the vehement objections of the GOP establishment — that Lugar was insufficiently conservative. Well, it turns out that Lugar has been caught donating money to 2014 Democrat US Senate candidate Michelle Nunn of Georgia. There IS a contested GOP primary in Georgia, by the way.
Lugar is the second former Senate RINO to step up for Nunn. Former Senator John Warner (R-VA) gave her money and attended a fundraiser. (Nunn is the daughter of former Georgia senator Sam Nunn.)
Looking at all of this, it gets you wondering about what will happen in North Carolina following the GOP primary for US Senate. Will state party leadership step up to try and keep the peace between Tea Partiers and establishment types? Or will the ostracization of The Tea Party continue — possibly leading to one heck of a political DIVORCE?
Nothing new here to real conservatives. WW preserve our independence by remaining independent.
Many Establishment Republicans are hypocrites to say the least, I couldn’t stand Romney but I voted FOR HIM and knocked on plenty of doors for his campaign, because the objective in the 2012 Election is was WE MUST defeat Obama, I’m going to be voting for Dr. Brannon in the primary, and it doesn’t matter if him Tillis or Harris are nominee, or even a 200 Year old PBJ Sandwich we MUST defeat Kay Hagan in the General Election.
It really shameful how the NCGOP mistreated Steve Royal and Ed Goodwin to name a few not to mention the VAGOP and there disrespect for Cucucinelli and Lt. Gov Candidate EW Jackson, these two nominees were voted into nomination by a majority of the VA Convention Goers and the amount of disrespect by VAGOP as well as alot of the DC GOP Establishment is sickening to say the least!
I too have held my nose many times to vote for less than appealing establishment GOP candidates, and every presidential nominee after Reagan falls into that category. I have also done so for every GOP US Senate candidate in NC, even though some like Bill Stevens in 1974 took an industrial strength gas mask to hold my nose, and a few others were less than appealing. We have had some good solid conservative ones like Helms, East, and Faircloth, but the rest were little better than establishment seat warmers.
One thing that has changed my position is Richard ”Tricky Dick” Burr selling us out on major issues over last year. First, it was gun control, where he cast the first and most important vote, the one for cloture, in favor of gun control, something the 6th district convention passed a censure motion against him on. While he did swing back right and vote later against gun control, that first vote put the writing on the wall. Then, he voted for the Amnesty gang of 8 bill on the first and important vote, cloture. Again, he came around before the final vote, which is less important and did vote right there. Then came the votes to defund Obamacare. Not only did he vote wrong on cloture, but also on every other vote, and he attacked the conservatives who were fighting to defund that monstrosity in the media. Two GOP Congressional district executive committees voted unanimously to rebuke Burr for his role there. As far as I am concerned, Burr has had three strikes and he is out. I would never vote for him again even if he is running against Fidel Castro. That has also changed my view on holding my nose to vote for bad establishment candidates. If an establishment candidate is seriously bad on major issues, from now on, I DO intend to withhold my vote. They can get stuffed. The lesser of two evils is still evil.
Lets take the US Senate race. My first and second choices of the names originally mentioned did not get into the race, and of those who did, Brannon is the most appealing. From what I am aware now, I could comfortably vote for three of the others running, but there is one, who due to issues is totally unacceptable. When Thom Tillis told the Farm Bureau that he supported ”a path to citizenship” for illegal aliens he lost any remote possibility of getting my vote. Of course, his prior support of gutting e-Verify and of giving drivers licenses to illegal aliens were already strongly pointing in that direction, as was Tillis’ support for obnoxious green energy mandates, his waffling on Obamacare, his constant attempts to destroy conservative legislators, his attempts to water down the Voter ID bill, and a number of other issues.
There are certain critical issues that I will make my decisions on. I will NEVER vote for a candidate who is a supporter or weak in opposition to gun control, PERIOD. I will never vote for a candidate who supports ANY form of amnesty for illegal aliens. PERIOD. I will never vote for a candidate who is a supporter of or weak in their opposition to Obamacare. PERIOD. I will never vote for a candidate whom I perceive as being weak on tax, spend, and budget issues.
I have a friend who is a former Republican legislator who was so sick of Liddy Dole’s voting record that he actually voted for Hagan. I don’t think I could ever do that, because no matter how bad an establishment Republican’s record on issues was, the Democrat is certain to be at least as bad. I would be more inclined to just not vote in that race.
When it comes to president in 2016, there are some who from their records are also non-starters who I could never vote for, including Christie, Rubio, and Ryan. I contributed to Rubio’s US Senate race, but when he sold us down the river with the Gang of 8 on amnesty, that double cross means I will never support him again for anything.