The GOP put party over country by voting against Lugar or something
It was not liberals who ended the career of Richard Lugar. The longest-serving Republican in the Senate was unceremoniously dumped last week by the Tea Party fringe. He was not, as the saying goes, caught with a dead girl or a live boy. He was just too doggone moderate, too ready to compromise with the Democrats. Thanks for that, Senator Lugar. Oh, and you’re fired.
Today’s Republicans are different. They truly have put partisanship ahead of patriotism, as the political scientists Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann document in their book, Even Worse Than it Looks. “The GOP,” they write, “has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence, and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.”…
Sure, the Democrats hated George W. Bush. But when he wanted to meet them halfway on education, even Ted Kennedy helped him. And when he wanted to make an impressive commitment to fighting AIDS, TB, and malaria in Africa, Harry Reid and Joe Biden—along with Richard Lugar—made it happen.
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Thanks forehead – good to know we did the RIGHT THING.
Not the left thing
jake-the-goose on May 14, 2012 at 10:08 AM
Elections are their own ceremony.
Paul-Cincy on May 14, 2012 at 10:09 AM
He was not dumped by the “Tea Party fringe”. He was dumped by Hoosiers. I know, I was one of them, and I smiled when I did it.
Extrafishy on May 14, 2012 at 10:11 AM
Please ignore the blue dogs that lost their primaries. That’s totally different.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/24/pennsylvania-primary-blue-dog-democrats_n_1450926.html
Strange how that didn’t get as much press, isn’t it?
strictnein on May 14, 2012 at 10:11 AM
Grrr, pass gravy. RINO meat so good. Grrrr!
SouthernGent on May 14, 2012 at 10:12 AM
The definition of “putting party before country” appears to be disagreeing with Democrats on any issue at any time.
Good Lt on May 14, 2012 at 10:12 AM
If you believe Obama is the country, it makes sense. It’s what they actually believe. When Rush Limbaugh said “I hope he fails” they went nuts because they think Obama is the country.
zmdavid on May 14, 2012 at 10:15 AM
Concern trolls being all concerny. Awww, isn’t that precious?
NotCoach on May 14, 2012 at 10:16 AM
You crazy wingnuts just don’t respect the other side! Their lack of self awareness is really funny.
zmdavid on May 14, 2012 at 10:17 AM
Forehead: Democrats put party over country by voting for Democrats
Jaibones on May 14, 2012 at 10:18 AM
But when it comes to Democrat partisanship Paul sez, “where, when”?
antipc on May 14, 2012 at 10:19 AM
So, does this mean that Begala would have supported Lugar over his Democrat rival in the general election?
notropis on May 14, 2012 at 10:19 AM
Lugar was fired because, like Begala, he didn’t give a crap about what the American public wanted.
RBMN on May 14, 2012 at 10:22 AM
This explains why democrat super delegates chose Bacracka Obama over Shrillary Clinton. They put country over party.
SouthernGent on May 14, 2012 at 10:22 AM
I can’t keep up… what’s this week’s meme? Is the TEA Party on the wane and losing influence or is it a terrorist organization bent on destroying “admired statesmen” like Lugar?
mankai on May 14, 2012 at 10:23 AM
What about the two redistricted Blue-Dog Dems who lost their seats to far lefties in PA? What was that?
mankai on May 14, 2012 at 10:24 AM
This is just priceless, as if that’s something only one party does. Members of a political party are dismissive of their opposition? Why that’s just unheard of in politics!
Remember how certain members of congress reacted when it was pointed out that this whole health care thing might not be constitutional?
strictnein on May 14, 2012 at 10:24 AM
How can the fringe dump anybody? Don’t you have to lose a majority of votes to lose a primary?
Rocks on May 14, 2012 at 10:25 AM
Hahahahahahahahahah! Wooo, that’s a good one! Seriously though, this is about what the Senate will look like after this election, not any real concern about the supposed acrimonious nature of the “new” GOP. Bagelbaboon knows Mourdock will win in November, so of course the left would prefer Lugar to Mourdock.
NotCoach on May 14, 2012 at 10:26 AM
How exactly do you get dumped by a “fringe”?
mudskipper on May 14, 2012 at 10:26 AM
Giving away other people’s money isn’t compromise for the Democrats, it’s the reason they go to Washington.
Rocks on May 14, 2012 at 10:27 AM
Shiny object #17
“When the law is against you, argue the facts. When the facts are against you, argue the law. When both are against you, call the other lawyer names.”
Republicans are ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence, and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.
And so it goes.
Paul-Cincy on May 14, 2012 at 10:27 AM
He’s right, all political offices should be lifetime appointments. I’m sick and tired of average lowlife citizens engaging in the political process and choosing their representatives, it’s scandalous.
Bishop on May 14, 2012 at 10:27 AM
Kind of reminds me of the constant barrage of taunts against those who oppose gay marriage as extremists. Yes, extremists win every single referendum on the issue because we have extreme powers of villainy!
NotCoach on May 14, 2012 at 10:28 AM
Absolutely. Begala seems to have given us a new oxymoron: the majority fringe. Will go hansomely with military intellegence, business ethics, and objective journalism.
apostic on May 14, 2012 at 10:32 AM
Thats precious! Look you wingnutz, we are willing to meet you halfway and compromise with you to reach political goals that are liberal to begin with, like more centralized powers for the federal government.
Valkyriepundit on May 14, 2012 at 10:33 AM
I don’t agree; I think it reversed. However, this is said as though it were something which, of course, the Dimocrats never do.
IrishEyes on May 14, 2012 at 10:34 AM
Republicans; majority = fringe
Democrats; majority = mainstream
antipc on May 14, 2012 at 10:34 AM
Stealing this.
hawkdriver on May 14, 2012 at 10:34 AM
So what were the Dems in Connecticut doing when they dumped Joe Lieberman as their nominee back in 2006?
Doughboy on May 14, 2012 at 10:35 AM
Two words Begala: Joe Lieberman.
Curmudgeon on May 14, 2012 at 10:36 AM
The primary loss frees up Lugar to replace Biden as Obama’s VP.
zmdavid on May 14, 2012 at 10:36 AM
Just because the Dems keep that drooling idiot from Michigan in Congress for 50 years doesn’t mean the GOP has to keep a useless 80-year-old in the Senate.
BuckeyeSam on May 14, 2012 at 10:43 AM
What about that Blue Dog congressman from PA, Jason Altmire? They reconfigured his district to include more liberals, and he lost a primary to a guy who went to his left.
BuckeyeSam on May 14, 2012 at 10:48 AM
If anyone doubted that not reelecting Dick Lugar was a good idea – Paul Begala (Democrat) just confirmed what a good idea it really turned out to be.
I remember when Obama got elected and the media was asking if the Democrats would be bipartisan. They had both chambers of the legislature and the presidency. Paul Begala’s statement was absolutely not there is no reason for the democrats to be bipartisan.
But for some reason it’s a sin if republican’s aren’t bipartisan now?
The TEA party isn’t fringe, it’s the middle class, and a huge voting block. Paul Begala thinks insulting them is a winning strategy? Sure it worked out so well in 2010.
Dr Evil on May 14, 2012 at 11:08 AM
Well, Paul, in 1993, we all came together and, in a bipartisan vote, decided we did not want national health care. Didn’t stop your partisans from bringing it back up the first chance they got, did it? If you want to know why the Republicans are all “fringy” these days, look no further than that.
Odysseus on May 14, 2012 at 11:14 AM
As Elizabeth Warren would say, when a Democrat starts criticizing any other party or individual of putting party ahead of country… him speak with forked tongue.
drunyan8315 on May 14, 2012 at 11:24 AM
There isn’t one representative in DC that wouldn’t flush this country down the toilet in a nano-second if it meant a career advancement….patriotism is only spoken of when they need our vote. They see us as a bunch of rubes….and given the current POTUS, it would be hard to argue that point.
repvoter on May 14, 2012 at 11:45 AM
Yet, he didn’t seem to have a problem when Altmire and Holden lost their primaries.
topdawg on May 14, 2012 at 11:46 AM
GOP bigots forced Reach Around Dick out.
/Bark
CorporatePiggy on May 14, 2012 at 11:49 AM
Begala is not very smart then, and blind too.
Schadenfreude on May 14, 2012 at 12:20 PM
Hmm. So the citizens of the state elected one Republican in place of another Republican in a primary, and that’s putting party ahead of country? Interesting…
Shump on May 14, 2012 at 12:24 PM
Begala is shilling, and lying, and he knows it.
Lugar got hammered. The Tea Party influence didn’t create that tsunami.
Lugar lost because he lost touch with his constituents. He didn’t even maintain a residence in Indiana, let alone actually live here. As a regular caller to Lugar’s office, most often to complain, I can tell you that his staff on more than one occasion admitted they were being bombarded with complaints. But Lugar just kept cruising along, apparently feeling as if he could repeatedly betray us with his votes and still go unchallenged. I hadn’t voted for him in at least the last 20 years, but he didn’t draw primary challengers and sometimes not even a general challenger.
He was wrong. He was challenged. He lost.
The Tea Party efforts certainly helped, but they weren’t the reason Lugar lost. Lugar’s record defeated Lugar.
novaculus on May 14, 2012 at 12:28 PM
I just love being lectured to by the likes of Begala on how important bi-partisanship is (especially when it works to the favor of Dems).
Bitter Clinger on May 14, 2012 at 12:37 PM
Wishcasting.
Dominion on May 14, 2012 at 12:41 PM