The GOP’s and Fox’s political purge
One high-profile Republican strategist, who refused to be named in order to avoid inflaming the very segments of the party he wants to silence, said there is a deliberate effort by party leaders to “marginalize the cranks, haters and bigots — there’s a lot of underbrush that has to be cleaned out.”
For establishment Republicans, this is all about survival, after two straight elections that saw extremely conservative candidates blow Senate races Republicans should have won. For Fox, it’s about credibility: The cable network, while still easily the top-ranked in news, has seen its ratings dip since the election, in part, conservatives tell us, because a lot of Republicans felt duped by the coverage…
But a senior Republican operative said the party has two huge, unresolved impediments to the top leaders’ grand plans: “suicide conservatives, who would rather lose elections than win seats with moderates,” and the “many groups on the hard right that depend on direct mail fundraising that requires a high degree of audacity, and borderline shrillness.”
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2 3
You squishy squashy “conservatives” can cry and whine all you want. I’m done voting for liberal-repubs and anti-liberty RINOs. They have done nothing but work with progressives to raise our debt, take our liberty and screw our children’s future. The establishment got their pick via Romney. And he lost.
MoreLiberty on February 7, 2013 at 10:46 AM
Of course let’s ignore the fact that the “nominating process” went on for so long because Romney was a weak-ass candidate who had trouble getting past a bunch of GOP third-stringers.
ddrintn on February 7, 2013 at 10:48 AM
Don’t believe any of these “official” numbers the media, both Right and Left, put out about this election. Republican and Independents did turn out to turn out The Bastard- their votes were flipped or erased. And Democrats really did stay home- Obama got over one million fewer votes in California in 2012 than he did in 2008. You do not depress your own voting block in such a way, and with the economy and our foreign policy in such a dismal state, and win re-election honestly.
The 2010 Senate Race between Angle and Reid were the first signs of what was to decide this election. All those stories of electronic votes being switched from Angle to Reid, right on the screen after just having been cast, with the voters told that it was just a “glitch” which needed to be re-calibrated- by the helpful AFSCME guy.
RIIIGHT! Just a glitch!
2012 was just that on a much more massive scale. Everyone knows this election was a sham- even Byron York and John Fund. That’s why no in-depth stories have run in the months since about who exactly were the “missing white voters” and why they stayed home.
Hint: there weren’t any missing white voters because they didn’t stay home!
The obama was the first President in US history to have been re-elected with less votes than he received the first time. Even Bill Clinton got five million more votes the second time.
Unprecedented! Why no big stories on this amazing first?
The media would have us believe that a President whose approval rating hovered just above forty percent his entire first term gets re-elected with fifty-one percent of the vote and an Electoral College landslide.
Doesn’t happen because it didn’t.
sartana on February 7, 2013 at 10:50 AM
A more likely explanation is that the Republicans don’t want to admit they lost their own base, because that would lead to questions about their competence to continue doing their own jobs. The response of the GOP has been to blame Romney’s loss on conservatives and purge them, rather than admitting their own failures. Exhibit A: Karl Rove.
Doomberg on February 7, 2013 at 11:01 AM
I can’t prove it myself, of course. But it’s kind of like you can’t prove in court that “the B$tch set ya’ up” but you do in fact, know that she did.
Anyone who cares to investigate the West recount will find all the evidence of how that race was stolen as well as Florida and the rest of the swing-states.
Which is why no-ones investigating it!
I think you need to be aware that we are not now living in the country that once was, and it’s foolish to take any official numbers or anything from state media seriously. Just as foolish as it was for East Germans or people in Saddam’s Iraq to trust their leaders.
I would say the burden of proof is on you to prove this election valid.
sartana on February 7, 2013 at 11:01 AM
Yes, yes and more yes! Yes, please throw out anybody who is getting sick and tired of seeing no results from this party and getting sick and tired of being told that if they allow the Democrats to win by not voting, then they personally will be responsible for this sinking ship going under even faster!
I hate to say it, but any commenter on this site who won’t stand by the party no matter how statist and Democrat-Partyish it becomes is a disloyal “suicide conservative” crank who needs to be kicked out of the party. WE HAVE TO PROTECT OUR PHONEY-BALONEY JOBS SO WE CAN CONTINUE LIVING IN THE LIFESTYLE TO WHICH WE HAVE GROWN ACCUSTOMED, DAMN IT!!! So all you Liberty Bell lunatics can just sit down and shut up and re-elect us if you don’t want to suffer our severe disapproval!!!
/sarc
(Yeah, as if many of us weren’t already fed up enough with the GOP to turn our backs on it on our own.)
Aitch748 on February 7, 2013 at 11:02 AM
Hmmmmmmmmmmm…………….which races did they blow?
Nevada? Oh wait, Angle won independents, which I was told she was too extreme to do. Oh yeah, 15% of R’s voted for Reid. So the squishes blew that one.
Colorado? Nope, same thing. Buck won independents but 11% of R’s voted for Bennett. So the squishes blew that one too.
Delaware? Must be, O’Donnell will get creamed by independents. Oh wait, dead tie with independents. But 20% of R’s voted for Coons. Squishes blew that one too.
Missouri? Nope, the conservatives split their vote between Brunner and Steelman. Akin was backed by Huckabee. Heck, that one’s due to the squishes too.
Indiana? Maybe. Even though Mourdock had already won state-wide races, and the squish Lugar refused to support or endorse Mourdock after he won.
Florida? Mack was establishment
Wisconsin? Thompson: see Mack
Virginia? Allen: see Mack
Montana: Rehberg: See Mack
North Dakota: Berg: See Mack
New Mexico: Wilson: See Mack
Hawaii: Lingle: See Mack
Washington: Rossi: see Mack
Wow, it looks like the establishment blew pretty much all of them. Shocker there.
topdawg on February 7, 2013 at 11:34 AM
Who gives a damn about the Republican Party? A liberal/ moderate republican senator or congressman votes the same as a democrat, you fool. BTW, Romney LOST because, as Santorum pointed out, he could not battle Obama on the defining issue of our time…Obamacare!
You will be happy to know that many of us are leaving the republican party, As a matter of fact, we are doing it in droves. So, get use to Republicans losing!
fight like a girl on February 7, 2013 at 11:37 AM
So Romney lost because of somebody who never even endorsed anybody and either people that decided to run and not let Romney go uncontested? Pathetic. Pull yourself out of Mitt’s backside before you suffocate.
topdawg on February 7, 2013 at 11:39 AM
As Reagan said, “facts are stubborn things.” Unfortunately, many of the party sheep are oblivious to the facts.
fight like a girl on February 7, 2013 at 11:40 AM
Is this still going on? Jeez, its Politico. Get a grip, everybody.
tommy71 on February 7, 2013 at 11:48 AM
You’d be surprised how long some threads go, Little Tommy.
Fallon on February 7, 2013 at 11:53 AM
I was impressed with “Merdith” who blamed PALIN for Romney’s defeat…well done Meredith. Blame someone who didn’t even run against him…
How about crediting Obama who DID run, successfully, or blaming Romney, also an active player int he game, rather than sideline spectator?
Or has Palin become the “Emmanuel Goldstein” of the Severly Conservative; it’s ALWAYS Goldstein’s baleful influence that is responsible for any Electable Republican’s short-comings?
JFKY on February 7, 2013 at 12:04 PM
Palin singlehandedly made the primary run on too long, so that the Most Electable and Finest Gentleman Ever to Run for President as a Republican just didn’t have enough time to run a proper campaign. It’s all Palin’s fault that the GOP lost. It’s all part of Palin’s diabolical plan to help the Democrats take over America.
Or something.
Aitch748 on February 7, 2013 at 12:21 PM
I still think our message isn’t being delivered the way it needs to be and the attacks aren’t being countered effectively. Read some left wing sites for awhile and I think you’ll see what I mean. Plenty of Dems honestly believes the lies. We’re the party that doesn’t give a flip about the little guy and wouldn’t care if people were starving in the streets. We’re the ones who want to take away G’ma’s SS that she paid into all her life. We’re trying to force women to become human incubators…and we’re the ones that are seen as reliably hateful towards any race that isn’t white.
Until all of our candidates can articulate the Republican brand as being inclusionary…we’re going to keep losing.
lynncgb on February 7, 2013 at 12:27 PM
It’s true, the Wasilla Chill-billy found a way to drag out the primaries, thru her seductive wiles, no doubt….I thought the primaries were by law?
JFKY on February 7, 2013 at 12:27 PM
I don’t think Meredith or Bluegill are really republicans at all. More likely dem operatives tasked with sowing discord.
trigon on February 7, 2013 at 12:31 PM
His wife and son seemed to like him.
BoxHead1 on February 7, 2013 at 4:43 PM
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2 3