More Scalps for Palin

The most influential member of the most influential movement in the country continued her run of success against establishment candidates.  Palin-endorsed Senate candidates won the Republican primaries in Delaware, New York, New Hampshire, & Wisconsin on Tuesday.  The Tea Party is indeed transforming the Republican party from the inside out.  Proving that she's a force to be reckoned with apart from the Tea Party Movement, her candidate, Kelly Ayotte, won the New Hampshire primary against a sprited effort by the Tea Party-endorsed candidate, Ovide Lamontagne. 

In state after state (though certainly not all the candidates she's backed), Palin's endorsement has taken a little known candidate and thrust him/her into the spotlight, resulting in Tea Party publicity and conservative money heading their way.  The candidate then becomes a household name, and their message resonates, eclipsing the Establishment Candidate. 

Whether this is all for the good of the Republican Party or not is debateable.  Joe Miller, Marco Rubio, Kim Ayotte, & Nikki Haley are all good candidates. 

The big controversy is in the Delaware Senate primary, where, with a boost from Palin, Christine O'Donnell overcame much controversy and a big deficit to beat long time Delaware Republican RINO Mike Castle.  Mike Castle is a type of Republican that would make Jeff's (and my) blood boil, with his vote for Cap 'n' Trade, and his vote before the Iraq Surge for a Congressional Resolution against it:

pledges support for U.S. personnel serving “bravely and honorably in Iraq” but says Congress “disapproves” of the president’s plan to add more than 20,000 combat troops. The resolution was approved 246 to 182. Seventeen Republicans joined 229 Democrats in support of the resolution. Two Democrats opposed the measure.

This was similar to a statement made by Oregon Republican Senator Gordon Smith in Dec 2006, just before the surge:

I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way being blown up by the same bombs day after day. That is absurd. It may even be criminal. I cannot support that any more. I believe we need to figure out not just how to leave Iraq but how to fight the War on Terror and to do it right

That statement by Smith convinced me that Republicans and Americans didn't need him and I refrained from voting for him in the 2008 election, helping to hand one of Oregon's senate seats to uber-lib Jeff Merkely. That doesn't make me happy, but a Republican undercutting the war effort, particularly at that critical time, was unconscionable.

However, and this is a big however, in every poll conducted in Delaware so far, Mike Castle easily defeats the Democratic candidate, Chris Coons, while every poll also shows Chris Coons easily defeating Christine O'Donnell.  It's quite possible that Republican control of the Senate could come down to the Delaware vote.  If Mike Castle were nothing else, he would at least be a number determining whether Harry Reid will be the leader of the Senate or not.  And that, as Joe Biden says "is a big fucking deal".  Well, it doesn't matter if it was right or wrong for Sarah to endorse O'Donnell, but she did, and she won.  We'll see if O'Donnell can close the gap in Delaware.  Even if she doesn't, she has poached RINO from the Republican Party, and maybe we don't even want control of the Senate at this time.  Many blogs have given this topic in-depth analysis.  See Ace for the most even-handed. 

But, regardless, the Power Behind the Republican Party: my gal Sarah, and the Tea Party continue to roll on and transform the Republican Party and America.  The MSM destroyed her as a candidate, but, as in Star Wars, striking her down, made her stronger than they could possibly imagine.  This campaign season is a sweet revenge.

Really, I've just been waiting for quite a long time for a good excuse to post that exclusive photo of Sarah during her last Arctic hunting trip.

Scott Brown Leads New England Republicans Support of Financial Regulation Bill

No beating about the bush: Scott Brown led the defection of the New England Republican Senators: himself and the Maine sisters, from the solid Republican ranks in support of the worthless Financial Regulation bill passed today.  The blog Legal Insurrection, written by a Cornell Law professor, is a very good conservative blog.  The professor, William Jacobson, was a very strong supporter of his campaign. Jacobson doesn't run and hide about it:

When Brown announced that he would support the legislation, his press release stated in part as follows:


While it isn’t perfect, I expect to support the bill when it comes up for a vote. It includes safeguards to help prevent another financial meltdown, ensures that consumers are protected, and it is paid for without new taxes. That doesn’t mean our work is done. Further reforms are still needed to address the government’s role in the financial crisis, including significant changes to the way Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac operate.”

Reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac never is going to happen unless Democrats have no other choice. Not at least as long as Barack Obama is President or Democrats control all or part of Congress. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are off limits for Democrats, just as they were when the the Bush administration warned of problems.


By supporting legislation without including reforms of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Brown lost leverage to address the root of the problem, and squandered his 41st vote.

Jacobson gets it right of course.  This was a ridiculous bill to support as it still doesn't address the real problem.  Jacobson continues with a lot of good analysis on why the bill is a bad thing.  But, he finishes with this:

I'm not going to engage in the name calling some have directed at Brown. I believe Brown was sincere in his belief that the legislation does more good than bad. And I'm still glad that I supported his campaign, because Brown stood firm on health care and other negative Democratic initiatives.

But Scott Brown failed to see the forest for the trees on financial reform.

Whatever good the financial legislation accomplishes could have been accomplished without another impenetrable behemoth, sprinkled with lobbyist-induced goodies, which expands government for the sake of expanding government, and which constitutes a cure which is worse than the disease.

Like Jacobson, and I'm sure at least most of RTP&GG, I'm upset with Brown. Not only did he vote the wrong way, but he actually led the two other Republicans into voting with the Democrats. However, also like Jacobson, I am still not upset with Brown's victory for Teddy Kennedy's Senate seat. That's the best we can do in that part of the world. We'll have to deal with this kind of thing if Republicans are going to become the majority party again. That's the important thing. Well there are two things. The Republicans need to take control of the houses, and then have a majority of  fiscal conservatives to get the job done that needs doing: shrinking our bloated Federal government.  They can't, as an entire party, be the Democrat-lite party they were during the Bush administration.  But there will be various shades of Republicans.