Last month, Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) came in a distant third behind two other GOP candidates vying for the three-term senator’s seat at the Utah Republican Party’s nominating convention in Salt Lake City. His defeat was heralded as a Tea Party victory and prompted Utah’s other GOP U.S. senator, Orrin Hatch, to say tea partiers “don’t have an open mind” and “won’t listen.” Yesterday, Bennett had some harsh words for his party and its future:
“As I look out at the political landscape now, I find plenty of slogans on the Republican side, but not very many ideas,” Bennett told The Ripon Society.
“Indeed, if you raise specific ideas and solutions, as I’ve tried to do on health care with [Oregon Democratic Sen.] Ron Wyden, you are attacked with the same vigor as we’ve seen in American politics all the way back to slavery and polygamy; you are attacked as being a wimp, insufficiently pure, and unreliable.”
Bennett predicted that the GOP would win back control of the House in this year’s midterm elections, but added, “The concern I have is that ideology and a demand for absolute party purity endangers our ability to govern once we get into office.”
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Shhh, Bob! That’s OUR little secret! :)
June 30th, 2010 at 5:30 pm“Bennett predicted that the GOP would win back control of the House in this year’s midterm elections…”
Seriously delusional! You do not win national elections when less than 30% of all registered voters will even admit to belonging to the GOBP/Tea Potty/Cult.
June 30th, 2010 at 5:31 pmBennett didn’t know the KKK joined the Tea Party and the Republican Party is divided now and can’t get control. I expect independent candidates to win more seats and the old free loaders will be out. After watching Obama win and even the Primary where Hillary and Obama both got millions of votes. Before the Nov. election things will come clear to many voters who watch the results of the decision of the GOP. I don’t see the unemployed running to vote for the GOP and some Dems who wouldn’t give help to them but gave it to the Banks. As these candidates ask for a vote from the people they refuse to help.
June 30th, 2010 at 5:34 pmBennett: “The concern I have is that ideology and a demand for absolute party purity endangers our ability to govern once we get into office.”
– - In the immortal words of newly elected Senate candidate Robert Redford in the movie, The Candidate, ‘What do we do now?’”
June 30th, 2010 at 5:36 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
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Everything Republicans stand for comes from bumper stickers.
June 30th, 2010 at 5:44 pmWhile Bennett’s comments are appreciated, he is too late to lecture the party. He should have thought about that when the party decided to say no to everything the Dems proposed and engaged in a campaign to stop the business of Congress. The Republicans willfully embraced the teabaggers and now those people will push the party to take even more ridiculous stances. Bennett is too late to become a statesman; he should have done that before he lost the primary.
June 30th, 2010 at 5:46 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Bennett’s right.
June 30th, 2010 at 5:46 pm“The concern I have is that ideology and a demand for absolute party purity endangers our ability to govern once we get into office.”
That’s odd because they don’t have a real interest in governing, only in looting the public treasures and treasury.
June 30th, 2010 at 5:47 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Urban Brick says:
“Yes We Can”
“Change” versus “More of the Same”
Republicans: Standing In The Way To Prevent Change.
June 30th, 2010 at 5:52 pmRepublicans: “NO!”
@9
so what unit did you belong to?
care to answer
June 30th, 2010 at 5:52 pmI’d have to say my favorite Repulican’t slogan that came out during the ‘08 election was from McCain and was actually a lie and not a slogan It was:
Country First!
June 30th, 2010 at 5:56 pm“The Republican brand is in the trash can. I’ve often observed that if we were a dog food, they would take us off the shelf.” So said Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.)
I hope you guys understand, that you’re toast.
June 30th, 2010 at 5:56 pmwow did thick as a urban brick leave again with out answering a simple straight forward question.
sad cowards they are.
June 30th, 2010 at 5:59 pmthe right wingers haven’t stopped whining since Obama was elected.
what a bunch of sore losers. no wonder we can’t get any intelligent conservatives on this site. they all left the party. all that are left are the trolls.
June 30th, 2010 at 6:00 pmYes, if you are going to tell the truth, you better find another party.
June 30th, 2010 at 6:05 pmBennett: “The concern I have is that ideology and a demand for absolute party purity endangers our ability to govern once we get into office.”
Not to worry, your party’s corporate owners will take care of those small ‘govern’ details.
June 30th, 2010 at 6:06 pm“intelligent conservatives?” When the GOP pushed Limbaugh, Hannity, and Palin to the front of their pack, what kind of sad song is at the rear?
June 30th, 2010 at 6:06 pmYet another one who decides to speak the truth only when his career is over. What was his first clue? The fact that the partys’ de facto leaders are a couple of racist radio shock jocks with histories of massive substance abuse? The fact that their house television network is owned by a group of Australian expats working with Saudi capital? The fact that their congressional leader is a big orange hack left over from the Tom Delay era who likened the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression to an ant? The fact that the Republican members of the judiciary committee decided this week to go on an offensive against Thurgood freaking Marshall and whose candidates for the senate are so crazy and inept that they cannot be trusted in from of any media outlet not controlled by Rupert Murdoch? Tell me oh Senator Bennett, what did you see when you looked into your crystal nerf ball that led to this stunning conclusion?
June 30th, 2010 at 6:06 pmDoesn’t “NO” count as an idea?
June 30th, 2010 at 6:06 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
My favorite slogan: Voldemort votes Republican.
June 30th, 2010 at 6:09 pmSorry Mr. Bennett but, you’re not going to be winning back the House either. Just watch. The GOP has been so busy saying no to everything that the Dems will successfully make this contrast more than clear which will force people to remember how things went the last time they were in power.
June 30th, 2010 at 6:12 pmThe Republicans have a symbiotic relationship to the radical right, teabaggers, birthers, 10thers, hate radio, Fox News and racists. The party won’t give up any of those because they believe it would mean a loss of votes. That is questionable since the alternative is to vote for Dems and I doubt any of those groups are going to vote for the Dems. The Republicans thought they could control these groups and, in reality, these groups control the party. If the Republicans can divorce themselves from these fringe groups, they can capture the independent voters again. But the Republicans just can’t say enough to the fringe groups because the party fears loss of elections. But that may happen anyway because of the party’s embrace of the fringe groups.
June 30th, 2010 at 6:15 pmEven knowing that his party has no ideas, he supported all of those Republican fillibusters to block the party with all of the ideas. How disgusting.
June 30th, 2010 at 6:15 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
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It’s obvious that none of those heinous nutjobs will vote for the Democrats, and we don’t want them. The Republicans are just worry that their lunatic base will stay home on Election Day, if the establishment GOP is not far right.
June 30th, 2010 at 6:20 pmSounds like the “the skull” is just maybe considering a third party run, a la`
June 30th, 2010 at 6:21 pmJoe “the snake”?
shoe (formerly shoeless, sponsored by Nike) says:
The Republicans are just worry that their lunatic base will stay home on Election Day, if the establishment GOP is not far right.
But Republicans will have to choose between the radical fringe or independent voters who are moderates and are a larger group of voters. They will not be able to have both groups.
June 30th, 2010 at 6:26 pmEveryone has to understand one thing: the Republican Party does not give one fat shit for the well-being of anyone or anything other than the agenda of that corporate world which infuses them with lots of cash and the power that goes with it. They care nothing for people, for the country, for the Constitution, for the planet, for the concepts of honor, of truth. Bennett was no exception in all the time he’s been in Washington, nor will his successor.
The emergent truism: ANYONE who votes for a Republican is totally FUBAR. Make that F.U.B.A.R. (an acronym yielding another word for insane, I guess one could call it).
June 30th, 2010 at 6:30 pmThe GOP may be learning that by moving to placate the outer fringes, they may be losing control. That is, their pandering is shifting power to the Tea Party, which has no allegiance to the GOP. (Nor do they have allegiance to America. The Tea Party is the party of “me”. But that’s another tirade.) So we see Crist and Bennett being more forthright about their party’s principles and directions, and the fear that government will devolve into chaos.
The GOP needs to caucus out of the limelight and decide to change course, to become cooperative members of government. The longer they feel they have to pander in the public eye, the more they will lose any voice for American progress. The more they inhibit governmental functioning, the more likely it is that they will be voted out in the “throw the bums out” reaction that is seizing America because government is being paralyzed by the party of no. The GOP incorrectly believes it will returned to a majority through obstruction. They won’t — they will just be sitting on the sidelines as the psychos gain.
June 30th, 2010 at 6:33 pmMany years ago, during the Clinton administration when the Republicans got control of Congress for the first time in 40 years, I asked Senator Bennett if the GOP had what it takes to be the governing party. He thought in time they would rise to the challenge. Now we know that never happened, and a Republican Congress was a miserable failure for the country.
I wish we had a responsible opposition party. Without one, the Democrats have nobody to keep them honest.
June 30th, 2010 at 6:33 pmI really wish he had said something before the election.
June 30th, 2010 at 6:34 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
FellowAmerican
The GOP needs to caucus out of the limelight and decide to change course, to become cooperative members of government. The longer they feel they have to pander in the public eye, the more they will lose any voice for American progress. The more they inhibit governmental functioning, the more likely it is that they will be voted out in the “throw the bums out” reaction that is seizing America because government is being paralyzed by the party of no. The GOP incorrectly believes it will returned to a majority through obstruction. They won’t — they will just be sitting on the sidelines as the psychos gain.
——————————————————–
I agree with what you say save for the first line. My hope is that they continue their current path with the vitriol, the narrow-minded hate, and wind up getting tossed aside in a series of landslides that serve to void the fascist right wing once and for all.
Then there can be progress.
June 30th, 2010 at 6:42 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
This comment has been voted down. Click to read.
@41
Toxic clean up cult troll spam bot.
still being as ignorant as it can be, it lies it cry`s it beg`s but it just can not get any attention which just drives it crazy.
LOL
June 30th, 2010 at 6:59 pmHell, Republicans have plenty of ideas. That’s the problem!
Privatize social security.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:01 pmBan abortion.
Repeal health care bill.
Tax cuts for billionaires.
End inheritance taxes.
Spend anything on the military.
Bomb and assassinate anybody we please.
Eliminate the EPA.
Repeal evolution.
The list goes on and on.
Ned
http”//chumpsandlosers.blogspot.com
#41..just quickly… his agenda is to let it go until people can’t take republican obstructionism and non-regulation anymore and complety do away with your ideology..even if it is AMERICA, land of almost free speech, yours is an anal cancer on AMERICA.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:02 pmI report…you decide…
LOL>>>> and i decide you are a complete idiot cult troll spam bot that with out its enablers, handlers and masters could not come up with any ideas on how it can pull its pants up.
and thats a report you can report on.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:02 pmmotormouth, shut the phuck up. No one here cares what you have to say. I’m surprised you have the cojones to even show up here after the beating(s) you took here last night. Get lost. Do the world a favor.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:02 pmDamn, pilotshark, I accidentally voted you down! On quick glance I saw motormouth lingo and, well, you know. Sorry!
June 30th, 2010 at 7:04 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
It’s on its way.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/south/view/20100630worlds_largest_oil_skimmer_heads_to_gulf_spill
And BTW, it’s a Taiwanese skimmer that’s only recently been retrofited, and the reason it didn’t leave sooner is because of weather conditions – specifically choppy water. It was approved for use some time ago, hence why they’ve been frantically fixing it in order to use in the Gulf. It just hasn’t been ready.
I’d tell you to stop acting like this has been a “saving grace” the government has been sitting on and refusing to use in order to make the situation worse and them more incompetent than ever.
But I know you won’t. After all, ignoring key pertinent facts is the only way you can make your inaccurate points.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:05 pmSen. Bennett: ‘I find plenty of slogans on the Republican side, but not very many ideas.’
Sad when Republicans eat their own.
Best ideas we see from Republicans are the trolls posting in drag. Eh, Martha/Longredbillions/FakeJake?
June 30th, 2010 at 7:05 pmFrugalchariot says:@47
smiles Handshake it happens.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:06 pmThe republicans in Congress will be eaten by their own. Many republicans are extremely upset with them because they continue to block unemployment benefits and jobs bills. There are some really good comments from republicans on the WSJ web site about the republicans concerning their obstructionist tactics on these bills. Many of the people making comments on the WSJ site have lost their homes, health insurance, and their retirement income through losses to their 401ks.
There is an unemployment rally planned for the National Mall on July 2, and it is being pushed by republicans. I’m pretty certain that some independents, libertarians, democrats, and progressive liberals will also attend since being unemployed crosses party lines.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:08 pmMartha V. says:
so will you answer my question, or run off like thick as a urban brick does when i ask him one.
its easy
are you a TV or TS?
thanks
June 30th, 2010 at 7:08 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Bennet is correct. The Republican Party is nothing more than slogans and whores for Corporations.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:22 pmPlz listen to what St. Reagan had to say about the republicans b4 he lost his mind…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJDhS4oUm0M
June 30th, 2010 at 7:29 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Ah, come on Senator, the Republicans have plenty of “ideas”…
…but they are all bad ones.
Republicans – destroying America so we can get our way!!!
Scum bag, treasonous, knuck-dragging neanderthals.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:32 pmI don’t suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:34 pmAnd yet the Reichies are always comparing Obama to Hitler …
June 30th, 2010 at 7:35 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Pee5Martha V. says:
“Liberalism is a form of mental illness.”
- Michael Savage
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Michael Savage DEFINES mental illness! That phucker’s as crazy as Limbaugh, for chrissake, and THAT is SAYING something!
June 30th, 2010 at 7:41 pm——————————————————————————–
You don’t work with Progressives. You fight them every single step of the way.
Progressives are the regressive force of this country. Arm yourself with knowledge, history and the Constitution and let the war begin.
I’d suggest arming yourself with a dictionary first, soldieragainstprogressives.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:43 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
SAP
Arm yourself with knowledge, history and the Constitution and let the war begin.
————————————————————
Do that, read it, and note that you’ve lost before the first bugle sounds. Because people armed with knowledge, history, and the Constitution ARE progressives, by definition. People without any of that are teabaggers; people who don’t give a shit about any of that are conservatives/Republicans.
Simple enough for you to grip, SAP?
June 30th, 2010 at 7:45 pmRepublicans/Baggers/ Fascists… are like cement, all mixed up and set..
June 30th, 2010 at 7:46 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
soldieragainstprogressives says:
Environmentalists Trying to Stop 4th of July Fireworks
———————————————————–
Good for them. I support that 110%. Fireworks are meaningless, dangerous, and contaminating.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:48 pmMartha V. says:
“Liberalism is a form of mental illness.”
- Michael Savage
===============================================================
June 30th, 2010 at 7:48 pmLiberalism is a Mental Disorder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA_H6C8iLPA
Motor, you dumb ass, you took it in the shorts bigtime and you know it. Get lost.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:49 pm66 Frugal-you need to read more, and post less…obviously…
“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.”
-Thomas Jefferson
June 30th, 2010 at 7:49 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Shall I re-post my greatest “hits” from last night…you know…the ones where I smacked you upside the head with the posts I made about Colin Powell, Clinton and Brad Johnson of TP agreeing with MY suggestions in re to the Navy being called in?
Sure, go ahead, and then maybe someone will explain — again — the error in your stupid solution. Not that dickheaded fakes such as yourself will ever listen, but what the hell.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:52 pm#72…
June 30th, 2010 at 7:52 pmKAHN!!!!!!!!!!!!
This comment has been voted down. Click to read.
This comment has been voted down. Click to read.
#76 Republicans need to get wise and frugal first…
June 30th, 2010 at 7:57 pmRight Wing-who has the capability to blow the freakin’ well up with a very large charge, and thereby seal the well? Does BP have that capacity? Nope. Does the Navy? Yessirree!
You progressives didn’t listen to me before….but given time, when I’m proven right…AGAIN…you will bow to my superior intellect.
That’s a stupid non-solution to a 100K barrel per day leak from a hole a mile under water. There’s no guarantee it would do anything other than exacerbate the problem, most likely by destroying the well casing AND shattering the geology in the surround, possibly causing myriad forever unsealable leaks that would last for decades.
It’s one of the dumbest “solutions” yet proposed. Ask any geologist (those are people with education who know about rocks and stuff — that’s for your information, motormouth).
June 30th, 2010 at 7:57 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
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You progressives didn’t listen to me before….but given time, when I’m proven right…AGAIN…you will bow to my superior intellect.
Dude, you sound more and more like Dr. Evil every day. “Why won’t anybody listen to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee???? I’m so smaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrttttttttt!!!!”
Honestly, this isn’t kindergarten even though you act like one. If you want me to bow down to your superior intellect, you’re going to have to show it to me, not tell me about it. And so far you haven’t shown a thing. In fact, I get tired of correcting you.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:59 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
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June 30th, 2010 at 8:00 pm#76,,Republicans(The Bush/Cheney posse) steal from social security for Iraq war..
June 30th, 2010 at 8:02 pm(what did they do to us again..I forget?) and then go out and have the balls to say”.Social Security’s goin broke…we need to privatiiiiiize it!”…
The right loves to say the left taxes and spends…….while the right cuts taxes for the rich and spends…get a grip….
Some people here act as though Thomas Jefferson weren’t a progressive, proving once again that Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations is no substitute for an actual education …
June 30th, 2010 at 8:04 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
motomark says:
A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government.
-Thomas Jefferson
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“The country is headed toward a single and splendid government of an aristocracy founded on banking institutions and monied corporations, and if this tendency continues it will be the end of freedom and democracy, the few will be ruling and riding over the plundered plowman and the beggar.” ~ Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
“I sincerely believe… that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.” ~Thomas Jefferson, 1816
June 30th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
motomark says:
79 Frugal-are you suggesting that Powell and Bill Clinton are dumb?
—————————————————————
Nope, just wrong. You’re the dumb one. AND wrong. Try to keep that straight.
June 30th, 2010 at 8:06 pmI’m done here. Tolstoy is unbelievably more inviting.
June 30th, 2010 at 8:06 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Frugal @ 86: Good on ya, mate! That one’s gonna leave a mark …
June 30th, 2010 at 8:07 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
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92 soldiers-I find it amazing that they continue to write that they “cleaned my clocks” on these blogs, when the opposite is plainly evident.
I have noticed a pattern developing…whenever I appear on a thread…they leave…like roaches scattering for the dark corners, I am a beacon of conservative light on TP.
Good job yourself, btw…
motomark-I find it amazing that you continue to write that you “cleaned our clocks” on these blogs, when the opposite is plainly evident.
I have noticed a pattern developing…whenever I respond to and/or correct you on a thread…you leave and/or ignore me…like roaches scattering for the dark corners, I am a beacon of progressive light on your comments.
Good job yourself, btw…
(I so love MadLibs!)
June 30th, 2010 at 8:25 pmBTW, motomark, you shouldn’t mistake us being bored of your consistent ignorance and circular arguments – not to mention smart enough to know when to stop feeding the trolls – as evidence that you’ve somehow won anything.
June 30th, 2010 at 8:30 pmmichaelam says:
“Bennett predicted that the GOP would win back control of the House in this year’s midterm elections…”
Seriously delusional! You do not win national elections when less than 30% of all registered voters will even admit to belonging to the GOBP/Tea Potty/Cult
It is that 41% that are independents you need to worry about. That is the group that got Obama and the dems elected
June 30th, 2010 at 10:10 pmFrugalchariot says:
Bennett: “The concern I have is that ideology and a demand for absolute party purity endangers our ability to govern once we get into office.”
Not to worry, your party’s corporate owners will take care of those small ‘govern’ details.
They are ALL corporate owned frugal. Not just the R’s
June 30th, 2010 at 10:15 pmHell hath no fury like a career-politician spurned.
June 30th, 2010 at 10:31 pm.
… I can name a few slogans:
G(no)P
GOBP
G.reed
O.ver
P.eople
Gang of Perverts
TEABAGGERS
Testicle Party
Drill, Spill, Kill, here now!
You betcha!
I can’t recall
Bring ‘em On
Mission Accomplished
.
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The best paart of this story? Bennett’s loss here in UT means a Tea-Bagger is set to run against a Democrat for this seat. Utah is fairly red state, but Mike Lee is a hardcore wingnut, think Sharron Angle only not so outspoken (he knows to keep his mouth shut). Utah just may get lucky and go a little blue November, and I might not have to so ashamed of my state’s senators (I’m looking at you Orrin Hatch you evil old SOB).
July 1st, 2010 at 10:39 am