Slog
News & ArtsMonday, February 4, 2013
Politics As Money Dwindles, the Republican Party Tries to Purge Itself of Teabaggers
Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Feb 4, 2013 at 1:27 PM
1. Karl Rove is trying to shake the Teabaggers out of the Republican Party once and for all:
Karl Rove has created a group designed to stop the Tea Party’s influence over the Republican Party.
The “Conservative Victory Project,” an offshoot of the former Bush adviser’s American Crossroads, is designed to prevent Tea Party-endorsed candidates from winning Senate primaries.
Let's hope Rove is about as successful as he was during the 2012 election.
2. Politico says that the big money might be draining out of the Republican Party:
Wall Street donors and bundlers plunged hundreds of millions of dollars into the GOP’s effort to take back the White House and Senate this year — and now some are threatening to cut off the spigot ahead of 2014 in the face of disappointing results.
New York donors have a list of complaints: Republicans focused too much on social issues, backed too many weak candidates, stalled Hurricane Sandy aid and even let taxes go up for the very rich — in other words, the very people giving the money and their friends.
The entire rest of the universe is calling for the Republican Party to become more moderate. Even Karl Rove is calling for the Republican Party to become more moderate. I highly doubt that the Republican Party is going to become more moderate.
31
@30--Personally I'd prefer a real party of the Left. Yes, I'm a lifelong Democrat, too--But in Britain I'd probably vote Tory most of the time. That's how far to the Right America has skewed itself.
30
Lifelong Democrat here hoping hard that they DO become more moderate - it's not healthy for our political system to have only one viable party. And I'd love to see some of the more crackpot ideas sent to some fringe graveyard.
29
@11--John, you can quit trying to be our pet Republican any time; but you really are clueless. And you're one of the smart ones.
28
If Obama and the Democratic Party weren't Wall Street's errand boys, this might be interesting news. Plus, the kill list still on Obama's desk as a confirmed torturer is installed at CIA and secret cyberwar joins the president's post-habeas corpus powers. Yuh, Karl Rove's problems matter a lot.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/04/us/bro…
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/04/us/bro…
25
@10 Ding! I think that rove will succeed. The problem will be that the people who originally started the tea party, the people who are scared of change and the unrealized libertarian anarchists are still there and still active.
In the end, I see the tea party splitting the GOP. Money on one side, people on the other.
In the end, I see the tea party splitting the GOP. Money on one side, people on the other.
22
@19 That's kind of the problem. "Conservative", by definition needs to be pulled out of the status quo on rights every 20 years or so. They are wrong, and they refuse and then eventually they give ground (Like the LGBT stuff this time).
They'll move toward a "moderate" position and then they will call that the status quo for 20 more years until the status quo becomes so fringe that they lose elections again.
Social Conservatives are a godamned ball and chain for progress.
They'll move toward a "moderate" position and then they will call that the status quo for 20 more years until the status quo becomes so fringe that they lose elections again.
Social Conservatives are a godamned ball and chain for progress.
20
@5,
You mean it expanded the market. Separating idiots from their money is a grand old American pastime.
You mean it expanded the market. Separating idiots from their money is a grand old American pastime.
19
@ 8 That is false, it was moderate before Reagan took it hard to the right and it will start to turn moderate when they lose another Presidential election, your being too liberal for you own good.
18
@ 9,
You have to look back 160 years to find something remotely decent that the Republicans have done?
You have to look back 160 years to find something remotely decent that the Republicans have done?
17
@10 Conservatives may become a little less strident and a little less overtly racist and bigoted but conservatism, is by definition, not forward looking. The party is failing to keep up with the times. It's not what Slog posters think of the GOP that matters, it's what the majority of voters think, and Republicans are out of step. Slavery was ended by liberals, not conservatives,btw.
14
If you can use the word "moderate" in a sentence you were never a real Republican. And you can tell Karl Rove not to let the door hit him on the way out.
13
@11,
No, I'm not encouraging the republican party to destroy itself, but I'm certainly not going to try to stop them either (not that I could if I wanted to).
Besides, the republican party in its current state is not benefitting society.
No, I'm not encouraging the republican party to destroy itself, but I'm certainly not going to try to stop them either (not that I could if I wanted to).
Besides, the republican party in its current state is not benefitting society.
11
#10
So your goal is as a democrat partisan who would encourage bad or wrong behavior in a spiteful way even if it were bad for society as a whole simply so you could win and have power?
So your goal is as a democrat partisan who would encourage bad or wrong behavior in a spiteful way even if it were bad for society as a whole simply so you could win and have power?
10
@7,
I don't. I want them to become more extreme.
The less moderate the republicans are, the less likely the'll win elections. If they become extreme enough, they might even splinter and form a new party. If conservatives start splitting their votes between two parties, the liberals will never lose another election again.
I don't. I want them to become more extreme.
The less moderate the republicans are, the less likely the'll win elections. If they become extreme enough, they might even splinter and form a new party. If conservatives start splitting their votes between two parties, the liberals will never lose another election again.
7
Seems like people here would want to help in our effort to make the Republican Party more moderate.
6
You know something is wrong in America when the vox populi saw what was going on four years before the so-called "job creators" began to figure it out.
5
The simpler explanation is that American Crossroads is now damaged goods and Rove needs another venture to bilk donation money from foolish Republicans. Citizens United created a nice, little market for legally untraceable fraud.
3
Of course, part of the reason why big business is giving less to Republicans is because Democrats have stepped up and are giving big business what it wants.
Why bother with crazy wackjobs, when you can get the results you (big business, in this case) wants with otherwise rational people. No high level executives arrested in the sub-prime mortgage crisis, BofA gets a mild slap on the wrist... Meanwhile they're making billions of dollars while the middle class and poor are squeezed for every cent they've got.
Why bother with crazy wackjobs, when you can get the results you (big business, in this case) wants with otherwise rational people. No high level executives arrested in the sub-prime mortgage crisis, BofA gets a mild slap on the wrist... Meanwhile they're making billions of dollars while the middle class and poor are squeezed for every cent they've got.
2
Karl Rove is trying to shake the Teabaggers out of the Republican Party once and for all
How about starting with Karl Rove.
How about starting with Karl Rove.
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