This is just beyond asinine. (h/t doubleplusundead)
Sun columnist Jon Ralston is reporting that the Tea Party has qualified as a third party in Nevada and will have a candidate in the Senate race to battle for the seat held by Majority Leader Harry Reid.
The party has filed a Certificate of Existence but needs to get 1 percent of the electorate to vote for its candidate in November to permanently qualify, according to the report.
Ralston reported that Jon Ashjian will be the Tea Party’s U.S. Senate candidate on the November ballot. Ashjian still must declare his candidacy.
Awesome…..this goes a long way towards ensuring Harry Reid stays the Senator of that State.
Look, I’m all for the tea party being a force behind conservatives and agree with much that they stand for but dammit….making a third party is just a recipe for disaster. A complete and utter disaster.
UPDATE
Many thanks to the Freepers who have investigated this Tea Party of Nevada group:
Dr. Sid James, Chairman
Curtis Atwood, Vice Chairman (Atwood Building & Development (LV), contractor)
Eric Scholer, Second Vice Chairman (Scholer Steele & Associates (LV), insurance)
Barry Levinson, Secretary (Personal injury/bankruptcy attorney and former attorney for John Wayne Bobbitt)
Daniel Hayden, Treasurer
Kiana Hayden, At Large Member
Romy Ashjian, At Large Member
Keith Ozawa, At Large Member (President of American Leak Detection, Las Vegas, Nevada)
Jim Ebel, At Large Member
Larry Lathum, At Large Member
More on this Keith Ozawa:
Leland Keith Ozawa, Jr. (CRD #2119830, Registered Representative, Las Vegas, Nevada) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent in which he was fined $5,000 and suspended from association with any NASD member in any capacity for two months. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Ozawa consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that he participated in private securities transactions without providing prior written notice to, and receiving written approval from, his member firm.
Ozawa’s suspension began October 21, 2002, and will conclude at the close of business December 20, 2002. (NASD Case #C02020046)
A bit more:
Looks like Scholer and the Haydens are related:
http://kalamareunion.blogspot.com/
Kiana Hayden: http://kianaonp90x.blogspot.com/
“Dr.” Sid James (that kind of waving of useless credentials screams third party jerk to me) doesn’t have much of a web footprint.
Bottom line: They seem to all be related or connected via real estate in Las Vegas (except maybe the lawyer). There’s virtually nothing that can be found about them, including activity in the Tea Party itself.
Thanks to Freepers Amishdude and Pan_Yan for their excellent research
Just based on the limited research from the Freepers it’s looking more and more like this “candidate” and his group are hijacking the Tea Party name.
UPDATE
Mata looked into the group herself and came up with a few more interesting facts on the ambulance chaser. Looks like he also enjoys suing the LVPD:
Guy with broken neck due to arrest “abuse” and a chopped video tape.. where they settled
http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=7751723
Here’s another in 2002 that he sued the police on behalf of a guy who’s DNA got mixed up with his cellmates (note, he was already serving a sentence when the cellmate accused Levinson’s plaintiff of rape, and they obtained both their DNA samples). Then the alleged raper got nailed for a year’s sentence based on the DNA later….
This chairman, Dr. Sid James, is pretty much invisible on the net. So is pretty much every person in the group. No political papertrail to follow.
This is some group that has used the tea party name for their own benefit.
UPDATE
Now we are starting to get an idea about whose benefit they are working for…..why, the Paulbots. The Neveda News Bureau has done an excellent job of culling together bits and pieces:
Here are some snippets from my research so far:
Barry Levinson was part of the “Bush Lied, People Died” cabal (very strange creds for a Tea Party guy).
Not really core to the story but one of the principals, Larry Lathum, appears to be a 9/11 Truther.
~~~And from another (Nevada) source:
“The party’s candidate Jon Scott Ashjian has connections with Brittain Ashjian; both are listed on each others LLC’s docs with the state. (Go to http://nvsos.gov/sosentitysearch/CorpSearch.aspx and do an office search on Ashjian). A lot of the officers and resident agents for Ashjian are also “officers” for the Party. This just smells…
The Ashjian’s have listings for over 10 LLC’s including the following names:
Bada-Bling, LLC
W.I.T. Bro, LLC AKA AA Paving.
24/Construction, LLC
W.S.C.I. LLC
Two Amigos, LLC
Cajun Express, LLC
Squidman, LLC
The 1720, LLC
TNT Energy Products, LLC
RNC Properties, LLCAlmost all of the LLC’s have various registered agents or officers with address of 4485 N. RAINBOW, Las Vegas.
~~~A search of the Contractor’s Board website rendered these results re: a complaint and pending hearing & action re: Tea Party of Nevada candidate Jon Ashjian:
License Number: 0038420
Current Date: 02/15/2010 04:36 PM(mm/dd/yyyy)
Business Primary Name: JON SCOTT ASHJIAN DBA
License Monetary Limit: $250,000.00
Fictitious Business Name: A & A ASPHALT PAVING COMPANY
Business Address: 4485 N RAINBOW BLVD, LAS VEGAS, NV 89108
Phone Number: (702)891-9111
Status: Summary Suspension
Status Date: 02/03/2010 (mm/dd/yyyy)
Origin Date: 11/02/1994 (mm/dd/yyyy)
Expiration Date: 11/30/2010 (mm/dd/yyyy)
Business Type: Individual
Classification(s): A-8 – SEALING & STRIPING OF ASPHALTIC SURFACES
A12 – EXCAVATING GRADING TRENCHING & SURFACING
A16 – PAVING STREETS,DRIVEWAYS & PARKING LOTS
Principal Name Relation Description: ASHJIAN, JON SCOTT Owner Qualified Individual
Bonds
Bond Type: Surety Bond
Bond Number: FS7782036
Bond Agent: HUDDLESON, KATHLEEN A
Surety Company: GREAT AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY
Bond Amount: $15,000.00
Effective Date: 09/15/2006 (mm/dd/yyyy)
Cancellation Date: 03/28/2010 (mm/dd/yyyy)
Disciplinary Actions
Date: 12/29/2009 (mm/dd/yyyy)
Discipline Type:
Discipline document: Pending – Disciplinary action is pending against this licensee in the form of a Disciplinary Hearing.
Number Of Complaints: 1 complaint is associated with this action.
Notice: The pending action alleges the following violations. Upon final adjudication some violations or cases may be found to be without merit.
Violation(s): NRS 624.3013(3) Failure to establish financial responsibility, NRS 624.3016(1) Fraudulent or deceitful act
Action(s): Pending Adjudication.
The information contained on these pages are provided as a courtesy and may not reflect recent changes or updates. Neither the completeness nor accuracy is guaranteed. The Nevada State Contractors Board shall have no liability or responsibility for loss and damages arising from the information provided or retrieved from these pages.
No telling if this is legit or not until the Board makes their final call. Will keep an eye on it and keep you posted.
~~~As reported by Ralston over the weekend and as shown in that list of LLCs above, there is also a Jon Ashjian listed as the resident agent of TNT Energy Products, LLC. The address for that entity is the same as for A&A Asphalt Paving Company. Which is the same as the address for the office of Barry Levinson.
Go to the website for more including a statement from Barry Levinson.
Either way, the Bush Lied People Died and 911 Twoofer kinda of people scream, absolutely SCREAM Paulbot to me.
See author page
Almost any Republican is preferable to Harry Reid, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and a legion of other Democrats currently infesting the halls of power.
There is a reason why the Democrats fought brutally to keep Ralph Nader off as many ballots as possible.
Not only are conservatives (quite obviously) very naive concerning widespread intentional deception by their fellow Leftist Americans, their fellow Leftist Americans spend an inordinate amount of time studying ways to take advantage of that very naivite. They study psychology, both how to deceive people individually (social engineering, ask a hacker, or a Paulian, or a soulless internet or telephone prankster what that phrase means), and how to deceive entire masses, through Alinskyite Community Organizing (agitation), and the even more nefarious methods of mass hypnotic techniques.
The only defense we have, short of studying all those schools of thought ourselves, is to be armed with the Spirit of God and the discernment of truth he can impart.
Republicans need to get smart and encourage the Green Party and their candidates.
For some reason though they refuse to do so.
They study psychology, both how to deceive people individually (social engineering, ask a hacker, or a Paulian, or a soulless internet or telephone prankster what that phrase means), and how to deceive entire masses, through Alinskyite Community Organizing (agitation), and the even more nefarious methods of mass hypnotic techniques.
You nailed Palin to a “t”. She’ll change her message to suit whichever aduience she is addressing.
When she’s on Glenn Beck’s show she’s a staunch proponent of cracking down on illegals, when she is on Unavision she’s opposed to deportations and is in favor of giving illegals a “pathway” to citizenship.
This is my main argument about this dumb woman. She thinks many of us are so stupid as to not see the little game she’s playing.
Wrong Sarah. I’ve seen your Clintonesque type before, and I hate it.
She represents our worst deamons of our political class. She’ll lie and obfuscate her way into power taking advatange of the fact most people dont’ have the time to investigate her lies and distortions.
You’d like to nail Palin to a “t”, I’m betting.
A big wooden one.
“You nailed Palin to a “t”. She’ll change her message to suit whichever aduience she is addressing.”
This comment reaches the audience living in bizarro land but that’s okay they’re entitled to be stuck-on-stupid.
It is as bizarre as Glenn Beck commenting how an Obama win was so much better for America than a McCain win…at the very least Mr Beck would agree that McCain loves America and was not intent upon engineering utter destruction.
I love Glenn Beck’s enthusiasm, unfortunately his exuberant passion sometimes clouds his perspective which many find repellent and cause for many jokes.
Beck has a tendency to become a little to much ‘Howard Beale’ paranoid.
TV people like Glen Beck and further Billy O’Reilly, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann all suffer the same affliction, they all allow their over-inflated TV Heads to get too big for reality.
Guest wrote: “……at the very least Mr Beck would agree that McCain loves America and was not intent upon engineering utter destruction.”
Unless, like me, you believe that McCain was intent on losing the election so that Obama would win.
Where and why do people come up with this tripe?! McCain wanted Obama to win? What a ridiculous lie!
As an American, an Arizonan with family serving in the military I am infuriated that people are so blinded by hate towards GW Bush and John McCain. Bush and McCain are fallible human beings. Bush and McCain have both taken positions on illegal immigration, among other issues, that I will never support. Bush and McCain are both true American patriots who have served and continue to serve America with honor and sincerity – even when, in my opinion, they are sincerely wrong. Bush and McCain are both Christians, neither is the devil incarnate. Neither man deserves the vile vitriol constantly thrown at them. McCain ran a terrible campaign, probably out of fear of being labeled a “racist”.
Anyone claiming either Bush or McCain don’t love America doesn’t have a clue what they are talking about. Wild theories and character assassination of Bush and McCain are both harmful and cowardly. At what point can we stop trying to destroy our people and concentrate on defeating the liberal Democrats?
I did not lie.
I do believe that.
Please don’t call me a liar, and we’ll be cool.
I believe that McCain did everything in his power to make sure that he lost, and it was patently obvious to anyone who was paying attention. That was not a lie, it was a statement describing one of my beliefs.
A lie would be “McCain attempted to lose the election and that’s a fact.”
I do concentrate on defeating the Liberal Democrats, skat. If only McCain had ever in his entire career done the same. Instead, he has only ever done what is best for the Democrat party, except in the rarest of cases, which I do give the man credit for. The liberals loved him, feted him, celebrated him, and named him “The Maverick” PRECISELY because what I just said is true. They loved the man for the decades before the election, the LIBERAL MSM loved the man and villified every conservative under the sun. THAT should tell you something.
During the campaign, the man did everything to ensure Obama’s victory short of putting an Obama/Biden sticker on his podium during press conferences and speeches. The only mistake he made, from a wanting-Obama-to-win perspective, was choosing Sarah Palin as his runningmate.
That’s my view, not a statement of fact. Maybe he’s just incompetent. That might explain why he never once, even when prodded, criticized Obama or his uncountable Marxist connections or any other criticism that was anything other than amorphous. Maybe he wasn’t running an effective campaign because subconsciously, he was afraid of (maybe inevitable) race-riots if Obama lost. (I could forgive the man if that were the case, since race-riots are not good, and they would have probably occured, at the urging of Dems and “black leaders” and MSNBC commentators, if McCain had won.)
I just think that if McCain had somehow squeaked out a victory…he would have called for a recount.
I believe that McCain did everything in his power to make sure that he lost, and it was patently obvious to anyone who was paying attention. That was not a lie, it was a statement describing one of my beliefs.
Wow, and people say I’m out in left field!
Yup, crazy as a loon, that’s me.
Killer refutation, I should add.
Marco Rubio is proving what Reagan has already proven, run as an insurgent Conservative in the Republican Party and you will win by landslides.
Agreed. Rubio is an insurgent candidate and he has my support.
Taqiyyotomist,
I have met both Bush and McCain which doesn’t mean I know or understand either man. However, President Bush, in person, is very friendly, sincere, and humble. John McCain is very driven and, yes, John has quite a temper. Both men clearly love America and the military.
Since you are focusing on McCain that’s what I’ll address.
I worked on McCain’s very first political campaign. I’m not happy with many positions John now takes. I was amazed and distressed when John got the Republican Presidential nomination. John was the candidate, I supported him – no brainer when the alternative was Obama.
As an Arizonan, I would love a viable conservative challenger to McCain – I don’t consider JD Hayworth to be viable. I will support the primary winner.
Your opinion isn’t logical based on known McCain facts. A few:
1) McCain’s driving ambition, obsession, has been for many, many years to be president. John’s tenacious personality makes it impossible for him to intentionally throw the election.
2) McCain is an honorable Christian man. I realize people say they are tired of hearing about his
POW experience, but nonetheless it speaks volumes about him. Among other things, John was the chaplain for the POWs. People deride McCain’s POW time as no big deal. Really? How do you think you would stand up under those conditions?
McCain throwing the election would be both dishonorable and non-Christian.
3) McCain has family serving in the military. McCain served under Johnson. Unless, in your opinion, John McCain hates his own family he would never want Obama as commander-in-chief.
My nephew shipped to Iraq last week. What a relief it would be to have a commander-in-chief who honors our military while supporting them whole heartedly. John knows what is at stake for his family also.
In my opinion, you are confusing a poorly run campaign with throwing the election. Republicans are consistently good at one thing, running very poor, losing campaigns.
Please accept my apologies if I insulted you. As you can see, I know about tempers! I truly believe that your theory is completely off base.
Personally, I’m sick and tired of seeing these two men personally attacked by conservatives. If you disagree with them on specific issues, immigration, etc, fine – debate those issues. It is beyond the pale to infer Bush and McCain are anything than patriotic Americans we disagree with on issues.
We continue to destroy our own. The Democrats just leave the demoralizing character attacks to us.
Ivan, Wow! I see you in a whole new light.
2) McCain is an honorable Christian man. I realize people say they are tired of hearing about his
POW experience, but nonetheless it speaks volumes about him. Among other things, John was the chaplain for the POWs. People deride McCain’s POW time as no big deal. Really? How do you think you would stand up under those conditions?
McCain throwing the election would be both dishonorable and non-Christian.
Agreed. I may dislike intensely McCain’s positions on the issues, he is a patriot and has sacrificed more than most for our nation.
That alone made him more qualified to be President than the pot-head Obama.
Skat, thanks. I hear you, and agree, especially with point #3. You are right, it should go completely without saying, that we’d be better off had McCain won the election.
I just couldn’t point to a single event in his campaign when he really tried to win.
Put it this way, if he was trying to lose, how would he have done things differently? I mean, what do you call it when you are running against someone, and every time his name comes up, you praise him, call him a “great man”, someone who would be good for America, and refuse to bring up ANY of, really, the solid, concrete reasons why the man should be passed over in favor of you?
Just seemed like a very weird campaign to me. This feeling, coupled with the press’ evident love for the Maverick, and why they loved him and called him that for years prior to the election (because very nearly every vote for his entire career was with the D’s) leads me to believe that, despite his love for our troops and America, he would do for the Democrats what he has nearly always done for the Democrats: give them what they want.
I just can’t see how anyone could run a campaign against someone and continually praise and refuse to criticize them. It only makes sense on LSD.
(Not that I would know, or remember, anything about that.)
No need for apology. I am not offended, skat – it takes a LOT to offend me, and I sincerely hope I have not offended you, since you obviously believe in the man and his heart. I’m no expert, no psychologist, nothin’ but an armchair analyst, so I lay no claim on infallibility here. I’ll take what you wrote to heart, and think on it.
Anybody can call themselves a Tea Party, unfortunat3ely someone in Nevada tumbled to that fact.
Republicans need to be sure they’re running a real conservative against Reid and point out that the supposed Tea Partiers in this particular case are frauds. I’m a tea party person, and we shouldn’t let our name be tarnished by false prophets this way.
Doug: Anybody can call themselves a Tea Party, unfortunat3ely someone in Nevada tumbled to that fact.
Republicans need to be sure they�re running a real conservative against Reid and point out that the supposed Tea Partiers in this particular case are frauds. I�m a tea party person, and we shouldn�t let our name be tarnished by false prophets this way.
The problem with the TP is that there is no leadership. It’s not a real party and they had better do something about that or problems like you have mentioned will crop up again and again.
Ivan, I was wrong, it seems, and I sincerely apologize for calling you a troll.
It was a bit harsh, in retrospect.
Taq,
No apology needed. My passion for my nation sometimes is interpreted as being a troll.
Oh well, the price I pay for speaking my mind I guess.
@Taqiyyotomist: Don’t be too hasty in apologizing… Just wait, you’ll be proved right.
Hey I can’t really take back an apology, can I? LOL!
ahhhhahaha Ok, Mike, I’ll reserve judgement.
Ivan, you can keep the apology, don’t cash it, and use it next time I unload on ya!
🙂
Mike’s America
71 @Taqiyyotomist: Don’t be too hasty in apologizing… Just wait, you’ll be proved right.
Tell you what, you don’t care for me and I dont’ care for you.
In the interest of harmony on this board what do you say we just stear clear from each other?
Deal?
With all due respect, screw harmony.
If someone needs responding to, it’s gotta be done.
Besides, it’s Mike’s domain.
I checked again. No Ivan on the list of proprietors.
Ivan,
I don’t know whether or not you’re a troll, but it’s hard to tell if you’re on our side or the libs.
No way is your pal Al for conservatives.
Taq,
McCain’s campaign was horrid – no argument there. Part of it, maybe, was fear of being labeled racist. Maybe he was trying to overcome his hot head, angry white guy image. I’m often berating our guys for their campaigns and my husband always thinks they’ve got something up their sleeve. Barring that, he thinks they’re going to come out swinging any second. Unfortunately, he’s always disappointed. We need some better, tougher campaign people!
By the way, what does your Taqiyyotomist stand for? Or is it better not to know?
skat,
Taqiyya + -otomist.
Taqiyya being the Islamic practice of deception for the sake of Dar ul Islam.
-otomist being one who diagnoses and removes something surgically.
Just something I coin’d a few years ago, after 9/11, and after I read “Islam Undressed”.
Skat,
You are absolutely right, I am NOT on your side. The GOP owes us something, not the other way around. You can blame others all day long, but it was your buddies at the top of the GOP who gave us the present administration. Nice handle to, it reminds me to clean the cat’s litter box.
Your problem with me is that I argue for conservative principles while you argue for conseravitve consessions. I argue that by trying to stand for everything the GOP now stands for nothering, you argue that we the people shouldn’t stand up at all. You’ve met Bush and McCain, so go tell your other buddies at the top of the GOP that there is a trouble maker out there who is fed up with the status quo and is calling them out. Go tell them to stand for something. . . or stand aside.
JustAl
Fire for effect buddy, fire for effect.
Ivan,
You sound like maybe an old 13 foxtrot kind of guy. I never served, but my son is a 13F guy.
Skat,
Sorry for the cat litter joke, but it just hit me wrong that a guy who thinks I’m too much of a “purist” also thinks I couldn’t actually be a conservative, it just seems more than a little puritanical.
Regan was a great man, the best president while I’ve been alive, but he was not perfect, and does not deserve unconditional adoration. His amnesty set the stage for all sorts of mayhem today. If the socialists didn’t see 12-14MM potential new votes in the form of the illegals do you really think we would have had the long and expensive fight to keep them from taking over health care? I seem to remember he was in favor of getting rid of the department of education as well, but it’s still there. Newt and the boys promised term limits, didn’t happen.
The point is that no politician is going to deliver over 3/4 of what he claims, so if you cut them slack up front, say accept that you only agree with 3/4 of what they are campaigning on you lose and the only comfort you have is “well at least it wasn’t so n so.”
There is no one “pure” definition of conservative nor one “pure” conservative candidate. Ron Paul has some good ideas but is completely out in left field on defense, Romney is no doubt good fiscally, but it’s tough for me to trust a NE “conservative”. I work with a lot of those, the ones who cede the field on the 2nd amendment, “will hunting is OK but nobody “needs” a 30 rd magazine,” etc. As for Huckabee, personally, I’ll never trust a preacher, end of story. I voted for Palin despite not giving .02 about abortion (McCain just happened to be on the ticket), but that doesn’t mean I think she’s the best in the field. I will hold judgement while waiting for better choices.
So you support who you want, I’ll do the same, but I will never, ever say you don’t have the right to support who you want, nor will I say you “wasted” a vote which is a popular notion amongst the party loyalists.
Regan was a great man, the best president while I’ve been alive, but he was not perfect, and does not deserve unconditional adoration. His amnesty set the stage for all sorts of mayhem today. If the socialists didn’t see 12-14MM potential new votes in the form of the illegals do you really think we would have had the long and expensive fight to keep them from taking over health care? I seem to remember he was in favor of getting rid of the department of education as well, but it’s still there. Newt and the boys promised term limits, didn’t happen.
While I agree, Reagan wasn’t perfect, many people don’t remember the 1985 budget fight (for fiscal year ’86). I can’t rememeber all the details, but Reagan, with Dole in the Senate tried very hard to eliminate government programs-like Amtrak.
He did attempt that year to reduce the size of government by eliminating programs in that Senate Bill.
The liberals blocked his efforts.
Yes, he made a mistake on the ’86 Amnesty bill. No question about it.
Take care Al, your comments are much appreciated by many of us.
if i may you all know your subjects but when the time come to be all for one will get in or will you speak like in the BABLE TOWER?
ilovebeeswarzone
If I read your question correctly, the answer is. . . it depends on who the “one” is.
If your child keeps misbehaving do you keep letting him do it because he’s your child and his behavior is still better than the neighbor’s child?
If your political party keeps slipping further and further to the left do you keep voting for them because they aren’t as far to the left as folks like Van Johnson, a self admitted communist, even though you know they will be further to the left next election, and the next?
The GOP can not count on the tea party votes. . . they will have to earn them.
If the Republican Party doesnt “earn” those votes, then the Democratic Party earns them by the votes lost by the Republican Party.
Until there are enough Conservatives to fill two successful Conservative parties, I’m not going to support the split. It is political suicide and the best thing that has happened to the Obama Administration since its big slide. Hopefully, he doesnt get to enjoy very much of this shortlived and shortsighted fiasco.
JUST AL and FREEDOM NOW i sure hope they say like president BUSH said in a very emotional voice that terrible day I HEAR YOU,bye
ilovebeeswarzone,
I share your hope. When my son and nephew went to Iraq at least they had a commander and chief who saluted the flag and didn’t think victory was an out of date cliche. As they prepare to go to Afghanistan next year I am loathsome of the C&C it will be under.
Here’s to better days my friend,
@JustAl: I haven’t followed this entire discussion, but would ask, would your prefer we let the Dems take even greater control of everything until the GOP is 100% perfect conservative?
@JustAl:
Going by your analogy, what Mike, skat, and I are saying is that your apparent solution is to disown your problem child because you can “create another one who looks just like him”, but without the behavior issues. Essentially, you’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater, rather than just the bathwater.
Wordsmith repeats:
If you demand even more conservative “purity” from the party, what you really need to do is influence voters to become more conservative and embrace the ideology.
If every voting block within the GOP demanded purity on the issues they care most about “or else…”, rather than understand that most people don’t think exactly like them and so can only win elections by forming a coalition of voters who agree on most things if not all things to the umpth degree that they demand…then you can ensure that the liberal coalition of voters under the Democratic Party banner will remain in power. The way to influence policy decisions is by winning elections. Not by losing them. The best way to build the conservative movement is from within one of the two major parties.
Fringies to the left of us…fringies to the right. They need those in the wishy-washy mainstream center as much as the moderates within parties need the movement activists and purists. Until such times as the country is no longer so evenly split.
Wordsmith,
The solution is obviously to correct the behavior, I’m sorry I did not think it necessary to point out the obvious. I often confront the leftists over at the Guardian’s website and am used to them answering the posts they wish I’d written rather than the ones I did. I just didn’t expect that here.
Please point out a single post of mine where I have criticized any incumbent Republican with the except of John open borders McCain.
What you and your comrades seem to object to is my demand that the GOP has to work to earn my vote, and frankly, unless it comes directly from officials of the GOP I find that opinion baffling.
If the tea parties had not happened how can you be so sure the incumbents you mention would have held firm? You skat and Mike seem to want us to simply “trust” the old boy’s network that produced arguably the lest conservative political candidates in the history of the party for the last three elections. If we stop pulling with all of our might from the right which way will the momentum continue to drag the party and the country? Never mind, we just need to “trust” the party.
Mike,
I agree, you haven’t read the entire discussion.
@JustAl:
Now who’s projecting? Maybe I’m mistaken, but I was pretty careful in how I was wording things. In some sense, I addressed your statements, specifically. In others, I addressed a broader issue for the sake of a wider audience that might be out there, listening in. Which is why I tried to use “purists” and “movement activists” rather than you specifically, in a number of my points. I apologize if it appears like I was putting words in your mouth and pigeon-holing you on positions you did not take.
I admit, like Mike, I took a break from reading the comments for a while, and have yet to read about 20 or 30 of the comments. Just skimmed from the end of the conversation, and picked up from there.
FA has been pretty harsh on McCain. But when you resort to hyperbole like “open borders” McCain. I find that to be a distortion, simply because we don’t agree with him on the illegal immigration issue. Where and when did he say he wishes for “open borders”? Where in the campaign did any of the GOP candidates not say they were for tightening border security, stopping illegal immigration, increasing workplace enforcement and resisting “amnesty” for those who enter the country without authorization?
Would promising to throw out 12 to 20 million illegals suit you? Would that be demagoguery? Pragmatism? Realistically doable?
And you haven’t been harsh on the GOP in this thread? How else am I to take when you claim “I haven’t criticized any incumbent Republican” with the exception of McCain? When you enter the post with comment #18:
Sounds like GOP-bashing to me. And being in the minority status, like you seem to want to put them there to “teach them a lesson”, I repeat:
What else do you want them to do? Sounds like they’re listening, to me.
Nope. I don’t object to it at all. Mike and the rest here have been as critical as you on spending, etc. But what some of us get and others do not is this: The purpose of primaries (“teaching lessons”). The purpose of general: Winning elections.
Al and Ivan,
Al said:
If Gore being elected had awakened the conservative base as Obama’s did, then yes, we would have been better off.
I truly can’t believe that any American would wish Al Gore on this country on September 11th and the years folllowing. Would we have a country to “take back”?
Is it impossible for you to understand how important Supreme Court Justice appointments are in actually taking back the country?
Al said:
I am persoanally grateful the BHO beat McCain, at least we don’t have a RINO trying to erase the borders as POTUS
I truly can’t believe an American with a son and nephew headed back to Afghanistan could be “grateful the BHO beat McCain”. As I stated previously, I want the best commander in chief for all our military, but even more so with my nephew now in Iraq. I wouldn’t wish Obama on any of our military or their families. They have a hard enough job keeping alive as their families deal with the stress. But then you should know that, right?
I don’t care if you are a right, right wing conservative, a moderate, a liberal, a bircher – whatever! I am an American first, as I’m sure you also consider yourself, and I refuse to willingly give power to people like Gore and Obama just to “teach a lesson”. The more often libs win the more entrenched left-wing, socialist policies become in America and in American law. The more libs win, the more difficult it becomes even to recover the ground lost to liberal’s policies during their tenure.
As I’ve said – how is all that lesson teaching working out for the country?
I don’t know what you consider yourself and frankly, I don’t care. You can talk all you want – I have no power to shut you up. Flat out, your punishing and teaching lessons plan stinks. Militarily, professionally, financially, athletically, politically, personally – no one would ever, ever buy the notion that you win by losing. You never win by sabatoging your own team. Was Peyton Manning intentionally missing his receivers to “teach them a lesson” so they straighten up, play right and the Colts would roar back to an amazing Super Bowl comeback? Or did Peyton try to encourage them, maybe chew them out, but work with what he had?
You never win by losing!
As I said I’ll never covince you or vice versa. So I’m letting it go.
Taq – interesting about your tag.
skat
“I truly can’t believe an American with a son and nephew headed back to Afghanistan could be “grateful the BHO beat McCain”. As I stated previously, I want the best commander in chief for all our military, but even more so with my nephew now in Iraq. I wouldn’t wish Obama on any of our military or their families. They have a hard enough job keeping alive as their families deal with the stress. But then you should know that, right?”
I do know about it, so far our family has sweated out 5 tours of duty in Iraq. But my son and nephew, and the other nephew who has left the service do what they do for the good of the country, not the other way around. Therefore I vote for what I think is best for my country, not what is best for them as individuals, and they understand that. John McCain did everything in his power to open the borders and give away the country while these guys were off fighting for it.
As I have repeatedly tried to point out in this discussion, it is the GOP by failure to provide a worthy candidate who got BHO elected, you are trying to shoot the messenger here. There is nothing in McCain’s record prior to the election that indicated his administration would be that different to BHO, stimulus package? check, amnesty for the illegals? check, global warming a real danger? check, more government involvement in health care? check. These are FAILED POLICIES, would you really rather have them owned by the GOP?????
Bush’s promise of “more drugs for the old folks” is helping to bankrupt our country, how different is that to what Al Bore wanted to do? Bush said he believed in Global Warming, said he needed to “sacrifice free market principles to save them.”
I frankly don’t care if your a liberal, a paid GOP party official (or both), or a cross dresser, the only thing keeping the GOP from following the Democrats into socialism faster are those of us who openly oppose it.
Wordsmith,
“Would promising to throw out 12 to 20 million illegals suit you?”
Only if they actually do it.
“Would that be demagoguery? Pragmatism?
It would be enforcing the law and performing the very first responsibility of the federal government established in the Constitution.
“Realistically doable?”
Yes, after the first million or so the rest would flee, imprison the employers who make it possible and the rest would flee, deny free health care and they would flee.
Or we could just trust the good ol’ boys to do what’s best for us peons.
I will close this exercise in futility by repeating what I said in the beginning. If the GOP doesn’t want to lose elections because of a third party like the tea party they can prevent it by running more conservative candidates. I don’t know if it’s the self evident truth of that statement or the implications of it for personal careers of GOP party officials that some posters find so frightening. . . in the end I don’t care.
Adieu
Al,
Logically, if you are against McCain’s stance on illegal immigration, which we both are, it makes absolutely no sense to support Obama who is to the left of McCain on illegal immigration.
I appreciate your sincerity. I just don’t believe the methods you advocate will ever result in anything but more liberal power, policies, etc.
hey all of you go to the afghanistan new rules of war you wont beleive what is going on right now please
it’s NANNY NATO rules of engagment go read all
@ilovebeeswarzone: I heard that. They can’t shoot a terrorist who puts down his weapon and walks away after he’s cornered.
What kind of idiots are running this war? Oh, never mind…
This is good news for Senator Reid, good news for Nevada, good news for the USA, and good news for progressive people the world over.
Considering that less than 20% of the American people claim to be Republicans, and that only a handful claim to be teabaggers, it doesn’t seem that this rightwing movement is much of a threat.
@Keith A. Grimes: Compare the percentage of Americans who claim to be “progressive” to the percentage who claim to be conservative then get back to me.
I suppose you thought Martha Coakley was a shoe in too?
I have a mental concept of how the tea party can be visualized. The political world is like a huge body of water like a bay. And on that bay are many sailboat races going at the same time but not necessarily against each other IE, they race in their own class of boats. This corresponds to the different types of political races, senate or house, in each state. Every boat has a captain and a crew that make up it’s effort to win. Off in the distance is a big wind that is very focused and acts like a cat’s paw or wind that is very narrow in size and does not blow very hard or for very long. This wind is the Tea Party. It can come in behind a good boat with a good captain and crew and make the difference between winning and losing because it only helps certain boats. But it cannot make a lousy boat with a lousy crew or captain win their race. If we think of our membership as part of this big wind then we won’t be getting into the boat business or the captain/crew business either. I strongly think that we should help those that offer us what we are looking for but it should not be the Tea Party that fields the candidates. On that note can someone brighter than me explain how Steele met with the Tea Party leaders today. Who or when did we elect leaders? How can they represent us when we did not vote them into power? Whomever these “Leaders” are they are starting to act an awfully lot like the critters in DC now. They neither listen to or represent us. I’m waiting to find out what my “Leaders” agreed to.
JustAl #82 – I think you meant Van Jones, NOT Van Johnson……….
Madalyn