Nate: Don't Pawn Your Lisa Murkowski Gear Just Yet

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I think we also need to recognize the possibility that absentee voters could carry Murkowski over the top in the primary.

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Sharron Angle isn't dumb either. She earned her college degree from the flagship university of the University of Nevada system, UNR. However, she is very driven by her conservative beliefs and comes off as crazy as a result. Just because you have a degree from Yale doesn't mean you are going to be a fantastic candidate. Just ask GWB.

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I concur, it's not a matter of some of these people being dumb, it's about them being too radical. If the Republicans expect to remain a viable party, they cannot continue to purge moderates.

They will get the message sooner or later, whether it comes by the Democrats retaining congress this fall, or nominating a tea partier who loses massively to Obama in 2012.

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Sharron Angle isn't dumb either. She earned her college degree from the flagship university of the University of Nevada system, UNR. However, she is very driven by her conservative beliefs and comes off as crazy as a result. Just because you have a degree from Yale doesn't mean you are going to be a fantastic candidate. Just ask GWB.

You are aware that GWB got elected twice to the highest office in the land?  I mean, you must be using a pretty damn harsh definition for "fantastic candidate" ... I mean... he won, twice.  He won the gold medal in candidate Olympics.  He's just dyslexic.

And with a booming economy, a country at war, and a weak opponent, he still only won 286 EV's for reelection. That doesn't really seem like the likely result of a supposedly smart Ivy League educated Republican. Bush's academic credentials could only get him so far when he kept making gaffes and polarizing the electorate with his dedication to fear mongering and fiscally irresponsible conservatism.

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I concur, it's not a matter of some of these people being dumb, it's about them being too radical. If the Republicans expect to remain a viable party, they cannot continue to purge moderates.

Really?  You mean the people who ruined the GOP's image in the early Bush years with their prolific spending and lack of any resemblance of fiscal restraint?  There's a reason that Republicans have a far less favorable opinion of their own party than Democrats do.  People respond well to politicians making responsible choices--take a look at McDonnell and Christie in Virginia and New Jersey to see what nominating stalwart Conservatives did to the GOP.  These people are making the spending cuts that moderates considered to be "too extreme" or "too controversial" and are highly popular in their states for doing so.

So if you think the GOP is going to die by daring embracing Conservatism again, I have to one thing to say.  People support elected officials to make actual policy changes--not to get re-elected.  If the getting tangible fiscal restraint means no return to the "Permanent Republican Majority" of the Bush Years, that's fine by me.

Christie was not the Tea Party candidate and neither was McDonnell. McDonnell was unopposed in the primary but he did support McCain in 2008 for one thing. I remember CarlHayden attacking Christie relentlessly as a rino last year.

She should've won.  I don't like the Tea Partiers - they screw up the party.  Heck, they tried to take over the MI GOP convention and nominate a different Lt. Governor candidate.

It's crap like this that's going to destroy us in 4/6 years when we nominate people who will suck once they get in office.

Miller is certaintly not the worst among Tea Party picks like Angle and Paul. The Media is doing a fine job turning him into Angle though. Be carefull where you get your information. I noticed from CBS' sunday morning show, that Miller they described and the real Joe Miller are two different people.

Yeah, I agree. A whole party of Scott Browns and Olympia Snowes is far better then principled conservatives. Roll over RINOs rock.

Considering the states in question, I think Scott Brown and Olympia Snowe are the best you will get.

I concur, it's not a matter of some of these people being dumb, it's about them being too radical. If the Republicans expect to remain a viable party, they cannot continue to purge moderates.

If, Castle loses in Delware I will worry. But so far the climate is better for a moderate Republican now then any previous year. Whenever economcis and spending are trumping Abortion, gays and guns, its the best environment for them. If they can't parly that into the victory, then they are so screwed and so out of touch they don't deserve to win ever. Nostalgia doesn't win votes. People don't give a damn about how a party used to be, they want real time relation to their concerns and issues. If these moderates don't appeal to that, they won't win. It isn't a matter of "teaching" them a lesson. They represent an anger and uneeze, and the weaknesses of establishment candidate.

If someone like Murkowski has to win, then frankly the GOP is over. Murkowski represents the very sh**t that every Dem and moderate Republican bitched about during the bush years. And yet now she is gone you bitch some more. Why is you only care about corruption when it touches a conservative but not when its a moderate? It used to annoy me when Don would dodge this very question and then hide behind his moderate hero credentials to avoid any accountability for this glaring double standard. A conservative gets into a scandal you never hear the end of it, but someone like Murkowski gets a free pass because she is a moderate, she is a woman, or because she arouses some of our sexually deprived posters.  That is an absolutely horrible way to make political decisions. She is gone, get over it. She wasn't of any use anyway. Except a vote for Amnesty, and source of uncontrolled pork and support for the same special interests her dad was connected too, and for some as a hedge against Palin, a foolish move.

I wouldn't have minded so much if she lost to someone other than Joe Miller. She is controversial I know, and I do think she should have gotten less biased treatment during her time in senate by the media for her votes and political beliefs. Now I know a lot of Conservatives don't like her, but she was a productive member of senate, and that is what I liked about her. She was able to work to get things done when colleagues like Mitch McConnell were calling for No votes on every piece of legislation sponsored by Democrats. Miller strikes me as just another no vote in senate, which doesn't help the Republicans to become viable again. If there had been a fresh face with a record of working across the aisle but sticking to conservatism, someone like LePage, Ayotte, or Hoeven for the state of Alaska, than I would have been all for them defeating Murkowski. Maybe Miller will surprise me as the campaign goes on and shows some independence. I just want the Republicans to come up with some creative policy agendas, and not rely on Paul Ryan to shed the image of them being the party of No.

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Once again the tea party idiots cause me to have to support another Democrat. I'm really hoping that we lose seats like Nevada Colorado and Alaska it would be really nice to see this tea party nominees  go down in flames

There's still the possibility Murkowski will run as a Libertarian.

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Once again the tea party idiots cause me to have to support another Democrat. I'm really hoping that we lose seats like Nevada Colorado and Alaska it would be really nice to see this tea party nominees  go down in flames

There's still the possibility Murkowski will run as a Libertarian.

i really hope she takes that route. If Miller somehow losses this November it would really hurt Palin which i want to see happen more than anything else this November

She should. It would be interesting to see how she changes her policies to be more in sync with Libertarian ideas. BTW welcome to the forum.

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Looks like Murkowski has been endorsed by two prominent members of the Native American community. This should help her somewhat, especially considering one of them is the mayor of Juneau where she needs to run strong.

http://kcaw.org/modules/local_news/index.php?op=sideBlock&syndicated=true&ID=1400