Redstate

Go Jim!

I actually got a fundraising letter from Ogonowski a few weeks back - probably because I sent him money for his MA-05 race.

Unfortunately, I can't imagine a realistic scenario where Ogonowski wins.

“.....women and minorities hardest hit”

In order to win, or even be competitive, Jimbo is going to have to moderate quite a bit from the "standard GOP platform" - just like he did in his House race against Niki Whatshername, by the way.

I seem to recall LTC Ogo was pretty well received here at RS during that House race, in spite of said moderation. Just saying.

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Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock.

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Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock.

...a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right...

---Thomas Paine---

I'm sorry you've got such a bad taste in your mouth over the Presidential primary.

Um, no I've said it like two or three. And your grossly mistaken about the primary. I do not have some sort of weird attachment to Romney like Fredheads had to the "John Wayne Stud". I just like the truth and hard working conservatives, plenty of whom I know up here in the Northeast, who work too hard and have given too much blood, sweat and tears to the cause only to have to be derided or have their candidates labeled "liberal" because they don't pass some Bible Belt litmus test.

I never use to feel this way. I always used to stick up for the South. I always thought conservatives were smarter and classier than liberals, but many are not. Hanging around here just made me more proud of my roots and my people.

I'm the one in the rain banging on doors, sitting in phone banks and holding signs for guys like Jim. I just thought people should know that he has some liberal positions before they wax poetic about him because they will trash him as a "northeaster liberal" once they know.

but it seemed somewhat conclusory when you made it the first post on this thread. No one had made any accusation and Ogo had a lot of RS support in his Congressional race. So it seems odd to bring up such a bias on this thread.

But like I said, I think your concern is generally accurate. When Arnold, Snowe, Collins, Coleman, Specter, Graham, etc are all "RINOs" it's getting silly. And when people who are with conservatives on 80% of the issues are derided anyway, it makes the tent look real small (see Crist, Perry, Graham, Warner, McCain, etc).

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Agree and disagree. I believe each politician has to be judged by the context of their district and constitutents. I have little sympathy for someone like Graham because he unecessarily pushes the agenda Left. On the other hand, I think Coleman is doing the best he can giving the circumstances.

I also think Democrats are far better than Republicans at distinguishing politics and ideology. Liberals know how to differentiate the ideological war from the poltical war. The Clintons were the master example of this. Many Republicans, by nature, are not ideologues. They have military and business backgrounds. They have families and religion. In such a context, they are not true blue ideologues like academic liberals. With this respect, I am much more discerning apparent "RINOs" who know how to fight the ideological war, while making compromises inthe political sphere. It's a necessary evil. I have little tolerance for those who don't. For many Republicans, they too willingly cede ideological battles because poltical victories are all they care about.

I accept that Graham, Collins, Coleman, etc. are well within the tent. Snowe is mostly in and Specter barely in at all, but at least he sometimes comes through. Chafees and Jeffordses are a different issue, even when they called themselves (or, more likely, allowed others to call them) Republicans.

In other words, there has to be a limit to how far to the Left a Republican can go before he/she forfeits any right to expect support from the GOP rank and file. Arnold crossed that line a long time ago. And no, Adam, endorsing your man McCain does not make up for it.

Romney/Pace 2008

I like the "help us retire John Kerry" tag. It palys directly to his strength and is people are sick of John Kerry. They don't dislike him, but wish he'd go away. Jim needs to run some sort of moderate populists campaign, but he has to make the focus Kerry.