« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

MEMBER DIARY

It’s Time to Bring Lugar Home

By: Chris Chocola (Diary)  |  February 14th, 2012 at 10:00 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

From the diaries by Erick

I have an OpEd in the National Review today about the Club for Growth PAC endorsement of Richard Mourdock for U.S. Senate in Indiana:

“Earmarks,” also known as pork-barrel spending, are considered a “gateway drug” to corruption and bigger government in Washington. They got that well-deserved title because there’s a history of both Republicans and Democrats using earmarks as a currency to buy votes for all sorts of bad policies. Sometimes, members of Congress have actually taken bribes in exchange for obtaining earmarks. The system was abused so badly that Americans shamed both parties into passing a temporary ban on the practice.

Thankfully, there are very few Republicans left who still support earmarks. Regrettably, one of the remaining few is 35-year Indiana senator Richard Lugar. He continues to stand in favor of earmarks to this day. Recently, Lugar was one of only thirteen Republicans to join Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid in voting against a permanent ban on earmarks.

That was the final straw for the Club for Growth PAC, which has now endorsed Lugar’s conservative challenger, Indiana state treasurer Richard Mourdock.

Click here to read the whole thing. I hope the RedState community will join the Club for Growth PAC in support of change in Indiana.

Chris Chocola
President, Club for Growth

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • chrysostom15

    If I recall, the person who has made earmarks a big issue is John McCain. He does this to hide the fact that he is the big government moderate that he is.

    Lugar is far more conservative than McCain, far more conservative than Snow or Brown. The article should be about replacing McCain, Snow, and Brown. Not about Lugar.

    Ear marks are the Congress’s way of limiting the executive branch. Of saying that the Congress specifically approves of this money for this specific purpose.

    This anti-earmark crusade is moving into becoming a witch hunt. I cannot see why folks want to replace Lugar — he has been a reliable conservative vote for the vast majority of issues for 35 years.

    The problem with the GOP today is we have Romney winning the nomination, and people actually think Romney is a conservative. Meanwhile — rather than focusing on replacing Snow and Brown; we have folks worried about Lugar.

    Earmarks are a McCain issue, and represent 0% of a spending increase. They are simply saying specifically where to spend.

    If we want to talk about the buying of votes, we can talk about social security, medicare, medicaid, unemployment extentions, etc.

    • earlgrey

      dollar on deficit reduction studies and initiatives. yes the money will be spent, but the point needs to be made.

    • Kyle-MI

      You will not replace them with conservatives. They will be replaced with even more liberal democrats.

      Lugar is from a state where we can actually replace a tired, worn-out, sucked-in-by-big-government RINO with an actual conservative.

      And if you are defending earmarks, you have absolutely no claim on fiscal conservatism or responsibility. McCain and Romney are not the main problem with the GOP. It is people like you who are the problem.

      • Agelaius

        Of course Lugar should be primaried and replaced in Indiana, but I’m not entirely sure we should give the Maine senators a pass. Snowe in particular – she votes like a democrat most of the time and I have a lot of concerns with her ability to hold firmly to a prolife position. She’s also likely to go soft on Iran.

        • acat

          Seriously.

          Being true to ourselves means recognizing reality.

          We must support the most conservative candidates who can win in the general election.

          I don’t have much love for Sen. Snowe, but our energies would be much better served getting rid of Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Tim Johnson (D-SD) and John Tester (D-MT) and Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ben Nelson (D-NB) and Tom Harken (D-IA) …

          We won’t move the Senate to the right by replacing one squishy with another, but we will by replacing Dems with Repubs.

          Mew

          • Agelaius

            were poor financial management, poor organization, and inexperience. She should have started somewhere smaller (like Wasilla) and then moved up, or she should have started earlier, found some big financial backers, and hired a professional campaign and media team. That way she wouldn’t have gotten sidetracked on all that BS about witches and such. The left can always paint Christian conservatives as nuts uinless they get a media team together that smooths out the rough spots and presents an image to the public that is acceptable. I think that the effort should be to move the local Republican parties farther to the right so that Snowe and Collins will feel more threatened by a party that, while smaller, is clearer on mission and more dedicated. Sort of like Benedict’s vision of the Catholic Church. Focus on mission, concentrate, develop first-rate candidates who can run, and then go after the moderates. I have not been following Maine politics that closely, but don’t they have a solid conservative governor who is not weak on immigration and who is strong on social issues, who could challenge her?

          • skorrent1

            O’Donnell’s problem was that she challanged an establishment pick. She was toast once Karl Rove rounded on her AFTER the primary, in typical establishment fashion. The Rockefeller/inside-the-beltway/establishment has always chosen to savage any candidate that displaces a “chosen one”. Expect the same this year if Romney is not the candidate.

          • RichmondG30

            that she never held elective office before running for the Senate.

            A Senate race is the big time. The spotlight is much brighter on a Senate candidate than it is on a House candidate.

            How many people go from “Marketing Consultant” to United States Senator in one step? We know at least one who did not. It was a bridge too far for her.

    • Finrod

      He was my senior Senator when I lived in Indiana, and I can tell you that he is no conservative. People in Indiana were already getting annoyed with him when I moved away.

      • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

        Lugar always seems to be sleeping, or just waking from a nap, to me.

    • Darin_H

      FYP.

  • Agelaius

    to force Lugar out. He’s getting older, and the GOP as a party has moved on from his brand of accommodationist politics. There are so many really strong Christian conservatives in Indiana, able and willing to stand up to government involvement in health care and able to remove constraints on free enterprise like unions.

  • oldlady

    but simply has a mailing address at a relatives apartment there. If I’m not mistaken he’s been living in or near Washington DC. How do these politicians get away with representing States or Districts where they, in actuality, don’t live????

  • jgelling

    It’s ridiculous to suggest Lugar isn’t conservative because he doesn’t oppose earmarks. There are plenty of cases where legislative earmarks are important – it’s not necessarily about pork, but making sure the executive branch doesn’t spend the money for something else.

    It really is only McCain that made it a big ridiculous issue in his losing campaign 4 years ago. I don’t blame Lugar for not wanting to let Obama pick and choose how he wants to spend federal funds meant for Indiana. Would you?

  • After Seven

    Dick Lugar + AFL-CIO + LaRaza + SEIU = DREAM ACT

    1. PDF of the Dream Act Coalition: http://is.gd/6H8aXp
    2. Lugar’s Dream Act Homepage: http://is.gd/Uvwj7P (Sanitized from his site index, but still online.)

  • After Seven

    As he explains it:
    “Senator Lugar supports this legislation because it
    encourages young immigrants to continue their education
    and earn a degree or serve our country in the armed forces.
    Current census figures indicate that Indiana is now home to
    more than 317,000 Hispanics. If enacted, the DREAM Act
    would allow undocumented college-bound immigrants to
    apply for a conditional legal status. Approximately 50,000-
    70,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high
    schools each year; however, without legal status, it is
    difficult for them to attend college, acquire a job or join the
    military. Nationally, more than thirty percent of Hispanic
    students drop out of high school before graduation.”
    http://is.gd/jpWlwZ

    The Good ol’ GOP…. destroying America 1 Progressive Act at a time.

    So um…where does the NRSC stand on this issue I wonder?

  • earlgrey

    He is actually a pretty moderate democrat, and I think he needs to go.

  • acat

    “Lugar is a perfectly acceptable GOP senator .. from Illinois. Indiana can do better.”

    Mew

  • earlgrey

    in the Senate, and if he actually lived in Indiana, I’d help him move across the border. Mind you, I no longer live in Indiana, but it would making a trip home.

  • acat

    Lugar’d make a good emergency replacement for Mark Kirk.

    Mew