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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

It’s About Bob Bennett’s Responsibility, Not His Conservatism

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  May 8th, 2010 at 09:47 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Just watched the CNN spot a friend mentioned earlier… the interview with the Utah tea party founder is awesome…

TEA PARTY FOUNDER: “It’s not a question of how conservative he is, it’s a question of being responsible. And it wasn’t responsible of him to vote for the bailout for failing companies.”

REPORTER: “Should his career end over that one vote?”

TEA PARTY FOUNDER “His career will end over that one vote.”

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COMMENTS

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  • 1stRichard

    From the good state of Massachusetts, the question of delaying the Healthcare vote arises. This to all that failed to delay this vote, there is no excuse that will save you. We gave you the vote you needed, the good people of Massachusetts did what was needed but those in the senate did not, you failed us. For this, you have ended your career and you alone are responsible for your actions, and we shall show you the definition of no compromise as you have failed its understanding.

  • nogyro35

    He could not have more accurately articulated what his problem is.

  • Swamp_Yankee

    Saxby Chambliss, Johnny Iasakson, John Thune, Kit Bond, Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor…

    I like the Tea Party enthusiam and the broader themes, but I am still not convinced that people know what happened in October 2008. I didnt like how the bailouts were exectuted at all. But we still dont know what was said behind closed doors. Some were truly convinved thatt “this sucker could go down” as GWB put it.

    I leave the Tea Parties when they get this rigid. There is no way I’ll make Paul Ryan a sacraficial lamb for populist rhetoric.

  • Dirt Winston

    Why are the liberals doing all of this hand wringing over Bennett?

    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/36904.html

  • Richard Mullins

    It some that happens when after the fact when a bill is voted for that the populace thinks should be voted for. To say that we know now, what we didn’t know at the time and those that voted for it should go. It’s not a good thing and those in the crosshairs might want to leave as well as send a letter to the voters. This is one time that running for congress is not good because you time will not be long.

  • hunter

    This is not the expected news, according to the scenario I read about here and listen to on the radio:
    http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2010/05/06/fl-sen-poll-crist-6/
    So at this time, admittedly a long way from November, we have succeeded in driving Crist out of the Republican party so that if he wins he will have even less compunction to be conservative than he had until now.
    Will this be the outcome in Utah, as well?
    I urge everyone to start thinking about victory and what it looks like.
    One of Reagan’s rules, the 11th commandment, seems to be completely forgotten. When Regan broke his own rule, we got Carter.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eleventh_Commandment_%28Ronald_Reagan%29
    Do we need a fragmented conservative base handing even more power to Obama?

  • hilltop

    Are Tea Partiers going to lead the way? For now is compromise a four letter word? When it comes to the preservation of the Republic you bet. Their isn’t one individual in Washington important enough to the Republic to retain. Salutations and farewell to their staff members as well.

    On the way to the White house go by the Washington Memorial and apologize to the Greatest American for your corrupt governance and most of all your failure to protect and defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

    Wave to “O” as you go by, don’t stop. Just leave

    Wishful thinking? Hope not.

  • eburke

    why over 70% of Republicans believe that the GOP establishment is out of touch with them.

  • eburke

    voice in the Republican Party will be successful in bringing true conservatives into government….and then their little party will be over.

  • eburke

    voice in the Republican Party will be successful in bringing true conservatives into government….and then their little party will be over.

  • SIConservative

    We didn’t “drive Crist out” of the Republican Party. We defeated him in the primary, and soundly so. When he saw that he had lost, he decided to show his party loyalty by leaving it. Alas, though, we failed to defeat Specter and Jeffords, and they left on their own. Victory should look like a caucus of responsible adults ready to address the serious problems that people like Bennett have gotten us into, not more who will ignore the problem. Continuing down the road to national bankruptcy is not “victory”.

  • IJB

    In fact, Chambliss, Isakson, and Bond are all insufficiently conservative. (Bond, luckily, is retiring. And why no one is seriously running against Isakson in the primary is just further evidence of the problems within the GA GOP…)

    But, on this score, it’s not just about the ‘bailout’ to me, as it is with the totality of the records of these three…

  • IJB

    Besides, several of us have gone to great lengths to show how Crist can’t win this race as an independent. The hand-wringers on this score are getting rather tiresome…

  • shadowtax

    but I am glad to see Bennett retired.

  • hunter

    And can you remind of how he was defeated- you know, what was the outcome of the primary?

  • Brenden_Arnoldus

    has been hated in Utah for the past few years. In 2008, we got rid of a RINO congressmen and replaced him with Jason Chaffetz. In 2010, we’ll get rid of Bennett and hopefully replace him with Mike Lee.

    Bennett is more loyal to the party than Crist is. Utah politics are also different than Florida. He can’t take on the mantel of Independent and try his luck. He’d lose in a landslide.

  • saintgeorgegentile

    Video:
    http://blog.utgop.org/sites/live-stream/

    Twitter:
    http://twitter.com/utahgop

  • cahnman

    n/t

  • bigredone

    Does anyone have an update?

  • SIConservative

    It wasn’t a principled move. For starters, he lied about the move up until just before he made it. He said he was running as a Republican up to around a week before he went indie. Then he conducted polling and saw that his only chance was running as an independent. While you and he seem to think otherwise, the Governor has no birthright to the seat. There’s a process for picking candidates. He entered it and lost it. Whether he watched Rubio take a knee to run out the clock or left after he turned the ball over with less than two minutes to go and no timeouts is irrelevant. The result was the same.

  • http://seekingliberty.wordpress.com fmaidment

    n/t

  • http://seekingliberty.wordpress.com fmaidment

    Like it or not, the Tea Parties don’t go off without people behind them. Those people form into groups so that one person isn’t stuck doing everything. Those groups form organizations so that they can speak with one voice and make things clearer.

    Just like any grass-rootes movement, you get organizations out of it.

  • shadowtax

    but founder is a term which implies some sort of authorship.

  • shadowtax
  • http://www.suvstrategery.blogspot.com SoFiMil

    CNN: “Bennett is one of the most conservative members in the Senate.”

    CNN: “Bennett is no moderate.”

    Blitzer: ?If someone would have said only a few months ago that Bennett would have trouble getting the Republican nomination, everybody would of thought they were crazy.?

    Uh, yeah. If you follow Charlie Gibson?s technique of getting a sense of what the American people are thinking. ?ACORN? What?s ACORN?

    Love Wolf?s closing words: ?Great Reporting.?

    LOL!

  • http://www.suvstrategery.blogspot.com SoFiMil

    .

  • eburke

    And then like most moderates who lose to conservatives, he took his ball and went home.

    I am beyond sick and tired of listening to you hand-wringing moderates wail about ‘purists’ in the party driving out the moderates. The list of moderates who have refused to endorse a conservative who defeated them in the primary, or who flat bailed on the party, is as long as the list of Obama lies.

    You guys need to get over yourselves.

  • saintgeorgegentile

    Lee, Bridgewater, Bennett

  • saintgeorgegentile

    Mike Lee first. 28.75%. Tim Bridgewater: 26.84%. Bob Bennett 25.91%

  • eburke

    those 3 move on to the next ballot, low man out.

  • eburke

    to Lee or Bridgewater in an ABB (anybody but Bennett) shift?

    While Lee is *far* superior to Bridgewater IMO, since the media has set this up as a ‘how much power do the conservatives have in the GOP’ meme, the most important ‘media’ soundbite that needs to come out of this as far as sending a message to the GOP establishment is for Bennett to be gone.

  • mbecker908

    what’s the chance that one of them drops and throws his support to the other, that would be over 60.

  • saintgeorgegentile

    Tally
    Tim Bridgewater 917 votes
    Bennett 885
    Freidbaum 16
    Fabiano 22
    Cook 49
    Chiu 4
    Lee 982
    Eagar 541

  • http://www.suvstrategery.blogspot.com SoFiMil

    ..

  • eburke

    that most of the Eager supporters would move to Lee. Your thoughts?

    (And Merrill Cook was running for Senate? Wow…talk about trying to resurrect a fossil)

  • saintgeorgegentile

    Second round of speeches before next ballot, they’re all in.

  • saintgeorgegentile

    I would hope Lee but there is no real way of knowing.

  • saintgeorgegentile

    Freidbaum, Fabiano, Chiu, Eagar

  • saintgeorgegentile

    I can’t see any of the secondary candidates delegates moving to Bennett. Eager’s people will split between Lee and Bridgewater in some unknown percentage between them.

  • Swamp_Yankee

    Its 4:00 EST. What does the timeline look like and could this go on tommorow.

  • saintgeorgegentile

    The senatorial race has one more ballot. The top two vote getters will face each other in the primary unless one candidate gets 60% then that candidate has the nomination.

  • eburke

    Round 1 – Pare the ballot down to 3 names

    Round 2 – Low man is out

    Round 3 – Vote between the top 2; if one doesn’t get 60%, then there’s a primary.

    In any event, based on one of your comments upthread re: where Eager’s people are headed, it would sound like Bennett’s toast. Your thoughts?

  • saintgeorgegentile

    Convention will be over today. Timeline for balloting fuzzy, there’s also a lot of other races in play (Governor, US Reps, etc)

  • saintgeorgegentile

    There will be a 3rd round if necessary. Watching live feed (terrible) and monitoring twitter feeds.

  • jcrocker76

    I don’t know much about Bennett, but I’m generally for term limits, and 18 years is just too long for my tastes. Even if I did agree with his policies and votes, I’d say he has to go simply because this would be his 4th term.

  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    After the first round, the tally is:

    Lee: 982
    Bridgewater: 917 votes
    Bennett: 885
    Eager: 541

    Cook: 49
    Fabiano: 22
    Friedbaum: 16
    Chiu: 4

    In the next round, if Bridgewater is in it to win, none of his votes should go anywhere. Unless Bridgewater has struck some deal with Bennett to ensure Bennett comes in, at least, second, none of Bridgewaters’ votes should go anywhere. I know nothing about Bridgewater’s personality and can’t fathom why anyone in second place would help anyone in third place under this system, but I’m sure there may be reasons for Bridgewater to risk his current very good shot to be on the primary ballot to help Bennett.

    All of front-runner Lee’s votes should stay with Lee.

    All of Bennett’s current votes have to stay with him if he’s to have a shot at coming in at least in second place in the next round.

    None of Eager’s votes should go to Bennett.

    I don’t know anything about the bottom four.

    Please pass the jelly — Looks like Bennett is toast.

    I’m crossing my fingers.

    For Liberty,
    ColdWarrior, PC (that?s ?precinct committeeman,? not ?political child!?)
    Conservatives, UNITE! CHANGE the Republican Party and save the world by UNITING INSIDE the Party as precinct committeemen. NOW!

  • SteveLA

    Pall Rolly had an article in the Salt Lake Tribune up on the topic of Bennett running as an I if he looses out. Turns out there is a law, The J. Bracken Lee law that prevents him from trying the Crist trick.

    This is for all the marbles, well unless as someone said there is no candidate that gets 60 percent.

  • mbecker908

    and I think the jelly being passed should by KY for Bennett.

    Now then, the question for those who might know would be what happens in the final round? Will all of Bennett’s support go to Bridgewater?

  • saintgeorgegentile

    The conventional wisdom on the twitter feeds seems to be that Bridgewater will get the Bennett delegates. From the Salt Lake Tribunes correspondent: Bets already being made by #utgop insiders. Conventional thinking: Bennett ousted. On 3rd ballot: Bridgewater gets 55%, Lee 45% then primary

  • mbecker908

    Good stuff.

  • CowboyUp4419

    That doesn’t reek of confidence

  • saintgeorgegentile

    Bennett won’t endorse if knocked out. From:
    http://blogs.sltrib.com/utpolitics/index.php?p=15693&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

  • saintgeorgegentile

    Salt Lake Trib reported at 2:49pm MDT that it’s Lee & Bennett.
    No results given to delegates yet at 3:25pm MDT. Let’s hope it wishful thinking on Dem’s part.

    http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_15046264

  • mbecker908

    Hotline reports…

    Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) has lost the battle for a fourth term in office after delegates to the UT GOP convention refused to renominate him on Saturday, a highly-placed source with knowledge of the vote count tells Hotline OnCall.

    Instead, GOPers will choose between attorney Mike Lee (R) and business consultant Tim Bridgewater (R), who will advance to a third ballot. If neither candidate receives 60% of the vote, they will face off in a June 22 primary.

  • CowboyUp4419

    Bridgewater 37, Lee 36, Bennett 27. And heeeeeee’s outta there!

  • saintgeorgegentile

    Bridgewater 37, Lee 36, Bennett 27 (%)

  • SteveLA

    I jumped over to the Salt Lake paper for some commentary on this and was surprised to read “Bennett appeared earlier in the day alongside Mitt Romney, a superstar among Utah Republicans, who said Bennett was needed to help fight the “liberal onslaught.”

    Man Mitt is the big guy of Utah politics and if the delegates did indeed dump Bennett, well that’s really something.

  • eburke

    endorse a conservative after he loses. Never seen *that* before :rolling eyes:

    And the moderates and RINOs have the audacity to continually carp about conservatives stamping their feet and stomping off when they don’t get their way.

    What a bunch of egotistical, sanctimonious blowhards.

  • eburke

    split the Eager delegates. Seeing as how it seemed that Eager and Lee were the 2 more conservative candidates, I figured that Lee would have gotten the lion’s share of her delegates. Instead, it looks like they split ‘em pretty much half & half.

  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    The Neighborhood Precinct Committeeman Strategy did.

    I’m working with a new Tea Party here in Tempe, AZ. They have a mission statement. It says nothing about getting involved in political parties as precinct committeemen. I told the founder of the Tea Party I’d consider helping him but ONLY if the goal was to get conservatives INTO the political party of their choice as precinct committeemen. He said he might “lose” some “board members” over it.

    I told him the following:

    >>>

    I have run into the same problem with other groups. For example, on the Arizona Patriots of ResistNet.com, the coordinator worried that ?we might lose some members? if the site talked too much about getting involved as PCs in the Republican Party. My response to her was, ?So, what??

    Those who hold their nose re ?the Republican Party? by and large are just unaware of how the two-party system works and have never actually been involved in it. There is no way to escape the fact that the people in this country who are really ?doing something? are those who show up month after month at their respective political party meetings. The two major parties are COMPLETELY different in philosophy and that can be confirmed by spending an hour or so reading the two party platforms. I made it easier by putting summaries on my little blog.

    Today, incumbent ?conservative? Utah Sen. Bob Bennett will go down to defeat (I predict) at the Utah nominating convention. Why? Because grass roots conservatives there figured out about a year ago that real political power is not achieved by walking around with signs at a rally but is achieved by UNITING INDOORS at party meetings and figuring out how to become voting delegates INSIDE the Republican Party.

    Go here to see and hear the latest; the final vote should be happening right about now: http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/05/08/its-about-bob-bennetts-responsibility-not-his-conservatism/

    Watch the video and then read the comments. I wrote about it earlier here:

    http://www.redstate.com/coldwarrior/2010/04/21/utah-tea-party-weve-taken-over-the-state-gop/

    I encourage you to calmly and politely educate your recalcitrant board members about where true political power lies. If you?d like my help in that endeavor, please let me know.

    If we don?t seize the real political power, we will lose our country. Without a shot having been fired.

    <<<

    Bravo to the grass roots conservatives of UTAH!!!!!!!!

    For Liberty,
    ColdWarrior, PC (that?s ?precinct committeeman,? not ?political child!?)
    Conservatives, UNITE! CHANGE the Republican Party and save the world by UNITING INSIDE the Party as precinct committeemen. NOW!

  • saintgeorgegentile

    The above link now headlines “Bennett out; GOP delegates reject 18-year Senate veteran”. Glad I screen-capped the original.

  • CowboyUp4419

    Do the Bennett delegates who’re upset their man lost take it out on the candidate they think was responsible. Lee’s the darling of the anti-Bennett movement so I could imagine a big spite vote for Bridgewater by the Bennett delegates.

  • C. Marie

    the eventual Utah conservative winner for a strong Senatorial victory on 11/2/10?
    Splinters are just too painful to endure, especially in Florida of late. C’mon Rubio!

  • C. Marie

    the eventual Utah conservative winner for a strong Senatorial victory on 11/2/10?
    Splinters are just too painful to endure, especially in Florida of late. C’mon Rubio!

  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    She said something like, “I told the woman that Sen. Bennett and the other Republican senators did EVERYTHING in their power to stop Obama’s healthcare bill from passing.”

    That is just 100 per cent WRONG — NONE of the senators did a damn thing to stop the bill from coming to a vote — indeed, if any one of them had had the courage to use the Senate Standing Rules to their full extent, debate could, conceivable, still be going on.

    What is gratifying is that most of the new Utah delegates from the grass roots conservative ranks understand this and that’s one of the reasons they voted to oust Bennett.

    What a great day for liberty, conservatism and the power of UNITED conservative precinct committemen!

    For Liberty,
    ColdWarrior, PC (that?s ?precinct committeeman,? not ?political child!?)
    Conservatives, UNITE! CHANGE the Republican Party and save the world by UNITING INSIDE the Party as precinct committeemen. NOW!

  • eburke

    don’t you love all the pejorative words used in the article like ‘rage’, ‘hostility’, ‘anger. I mean, we certainly couldn’t have words like principled, engaged, and thoughtful used.

    Nah…wouldn’t fit the conservatives = tea party = angry, right-wing nutjub meme the media operates under.

  • saintgeorgegentile

    Twitter feeds reporting some Bennett delegates leaving convention.

  • saintgeorgegentile

    http://picasaweb.google.com/msnthrop/SLCTrib#

  • mbecker908

    the nominating convention and their primary rules? We don’t do that here. Should we?

  • ex Dem from Miami

    I knew Charlie when he was a new lawyer on his first job as counsel to the NAPBL (National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues – the minor leagues). Struck me as a brownnoser then, and never changed. No thought, no principles, no spine.

  • saintgeorgegentile

    Bridgewater 57%
    Lee 42%

    To the primary!

  • saintgeorgegentile

    Matheson (D-UT-2) is going to have to face a challenger in the primary.

  • CowboyUp4419

    Will Mitt try to jump into the primary and put himself at risk of going 0 for 2 in the same contest or will he stay out of this?

  • http://www.suvstrategery.blogspot.com SoFiMil

    Her reporting just repeated all the talking points. And then they are shocked when what they said would happen, doesn’t.

    She did get two things right, however, but I don’t think she realizes the significance of what she said, and she was only saying it to disparage the Tea Party. (In another context, she’d say the exact opposite: “The Tea Party is made up of a small, fringe, fundamentalist-wing of the Republican Party.”

    1) It is a battle for soul of the Republican Party.

    2) Opposition to special rights for gays, right to life, and gun rights barely register with the Tea Party. (Many people supporting these issues may be Tea Party members, but their focus is on the economy.)

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine
  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    sense of entitlement to the job.

  • JHancock

    When it’s compromise with people who want to subjugate incrementally more of our freedoms to the government?s control for the sake of redistributing incrementally more of our finances to others (exempting themselves from this sacrifice of course)……..then yes COMPROMISE is a four letter word. It is the RAPE of hardworking Americans, by the very people they trusted and elected to represent their interests. When these people then turn around and capitulate to the redistributive tyranny of a million petty dictators for the sake of COMPROMISE—it?s a dirty filthy abusive thing that should not even be spoken. No compromise for me thanks!!!

  • JHancock

    Either stays out, or admits he is a liberal, and announces he is playing for the D team. The man who brought universal health reform to MA is no friend of mine, and no conservative. He is a progressive R at best…..at worst he is a RINO who has driven up cost of care for hardworking people who actually PAY for their healthcare in Taxichusettes all for the sake of people who abdicate this responsibility.

  • nepanyrush

    Romney is an attractive candidate in terms of looks and being articulate about economic matters. He would do well in debates against Obama. But he seems like a chameleon without any backbone other than to get elected. Everything is a political calculation. I am not sure where he will actually stand if elected. We had enough of these type individuals like Specter.

  • nepanyrush

    Supporting a person because he is Republican that we think can win in the general election versus supporting a true conservative is not the road to real victory.

    Here in PA we were told to support Specter over Toomey six years ago because he can win and Toomey cannot. The GOP leadership told us that and idiots like myself believed the leadership. Within months of Specter’s victory in the general election, I was enraged by his actions — which were thoroughly liberal and attacking both conservatives and conservative policies. I regretted my actions almost immediately and then it was made worse by Specter even defecting. I am sorry, but nevermore am I going that route.