Comments on: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Again?

By: steelstand

steelstand — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:15:39 +0000

Please stop calling him Christ, Its bad enough Crist believes he’s the second coming !

By: Brian Darling

Brian Darling — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:10:58 +0000

As a former staffer for Senator Bob Smith, I can attest that this post is way over the line to claim that Bob Smith was “ostensibly as a Democrat” because he didn’t vote for President Bush in 2004. Many conservatives also did not support President Bush and they were proven correct when Bush tossed aside his free market values to set the table for Obama’s nationalization of banks and the auto industry. Not all conservatives will reflexively vote for a Republican when they believe that the Republican in question is not good for conservative values.
Who is to blame for Republicans losing 15 seats in the Senate over the past 3 years? Not Smith. Why are Republicans rebranding the party if Bob Smith was so wrong about the party lurching to the left?
The bottom line is that Smith was proven correct when he stated on the Senate floor on July 13, 1999 –
“Mr. President, I have come to the cold realization that the Republican Party is more interested in winning elections than supporting the principles of the platform. There is nothing wrong with winning elections. I am all for it. I have helped a few and I have won some myself, and there is nothing wrong with it. But what is wrong with it is when you put winning ahead of principle.
The Republican platform is a meaningless document that has been put out there so suckers like me and maybe suckers like you out there can read it. I did not come here for that reason. I did not come here to compromise my values to promote the interests of a political party.
I came here to promote the interests of my country. And after a lot of soul-searching, and no anger–no anger–I have decided to change my registration from Republican to Independent. There is no contempt; there is no anger. It is a decision of conscience.”
James, do you disagree with that statement after the last 4 years of Republican “leadership?” Why did Bob Smith support Kerry in 2004? Because President Bush actively worked to get Bob Smith out of the Senate. Do you blame him? Would you do anything different if a Republican President opposed your election as a Republican, when a sitting Senator?
I proudly joined Senator Bob Smith’s staff when we was an independent who caucused with the Republicans. He never caucused with the Democrats. Smith came back to the party, but never left his conservative stances. Conservatism is about limited government, a strong national defense and family values. Smith always supported those core values. The same can not be said of other elected officials.
Smith scored many victories in the face of Republican opposition. Smith was the primary Senator opposing Clinton’s judicial noms, when Rs were selling out on nominees like Sotomayor to be judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Smith was instrumental in setting up the Armed Pilots Program, now known as the Federal Flight Deck Officers’ Program, and, in the face of Bush Administration opposition, fought hard to get that law passed in the Senate. Please don’t overlook the fact that the Bush Administration opposed the creation of the Armed Pilots Program. Smith made a career out of fighting to find information about POWs from the Vietnam War. Smith lead the fight against partial birth abortion. Smith was the strongest advocate in the Senate for the 2nd Amendment. Please cite votes where Smith voted contrary to my assertions.
I would expect Bob Smith to have a 0 percent voting record in supporting Obama initiatives if elected, so to allege that Smith is a closeted Obama supporter is a joke. The same cannot be said of Stimulus supporting Crist, nor many of the other RINOs who currently call themselves Rs in the Senate.
I like Rubio and think he would make a great Senator, but to viciously attack a solid voice of conservatism like Bob Smith, because he was not a rubber stamp for many of the Bush policies that hurt the Republican brand is rhetorical malpractice.
Please tell me James where you disagree with Bob Smith’s statement in his Youtube video, including but not limited to his assertion that the R Party is “moving to the left” and the”private sector (is) being taken over by the government”? He is right and many Republicans went along with TARP, because President Bush requested their support.
I would expect Senator Rubio or Senator Bob Smith to both be solid conservative voices if elected to the Senate, but to attack Smith for being liberal does not pass this Red Stater’s laugh test.

By: JLenardDetroit

JLenardDetroit — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:14:15 +0000

and we see the ploy by some comments suggesting it is one (conspiracy) to attempt to influence a vote for the other (implied outsider).... We seem to all agree, Smith is ZERO CHOICE and no-one should vote for him. I would only add - Listen to NEITHER of the non-sense and decide between Crsit/Rubio. Go look for yourself and decide: Crist/Rubio 12pts - Crist/Rubio 12 points [with links] (since it has some links, I'm not going to try and recreate it all with cut/paste) +Crist & taxes - Crist and taxes [includes press-links] +Martinez endorsed - MARTINEZ ENDORSES CRIST for the seat he is retiring from. +Cornyn/NRSC endorse - Cornyn/NRSC endorsed Crist +sitting out elections banter - in depth Sit-It-Out discussion and the out-right vote for the other side (only one example of those comments) +how AltParty is RINOism - can one catch RINOvirus? or in Moe's can one catch RINOvirus +working together - The "Pretend you're a Liberal Report (and spin the story)" Challenge plus standing up about working together +Media feeding R infighting - MSM uses snippets out of context to feed Republican in-fighting narrative additional commentary on that here (speaking out against SoSo discussion) and here +MSM challenge - The "Pretend you're a Liberal MSM reporter (and Spin the story)" Challenge +Deli-story - Deli-story +ZERO-strategy - ZERO-strategy +Red-Dogs - Red-Dogs, RINOs, CINOs, DINOs, PLINOs, and Blue-Dogs, oh my... The Political Zoo - what/who are they? + overcoming BLUE-ism - BLUE-ism

By: Aaron Gardner

Aaron Gardner — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:34:09 +0000

By: Brian Hibbert

Brian Hibbert — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:30:40 +0000

Anyone who supported John Kerry should NEVER be allowed to claim any conservative credentials.

I think Rubio needs to paint him as another moderate and maybe get Smith to steal a few votes from Crist. Split electorates never win.

P.S. I attended an open house with RNC co-chair Jan Larimer yesterday. When I raised the issue of national party interference in primaries, she stated flat out that the national party will not get involved in primaries. I didn’t get a follow up or I would have asked her to convey the message to Sen. Cornyn, though I assume she would claim that the NRSC is not controlled by the national party.

By: nickinvirginia

nickinvirginia — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:23:17 +0000

This guy is a moron. He has absolutely no chance on winning. He is all over the place politically (See Kerry), and if anything he will only suck away from Rubio, who is 31 points down in a recent Qunnipiac Poll.

By: IJB

IJB — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:03:31 +0000

He’ll have no money.

And he has no credibility (esp. in FL, which he’s not even from!).

This is one guy not worth worrying about.

Rubio needs to focus his fire on Crist and the corrupt GOP Establishment (esp. in the Senate) in Washington DC.

By: donnac1188

donnac1188 — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:04:56 +0000

Of course! They hope to dilute the conservative vote, so Crist can waltz into the general election. It’s kind of funny though–how’s Crist gonna run?–as a “moderate” or a conservative. It’ll be interesting to see.

Rubio needs to run against Smith as a carpetbagger. There may be some in Florida who still know what that means. I can see the billboards now, with Smith dragging his “carpetbag” behind him as he crosses the Florida state line headed south…

We all just need to get behind Rubio and support him, financially and otherwise.

By: kyle8

kyle8 — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:04:26 +0000

Split the vote so that the conservative candidate cannot win.

GUESS WHAT YOU COUNTRY CLUB BELTWAY REPUBLICANS, YOU ARE NOT GAINING ANY GOODWILL!!!

WE WILL REMEMBER THIS AND ALL THE OTHER SLIGHTS AND WILL NOT BE IN A FORGIVING MOOD!!!!

So if they push that liberal Christ through , I hope conservatives in Florida have th fortitude to go out and vote for the DEMOCRAT, yes that’s right better to have one more democrat, which wont make much difference than another turncoat, liberal viper in the republican party, Plus it is worth it to send a message to the beltway crowd that you are not playing their game!

By: cwilson

cwilson — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:32:23 +0000

After 12 years in Washington and hailing from New Hampshire, Bob Smith is part of the D.C. Establishment, and the quintessential North-Eastern “Republican”. Therefore, he is doing the bidding of the cognoscenti that THINK they know best for the future of the Republican Party.

Ignore Bob’s rhetoric; he is trying to run as a “conservative” — thereby to split the conservative vote and hand the primary to Crist if Bob can fool enough people. First, they tried to Rule 11 Rubio so Crist wouldn’t have to face any primary opposition. Now this.

FGOP Chair Greer delenda est.

By: mbecker908

mbecker908 — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:20:53 +0000

With any luck at all Smith will finish a way distant fourth behind Crist, Rubio and MMouse and we’ll never have to listen to the SoB again.