they shall FAIL because in truth these same people would back Specter and Crist and Scozzafava…..all of the people WE WON’T!

Haley Barbour was a success as the Chair of the RNC, and has done a very good job as governor in Mississippi.

Jeb Bush was a successful, conservative governor who enjoyed bipartisan support because he was effective.

Karl Rove is proving to have a lot of insight into the electorate from his perch on Fox News.

I filled out the questionnaire, wrote a note in red ink stating why I will only donate to the candidates I support, tucked it all the in postage paid envelope and mailed it back. I think I’ve done this 5 or 6 times now. Seems like they’d get the hint.

These are not grass roots people, they are DC insiders even if they don’t live in the Beltway. Karl may be interesting NOW since he’s not running the show but do not forget he was the GW’s strategist. I may respect Haley Barbour and Jeb Bush that still doesn’t mean I think they know anything about Tea Partiers or the grass roots movement. They are all just trying to capitalize on the movement and think we aren’t ‘smart’ enough to donate to our choice of candidates without their ‘sage’ advice.

Which of them endorsed Hoffman in NY-23? Which of them have endorsed Marco Rubio?

Thank you.
ColdWarrior
No More Scozzafavas!
Become a Republican precinct committeeman. Now!

I guess this is an attempt to snag donations from people who are firmly in the R tent as “moderates,” i.e. people we would call RINOs, but who have trouble donating to the RNC under Michael Steele.

It isn’t true that there are no ‘moderates’ out where the grass grows, but I don’t see them as being particularly estranged from the normal Party machinery. On the face of it, I don’t see why this group is needed, unless these people feel that Steele can’t do the job and they’re afraid to say so out loud.

But I like Jeb and Haley.

So fetishise tea parties all you want, but if Haley freaking Barbour isn’t conservative enough for you, then I don’t know what you want.

Barbour. It’s more the RINO factor with the rest of the members and the Bush factor. Coleman who maybe fit for MN as a Senator is still a RINO. And need I say anything about Rove or Bush? This group does not scream ‘grassroots’ in any way, shape or form.

just jerk off yourself. I don’t need you to tell me how to reply. I just choose not to reply to your specific comment. No need to be rude and a jerkoff just because we disagree.

Haley Barbour in particular was there with Reagan from the beginning of his Presidency and is a solid conservative. Labeling him a Rino is a huge mistake.

Jeb Bush and Ed Gillespie don’t have quite as clean a rep as Haley Barbour, but I wouldn’t consider them RINOS. Jeb ran and governed Florida as a conservative. He might not have made all the same policy decisions you would expect from a Wyoming governor, but Florida isn’t Wyoming. Given a choice between him and W back in 2000 I would have taken Jeb, but that wasn’t the choice. Ed may have worked for W, and Elizabeth Dole, but he has also worked for Dick Armey, and with John Kasich and Barbour and was a key player in The Contract with America. I’d rate him as instinctively more conservative than Jeb but paying the bills doesn’t always mean you get to go with your gut.

Rove gives me pause. He may know how to get HIS guy elected, but I doubt his ability to support a team of candidates. Electorally I regard W’s stint in the WH the same way Dems have to regard Slick Willy’s: it may have held the office for two terms, but it wreaked havoc on the ability to hold congressional offices. But sometimes it is important to have people like him providing advice, just as long as they aren’t the dominant voice. It’s sort of like some of AChance’s policy recommendations, I hate them but that doesn’t mean he is wrong about them.

Malek seems to be the only one I’d rapidly give the boot to, but not because of his fight with Steele. Steele ran a miserable campaign for governor here in Maryland and lost as a result. Steele is NOT instinctively conservative, he is instinctively Libertarian (and please note I used the capital, not lower case). I’d give him the boot because he has too much other baggage including ties to Nixon dirty tricks and a recent SEC loss against him. But what really kills him for me is his recent stint on the BoD at Fannie Mae.

Furthermore, like it or not (see my remarks above regards some of AChance’s advice) the tea party groups WILL need to tie into the existing political apparatus and change it. One of the mistakes many revolutionaries make is lining up all the government officials and gunning them down. It takes work to build governments from the ground up, lots of it. It also takes a great respect for the lessons of history, something notably absent in many political discussions these days. It is much more effective and efficient to take over the existing apparatus and either turn it to the proper function, or modify it so it addresses its proper function. What that means is that while this particular group of people might not be THE group to help them do so, A group or SOME groups which do WILL BE NECESSARY. So hip shooting the group is not constructive.

there was a proscribed monolithic thought here at Redstate that needed to be adhered.

Randy, I took your comments to me as being condescending, hence the reaction from me. I did misread the ending sentence (“we’re frankly just jerking off.”) as a reference to me.

I don’t know what your acronym moby means.

If the general air here is that it is unacceptable to not toe to the Redstate line of thought then you’re right I don’t belong here.

I stand behind my blog post and believe this is nothing more than a drive by the these professional politicians to capitalize on the tea party movement.