Conservatives target Pat Roberts, Kansas

[mystery-ak]

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=41A6D267-5882-46B5-80F9-5FA40711A8A0

 Conservatives target Pat Roberts, Kansas
By: Alexander Burns
July 16, 2014 08:47 PM EDT

National conservatives are looking toward Kansas in a last-ditch effort to unseat a GOP Senate incumbent this cycle, with one influential outside group launching a new barrage of ads against Republican Sen. Pat Roberts as early as Thursday.

Senate Conservatives Action, an arm of the national activist group Senate Conservatives Fund, has reserved several hundred thousand dollars in airtime in Roberts’ reelection race. The longtime incumbent faces a challenge from SCF-endorsed physician Milton Wolf, among other candidates.

Two media tracking sources confirmed that the group is poised to start a fresh round of ads; one buyer said Senate Conservatives Action had already booked $209,000 in TV time, with that number still likely to grow.



An official with the group did not return an email seeking comment.

The Kansas primary on Aug. 5 is one of the last remaining chances for conservative activists to take down a sitting Republican lawmaker, after an all-out effort from national groups on the right failed to topple Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran in June.

Roberts, who was first elected to Congress in 1980 and has served three terms in the Senate, has faced criticism for spending too little time in his home state and for not advocating strenuously enough for a hard-line conservative agenda.

Wolf, a radiologist by training, is a decidedly imperfect challenger; a local news report revealed earlier this year that he posted X-ray images of gunshot victims to his Facebook page and made questionable jokes about the injuries.

The renewed offensive from Senate Conservatives Action indicates that national activists have not yet given up on Wolf — or on the dream of making an example out of a complacent Senate incumbent this year. The Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, another out-of-state activist group, also backed Wolf earlier this week.

Kansas has unexpectedly emerged as a tumultuous political battleground in 2014, due to a chaotic Senate race and a surprisingly contentious reelection fight for Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.

In addition to Roberts and Wolf, two other minor candidates are seeking the Republican nomination. Prosecutor Chad Taylor is running as a Democrat in the general election, while wealthy investor Greg Orman is seeking the seat as an independent.

[Formerly Once-Ler]

National conservatives are looking toward Kansas in a last-ditch effort to unseat a GOP Senate incumbent this cycle, with one influential outside group launching a new barrage of ads against Republican Sen. Pat Roberts as early as Thursday.

The Tea Party, and conservatives promised to primary the GOPe, and they did primary them as punishment for their traitorous RINOism.  Time and again they failed.  There last chance is KS against Sen Roberts.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/25/tea-party-targets-conservative-sen-pat-roberts/
[/quote]Pat Roberts has amassed one of the most conservative records in the Senate, so it was a surprise to many analysts this year when a Republican primary challenger vowed to run to the three-term senator’s right.[/quote]

Really?  This is the guy you want out?  Not conservative enough for the home of Bob Dole and Gov Kathleen Sebelius?  You're kidding.

I'm surprised to see the Senate Conservative Fund dabbling into the Senate races again.
http://atr.rollcall.com/senate-conservatives-fund-endorses-house-candidates/

Maybe the Senate Conservative Fund should do something to help out Brownback.

[speekinout]

It's getting to be pretty clear that the agenda for the Senate Conservatives Fund is to eliminate sitting Republicans. They do not care if the Senate stays in dim control. Their candidates are so weak that few of them have even a remote chance of winning the general election. That doesn't sound like they have the best interests of our country in mind.

I'm beginning to wonder if they're not funded and guided by dims in disguise - 

[truth_seeker]

It's getting to be pretty clear that the agenda for the Senate Conservatives Fund is to eliminate sitting Republicans. They do not care if the Senate stays in dim control. Their candidates are so weak that few of them have even a remote chance of winning the general election. That doesn't sound like they have the best interests of our country in mind.

I'm beginning to wonder if they're not funded and guided by dims in disguise - 

The agenda is to be led around by the noses by some ambitious professional political fundraising experts, who hijacked the original Tea Party movement, for their own financial ends.

Targeting almost all incumbents is not intelligent. When you see yet another TP candidate, as often as not they are a fringe weirdo with problems.

How do professional political consultants make money? They make money as commissions on funds raised, and again as commissions on advertisements placed with those funds.

BTW I notice Todd Akin is back, which democrat interests view as a gift that keeps giving.

[speekinout]

The agenda is to be led around by the noses by some ambitious professional political fundraising experts, who hijacked the original Tea Party movement, for their own financial ends.

Targeting almost all incumbents is not intelligent. When you see yet another TP candidate, as often as not they are a fringe weirdo with problems.

How do professional political consultants make money? They make money as commissions on funds raised, and again as commissions on advertisements placed with those funds.

BTW I notice Todd Akin is back, which democrat interests view as a gift that keeps giving.

But why are they doing this? I'm not even sure who the "they" is. I was a big fan of the Tea Party when it was really just a lot of local conservatives who were demanding fiscal responsibility at all levels of gov't. But then the TP morphed into what it is now. I agree that most of their candidates are "fringe weirdos". Akin is a prime example. So who is it that doesn't want the most qualified people in office?

[alicewonders]

But why are they doing this? I'm not even sure who the "they" is. I was a big fan of the Tea Party when it was really just a lot of local conservatives who were demanding fiscal responsibility at all levels of gov't. But then the TP morphed into what it is now. I agree that most of their candidates are "fringe weirdos". Akin is a prime example. So who is it that doesn't want the most qualified people in office?

If you call someone who has been in office for 30 or even 40+ years - running this country while it's economy has tanked, employment levels are disastrous, jobs/money/opportunity are leaving the country, our standing in the world has slipped in so many ways - IF you call someone like that "qualified", then I guess you're happy with these career politicians that keep telling us they are fighting for us AT ELECTION TIME, and then go back to business as usual when they get re-elected. 

Myself, I think someone who is having to deal with living in the real world, someone who has at least a modicum of success at it - is way more qualified to represent me in Washington DC.

Does the media (and the GOP) do their best to mock, ridicule and destroy anyone who dares to challenge them?  They damn sure do!  Sure, there are bad tea party candidates, can you honestly say that there aren't any bad incumbent candidates?   

[speekinout]

If you call someone who has been in office for 30 or even 40+ years - running this country while it's economy has tanked, employment levels are disastrous, jobs/money/opportunity are leaving the country, our standing in the world has slipped in so many ways - IF you call someone like that "qualified", then I guess you're happy with these career politicians that keep telling us they are fighting for us AT ELECTION TIME, and then go back to business as usual when they get re-elected. 

Myself, I think someone who is having to deal with living in the real world, someone who has at least a modicum of success at it - is way more qualified to represent me in Washington DC.

Does the media (and the GOP) do their best to mock, ridicule and destroy anyone who dares to challenge them?  They damn sure do!  Sure, there are bad tea party candidates, can you honestly say that there aren't any bad incumbent candidates?   

Not all incumbents are good. But just because they may have served in an ineffective Congress doesn't make them bad. One person can't do much in a House of 435 unless there are at least 217 others of like mind. The same is true of Senators, who only need 50 others to agree with them.

If you want something to happen, then you have to vote to get majorities in both houses; you can't complain because someone who is in the minority can't do it.

And one of the key things about our system is that everyone has a voice. That means that there have to be compromises on many things. You may not like it if your representative ever compromises, but you'll hate it a lot more if the opposition gets the majority and they never compromise with your side.

[alicewonders]

Not all incumbents are good. But just because they may have served in an ineffective Congress doesn't make them bad. One person can't do much in a House of 435 unless there are at least 217 others of like mind. The same is true of Senators, who only need 50 others to agree with them.

If you want something to happen, then you have to vote to get majorities in both houses; you can't complain because someone who is in the minority can't do it.

And one of the key things about our system is that everyone has a voice. That means that there have to be compromises on many things. You may not like it if your representative ever compromises, but you'll hate it a lot more if the opposition gets the majority and they never compromise with your side.

I'm a big believer in compromise - give and take - and always ask for more than you think you can get in a negotiation.  I'm an antique dealer by trade, so I know how to close the deal and get at least some of what I was wanting originally.  So - I don't expect any politician to be so rigid that they cannot compromise on anything. 

However, when it comes to matters of national security and long-term planning - leaving this country better off than when we came - I expect a lot more than I'm getting.  These old-timers have been yanking our chains for a very long time! 

Besides, the GOP had majorities when George W. Bush was President.  They fumbled the ball and lost it to Nancy Pelosi and well, we know how that has worked out for us.  Bush didn't lay plans for a legacy and now we have Obama to show for it.  If this is leadership - let me pick a random name out of the phonebook - they couldn't do much worse!

[speekinout]

I'm a big believer in compromise - give and take - and always ask for more than you think you can get in a negotiation.  I'm an antique dealer by trade, so I know how to close the deal and get at least some of what I was wanting originally.  So - I don't expect any politician to be so rigid that they cannot compromise on anything. 

However, when it comes to matters of national security and long-term planning - leaving this country better off than when we came - I expect a lot more than I'm getting.  These old-timers have been yanking our chains for a very long time! 

Besides, the GOP had majorities when George W. Bush was President.  They fumbled the ball and lost it to Nancy Pelosi and well, we know how that has worked out for us.  Bush didn't lay plans for a legacy and now we have Obama to show for it.  If this is leadership - let me pick a random name out of the phonebook - they couldn't do much worse!

If you're a dealer, then you can be firm about your position. You don't have to convince a lot of other people to agree with you. Getting consensus on anything is a real skill, and very hard to do when the other parties have very different interests and backgrounds.

The GOP lost their majorities in the last few years of Bush's presidency. That isn't too unusual, because normally people get tired of the same old thing. Bush had a problem because people were tired of the midEast war stuff (and I, for one, would love to be back to the way it was then!) and he also had the confidence to try to do something about entitlements (wrong! He lost that battle big time)

But we have to stop blaming Bush at some time. You can blame Bush for the GOP loss in 2008 maybe. But what about 2012? How was that his fault? If you didn't do everything you could to elect Romney, you're one of the ones who got us into this mess. What is your plan to get us out of it?

[alicewonders]

If you're a dealer, then you can be firm about your position. You don't have to convince a lot of other people to agree with you. Getting consensus on anything is a real skill, and very hard to do when the other parties have very different interests and backgrounds.

The GOP lost their majorities in the last few years of Bush's presidency. That isn't too unusual, because normally people get tired of the same old thing. Bush had a problem because people were tired of the midEast war stuff (and I, for one, would love to be back to the way it was then!) and he also had the confidence to try to do something about entitlements (wrong! He lost that battle big time)

But we have to stop blaming Bush at some time. You can blame Bush for the GOP loss in 2008 maybe. But what about 2012? How was that his fault? If you didn't do everything you could to elect Romney, you're one of the ones who got us into this mess. What is your plan to get us out of it?

Well, it is what it is.  2012 was voter fraud, pure and simple with underhanded, complicit help from the media and union goons.  I did everything I could do to help get Romney elected - I recognized the seriousness of the situation and felt he would be worlds better than Obama, as I know you probably did too.  We here at TBR all knew.  I think I can speak for most people here when I say we GRIEVED when Romney lost! 

As far as my plan - firstly - clean house!  If these guys can't effect change as long as they've been there, they are ineffective and have to be replaced.  Whining "it's hard" doesn't cut it anymore - it's dire.  We need new people, new blood.  Being in office a really long time just isn't the qualification I'm looking for anymore, they're pretty much dismal failures.

[EC]

As far as my plan - firstly - clean house!  If these guys can't effect change as long as they've been there, they are ineffective and have to be replaced.  Whining "it's hard" doesn't cut it anymore - it's dire.  We need new people, new blood.  Being in office a really long time just isn't the qualification I'm looking for anymore, they're pretty much dismal failures.

Sort of a yes and no. A rug may do sterling service for years - but occasionally you need to take it outside, hang it on the line and use the carpet beater on it to get all the dust out. Primarys are the electoral version of the carpet beater.

[aligncare]

For me the hardest part of being a political observer is fighting back my cynicism that grows deeper with each election cycle.