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Rooting For Castle To Lose

Kevin Drum:

I'm rooting for O'Donnell with no quiet mourning for Castle at all. I'm not sure at this point why [E.J.] Dionne still wonders "if" there's room in the modern GOP for guys like Castle, since that seems about as clear to me as anything could possibly be. The answer is no, and Castle's fate won't change that one way or the other. The die has been well and truly cast here for some time: the GOP is irrevocably committed to the undiluted Fox/Limbaugh/Drudge party line, and there's no going back.

I'm with Drum on this one.

Speaking for me only

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    me too (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by Capt Howdy on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 04:23:13 PM EST
    and the hysterical hand wringing of "sane" republicans everywhere today says we may have a reason for shots tonight.


    it's scary though (5.00 / 2) (#2)
    by CST on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 04:33:08 PM EST
    on the one hand, you want the nuttiest republicans to win the primary since they are more likely to lose the general.

    on the other hand, what if they don't lose?

    Parent

    Exactly. I'm torn too. (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by ruffian on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 04:38:01 PM EST
    yep (none / 0) (#3)
    by Capt Howdy on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 04:36:50 PM EST
    repeating myself but be careful what you wish for.

    Parent
    And if anyone doubts the wisdom of that (none / 0) (#30)
    by denise k on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 11:23:15 PM EST
    old saw, just ask the NRSC....

    Parent
    the Senate Republicans seem to (none / 0) (#8)
    by jes on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 05:39:34 PM EST
    mostly vote as a block "No," so it would seem to me there isn't much drawback to rooting for the craziest of the bunch if it improves our candidates chances. I'm going to root for O'Donnell - with no regrets!

    Parent
    "sane" and "republican" (none / 0) (#42)
    by cpinva on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 03:09:07 AM EST
    used together is an oxymoron. the republican party pretty much went batsh*t crazy with the election of reagan. they've simply changed the public focus of their crazy.

    Parent
    hence (none / 0) (#46)
    by Capt Howdy on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 10:06:41 AM EST
    the quotes.

    Parent
    98% in, and Castle is totally done (5.00 / 2) (#20)
    by andgarden on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 08:13:20 PM EST
    Congratulations Senator-elect Chris Coons.

    Christine O'Donnell (none / 0) (#24)
    by MKS on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 10:03:58 PM EST
    will get the Hillary vote--she is making a hard pitch for that vote.  

    And O'Donnell is just like Hillary.

    Parent

    Shot in the dark guess: (none / 0) (#25)
    by andgarden on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 10:06:16 PM EST
    Chris Matthews?

    heh.

    Parent

    Just lamenting (none / 0) (#26)
    by MKS on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 10:11:11 PM EST
    the Hillary thread was closed before I got a chance to post....

    And, yes, O'Donnell was seriously targeting disgruntled Hillary voters.

    Parent

    She thought she was (5.00 / 1) (#38)
    by gyrfalcon on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 12:47:56 AM EST
    There's literally no point of comparison between the two other than having two X chromosomes.  O'Donnell makes Palin look like a moderate intellectual of vast experience.

    Parent
    Ummmm, ok (none / 0) (#27)
    by andgarden on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 10:16:03 PM EST
    Oh, come on. (none / 0) (#37)
    by gyrfalcon on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 12:46:18 AM EST
    You're going on very old stereotypes of Matthews that no longer apply, if they ever did.

    Parent
    I watched the 1st hour of the Maddow Show (none / 0) (#47)
    by Harry Saxon on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 10:21:53 AM EST
    so I have a question for you:

    Who should I believe, you or my lying ears?

    Parent

    sorry g-falc (none / 0) (#48)
    by DFLer on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 11:26:32 AM EST
    Matthews did say that about O'donnel and Hillary voters.

    Parent
    Seems I know Chris pretty well (5.00 / 1) (#50)
    by andgarden on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 09:13:33 PM EST
    And not without reason.

    Parent
    he did (none / 0) (#49)
    by Capt Howdy on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 11:31:20 AM EST
    and Rachel corrected him.


    Parent
    You can watch it (none / 0) (#51)
    by Harry Saxon on Thu Sep 16, 2010 at 09:11:12 AM EST
    OK, I believe you (none / 0) (#52)
    by gyrfalcon on Thu Sep 16, 2010 at 10:51:34 PM EST
    I don't -- and won't, actually -- watch Maddow.  But it's not characteristic of the way he's been generally carrying on on his own show, so where that came from I have no idea.  He does get a bit, er, overexcited at times and nutso stuff pours out of his mouth.

    Parent
    best part about all this (5.00 / 2) (#33)
    by pitachips on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 12:29:43 AM EST
    was watching Hannity and Rove going at it, continuing even after the segment was over when they were supposed to start the intro for Greta's show, about whether conservatives should have rallied around Castle or kicked him out. i see this division possibly doing some very real damage to the GOP in the next couple of years.

    Greta mentioned that (none / 0) (#41)
    by gyrfalcon on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 12:51:47 AM EST
    I'm really sorry I missed it.  It's pretty rare for Rove to go up in Hannity's face.

    Parent
    link (5.00 / 1) (#44)
    by pitachips on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 09:58:23 AM EST
    Thanks! (none / 0) (#45)
    by gyrfalcon on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 10:06:34 AM EST
    C'mon E.J. , keep up (none / 0) (#4)
    by ruffian on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 04:37:27 PM EST
    The good ship SS Republican Moderate sailed a long time ago.

    maybe Castle (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by Capt Howdy on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 04:38:56 PM EST
    can get a job as a Smithsonian exhibit.

    Parent
    Ha! (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by ruffian on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 04:41:56 PM EST
    I'm sure he will write a book bemoaning the fate of his party just like every other deposed moderate has done.

    Why have I never heard of him until now? If he had been out there debating Mitch McConnell a few times maybe I would shed a tear tonight.

    Parent

    Indeed (5.00 / 1) (#23)
    by gyrfalcon on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 09:27:53 PM EST
    He seems to be a very nice, decent guy, judging from his position on things like choice, etc., and from his appearance with Colbert a while ago.

    But then I remind myself that if he really were nice and decent, he'd have ditched the GOP a while ago and at least run as an independent if he couldn't bear to be a Democrat.

    Just imagine if X years ago, when VT's Jim Jeffords went independent, all those other "moderate" GOPers in Congress had followed his lead and formed an independent block and possibly another party after a while.  But Chafee, Collins, Snowe, Castle, et al were too chicken or too craven.

    Parent

    oh man (none / 0) (#9)
    by Capt Howdy on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 05:44:19 PM EST
    does it get better than this?

    Swords of Delaware
    the hotair greenroom

    You couldn't ask for a more vexing political conundrum than the Delaware Senate primary.  It's like something a poli-sci professor dreamed up to torture his students.  
    It's a tough call... but many pundits seem unwilling to acknowledge that.  Some, like Michelle Malkin arguing for O'Donnell or Baseball Crank  laying out the case for Castle, are commendably willing to concede the difficulty of puzzling out the race, before offering their most carefully reasoned opinions.  Many others act as if the correct choice is obvious, and disagreement is either stupidity or treason.  People are drumming each other out of the conservative movement, pointing at formerly solid allies and doing the Invasion of the Body Snatchers howl.  Promotion to the "ruling class" has become so easy that I'm thinking of endorsing Castle just so I can join the aristocracy.  I'll settle for a barony.  I'm a cheap date.
    The outcome of tomorrow night's primary is not the only reason so many swords are being drawn over Delaware.  There are deeper issues reflected in both of these elaborately damaged candidates.

    money quote. empty your mouth:

    Having said that, I disagree with Charles Krauthammer that Palin and Jim DeMint's endorsement of O'Donnell is "destructive" or "irresponsible."  They're big-picture idea people.  


    I have some sympathy (none / 0) (#10)
    by NYShooter on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 05:47:52 PM EST
    for the tea partiers. Obviously I wish they had lurched Left instead of Right, but look what the "Moderates" (of both parties) have done to the middle class these past three decades.

    I wouldn't say "sympathy" ... (5.00 / 1) (#31)
    by FreakyBeaky on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 12:01:46 AM EST
    ... but I do kinda wish there were a left-wing tea party.

    Parent
    So true. It is amusing to watch the (none / 0) (#12)
    by BTAL on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 05:54:37 PM EST
    gyrations in this and the open Primary thread.  Much ado over a primary in little Delaware.  The only upside for the Ds is that if they hold onto the seat it saves the embarrassment of Biden's seat going to an R.

    I wonder what Snowe is thinking... (none / 0) (#13)
    by steviez314 on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 06:08:16 PM EST
    that no matter what she does or how she votes for the next 2 ears, she's going to get primaried and lose.

    Three options: (none / 0) (#14)
    by andgarden on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 06:46:40 PM EST
    1. Party Switch;

    2. Indy run;

    3. Retirement.

    Or, door number four: fight the "good" fight.

    Parent
    oh veah (none / 0) (#15)
    by jes on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 07:25:34 PM EST
    door #4 got shut down big time on HCR. How in heaven's name could you imagine that?

    Parent
    Indie Run (none / 0) (#29)
    by denise k on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 11:18:18 PM EST
    gets my vote.  Though I predict the Tea Baggers either burn themselves out by then.  If not, I predict corporatists who now have a HUUUGE problem on their hands, forcibly shove them aside by, among other things, shutting Rush and Beck up.  It would not be hard to do.  They can either pay them off or turn them off.  

    Parent
    That's an interesting thought (none / 0) (#34)
    by gyrfalcon on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 12:39:59 AM EST
    But I'm not sure anybody can shut off Limbaugh and Beck, who run on public adulation, not money anymore.  I think Beck gets more tingles up his legs from the idea that so many strangers buy his books than he does from the royalties.

    But we haven't heard anything really, have we, about any real corporate unease with these two, although a fair number of companies have pulled their advertising from Beck.

    Parent

    Not sure Mainers (none / 0) (#36)
    by gyrfalcon on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 12:44:13 AM EST
    are as susceptible to tea party madness and right-wing orthodoxy.  To paraphrase Ehud Barak, they may be conservative, but they're not totally meshuggah up there.

    Parent
    what makes you think (none / 0) (#16)
    by cpinva on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 07:29:46 PM EST
    castle was all that great to begin with? he was a bought and paid for corporate republican, pretty much like all the other republicans. the primary difference between him and odonnel is that she wears her whackjob openly.

    Castle is no whackjob (none / 0) (#35)
    by gyrfalcon on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 12:42:13 AM EST
    Pro-choice, among other things, voted for cap-and-trade, etc., definitely not a social conservative.  He's the kind of Republican we would have loathed in the '60s, but he looks more like a standard-issue Democrat today.

    Seems to me most of them on both sides are corporate-owned these days-- excepting my own splendid socialist Bernie Sanders.

    Parent

    i didn't say he was (none / 0) (#43)
    by cpinva on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 03:15:59 AM EST
    a whackjob, i said he was just another corporate owned republican. he may be "for" all the right social things, but i don't recall him straining himself to push his fellow republicans into the light.

    he voted for those bills because he figured his seat was safe, as did pretty much everyone else. what he found out is that his party, in his state, really is full of crazy people.

    whether or not that republican crazy translates into wins for the dems in nov remains to be seen. i'm not holding my breath.

    Parent

    22% of precincts reporting (none / 0) (#17)
    by andgarden on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 07:38:46 PM EST
    and O'Donnell has an 11% lead. I don't do predictions, but I would not be smiling if I were in Castle HQ.

    It's over. (none / 0) (#18)
    by Tony on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 07:57:15 PM EST
    66% in and still up 10 points.

    Strangely enough, Dems may very well gain a House seat and hold a Senate seat in Delaware.

    Parent

    81% and 54/46, O'Donnell (none / 0) (#19)
    by andgarden on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 08:03:30 PM EST
    I think that's it.

    Parent
    I hope they start their own party (none / 0) (#28)
    by denise k on Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 11:12:26 PM EST
    I would be very annoyed if the so-called "moderate" Republicans decided to become Democrats.  I believe in a big tent and all, but there are already to many Republican-lite Dems in the organization.  It would be better if these outcasts joined with the Blue Dogs to make their own semi-sane conservative party.  

    Agreed entirely (none / 0) (#40)
    by gyrfalcon on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 12:50:52 AM EST
    That's what I'd like to see, anyway.  Ah for the good old days, when Republicans were just stoopid and venal, not wild-eyed whackjobs.

    Parent
    Try as I might ... (none / 0) (#32)
    by FreakyBeaky on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 12:03:38 AM EST
    ... I can't hate Arnold.

    Try as I might (none / 0) (#39)
    by gyrfalcon on Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 12:49:29 AM EST
    I can't admire one single solitary thing about Arnold.  And sophomoric cheap shots, even against people I consider my enemy, certainly don't make the list of things I'd like to admire him for.

    Parent