I live in Idaho, which as you probably know is a very Republican state. Strangely enough, I now have a Democrat representative for my district — Walt Minnick — because apparently the previous Republican one was such a horrible screw up that he got voted out in the last election (while my district also went 60.69% for McCain). Now basically Minnick has been a DINO, voting with the Republicans on all the important legislation of the past two years. That’s behavior you want to reward, and the Tea Party in Idaho has endorsed him.
But in the end, he is a vote for Nancy Pelosi as speaker. Also, I recently got a chance to meet him and he sounded very much a Democrat in area of the Constitution, as while he was against Obamacare for fiscal reasons, he thought the Commerce Clause covered forcing everyone to buy health care and was against the state of Idaho challenging that in court think it was a waste of taxpayer money.
So, I dunno. Anyway, Walt Minnick’s likely opponent is Vaughn Ward (I just realized with all these hyped primary fights I keep hearing about, I have no idea when any actually primary votes are). He sounds pretty damn conservative (he recently got the Sarah Palin endorsement which probably flies pretty well here in Idaho), and he’s an Iraq War vet (I should mention, though, that Walt Minnick is a Vietnam vet). So Vaughn Ward seems like a good person to represent me in Congress, but what do you think?
Somehow, I don’t see all you guys telling me to vote for the Democrat, but I thought I’d ask.
A dem is always a dem first. He is absolutely a vote for San Fran Nan. Vote for Vaughn Ward, remember John F. Kerry also served in Vietnam and how’s that working out for us.
Find out if Nader endorsed one of them and then go with the other.
Ok so the current guy is a democrat that votes & acts republican? What else is there? It says it all. He’s willing to do anything to get elected. There goes his sense of honor in my book. Did you guys see that golfer who pointed out his own error costing himself 400K? Thats what we need in govt. I rest my case.
Thanks for your service in Vietnam, Rep. Minnick, but anyone who has such a loose and frankly ridiculous notion regarding the Commerce Clause needs to go. Sorry, but that’s just the way it is.
I’m thinking operation chaos: vote for the most likely moonbat in the democrat primary. Best of both worlds, my friend. Also get your other personalities registered to vote, and get them to vote for the moonbat in the democrat primary. DINOs are dangerous. Just ask Stupak voters.
You lazy so and so.
You’re getting closer and closer to 35, you really need to start running for office.
In other words, you should vote for yourself.
Any candidate, Republican or democrat, who thinks the commerce clause grants permission for wholesale removal of sovereign rights needs to be kicked out before they do any damage. Even though Minnick may have done good work for Idaho in the past his opinion about the commerce clause runs counter to the constitution.
He may have voted the right way, but who knows, maybe Pelosi let him because she didn’t need his vote.
What is this “Idaho” that everyone is talking about? Sounds like a potato. 🙂
Minnick has proven him self a true fiscal conservative. He has opposed retarded legislation and offered actual alternatives for the issues. His alternative to the stimulus package was touted by Michael Steel and other republicans as a great way to fix the economy. Seeing he is the only Democrat to be praised recently by the Club For Growth, He’s got some good points. He’s a supporter of your second amendment rights, but who in Idaho isn’t. About him voting for Pelosi, Has any one ever not voted to reconfirm the speaker of their party. Seem like a weak argument. If that is all they have then I’d say Minnick is looking good. Honestly, if he had an R next to his name, we may grumble about the retarded translation of the Commerce clause, but we here in Idaho would line up behind him.
But now to the bad side. He’s pro abortion, Wants to close gitmo for pure political reasons (There is no reason other than that). Hes a social Liberal in almost every way, he just wants the government to pay for it. If you only cared only about spending, then he’d be fine, and a better candidate then 99 percent of the republicans. His stances put him on par with Rudy Gulliani and McCain (bad enough), but with a better spending record.
The Republican Candidate hasn’t been chosen yet. But a few years ago, we had a great candidate named Robert Vasquez who was a strong Border, Language, Culture warrior. If serving today, would be a darling of the Tea Party movement. He came in second to Bill Sali. Salli was so retarded that a friend of mine who is a major player in the Idaho GOP said when Minnick beat him. “Eh! No real heartache for me.” The Idaho GOP has a history of choosing candidates based on power in the GOP than actual ideology and ability. I’ll wait until the Republicans have an actual candidate before I decide who to vote for.
One correction. Walt Minnick was endorsed by the Tea Party Express, not by any Idaho Tea Party group. No local Tea Party Groups have not endorsed any candidate.
Vote for the most conservative, period. Doing anyhting else will let you, and all of us, down in the end.
Frank J for congress !!11!!!
motopolitico: I did exactly as you suggested, but in the 2008 presidential primary. SOB ended up getting elected in November.
Frank: The worst Republican is better than the best Democrat. Or I thought that until I heard about Ron Paul.
Actually, that’s a good question. I definitely am for voting for conservative Dems. It undermines their ability to do anything on their agenda. The Nancy Pelosi vote thing is kind of a lame thing to hang him on. What, was he supposed to vote for a Republican with a majority of Dems? that’s just silly.
BUT! The Republican might very well be a good, viable choice. It might be a matter of how awesome he is. Is he REALLY a conservative? Or is he going to get in office and start spending money on birth control for slutty wild boars? Because I think we can pass on that kind of conservative.
And then you want to decide which is MORE conservative. Is the Dem voting for B.C. for slutty boars? Well then you vote for the Republican.
Veeshir, engineers don’t have time to run for public office. They’d have to give up engineering and walk around pontificating all the time about the merits of efficient government with thermodynamic analogies.
Perhaps you may have a win-win situation. It sounds as if you have a current representative who, even though a Democrat, isn’t a frothing at the mouth liberal moron. On the other hand if his opponent wins you will get a certified conservative to represent you. I would vote for the conservative if I were you but it sounds as if you won’t have to be too disappointed if the current incumbent wins.
It’s good for the Tea Party to endorse a Democrat or two, to confuse the media narrative and hold out a carrot for other Democrats to behave better. Ideally, he would get the endorsement but still lose the election… then no harm is done. Do us a favor though and make sure the Republicans nominate somebody good, before just blindly voting for him. Has the primary already occurred? If not… why don’t you enter it, Frank? I’d love to see you sparring with Grayson in next year’s Congress.
Basil: Don’t blame me, I voted for Hillary.
I think Ward is considered the front runner since he was able to get Palin’s endorsement. I don’t know when the primaries are but they should be soon. Here is the statesman’s take on it.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/04/16/1154934/do-tea-partyers-really-want-rep.html
Sadly Robert Vasquez isn’t running this time. The only one who can save the Idaho GOP is the Unknown Republican. Who is that masked conservative anyway?
The cliché about RINOs is that people will tend to choose the genuine lib over the psuedolib. Same thing applies here. Boot the semiconservative and install a real one. And when in doubt P*SS ON THE INCUMBENTS!
Unlike all those moron “moderates” and “independents” you don’t vote for the person, you vote for the party. The party has a platform, and that’s what drives the debate. The party can put pressure on individuals by doing things like stripping funding. Also, as you’ve stated, a vote for the most conservative democrat is a vote for Nancy Pelosi and her policies. If people hadn’t voted for all those “blue dog democrats” then we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in today. Plus, it turns out that most of those blue dog democrats voted for the bill. I’d bet that your guy would have voted for it too if they had needed him. You see, democrats are democrats first, no matter what.
My great-grandfather Charles C. Moore was once a Republican lt. governor and then governor of Idaho and would make a great candidate even in this day and age. He was a fiscal conservative who contributed greatly to the development of the state. Sadly he’s no longer with us.
the worst republican is better than the best democrat. when the chips are down the dem will sell you out and know that most people will forget the schafting before the next election.who can honestly say they remember how thier representative voted on anything a year later.
You can be a democrat and you can be mentally sane, but you can’t be both.
Veeshir, engineers don’t have time to run for public office. They’d have to give up engineering and walk around pontificating all the time about the merits of efficient government with thermodynamic analogies.
See, FrnakJ can walk around all the time talking about the merits of efficient gov’t with moon-nuking analogies.
While that is related to thermodynamics, it’s much more visceral. People can understand a mushroom cloud on the moon, thermodynamics not so much.
Don’t believe me?
How about people freaking out because global worming of the Earth (where it’s around 60 degrees for an average) is warming the interior of the planet (1,000s of degrees) and causing earthquakes.
That defies every law of thermodynamics there is. Even the ones Bugs Bunny made up.
But get someone talking about nukes and you get their undivided attention.
The Tea Party endorsed Minnick because they didn’t want to be identified as “Republican only”. The left-wing media is constantly painting the people at Tea Parties as puppets of the Republican party, so it only makes sense that the Tea Party would try to change that image and endorse a Democrat (the one that has voted most conservatively in the country).
I used to live in California… I got out. Guess where I went? IDAHO. I love it here.
And now, since I also live in Minnick’s district, I’ll be another vote for Vaughn Ward. Dear God, KEEP IDAHO CONSERVATIVE. I’d like to raise my children here someday 🙂
Walt Minnick is a vote for Pelosi as Speaker: Setting the agenda, making up the committee assignments, deciding which bills get to the floor for a vote, etc.
It is also a vote for Barney Frank to run the Banking Committee, for Henry Waxman to run Energy and Commerce, for John Conyers to head up Judiciary… the list goes on and on! Are you throwing up yet? You should be!
Also, can you really count on Minnick to stand fast when the chips are down? The Democrats will have less Congressmen next time for certain. How will Minnick vote in a razor-thin Democrat majority situation where Nancy Pelosi is twisting his arm hard and can’t afford to let him off the hook? Could you live with your Congressman being the deciding vote on any signature issue for the far left???
In the end it is a no-brainer, Frank. Do the right thing, take no chances. We need every seat we can get in Republican hands! Dump the Donks!!!
Party affiliation is meaningless (see John McCain). You gotta vote for whoever’s the most conservative. Now, if this Ward fellow is running as a Republican with a platform like “I absolutely oppose gay marriage, but I also hate religion, guns, and freedom, while I think that Obamacare, taxes, and saving the environment are just about my favorite things,” then you vote for the Democrat, who sounds like he’s at least fiscally responsible. On the other hand, if Minnick is thinking, “Federal healthcare sounds great, and the feds should be allowed to do whatever because the Constitution is dumb, and everyone should get free abortions, but we can’t afford it right now so I’m voting against it,” and Ward’s more like “I’ve decided to run for office to smash communism like my hero, Ronald Reagan, and shoot people who ignore the Constitution with my Constitutionally-protected guns!” then he’s clearly the better choice.
If the Republican isn’t a RINO, vote for them.
I contacted Minnick’s office for some help on a business travel visa issue. Staff were complete idiots. And useless idiots at that. I even went over to his office to try to get things straightened out, but no love. So I contacted Senator Crapo’s office and the business got done quickly and efficiently with absolutely no hassles.
As a business owner, that carries lots of weight with me. If he can’t run his own show, how can he be expected to run the country?
repeat after me: “There is no such thing as a GOOD Democrat.”
I have two thoughts:
1) More and more, I agree with Dick Morris in that there is no such thing as a conservative Democrat.
b) Think about which would make you angrier: voting for a Democrat who turns out to be a liberal, or voting for a Republican who turns out more liberal than you expect.
Also, I agree with Joe. I think it’s good that the Tea Party Express is endorsing Democrats.
“But in the end, he is a vote for Nancy Pelosi as speaker.”
That’s the most relevant point.
Minnick ain’t in the room when the agenda is being setor when the legislation is drafted.
So, even if Minnick is more sensible than Ward, you have to also factor in whether you think Pelosi is more Sensible than Boehner.
And it doesn’t stop their. He’s not a committee chairman and does not get to influence the agenda through setting hearing schedules either. So you have to ask yourself whether you prefer Waxman or Pence as head of the Oversight Committee, you need to ask yourself whether you prefer Ryan or Rangal as head of Ways & Means, etc., etc., etc.
It’s noble that Minnick is a fiscal hawk and that the local tea party is recognizing that fact, but until the Dems change their leadership to be more centrist, a vote for Minnick is a vote for insanity.
if he isn’t crazy about the Constitution, he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Bart Stupak comes to mind with the term “conservative Democrat”. Democrat, in hungarian means “man with no balls/woman with balls”. And ugly. It means ugly. 🙂
Just write in Ron Paul. It’s wacky fun!
How does a state going to court to stop an illegal law “wasting tax payer money”? They are all lawyers and they get paid either way, how does actually doing something any different than…whatever it is they do?
Anyone who would cast their vote for Pelosi is unsupportable.
Would he do it again? Ask him.
Anyone who would cast their vote for Pelosi is unsupportable.
Period.
(Is it too redundant to put a period after that last sentence?)
I have never been a party line voter. I consider myself a Moderate Conservative, limited Govt. and freedom from their hand in my Wallet for 4 months of the year.
But I am pulling the lever for Republicans across the board this year…..based exclusively on the behavior of the Dim’s once they got power, acting like kids turned loose in the candy store. When the adults (Tea Party) showed up to say “put down the candy, it’s time to go home”, they locked the door and gave us the finger from inside the window, while stuffing as much candy in their mouths as they could possible suck in.
When it’s a wash on being a fiscal conservative vote………Vote Republican.
This is a no brainer, don’t care how he voted perviously. the Vote goes to the Elephant.
Thus reducing the Dim’s majority by one more vote,
thus reducing the Dims ability to ram rod things,
who knows yours may be the guy who swings the balance.
Which in turn swings the leadership,
which in turn puts The Wicked Witch of the West back to simply being one vote in a sea of votes……and even more……..extremely weakened.
In this case your current Rep’s interpretation of the constitution puts a Caution, Danger Will Robinson alarm ringing in my head.
If the Republican believes and stands for the right things, then he gets the vote….hands down.
Need to think ahead, more conservatives who believe in the Constitution, the better off we are going to be in the long run.
But not wishy washy conservatives who mealy mouth and wimp along, This is going to take Tough Love conservatives…see NJ Gov. articles..
The motivated, hard working, smart people will get it. and understand the pot of gold is empty, time to buck up, tighten belts and put yer backs into it.
That message will be stifled until we put the right people in the right offices…and we cannot wait any longer to do that.
That takes all of us making sure turn out is HUGE in mid terms.
Just the fact it is a big turn out will scare the blind ones into line and put the proper pucker factor in the squishy Republicans left.
This is not the time to be kind and squishy (and I am not saying you are Frank), the reason to put the Republican in is as plain as the amount of money you see flowing from your hard work (and yer lil’ dog too), to the Govt only to be wasted on payoffs to cronies and money changers.
‘nough said.
Of course I could be wrong.
Party line IS the way to go and DOES matter. It doesn’t matter if half the Democrats are “conservative” (as if there really was such a thing, see Stupak) then the party, who believes in big government, big taxes, limits on freedom, abortion on demand, nationalized…well..everything, will be able to appoint the head of every committee, the speaker, and TOTALLY set the agenda. You simply don’t vote for the person except in the primaries. If McCain was replaced with a Democrat it WOULD be terrible, though slightly different in the Senate since the rules are different. Repeat after Rush, “the best Democrat is worse than the worst Republican.”
The Silver Lining of the Health Care Cloud Over Mitt Romney: http://mittromneycentral.com/2010/04/22/the-silver-lining-of-the-health-care-cloud-over-mitt-romney/
I met with Walt last week in Coeur d’Alene. Couple of things: 1- He’s not a Vietnam Vet the way most people would consider it. He was assigned to the Pentagon working on Vietnam’s economy, 1970. 2- I asked him about his voting for Pelosi. He said he’d prefer someone else, but didn’t see the upside of making a fuss about it. 3- I have been comfortable with his votes, and he has responded to the 3 or 4 letters I’ve sent him over the past year, addressing the points I made. (not a form letter response). The kicker though, was when we talked about business and unions. He surprised me with some typical Dem claptrap about greedy executives riding around on private jets. Anyway, in another political climate, we could do worse, but a vote for him is a vote for Pelosi, and that CANNOT happen.
If he votes with the Republicans most of the time and is mostly a moderate conservative, then why does he have a ‘D’ after his name? Let him change parties then. As long as he is a Dimwit, he is another vote for Dimwit leader Pelosi, and another brick in the commie wall of progressivism. He needs to go, because for all the good he may have done, he is supporting the party that is destroying our country. He’s like a muslim, who may be the best neighbor you ever had, but refuses to denounce the extremist terrorists in his religion – wrong, in the worst way.
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