Moderate Tillis Wins GOP Primary in North Carolina; Lefties Still Say He’s Too Conservative
According to Politico, Thom Tillis is the electable moderate in North Carolina, and his victory signals the primacy of electability in GOP primary voters’ minds:
The North Carolina results are a strong indication that the GOP rank and file is undergoing a shift from prioritizing purity to prizing victory. Just like D.C. strategists, voters watched Akin and Richard Mourdock blow it in 2012 and didn’t want a repeat this year.
Tillis had the backing of blue-chip surrogates like Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, and he rounded up endorsements from the National Rifle Association and the National Right to Life. The candidate and groups supporting him argued repeatedly that he was the one candidate who could beat Hagan.
“They fear Tillis the most,” says a poster in his Charlotte-area campaign office, with pictures of President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Hagan.
So: is Tillis’s win a disaster for small-government conservatives? Erick Erickson said: “For conservatives, Thom Tillis was the worst possible outcome in North Carolina. Backed by Crossroads and the Chamber, Tillis will not back free markets and small government to the extent either of his other major competitors would.” That’s too bad. But Erickson donated to Tillis, because he sees Tillis as a major improvement over the Democrat.
And when Greg Sargent starts wringing his hands over Tillis’s Scary Conservatism, I feel a smile growing on my face. This was written yesterday, before Tillis’s primary victory:
Control of the Senate, the prognosticators tell us, could come down to North Carolina. If GOP establishment favorite Thom Tillis clears 40 percent today and avoids a runoff – as seems likely — we’ll be hearing a great deal about how Republicans vanquished destructive elements within the party and emerged with the strongest and most “moderate” opponent against vulnerable Dem Senator Kay Hagan.
So it’s worth pointing out that Tillis comes with vulnerabilities of his own. For one thing, whatever his relative moderation when compared with his primary opponents, he appears to be a diehard 47 percenter.
On Hardball last night, Chris Matthews featured video of Tillis — previously captured by a local North Carolina group — in which Tillis’ 47 percenter-ism was on full display.
In it, Tillis said we have to “divide and conquer” those on public assistance, by getting those who really need it — the sick — to turn on and look down at those who “choose to get into a condition that makes them dependent on the government.” Speaking of that latter category, Tillis added: “At some point, you’re on your own. We may end up taking care of those babies, but we’re not going to take care of you.”
He said what?!?!?!?!
If these sorts of quotes are the thing that is supposed to scare us, scare away! Here is the video featured by Sargent. It’s fun to watch a guy utter common-sense statements and then watch lefties freak out over them:
I think Tillis’s statement is far more nuanced and defensible than the wording of Romney’s “47 percent” statement — and I think most Americans (and North Carolinians, more importantly) will view the comments favorably.
Patterico (9c670f) — 5/7/2014 @ 7:39 amPlus, “Kay Hagan” sounds like what happens when Michael Corleone’s wife marries the consigliere.
Patterico (9c670f) — 5/7/2014 @ 7:41 amI’m happy the Chamber of Commerce blew two of their $50 Million in NC versus no competition to speak of in a state with no grass roots worth reporting.
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 5/7/2014 @ 7:53 amHow is it that Akin continues to be labeled as a Tea Party candidate, when he was not?
JD (3a4df6) — 5/7/2014 @ 7:58 amThe early results are disappointing, a number of otherwise unremarkable incumbents surviving, and Boehner hisself.
Placing blame is getting old, replace the population.
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 5/7/2014 @ 8:11 amToo conservative? If he agreed with the Democrat agenda on every item but one thing, the Democrats would claim that he’s too conservative.
The Republican Dana (3e4784) — 5/7/2014 @ 8:39 am“We hope Rob Ford is getting treatment. We hope he gets better.”
No we don’t.
Blots on the pavement are not interesting and evoke no sentiments.
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 5/7/2014 @ 8:57 amhe’s still the sanest person in Toronto city government,
narciso (3fec35) — 5/7/2014 @ 9:19 am“Clay Akin stressed his upbringing by a single mother ….” When did bastardy become a vote getter? Please, somebody tell me.
nk (dbc370) — 5/7/2014 @ 9:23 ami was raised by a single parent, you want to revise and extend your remarks,
narciso (3fec35) — 5/7/2014 @ 9:42 amAnd people wonder why I haven’t voted in twelve years. Like Rush Limbaugh said, conservatism didn’t lose, it just wasn’t on the ballot.
CrustyB (69f730) — 5/7/2014 @ 9:55 amOk. I disapprove of irresponsible babymaking and society should too. It’s not the child’s fault but it should not be anything to brag about either. It’s a shame on society that it has become a political asset to the degree that divorced mothers, see e.g. Wendy Davis, try to paint themselves as unwed mothers.
nk (dbc370) — 5/7/2014 @ 10:10 am== conservatism didn’t lose, it just wasn’t on the ballot.==
Crusty, in your considered opinion why don’t more conservatives run or win in primaries?
elissa (770ecb) — 5/7/2014 @ 10:13 amHow is it that Akin continues to be labeled as a Tea Party candidate, when he was not?
He was an established Republican officeholder who beat two Tea insurgents. But reporters never check facts when their assumptions fit the narrative.
Kevin M (b357ee) — 5/7/2014 @ 10:28 amWhen did bastardy become a vote getter? Please, somebody tell me.
When Barack Obama, whose parents’ marriage was bigamous, became the Lightbringer.
Kevin M (b357ee) — 5/7/2014 @ 10:29 amconservatism didn’t lose, it just wasn’t on the ballot
Three candidates: One a small government Tea, backed by Rand and such, one an establishment candidate who wants to cut entitlements, and one a minister backed by Huckabee. If none of these are conservative, what does conservative mean anymore?
Kevin M (b357ee) — 5/7/2014 @ 10:34 amWhile I’m pretty confident that incumbent Republican Ellmers will win handily in November, it sounds like Clay Aiken is actually not a horrible candidate or a strictly vanity Ashley Judd type candidate. Sometimes people can surprise you. The 35 year age difference between the two Dem candidates in that race is interesting, too.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/05/06/3840834/us-congress-early-vote-count-gives.html
elissa (770ecb) — 5/7/2014 @ 11:23 amoh goody…
we’re nominating electable RINOs.
might as well just vote straight on Demonrat and be done with it. after these scum start reaching across the aisle in the race to the “bipartisan” crown, there is no difference between the two parties.
i’d just as soon die instantly, hitting the wall at 120 than bleed to death slowly in the wreckage having slowed down to 85.
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 5/7/2014 @ 12:13 pm==we’re nominating electable RINOs.==
Red– I’m sincerely trying to understand your comment. Do you feel that none of the three R’s that Kevin M described above @16 were conservative enough to deserve your vote in that primary if you lived in NC? Or do you think his descriptions of them are wrong? Or is it the voters whom you’re criticizing?
To me as an outsider, it seems pretty simple and obvious that NC R’s nominated the person who received the most votes in that race.
elissa (770ecb) — 5/7/2014 @ 12:43 pmErickson is a complete idiot.
No, sonny, “the worst possible outcome for conservatives” would be to nominate a nut like Brannon and let Hagan be reelected.
This establishment-hatred has become pathological with some on our side.
Estragon (ada867) — 5/7/2014 @ 1:08 pm“we’re nominating electable RINOs.”
I hate it when voters in other states don’t do what I tell them to do. SMH.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 5/7/2014 @ 1:34 pm#18 – redc1c4 – I am a cynical stubborn optimist …
My take on candidates in current times is that electing a Democrat means that the foot is in the accelerator all the way up to and then over the edge of the cliff … electing a conservative means that we will hopefully steer enough off to one side or the other to be able to avoid going over the cliff (while Democrats do their best to keep us going over the cliff as fast as possible) … electing a RINO means that our careering path to the cliff’s edge is slowed – and the conservatives have less Democrats fighting to keep us going over the cliff as fast as possible …
And, with RINOs mixed in with conservatives, we have at least a sporting chance of not going over the cliff – whereas with Democrats, we have NO chance …
Remember – many cultures over the millennia have independently learned and observed and realised that The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good …
Alastor (3b4a30) — 5/7/2014 @ 1:50 pmParliamentary rules make even the bluest Republican valuable in the Senate and the House caucuses, even if he never votes with the caucus except to elect the Speaker, President Pro Tem and committee chairs.
nk (dbc370) — 5/7/2014 @ 2:14 pmParliamentary rules make even the bluest Republican valuable in the Senate and the House caucuses, even if he never votes with the caucus except to elect the Speaker, President Pro Tem and committee chairs.
Not to mention the ability to vote on federal judges and even Supreme Court nominees. Do we really want Hairy Reed to be able to shepherd through the various grievance-mongering jackals that Obama nominates to the bench?
JVW (9946b6) — 5/7/2014 @ 2:28 pmhttp://hotair.com/archives/2014/05/07/palin-stop-gloating-over-last-nights-primaries-establishment-republicans/
narciso (3fec35) — 5/7/2014 @ 4:31 pmThe lefties are always going to say the Republican candidate is “too conservative.”
The real worry is that some of our pure conservative friends in North Carolina will stay home during Election Day in November because their ‘tea party’ candidate failed to win the primary.
Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 5/7/2014 @ 5:55 pmNarciso, where was there gloating? I admit I’ve been rather busy elsewhere today but I didn’t notice any gloating.
elissa (770ecb) — 5/7/2014 @ 6:11 pmKarl Rove and American Crossroads must have used all those expensive media buys to trick a bunch of tea party conservatives into voting for the “establishment” candidate in NC.
Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 5/7/2014 @ 6:16 pmthe gloating comes when they conclude this is a reason to vote for amnesty, on concede on some other issue,
narciso (3fec35) — 5/7/2014 @ 6:18 pm25. Rather perspicacious for Allah.
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 5/7/2014 @ 6:37 pmThis kind of thing on The Commie Channel isn’t intended to scare anyone, it’s intended to get contributions flowing to Kay Hagan. It’s not like any MSNBC viewer is thinking about voting Republican.
Kevin M (b357ee) — 5/7/2014 @ 9:05 pmLefties, without a grounding in common sense, are never happy with the result…..
askeptic (8ecc78) — 5/7/2014 @ 10:34 pmany result.
http://www.losangelesregister.com/articles/knabe-599024-cream-ice.html
What America sucks is ass.
To be clear, ass is what America sucks.
Got ass?
America wants to suck it.
It is known.
happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/7/2014 @ 10:34 pmAmerica, happyfeet? Your link says it’s LA County.
nk (dbc370) — 5/7/2014 @ 10:39 pmok yeah good point
I shouldn’t be so alarmist I guess
on another note
me, I do not like former Huckabee campaign press secretaries and I don’t care what they think
about anything
I am morally opposed to their very existence
happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/7/2014 @ 10:51 pmI know, right? Why did she get defensive and all backpedally and downplay Tillis’s message? She should have come out and said, “Not the poor Chris. Thom said we’ll take care of the poor. The ones we won’t take care of are the cheaters.”
nk (dbc370) — 5/7/2014 @ 11:03 pmBut, you know, if Matthews wasn’t sure he could play her, he probably would not have had her on in the first place. He’s an old pro at making himself look good and Republicans bad. It’s best to just avoid him altogether, like a dead skunk in the road or George Clooney movies.
nk (dbc370) — 5/7/2014 @ 11:07 pmoh.
I didn’t click.
It says right there in the chyron she’s some sort of sad, spent, cast-off, aimless, angry, prone-to-lashing-out ex-huckabee flunky.
I just don’t have enough spare emotional resources to encompass her pain in a way that promotes healing.
I wish I did but
I just don’t.
happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/7/2014 @ 11:09 pmThere’s this Gary Cooper movie where his relatives want to lock him up because he’s giving money to poor people instead of to them. And he makes a little speech of how a guy (him) is out on his motor boat and he sees a guy in a rowboat who doesn’t want to row anymore (that’s his relatives) and another guy who’s drowning (that’s the poor people). And it’s an easy choice whom he should stop for.
The Republicans could learn a lot from New Deal Hollywood propaganda that got FDR elected President for life. But they should give proper attribution when they use these kind of quotes and examples because, as we saw with Rand Paul, the MFM story will be how they plagiarized Frank Capra.
nk (dbc370) — 5/7/2014 @ 11:34 pmohnoes erf cake
happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/7/2014 @ 11:39 pmWhy did she get defensive and all backpedally and downplay Tillis’s message?
Because Huckabee doesn’t want to cut government or reduce its power. He just wants to aim it differently.
Kevin M (b357ee) — 5/8/2014 @ 12:22 amThe fix is in. Again.
mg (31009b) — 5/8/2014 @ 2:39 amStart reloading brothers and sisters, and work on that marksmanship.
If Huckster isn’t conservative what, really does the pejorative mean anymore?
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 5/9/2014 @ 4:40 amMakes perfect sense to me:
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/205537-brent-budowsky-clinton-can-win-45-states
The bag lady constituency is taking our cities by storm.
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 5/9/2014 @ 4:47 am