Patterico's Pontifications

10/24/2017

Sen. Jeff Flake Won’t Run For Re-Election

Filed under: General — Dana @ 5:25 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Arizona’s Senator Jeff Flake gave a searing speech today on the Senate floor when he announced that he will not seek re-election in 2018. He went for broke and challenged President Trump and Republican party leadership as he reminded them, among other things, that no one is indispensable.

A few significant portions:

It must also be said that I rise today with no small measure of regret. Regret, because of the state of our disunion, regret because of the disrepair and destructiveness of our politics, regret because of the indecency of our discourse, regret because of the coarseness of our leadership, regret for the compromise of our moral authority, and by our – all of our – complicity in this alarming and dangerous state of affairs. It is time for our complicity and our accommodation of the unacceptable to end.

In this century, a new phrase has entered the language to describe the accommodation of a new and undesirable order – that phrase being “the new normal.” But we must never adjust to the present coarseness of our national dialogue – with the tone set at the top.

We must never regard as “normal” the regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals. We must never meekly accept the daily sundering of our country – the personal attacks, the threats against principles, freedoms, and institutions, the flagrant disregard for truth or decency, the reckless provocations, most often for the pettiest and most personal reasons, reasons having nothing whatsoever to do with the fortunes of the people that we have all been elected to serve.

None of these appalling features of our current politics should ever be regarded as normal. We must never allow ourselves to lapse into thinking that this is just the way things are now. If we simply become inured to this condition, thinking that this is just politics as usual, then heaven help us. Without fear of the consequences, and without consideration of the rules of what is politically safe or palatable, we must stop pretending that the degradation of our politics and the conduct of some in our executive branch are normal. They are not normal.

Reckless, outrageous, and undignified behavior has become excused and countenanced as “telling it like it is,” when it is actually just reckless, outrageous, and undignified.

And when such behavior emanates from the top of our government, it is something else: It is dangerous to a democracy. Such behavior does not project strength – because our strength comes from our values. It instead projects a corruption of the spirit, and weakness.

I am aware that a segment of my party believes that anything short of complete and unquestioning loyalty to a president who belongs to my party is unacceptable and suspect.

If I have been critical, it not because I relish criticizing the behavior of the president of the United States. If I have been critical, it is because I believe that it is my obligation to do so, as a matter of duty and conscience. The notion that one should stay silent as the norms and values that keep America strong are undermined and as the alliances and agreements that ensure the stability of the entire world are routinely threatened by the level of thought that goes into 140 characters – the notion that one should say and do nothing in the face of such mercurial behavior is ahistoric and, I believe, profoundly misguided.

It is clear at this moment that a traditional conservative who believes in limited government and free markets, who is devoted to free trade, and who is pro-immigration, has a narrower and narrower path to nomination in the Republican party – the party that for so long has defined itself by belief in those things. It is also clear to me for the moment we have given in or given up on those core principles in favor of the more viscerally satisfying anger and resentment. To be clear, the anger and resentment that the people feel at the royal mess we have created are justified. But anger and resentment are not a governing philosophy.

There is an undeniable potency to a populist appeal – but mischaracterizing or misunderstanding our problems and giving in to the impulse to scapegoat and belittle threatens to turn us into a fearful, backward-looking people. In the case of the Republican party, those things also threaten to turn us into a fearful, backward-looking minority party.

P.S. Kelli Ward , in spite of three recent polls putting her at a 15 point lead over Flake, just might be counting her chickens before they’ve hatched.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

64 Responses to “Sen. Jeff Flake Won’t Run For Re-Election”

  1. Make sure you watch the whole video, or read the full transcript. It’s a terrific speech.

    Dana (023079)

  2. challenging both President Trump and the Republican party leadership as he reminded them, among other things, that no one is indispensable.

    How would the group characterize Flake’s record? He did vote for Obamacare repeal this year, all three times. Numbers USA has him at D- on immigration. 538 has him voting “with Trump” 89.8% of the time (I’d read the fine print on that one).

    Frederick (53c627)

  3. The last link in the post is interesting. I was going to criticize Flake for not giving Trump and Bannon scorched Earth right back in their faces, with a destructive primary against their doxy Kelli Ward; but it may be that with him stepping aside another challenger might give her an even better fight.

    nk (dbc370)

  4. New normal, is when there is a assassination attempt on a whole clique of congressman and the perpretator met with the two democratic senators when one of the leading ‘resistance’ leaders Maxine waters, suggests trump be ‘taken out’ whem another antifa favorite, Larry o’donnell calls general kelley a racists because of his class and birthplace.

    narciso (d1f714)

  5. I have family in Arizona. They are not Flake fans.

    “It’s not the party that has changed so much (although it has changed some), it’s Flake.

    Flake was a strong conservative when he was in the House. When he got to the Senate, he decided to be John McCain’s “Mini-Me” and has borne little, if any, resemblance to his former self. My many conservative and/or Republican friends back in my native state are completely mystified as to what happened to Flake during his first (and probably only) Senate term.

    None of them are voting for him in the primary.”

    https://pjmedia.com/blog/liveblogevent/mondays-hot-mic-29/entry-216089/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  6. That’s what I’m thinking, nk. Also, there is a report about a McConnell connected super PAC group that has flat-out said that Ward will not be the Republican nominee for this Senate seat in 2018. No mention of who they are looking at instead. Should be interesting.

    Dana (023079)

  7. I knew him for not only being against the Cuban embargo, which is reasonable but mistaken but being any against any tool against the regime, why I dubbed him fideloflake

    narciso (d1f714)

  8. The odds are relatively high that Arizona will now have races for two open Senate seats in ’18. Ducey has a real puzzle to work out regarding his political future if McCain succumbs before the election. He could easily find himself locked out of a future job due to term limits combined with fresh incumbents in both Senate seats.

    Rick Ballard (6a5693)

  9. Like voting for lynch and Ellen, voting against repeal in 2013, voting for the post
    sandy hook panic gun grab, those are just some of the highlights.

    narciso (d1f714)

  10. Trump was a sea change–hard to predict what happens next.

    Funny thing is the Democrat party is probably in just as much of a storm but no one is paying attention.

    Algonquin (53dfd3)

  11. Another win for Trump.

    Surprise: ‘In case of emergency, break ranks and shout “Reagan!”‘ doesn’t work anymore.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  12. It is clear at this moment that a traditional conservative who believes in limited government and free markets, who is devoted to free trade, and who is pro-immigration, has a narrower and narrower path to nomination in the Republican party – the party that for so long has defined itself by belief in those things.

    Didn’t he vote in favor of reauthorizing the ExIm bank?
    Once you’ve done that, you’ve established yourself as being against “limited government and free markets, … free trade”. The only thing that would convince me that he’s a credible or effective advocate would be if it turned out my source is wrong.

    CayleyGraph (1c63a5)

  13. Quitters are losers.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  14. Apparently folks are asking David Schweikert (AZ 6th CD) to run. There are two other GOP Congressmen from safe districts who could run, too.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  15. Once you’ve done that, you’ve established yourself as being against “limited government and free markets, … free trade”

    Maybe he’s paying attention to AZ employers. A Congressman who ignores local concerns doesn’t last long.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  16. OT: I note that they played “God Bless America” during the 7th inning stretch at the Series. I don’t remember seeing that before. Maybe baseball is looking for market share.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  17. It was more likely in LA than in Houston. Wait, calm down, Texans! Democrats never love America more than when they’re opposing a Republican administration.

    nk (dbc370)

  18. @16. Yeah, they do that. More distracting, if not irritating, has been the peanut popping Larry King and his wife parked squarely behind home plate w/every pitch. Dodgers look good; Astros seem a little off; maybe the heat, eh.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  19. U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) tonight issued the following statement in opposition to an amendment to highway reauthorization legislation that would reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. Flake is currently in Africa in his capacity as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Africa subcommittee and was unable to attend the vote:

    “I’m disappointed that the Senate voted this evening to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, a depression-era corporate welfare program that I oppose and that carries little relevance in an era of increasingly open global markets. Had I been present, I would have voted against the amendment.”

    https://www.flake.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=ad25f58b-b3dc-456c-9fa8-1db8391dca97

    Dana (023079)

  20. 10, they recently unceremoniously booted one of their few voices of reason from the DNC, NH’s Ray Buckley.

    In other news, Kid Rock won’t be running in MI.

    urbanleftbehind (b843ef)

  21. So what exactly did flake affirmatively do, you would think it wee Daniel Webster in the floor of the senate.

    narciso (d1f714)

  22. I thought God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch was standard in post season games beginning in October 2001. I wonder if the natives of the Carribean nations, including 2 vile regimes and one commoneealth did the “who can stand for longer” after the Anthem, which is also a thing.

    urbanleftbehind (b843ef)

  23. @21. He followed the new conservative strategy: “I quit. Now I’m free to call President Trump a scumbag.”

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  24. Q: Do you believe the content of Flake’s speech is diminished, or even straight-up nellified by his voting record?

    Dana (023079)

  25. DACA has 3 Dodger wins left, then gone after the resulting mayhem.

    urbanleftbehind (b843ef)

  26. Ugh… *nullified*

    Dana (023079)

  27. @Dana:Do you believe the content of Flake’s speech is diminished, or even straight-up nellified by his voting record?

    I’m not sure if you were asking me, particularly, but Congress is full of talkers. If Congress had actually repealed Obamacare, for example, instead of talking about repealing it, or if GOP leaders weren’t trying to reactivate the Dream Act instead of talking about immigration reform, the content of those speeches might get more weight from me.

    Frederick (cd593c)

  28. Post-Dodger game commercial: lefty billionaire Tom Steyer imploring citizens to act to impeach Trump.

    Dana (023079)

  29. Did he take a policy stand like Cruz or cotton did, at reAL risk to himself, his issues are mostly agreeable to the chamber.

    narciso (d1f714)

  30. We can’t repeal things, because of the filibuster we could repeal whenever we want. We can’t cut spending, because of all the mandatory spending we can repeal whenever we want. Etc, etc.

    Both houses of Congress, a President who has no real reason to veto anything, a majority on the Supreme Court, and nothing but speeches.

    Frederick (cd593c)

  31. Asking everyone, Frederick. Thanks.

    Dana (023079)

  32. Except for immigration which actually should be restricted, in line with the bat. Security/strong defense leg of the 3 legged stool, he didn’t deviate and was a solid repeal vote

    urbanleftbehind (b843ef)

  33. @Dana: I have a hot-button issue or two that Flake is on the wrong side of from me, but I don’t have any real objection.

    However, he is part of the problem the GOP. There’s this Dolchstosslegend going around, that Trump used his Jedi mind tricks to hijack the GOP and now he’s ruining everything for them. That’s nonsense. Trump is not the solution, but he’s not the problem. The GOP is the problem, the officeholders.

    With majorities in both houses they could be passing everything they promised in the last two years for the next two years. You know how Obamacare got passed on a party-line vote and everyone is too helpless to do anything about it and so making excuses for why they can’t repeal it? Why does the GOP not do something that conservatives want and stick the Left with it for the next twenty years? It’s because in the end, they want to hold office for the sake of holding office, not because they have any intention of changing anything.

    Trump is part of the reaction to that.

    So many right-wing pundits say that Democrats will never do anything substantive for minorities because they have already locked up their vote. It seems the Republicans have something similar with what the conservative part of the electorate wants. The more they blame Trump, instead of shaping up themselves, the more Trumpish things are going to get.

    Frederick (cd593c)

  34. The Maloney (was that brando’s character) peroration was a bit much.

    narciso (d1f714)

  35. 32, I thought Trump was the down payment on that-the receptiveness of City and near suburban to a conservative republican, but the US urban areas are a tougher nut to crack than Argentine metros.

    urbanleftbehind (b843ef)

  36. So, what is the answer? Destroy the GOP and the conservative party that Americans have been clamoring for will rise from the ashes? What you’ll get is Socialsts vs Communists.

    And this is all begging the question; the GOP has NEVER been a “conservative” party. Just as the Democrats have never been a socialist party, until now.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  37. Then again they’ve had ten years of christina, and another five of her better half.

    narciso (d1f714)

  38. @Kevin M:Destroy the GOP and the conservative party that Americans have been clamoring for will rise from the ashes?

    1) Reform the GOP by bringing in outsiders who hew closer to the conservative part of the electorate. A few should encourage the others. But not if they persist in believing that Trump did this to them. No, it’s the electorate that gave them Trump, because the other 16 guys wouldn’t listen.

    2) “conservative party that Americans have been clamoring for” I’m not sure is the case. But Americans largely do not want to be hectored and managed by an unaccountable political class. Most Americans do not want open borders and do not approve of intersectional identity politics and crony capitalism.

    Frederick (cd593c)

  39. @Kevin M:the GOP has NEVER been a “conservative” party.

    And that of course is my real point…

    Frederick (cd593c)

  40. People keep asserting that because the GOP has majorities in both houses they should be pounding out conservative laws right and left. The problem with that is that there are no more than 20 truly conservative Senators (and majorities in the other states don’t WANT conservative Senators). And the House Freedom Caucus has what? 30? 40? members?

    These are two broad-based parties. For one of them to go towards the fringes (as the Democrats are now doing) is suicidal. There’s a reason that the Dems have so few statehouses and legislatures. But the GOP seems dumb enough to follow their lead.

    There’s probably been no better time to create a mainstream centrist party than today.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  41. People keep asserting that because the GOP has majorities in both houses they should be pounding out conservative laws right and left.

    Obviously. They portray themselves as conservative when its convenient but they aren’t really.

    There’s a reason that the Dems have so few statehouses and legislatures.

    It’s the WAY the went to the “Left”, not that they went. They chose intersectional identity politics, LGBT issues–if they had gone with the blue-collar issues and good-government issues that they used to dominate for 50 years, they would be holding all the offices now. Republicans, to get elected, need to merely appear sane by comparison.

    Frederick (cd593c)

  42. Its possible, but they see it of a piece, far leftvwing social views with corporatist
    economics, the western social democrats have a slightly different formula.

    narciso (d1f714)

  43. Our ship is definitely on a collision course. It’s already listing. We don’t know if it will be next week or next year, but leaving this guy at the helm is madness in itself. It’s one thing for him to be elected, and another altogether to watch and wait for the inevitable, devastating wreckage.

    We are not the proverbial “ship of fools” if we only have the courage to stand up for our values.

    Tillman (a95660)

  44. Dodgers played the better game tonight by a small but adequate margin, and the deserved the win. But for the opening pitch of the game, both sides’ pitching was marvellous. The Astros need to take one in LA plus win at home, but now they have one less chance to take one in LA.

    The WSJ had an interesting article yesterday about “super teams” — in which it put the Astros, Dodgers, Indians, and just-barely (but rising with a bullet) Yankees, who’ve accumulated talent to justify their records and playoff progress. That’s fairly obvious, but the corollary is that the teams at the bottom of the league who’re trying to get the draft positions and extra room in their luxury tax caps are really awful, in part by design. The playoffs so far have certainly reminded people of the old axiom that good pitching beats good hitting, even if you ramp the “good” up to “great.”

    From this game both teams appear to be equally matched at a very high level, which is what a World Series ought be all about, right?

    Regarding Sen. Flake’s successor: I hope Rep. Martha McSally jumps in. What the U.S. Senate clearly needs is a Warthog driver who’s used to delivering close air support while sitting in a titanium bathtub.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  45. I enjoyed the game, although I would have enjoyed an Astros win a lot more. Did it seem to anyone else like the LA crowd was far less involved than the crowds in Houston and New York? They came alive now and then but generally it seemed like they were spectators more than fans. I think Larry King (or his double) and wife were sitting behind home plate, and I don’t think he cheered once.

    DRJ (15874d)

  46. i wonder what this pervert does on his strawmen in private

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  47. It was a forgone conclusion that Flake would be done after Trump was elected. He spent his future championing Merrick Garland for scotus. Still lots of Democrat agents posing as Republican senators. Maybe half of them.

    jcurtis (9cbc72)

  48. If Beldar and DRJ can do a Texas post, so can I. Not on topic, but topical.

    nk (dbc370)

  49. Very interesting, nk!

    Beldar (fa637a)

  50. That was interesting, nk. The Lebman saddle and gun shop was at 111 S Flores in San Antonio. That location is now a Greek restaurant and catering shop, so your “Texas” post is (kind of) a Greek post.

    DRJ (15874d)

  51. I wonder if Leb-man is a slur in Aussie land?

    urbanleftbehind (b843ef)

  52. I think that while Flake is a bit of a squish, that doesn’t negate the merit of his words. I know that they reflect a lot of what I have felt about Trump from the get-go, and continue to have reinforced as time goes on. I know that it’s more popular to believe that his behaviors and are intentional, calculated, and designed to keep X off balance or to reveal what lies beneath the surface of our two political parties, but his words have to mean something, or they mean nothing. And that is not governing.

    Of course, too, it should be noted that Flake is being coy about the possibility of running against Trump in 2020, so there’s that.

    Dana (023079)

  53. @53. Saying ‘I quit, I’m free to call Trump a scumbum…’ is his last hurrah, and not particularly courageous. A quitter in the face of adversity is a loser which will trip up any dream of presidential run. His kind of ‘conservatism’ is dying on the vine and Trump slam dunked him again in a walk to the chopper already today.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  54. @Dana:And that is not governing.

    A free people, in my opinion, does not need “governing”. We do not need an unaccountable administrative state to protect us from ourselves, and we do not need a wonk at the helm to see to it that the administrative state makes choices for us according to its own priorities, for which our input is neither asked nor wanted.

    Frederick (53c627)

  55. free people, in my opinion, does not need “governing”.

    Maybe they don’t need governing but they need to involve themselves beyond showing up at polls and throwing darts at decisions.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  56. About polls. I opened the book Shattered. Page 369 had one paragraph ending:

    The memo that one Hillary adviser had sent months earlier warning that they should add three or four points to Trump’s poll position was a distant memory.

    That’s true in general about polls. Conservatives don’t trust them and answer them less.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  57. And yet Flake wasn’t so outraged and conflicted that he stepped down TODAY. No, he will serve out his term while feeling the way he can’t for 6 more years, but CAN for 14 more months.

    He’s a puss.

    School Marm (5ebe23)

  58. I posted other links about. Flake feels fine in the company of the toadyish Cuban foreign minister.

    narciso (d1f714)

  59. One way of looking at what Flake did is that he was trying to save the seat for the Republican Party. Kelli Ward was set maybe to win the primary but lose the general election. This way some more mainstream Republicans will enter the primary.

    Sammy Finkelman (20d02d)

  60. Why does Arizona have the flag China would have had if the Japanese had won the war in Asia and then turned Communist?

    nk (dbc370)

  61. Isn’t it also similar to Catalonia colors?

    Also not many blades of grass to defend in the desert, unless your talking golf courses.

    urbanleftbehind (b843ef)

  62. Yes, the internet says the colors are from the flag of Spain, it’s an Arizona sunset not a rising sun, and the star represents the copper mines. Riiiight!

    nk (dbc370)

  63. While I agree that the President needs to cut back on Twitter, and tone down his remarks, I didn’t think Flake’s speech was all that great, given that he’s giving it at a time when he can’t possibly win re-election. It sounded more like sour grapes to me. I read a good article this morning, although I can’t remember where, in which the author as discussing the fact that Trump connects with the Republican voters, rather than the establishment, which is something that the Flakes and Corkers of the world don’t seem to get. Is the President crude and unPresidential? Absolutely. But given all of the disclosures we’ve seen today about the corruption by the Clintons and Obama when it comes to the uranium deal, the fake dossier, etc, it isn’t surprising that many people will continue to support Trump when they think he’s fighting for them, against massive corruption at all levels of government, including the FBI and the DOJ.

    ROCHF (877dba)


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