GOP Working Hard to Lose Ohio in 2012, Say Tea Party Activists
Thanks to Hillbuzz reader Temple of Mut for making us aware of this article from Reuters:
Special report: Stuck between the Tea Party and a hard place
Keeping in mind that Reuters is part of the Mainstream Media, this special report still contains a number of gems about the current relationship between the GOP and Tea Party movements throughout the Midwest — Ohio in particular.
Several of us at Buzzquarters are from Ohio, and we get back for meetings of the Mineral City Coffee Club whenever we can.
As the left-leaning Brookings Institute pointed out in March, Ohio is important because President Obama Can’t Win the 2012 Election Without It. Not because of the Buckeye state’s 20 electoral votes, but because
Ohio is close to being a microcosm of the country—closer than any other pivotal state. As such, winning Ohio is a statistical “tipping-point” for any presidential election: If a candidate can carry Ohio, he will have appealed to a large enough slice of the national electorate to have won the states that tilt even further in his preferred direction, and he is odds-on to win the race.
And things aren’t looking good for the Cocktail Party GOP in Ohio. Tea Party activists are fed up. They’re fed up with establishment politicians like House Speaker John Boehner of West Chester (a suburb of Cincinnati). They’re fed up with compromise and politics as usual from the Party of Stupid.
On April 25th, about two dozen Tea Party activists from throughout Boehner’s district met with him in the west central Ohio town of Troy, which could star as Small Town U.S.A. in any campaign ad.
One of the 25 or so leaders, all from Boehner’s district, asked him if Republicans would raise America’s $14.3 trillion debt limit.
According to half a dozen attendees interviewed by Reuters, the most powerful Republican in Washington said “yes.”
“And we’re going to have to raise it again in the future,” he added. With the mass retirement of America’s Baby Boomers, he explained, it would take 20 years to balance the U.S. budget and 30 years after that to erase the nation’s huge fiscal deficit.
“You could have knocked me out of my chair,” said Denise Robertson, a computer programer who belongs to the Preble County Liberty Group. “Fifty years?”
She said “my fantasy now” is someone will challenge Boehner in the 2012 Republican primaries. “If we could find someone good to run against him, I’d campaign for them every day,” Robertson said.
The GOP seems to already have forgotten who was responsible for the biggest midterm clock-cleaning in modern U.S. political history, handed to The Left in the November, 2010 elections.
If they are not careful, Tea Party activists all over Ohio — and America — are going to remind them.
Both the Leftists and the GOP may think that “the heat is off” since Tea Party events are fewer and further between. The truth is that Tea Party organizations in Ohio (and elsewhere) have learned a lot since 2008. They’ve moved away from sponsoring rallies (high-profile, but low ROI) to grassroots political activism.
Ohio Liberty Council
A number of Ohio’s Tea Party organizations got their start as Ron Paul Meetup groups during the 2008 campaign. They’ve moved beyond support of an individual candidate to focus on the fight for individual rights, gun rights, Constitutional governance and free market capitalism in Ohio. The movement has coalesced into an influential and organized statewide alliance of liberty-oriented local groups called the Ohio Liberty Council.
And their efforts are paying off. Liberty activists in Ohio have made history with The Ohio Project, a bid to amend the Ohio Constitution to nullify Obamacare in the Buckeye State. In just over a year, Ohio volunteers have collected over 336,000 signatures and are just 50,000 shy of getting the Health Care Freedom Amendment on the November, 2011 ballot. This is the largest number of signatures ever gathered by volunteer petition circulators in Ohio. This kind of “retail activism” is noted in the Reuters article:
After failing to halt the passage of Obama’s health reform bill, Tea Partiers staffed phone banks, knocked on doors to get out the vote and played a major role in gaining 63 seats for the Republicans in the 2010 elections.
The biggest midterm election year swing since 1938 delivered a large House majority for the Republicans and made gains in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Flush with victory, Tea Partiers dived headfirst into local and state politics in 2011 — the results of which are expected to affect the state and national elections of 2012.
Their primary foe is still America’s progressive left — it is a given in Ohio, for instance, that the top target for 2012 is Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown.
But now more than ever before the full force of their ire is directed at the Republican Party establishment.
And, unbelievably, the Cocktail Party GOP doesn’t see it coming. At all. And seems intent on living up to its nickname The Party of Stupid.
According to Ned Ryun, head of American Majority, which provides training for conservative activists, the Republicans’ problem is they mistook their November victory as a sign the Tea Party backed them because its members are conservatives.
“The Republican establishment suffers from a weird belief that somehow the Tea Party will fall in line because it is an adjunct of the Republican Party,” he said. “But the Tea Party is not and never will be an arm of the Republican Party.”
Those of us who read (and write for) Hillbuzz understand that “conservative” or “libertarian” is non synonymous with “Republican.”
The Cocktail Party GOP just doesn’t get it. And if they’re not careful, they’re going to lose Ohio because of their blindness and arrogance.
If we don’t take control of the Republican primary process, we run the risk of having another John McCain shoved down our throats by the mainstream media and Democrats voting in open primaries. And another four years of the worst president in the history of our country.
© 2011, Kathleen4HB. All rights reserved.
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Don't forget that Ohio is voter fraud central also.. Remember Palestra?? These gals.. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,436022,00.htm…
We are still amazed (well not really) that the State and/or Federal Ohio Cocktail party have never taken on the worst voter fraud in the country! Even with less electoral votes in 2012 – Ohio is still one of those states in play -so expect Acorn Next Generation to wreak havoc on Ohio again with the double whammy of multiple Fake Tea Party candidates!
This is true. But what they don't get is how huge the tea party IS in Ohio. We are organized. One of the frustrating things, though, is Kasich's team just isn't fighting back on the unions demagoguery regarding SB 5, which gives power back to the taxpayers. Nothing. they're doing nothing. And the unions are VERY organized. We;ll see.
Thanks for the link-love! My blogging team in San Diego is grateful you are getting this news item out. I think the establishment Republicans are in for as rude an awakening during the 2012 primary season as the Democrats got in 2010. This post is just the sort of networking and information-sharing that is going to really "shake things up" over the next couple of years.
Kathleen, you are right-on! "The GOP seems to already have forgotten who was responsible for the biggest midterm clock-cleaning in modern U.S. political history, handed to The Left in the November, 2010 elections. If they are not careful, Tea Party activists all over Ohio — and America — are going to remind them."
Some Republicans think that since Tea Party (TP) folks are not for the Dems, they will be for the Reps. That is an illogical fallacy. Just because the Dem is bad, doesn't mean the Rep is good! The TP wants fiscal conservatives! If you're not one of those, don't bother trying for the TP vote.
Boehner and others will soon discover that a veneer does not make true timber.
You did it again! You smacked this one out of the ballpark! "Those of us who read (and write for) Hillbuzz understand that 'conservative' or 'libertarian' is non synonymous with 'Republican.' The Cocktail Party GOP just doesn’t get it. And if they’re not careful, they’re going to lose Ohio because of their blindness and arrogance."
This post should go into the Kathleen section of "HillBuzz' Greatest Hits, Volume 5" or are we already into Volume 6?
Beating the HillBuzz PowWow Drum of Freedom and Truth!
Guys what are your thoughts on the latest Palin moves? Her movie and now a bus tour. It is game on.
As Rush said, it wasn't that we were voting FOR Republican's, it was that we were voting AGAINST Democrats and their agenda…
Ohio and most importantly Kevin's (ours) beloved Thunderdome always get our attention and thus we track all political shenanigans there – as such… Reuters or not – they correctly smell blood in Ohio
Our views on Speaker of the House of K Street Tammy Faye Boehner are probably familiar with some readers here – the most recent outrage is the Cocktail Party's bumbling, poorly timed, inept introduction and mishandling of the Medicare issue – at the exclusion of all other issues we were begging them to touch – thereby raising the Democrats non-existent chances in 2012 from the dead –
as Sarah often says – unflippin believable!
Compounding the problem in Ohio is the other side of the coin – State leadership – most notably squishy RINO Ohio Governor Kasich (think Voinovich cloned with Jon Huntsman and Liberace)
who barely won against a failed incumbent Dem candidate –
So what does Kasich do first – cut taxes to lure business back to what has basically become that Scooby Doo ghost town? of course not…
(1) Tries (is still trying) to undo a statewide election landslide victory for casino gambling
(2) Goes on a scorched earth assault on nursing homes and seniors
then as if politically tone-deaf.
(3) Wants to bail out his Wall Street friends (sound familiar?) http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/s…
If we were paranoid we would call this sabotage – but why are they sabotaging what should have been a cakewalk in 2012?
this breaks our heart to watch – and also because the people there are suffering so much economically – but there are a few glimmers of hope out there – we liked this quote about the NY loss from Boehner's arch nemesis Congressman Jim Jordan (who heads the House republican Study Committee which btw proposed almost $10 Trillion in cuts compared to Ryan's $6):
"…Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, who heads up a caucus of more than 170 conservative House Republicans, said, "My experience shows me that when you run a truly conservative individual – even if you have a third-party candidate – the real Republican wins if they are a true conservative. My gut tells me that our candidate, Ms. Corwin, may not have been all that conservative."
Why is Jordan not yet a star?
Any GOP would-be candidate seeking election or GOP office holder seeking re-election had better seriously consider whether they truly support the conservative values such as those championed by the Tea Party. If not, they may as well switch parties and run as Obamacrats, and kiss their sorry behinds good bye. The Tea Party is the Republican Party's replacement. The sad old "soggy sandwich," "cocktail party" old boys' network of the Grand Old Party is passe and too weak-kneed to forge ahead and do what needs to be done to get this country back on the right path. Either they get with the new program of the Tea Party, which is reclaiming American exceptionalism, greatness and pride in the principles of individual liberty enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, or they're political toast.
OT, but this site at the link needs a flood of positive comments about Sarah Palin's kick off campaign tour (which has been rumored, but which this Examiner blog writer is taking as a fait accompli). So far, one lame Obot has posted the standard PDS verbiage. HBers know what to do here! http://www.examiner.com/post-partisan-in-national…
i agree with the Brookings Institute Analysis 100% about the Working Class vote. So far Obama has done nothing to win them over. Despite the split between the Tea Party & the Mainstream GOP. . Obama will lose Ohio even if the GOP puts up a weak candidate. The Dems are divided too. More than the MSM believes.or lets on.. Notice the 97-0 Senate Vote on the Obama budget and Harry Reid's response to Obama's speech on Mideast peace process. The MSM is not talking about those stories at all.
Wildwood, where in Ohio are you? I'm west of Cleveland. Going to check out the Ohio Liberty Council website and see if I can meet other conservatives here. I am very disappointed in how our Ohio politicians are representing us, and I'd like to help do something about it.