The trouncing of Dick Lugar is a cry for all-out political war
Dick Lugar didn’t merely lose Tuesday night.
The Indiana Republican Party that he had led and served for parts of five decades thoroughly repudiated him, rejecting him and all he stands for by some 20 percentage points. It shouldn’t have ended that way for Lugar, Matthew Tully writes in the Indianapolis Star:
“… a lawmaker who spent decades diligently addressing big issues and tackling looming crises shouldn’t be treated as a pariah simply because he viewed the other side as fellow Americans, and not enemy combatants. But that’s what happened Tuesday night as one of the state’s most accomplished political careers crashed to an end.”
RIchard Mourdock
The man who defeated Lugar, Richard Mourdock, proposes to abolish the IRS and says he has a plan to cut federal spending by $7.6 trillion. But most of all, he promised Republican voters in Indiana that he had no interest in bipartisanship.
“Bipartisanship has taken us to the brink of bankruptcy,” he told a crowd Monday. “It is not bipartisanship we need, it is principle.”
And compromise? In Mourdock’s mind, politics is not the art of compromise. Politics is war.
“I’ve said it many times. This is a historic time, and the most powerful people in both parties are so opposed to one another that one side simply has to win out over the other.”
That is the vision that Indiana Republicans thoroughly embraced Tuesday. It is a vision that treats government not as a mechanism for making decisions and solving problems, but instead as a battlefield in which every vote, every action is an act of war against the enemy.
It is a mindset that does not bode well for our nation’s future.
UPDATE at 9:20: Here’s an excerpt from a statement released by Sen. Lugar that is right on point:
“Legislators should have an ideological grounding and strong beliefs identifiable to their constituents. I believe I have offered that throughout my career. But ideology cannot be a substitute for a determination to think for yourself, for a willingness to study an issue objectively, and for the fortitude to sometimes disagree with your party or even your constituents. Like Edmund Burke, I believe leaders owe the people they represent their best judgment.
Too often bipartisanship is equated with centrism or deal cutting. Bipartisanship is not the opposite of principle. One can be very conservative or very liberal and still have a bipartisan mindset. Such a mindset acknowledges that the other party is also patriotic and may have some good ideas. It acknowledges that national unity is important, and that aggressive partisanship deepens cynicism, sharpens political vendettas, and depletes the national reserve of good will that is critical to our survival in hard times. Certainly this was understood by President Reagan, who worked with Democrats frequently and showed flexibility that would be ridiculed today – from assenting to tax increases in the 1983 Social Security fix, to compromising on landmark tax reform legislation in 1986, to advancing arms control agreements in his second term.
I don’t remember a time when so many topics have become politically unmentionable in one party or the other. Republicans cannot admit to any nuance in policy on climate change. Republican members are now expected to take pledges against any tax increases. For two consecutive Presidential nomination cycles, GOP candidates competed with one another to express the most strident anti-immigration view, even at the risk of alienating a huge voting bloc. Similarly, most Democrats are constrained when talking about such issues as entitlement cuts, tort reform, and trade agreements. Our political system is losing its ability to even explore alternatives. If fealty to these pledges continues to expand, legislators may pledge their way into irrelevance. Voters will be electing a slate of inflexible positions rather than a leader.
I hope that as a nation we aspire to more than that. I hope we will demand judgment from our leaders. I continue to believe that Hoosiers value constructive leadership. I would not have run for office if I did not believe that.”
– Jay Bookman
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536 comments Add your comment
DawgDad
May 9th, 2012
12:59 pm
Is anyone deluded enough to believe the Democrats don’t also beat down their ideologically “impure”?
Eight years of George Bush proved moderate “compassionate conservatism” wasn’t what this country needed. Very few people in this country (on either side of the aisle) are satisfied with where the Bush-Lugar GOP took us. Four years of Obama has set us back even farther. Strong conservative principles need to be forcefully defended, and when the GOP wins back Congress and the Administration strong conservative solutions need to be advanced.
Alanis M.
May 9th, 2012
1:04 pm
JKL2
May 9th, 2012
8:10 am
curious- Sounds like the Nazi party; they weren’t big on bipartisanship, either.
Is that why the American Nazi’s are firmly behind obama and all your peace-loving friends at OWS?
Don’t forget the anti-immigration Nazi in Arizona that was buddies with your GOP lawmakers.
Neo-Nazi Murder-Suicide Suspect was Active in Arizona Anti-Illegal Immigration Politics
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/05/03/anti-immigrant-neo-nazi-kills-four-himself-in-shooting-rampage/#ixzz1uOQWUVQe
larry.333
May 9th, 2012
1:18 pm
Politicians ignoring the 20 MILLION UNEMPLOYED AMERICAN CITIZENS AND CONTINUE TO PUSH FOR ILLEGAL ALIEN JOBS AND DREAM ACTS WILL ALL SUFFER THIS ELECTION SEASON!!
INCLUDING PRESIDENT OBAMA !!
GOOD RIDDANCE TO ALL OF THEM !!
Alanis M.
May 9th, 2012
1:22 pm
Recon 0311 2533
May 9th, 2012
8:21 am
It’s looking like it might be getting time for Obama to get ready for the shellac.
Only in the demented world of Recon would a Republican winning a Republican primary mean an Obama shellacking. We know how successful the Tea Party has been…. Christine O’Donell, Sharon Angle anyone?
bob
May 9th, 2012
1:29 pm
Jay, make up your mind. First you say you would possibly vote for him because you voted ford back then. You followed with this “From then on, voting Republican required a willing suspension of disbelief that I could not pull off.” So I was right, if you moved to Indiana and were voting between Luger and any dem you would vote dem so quit bashing others for doing what you admittedly would do, vote against Luger.
bob
May 9th, 2012
1:32 pm
Finn, I asked how you were being robbed and you told me to look at my savings. My savings increase every year, how am I being robbed ? You need to learn what re-distribution is because the example you gave is not re-distributuion. Re-distribution is taking from one and giving to another, like what Obo told Joe the plumber. Anything else is a “mute” point !
jj
May 9th, 2012
1:33 pm
I travel to Indianapolis on a regular basis and have heard Mourdock on numerous radio stations. Despite what you think, he doesn’t sound nearly as crazy as most on this blog seem to think he is. Where he turned the tide on Lugar is pointing out the guy has not have an Indiana residence in nearly 25 years and couldn’t even vote for himself in the state of Indiana. Add in 36 years inside the beltway and it is easy to paint a picture of an old, out of touch entitled politician.
And all this crap about comprimise. Does everyone forget that when Obama was elected he told the Republicans to move to the back of the bus and get out of his way, as HE won the election not them? If that is your idea of comprimise God help us all.
JKL2
May 9th, 2012
1:33 pm
jamvet- For the delusional, reality averse JKL2 who thinks that this and the other most heinous right wing groups in America vote for left wing liberals!
Very informative piece. It might actually work if I get a lobotomy and become a Democrat. Until then, your left wing propoganda isn’t going to work.
Once again you proved how the left are the one’s who are delusional and reality averse.
Oblama
May 9th, 2012
1:50 pm
The only thing “moderate” about Oblama is the amount of coke and weed he admitting to doing back in the day…. he said it was moderate. Have no idea if he is still “moderate” on that.
Mark in mid-town
May 9th, 2012
1:55 pm
There is a misconception of what caused the South to switch from being in the Democratic Party camp to the Republican side. Conventional wisdom as promoted by the liberal msm is that it was the Civil Rights legislaton in the 1960s. But reality is that most Southern Democrats from that time remained Democrats throughout that period and until the day they died as most are now dead. The primary driver of the South switching to the Republican Party was actually the large migration of more conservative white voters from northern states which tipped the scales. Several years back, George Will wrote a column where he pointed this out.
Oblama
May 9th, 2012
1:56 pm
By the way did Oblama mean his definition of “moderate” or the one in Webster’s when he said his intake of croak and maywanna was “moderate” back when he was “experimenting” in his “youth”. Does any one know if the President and Congress get drug tested?
Oblama
May 9th, 2012
1:59 pm
Got to go work out now – have to take the initiative to stay in good health since I don’t want to depend on the “Gubment” to take care of me.
William Pierce
May 9th, 2012
2:00 pm
This is a start. When we throw the illegal Kenyan OUT in November and retake the Senate then you will be whining and gnashing your teeth. DemocRATS polices are failures and Republicans that compromise with them should be removed also. Either you stand on principal or you fall.
Oblama
May 9th, 2012
2:01 pm
Wasn’t Lincoln a Republican – why YES! And didn’t the Democrats fight him all the way over abolishing slavery – why YES!
Oblama
May 9th, 2012
2:02 pm
Didn’t Nixon sign the 1st major civil rights act – why YES!
Joe Hussein Mama
May 9th, 2012
2:09 pm
Oblama — “Jay knows that in debate when you are cornered and have no logical argument you should remain silent in order to not make a fool of yourself.”
“Nice silence Jay.
There are three threads later than this one. Jay and most of the regulars have long since moved on from this topic, fool.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 9th, 2012
2:12 pm
Oblama — “Didn’t Nixon sign the 1st major civil rights act – why YES!”
Why, NO.
He wasn’t President when either the Civil Rights Act of 1964 OR the Civil Rights Act of 1968 were passed.
Sit down and study harder, tool.
Oblama
May 9th, 2012
2:12 pm
Let’s get back to what this election is about: the economy, jobs creation in the PRIVATE sector and how to reduce this alarming multi trillion dollar Fed debt. STILL silence from Jaybo…. on my previous fact that the Dem Party has ZERO “moderates” as they have either been purged (voted out), resigned or turned Repub. Where is the willingness to “compromise” by the leftist leaning Dem Party, Nanny Pelosi and Oblama? Your definition, and Oblama’s, of “moderate” is “re” defined as the middle of the leftist Dem Party. Meaning that a “moderate” now is merely a socialist and not the far, far left radical Marxists, New Black Panthers or the Radical violent “gay” rights advocates.
Oblama
May 9th, 2012
2:16 pm
If you wanna see a fool look at your self…. go back and look at what the Repub Nixon did sign concerning civil rights. I’m not going to do your homework for you any more.
Oblama
May 9th, 2012
2:19 pm
Jay moved on because he was beat. He was wrong but should have responded. He sees everything from ONE side and does not respond when the Left is wrong. That’s all for now …. good day to you too.
Oblama
May 9th, 2012
2:22 pm
yo mama… did you look it up?
Uh Oh
May 9th, 2012
2:56 pm
Mark in Midtown
Google the Southern Strategy as well as Ken Mehlman’s and Micheal Steele’s apology relating to that strategy then get back to me
Good day
JB
May 9th, 2012
3:33 pm
Panic in the Romney camp today. Obama has come out of the closest for gay marriage. They have now lost the queer vote………………………………………Tongue in cheek I say. I can just see the activity in the dress shops in San Fran as we speak getting ready for a weekend parade to celebrate.
Lugar’s legacy in 35-year Senate career is political cooperation and national … – Washington Post | Best News Feed - Daily News Magazine
May 9th, 2012
3:50 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
Joe Hussein Mama
May 9th, 2012
4:14 pm
Oblama — “If you wanna see a fool look at your self…. go back and look at what the Repub Nixon did sign concerning civil rights.”
This is what *you* said, fool:
“Didn’t Nixon sign the 1st major civil rights act – why YES!”
He provably DID NOT.
“I’m not going to do your homework for you any more.”
If you’re too stupid to do your own homework before posting such a demonstrably incorrect claim, then I certainly won’t expect you to do any of mine.
“Jay moved on because he was beat.”
Jay moved on, like he always does, because there are three other threads past this one. I notice that the chimps and howler monkeys always like to come out and screech about how they ‘beat Jay’ sometimes just *minutes* after a new thread goes up and everyone else moves on.
You’re not fooling anyone, pal.
“yo mama… did you look it up?”
I already knew the answer. You were wrong then and you’re still wrong now, chimp.
clestes
May 9th, 2012
4:43 pm
Several things to point out here.
1. the turnout for this primary was light compared to the number of registered voters in the state.
2. Lugar has been senator a very long time
3. Mourdock has not been the candidate for a day and already he is spouting Tea Party platform lines.
4. To win it is crucial in this state that the majority of the independent voter be captured.
Combining all of the above, I think this is a great chance for a democratic pickup. The people of IN might be center right, but they are not extreme right and that is what Mourdock is. Furthermore, he shows it.
This will be DE 2010 all over again. Republicans had a great chance to keep that state if they had nominated the more moderate candidate, but instead wicca wacky Christine O’Donnell was the republican Tea Party nominee and when the general election came around, the DE voters said “NO”. The general election voter turnout will be much, much higher and the democrat will take it.
RAMZAD
May 9th, 2012
4:46 pm
Communists everywhere must be laughing their AXX off, at our burgeoning right wing dictatorship.
Martin Williams
May 9th, 2012
4:49 pm
Jay, Richard is right. The Tea Party is just another hopeless part of the GOP. If Tea Party supporters truly want real changes in Washington, they should stand on their own and not aligned with the establishment in Washington……Dems and GOP. Form a third party. But as I have stated sometime ago, the Tea Party will desolve as soon as Obama leaves the White House after his second term. Where was the Tea Party when our president lied to start a stupid war in Iraq. As a nation, we going to pay for the kind of mistake for next 100 years as we are still paying for the Vietnam war.
RAMZAD
May 9th, 2012
4:56 pm
America has pretty much gotten over Vietnam. Heck! we and Vietnam are now friends. We will never get over Iraq, because it has irreparably fractured the country. Previously good solid Americans are now cynical tolerants who are now looking for a country where the people have sense- George Bush and Dick Cheney have Abraham Lincoln and Alexander Hamilton rolling in their graves.
MrLiberty
May 9th, 2012
5:00 pm
I love liberty and I love freedom and at least on the surface this guy who defeated Lugar sounds GREAT. Bipartisanship is exactly why our country is in the toilet. Two very similar parties agreeing on how to serve up the citizenry and the economy to the highest bidder in the banking/military/industrial/Pharmaceutical complex.
The Ron Paul R3evolution is on a roll and every worthless freedom hater from both parties we can get rid of the better. Here’s hoping for a free america again.
Get Real
May 9th, 2012
5:11 pm
Say whatever you want Jay both sides of the aisle are getting very extreme but you only comment about one side. Another point, Lugar is 80 and it probabaly is time for some new blood…
Get Real
May 9th, 2012
5:16 pm
“Where was the Tea Party when our president lied to start a stupid war in Iraq”
When did Bush lie, he had bad intelligence just as MI6, Mossad and Russian Intelligence did…everyone globally was operating under the same understanding that WMDs existed. If you truly believe that Bush intentionally lied then you are a moron.
Lugar defeat underscores vanishing US political middle – Reuters | Just Top News – Daily News Magazine
May 9th, 2012
7:10 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
JKL2
May 9th, 2012
7:19 pm
Alanis M- Don’t forget the anti-immigration Nazi in Arizona that was buddies with your GOP lawmakers
Thanks for proving my point(I guess you didn’t read your own article) “By the time Ready launched his bid for Pinal County Sheriff in January, however, the lifetime Republican had switched to the Democratic Party, “
Joe Hussein Mama
May 10th, 2012
10:01 am
G. Real — “When did Bush lie, he had bad intelligence just as MI6, Mossad and Russian Intelligence did…everyone globally was operating under the same understanding that WMDs existed. If you truly believe that Bush intentionally lied then you are a moron.”
Yet “everyone globally” did not ACT on that intelligence, as it was not as persuasive as the Bush Administration likes to think it was. It was very ambiguous, and that’s why the Russians, the Chinese, the Germans and others didn’t join us in invading.
Not to mention that fact that there was no UN support for the invasion whatsoever, regardless of the false claims that we were supposedly ‘enforcing UN resolutions.’ The UN resolutions in question actually *specified* what the next steps were to be if Saddam Hussein didn’t comply, and none of them involved invading.
The US does not have the authority to unilaterally enforce UN resolutions to its liking.
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May 10th, 2012
10:05 am
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