Mike Pence

Potential For Civil War In Republican Party After Midterm Elections!

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The Tea Party Movement battle to influence and take over the Republican Party nationally may lead to civil war in the GOP after the midterm elections, if Tea Party supported candidates lose Senate and House races to Democrats!

Republican leaders are tending to be very cocky about the chances of taking over both the House of Representatives and Senate in the next Congress, but the Senate is particularly the place that could become a real battleground for control of the future of the party, and it could affect the national party and the Presidential battle for 2012!

Candidates such as Ken Buck of Colorado, Sharron Angle of Nevada, and Christine O’Donnell in Delaware have come across as loony and out of the mainstream, and if they lose their Senate races, the Republicans could end up having gained seats, but not the majority because of these candidates backed by the Tea Party Movement!

That could lead to recriminations, and could affect the Presidential contest, as Sarah Palin, Mike Pence, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and others who have flirted with the Tea Party could cause a split in 2012, fighting against establishment Republicans and Mitt Romney, who, despite his shortcomings, still comes across as the most legitimate, rational and sane candidate that the Republicans possess for 2012!

And, as stated earlier, a revolt within the Senate GOP could cause Mitch McConnell the control of the Majority or Minority leadership in the upper chamber, in favor of “flame thrower” Jim DeMint of South Carolina!

So whether the GOP gains control of Congress or just comes close, it could have long term negative implications for the party in 2012, including control of Congress after 2012!

The Values Voters Summit: Mike Pence Of Indiana The Winner Of The Presidential Straw Poll!

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The 5th Values Voters Summit was held in Washington, DC over this weekend, sponsored by the Family Research Council, a socially conservative organization linked with the Republican party!

As in past years, all of the ambitious Presidential possibilities usually give a speech at the conference, and the highlight of the gathering is the straw poll as to who is favored for the Presidency in 2012!

Since there are so many competitors, the winner of the straw poll usually wins only 20-25 percent of the total votes, and that was the case again!

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee won this straw poll twice in the past, but yesterday, in a bit of a surprise, Indiana Congressman Mike Pence won over Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Sarah Palin!

Pence, being a Congressman, has not been paid much attention to by observers, but he is a very attractive person in his appearance and his rhetoric, and has backed the Tea Party Movement, so should not be seen as a fluke, but rather as a serious Presidential possibility, although he denied any interest when asked about that! But is not that par for the course at this point of the Presidential cycle to deny interest? 🙂

IF Pence was to become a serious contender for the Presidential nomination, and IF by some chance he won the nomination and defeated President Obama, he would be only the SECOND Congressman to be elected President!

Unfortunately, the history of the first Congressman to go directly to the Presidency is not a good one! 🙁 Republican James Garfield of Ohio was elected in 1880, took the oath of office on March 4, 1881, faced the issue of patronage and the spoils system which overwhelmed his time in office, and was assassinated by an office seeker, Charles Guiteau!

Garfield was shot on July 2, 1881, at the Union Railroad Station in Washington, DC! Doctors probed for the bullet with unsanitary equipment, were unable to locate it, and he suffered through 79 days of pain and discomfort, and finally passed away on this day, September 19, 1881, at the age of 49, the youngest President at his death, except for the later tragic assassination of John F. Kennedy at the age of 46 in 1963! 🙁

So the possible future story of Mike Pence would, hopefully, not be as sad as that of Congressman James Garfield was in 1880-1881! 🙁

John Boehner And Mitch McConnell: Watch Out For Challenges To Your Leadership In Congress!

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The Republican establishment, particularly the leaders of the party in both houses of Congress, had better watch out if the party gains control of either or both houses of Congress! You might be regretful that your party gained power, as you are under threat and are in the cross hairs of Tea Party types and sympathizers, who are very likely to try to seize control of the party leadership from you before you even realize it! 🙁

I am referring here to so called “Speaker of the House” John Boehner of Ohio, and so called “Senate Majority Leader” Mitch McConnell of Kentucky! Both of you gentlemen are an “endangered species”, with the word “gentle” soon to be not in vogue in Washington DC! 🙁

Who are the threats to the leadership of John Boehner? There are four names that stick out, with two in particular–Mike Pence of Indiana, who just won the straw vote at the so called Values Summit, and is considered likely to seek the Presidency on a very socially conservative platform, but has worked at wooing the Tea Party Movement activists; and Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House Minority Whip, who often has had tough relations with Boehner, and has now published a book, YOUNG GUNS, with two other conservatives who, like him, are politically ambitious and flirt with the Tea Party Movement–Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, and Kevin McCarthy of California! Does Boehner really think he will be able to sleep at night with these four colleagues, and particularly Pence and Cantor, hot on his heels? 🙁

And who is the threat to Mitch McConnell, that should have him worried? The answer is a whole slew of potential Senators–Tea Party Favorites–including Rand Paul of Kentucky, Sharron Angle of Nevada, Mike Lee of Utah, Ken Buck of Colorado, Joe Miller of Alaska, Linda McMahon of Connecticut, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Christine O’Donnell of Delaware–all of whom were not supported by the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee and its head, Senator John Cornyn of Texas–but won the nominations against candidates endorsed by that committee! 🙁

And who would they, or many of them, be likely to back for Senate Majority Leader? The answer is Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who has declared himself the leader of the Tea Party revolt, and is supported by such as James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who might wish to be Senate Majority Whip! 🙁

This is a horrifying scenario in both houses, IF the GOP gains the majority! And even if they don’t, the present leaders could still face the axe by disappointed rebels who would desire to “purge” the party leadership and move it to the extreme right!

So there will be an interesting next few months for the GOP, whether they actually gain the majority in either house of Congress, or just come close!

As stated many times earlier in this blog, the future of the Republican Party hangs in the balance, as to whether it will be a legitimate opposition party with any future after the attempted takeover by the Tea Party Movement! 🙁

The Values Voters Summit In Washington, DC

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This weekend, we are seeing the Values Voters Summit in Washington, DC, a followup on the FreedomWorks/Tea Party protests of last weekend.

This group of social conservatives has welcomed various presidential possibilities to speak before their organization, but only four have done so–Tim Pawlenty, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and Mike Pence. Each, of course, is trying to outdo the other in appealing to this group, which is having discussions on such issues as: The Global Warming Hysteria; The Pro Death Agenda; Rationing Your Life Away with Obamacare; and Fighting the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy.

It is hard to read this list of areas of discussion without guffawing like a hyena LOL 🙂 Does this group really believe that it is to be regarded as anything more than a group of right wing whackos with such titles and topics being employed, and no hint of any solutions to the many problems this nation faces?

The most interesting thing to come out of this series of meetings will be the straw poll of who is favored by this group, with the choices being the four mentioned above, plus Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, and Bobby Jindal.

As one looks at this group of contenders, all nine of them, it is hard to avoid big smiles and knowing looks, that ALL of them, with again the exception of Romney, would seem to the observer to have not a chance of seriously challenging President Obama in 2012. That does not mean that Romney does not have major weaknesses, but none of the others would seem to have any strength or backing that could possibly make them competitive.

Then again, however, it could be, as many are starting to observe, that the GOP nominee for 2012 might very well not come from this group, and may be someone that nobody has been taking seriously yet or even thought of up to this point. After all, at this stage in September 2005, who was thinking about Barack Obama?

So, as always, American politics is a stimulating and exciting sport, with the impossibility this far ahead of imagining what the final game in 2012 will be like!