McCarthy: conservative or snake oil peddler?

[Stetto, man...]

Smooth talker. Very very good at telling you what you want to hear.

...From California. Strike one?

...Claims "We're ALL conservatives" when referring to republicans in congress. HUGE lie. Strike two?

...Publicly supports amnesty, justifying that with the tired old "If we secure the border first". Strike three & out?

This guy is touting a grassroots beginning in politics. He can add himself to the list of those who claimed the same: Stalin. Mao. Obama. Che. Chavez. Franco. "Grassroots" is a word. He invoked Reagan, knowing the right buttons and slogans in the relative company.

Far too many have called him a horse. He needs to look for a saddle...

[Grug - American Neanderthal]

He is supposedly worse than Cantor as far as being tied to establishment GOP, if that's possible. They just will have to be removed one by one.

[HiTemp]

This whole "election" seemed to me a very cordial and friendly affair, where opponents trying for the position were all back-slapping and singing each other's praises, even throwing their support for the final tally. It's almost as though the word was put out ahead of time that here's a list of acceptable candidates, go elect any one of them. No hard feelings or disappointment by anyone when the results came in. Something doesn't seem right with that considering these are, after all, politicians.

Doesn't matter how he is advertised; he's going to be judged by how he performs, something that doesn't seem to be sinking in up there on Capitol Hill. Yesterday I spoke with a guy who's big time into Florida politics and he was telling me there is a group already starting to lay the framework for a candidate to oppose Rubio when his election rolls around again. I was telling him I didn't care because I wasn't going to vote anyway until one certain party started delivering the promises they campaigned on. He said he's hearing that same thing all over the state and wanted to know, "How could we change our message to attract voters?" I told him it wasn't about the message it was about the guy who promises that message but then doesn't vote that way and gives a litany of excuses why he had to vote ass-backwards from his promises. Either the guy is committed to represent us as he says or he can live without my vote, and if he's really bad, I'll change parties just to vote for his opponent if the guy doesn't support abortion.

Oh to be sure he gave me the standard Rush Limbaugh speech re: how we all have to unite to get "our people" in office, THEN we can expect them to act like conservatives. I said I think you've been asleep the last 5 years because there isn't a conservative up there except Cruz and Lee, the rest seem to cave to whatever the beltway press wants.

His last question to me was "what would it take to get you to vote in 2016?" I said "A presidential candidate who promises to restore the WH swimming pool in its original location." He said, "Well no one can do that because that's now the WH briefing room where press conferences are held." I said "EXACTLY." Spend more time swimming laps and less time worried about the damn WH press corp. Let them rent a building down the street or have a press conference every few weeks instead of covering the president farted today, watched a ball game this afternoon, and planned yet another golf trip tomorrow. They worry about that stuff but don't have any answers how a single hard drive could crash and cause the loss of emails at IRS when emails normally reside on a SERVER and every government spec for servers I've ever seen require 3 hard drives for the RAID array. One might go bad, but you still have the other two.

This new minority leader - he's on probation far as I'm concerned. I don't expect much out of him honestly.

[Stetto, man...]

I'm already hearing the grandstand republicans among us starting the diatribe from the last umpteen elections. If they don't turn around and sign on with the new Right, they will be fulfilling their own prophesy.

I heard McRomney is being romanced again. Nice fella, too bad...

[HiTemp]

Romney isn't going to run again, he's already said as much. I think all the noise about him is because he leads the pack in the NH polling. That doesn't mean much. Herman Cain led it; Newt led it; and Romney led it before. Just a poll.

I think Romney is being given a lot of face time because the more left-leaning R's that are put in the display case, the more likely one of them will be chosen as "acceptable" by the primary voters. Romney, Jeb, Christie... doesn't matter, you'd get the same with each one though I'd give Romney the edge in economic knowledge and also foreign affairs. I really wouldn't want to see Christie's policy for the middle east. It would probably involve a big turnpike with high tolls.

I really don't see any party doing anything in terms of the 2016 until this election has played itself out. R's are banking on big turnout because of disgust with current policy but they fail to grasp their own part in creating the situation, and they might not get what they're hoping for.

They haven't done these things that virtually everyone I talk to see as their deficiency:

1. Answers on Benghazi and the IRS scandal, not just Issa going through the motions but a strong showing of majority in the House screaming for action on this and refusing to work on any budget until they get answers.
2. Answers to why all these government "departments" need billions in hollowpoints and SWAT teams. Will the Dept. of Education get one too, or do they already have one?
3. Secure the borders. Not with a half-assed fence for Holder to bus people to the US side of it, but with a "you're going right back" policy. My own take: Give immigrants aid? Sure, immediate medical needs, food, shelter for two weeks, then they get back on the bus to Tijuana. Make attempting to enter illegally a three strikes thing where on the third attempt you get charged with a felony, do a few years, then go right back over whatever border you crossed.
4. Get the freakin' spending under control.

Unless or until we get candidates committed to doing those things, they are just a bunch of ideatrons going through motions and accomplishing nothing. Not worth driving to the polls for.

[Grug - American Neanderthal]

It seems to be the conventional wisdom in DC of how dumb it was for Cruz to filibuster or cause a shutdown and yet it was the party itself that fails to use that power to stop anything at all, no matter how bad it is, and even undermines and demonizes anyone in their own party for trying to actually do something. And then panic and are clueless why people like Cantor fall.

I agree, they are lulling themselves into a false sense of security using polls, 2016 may disappoint more than a few.