11 Responses for "Gilchrest Taken Down in MD-1"

1. ChemistryDave February 13th, 2008 at 3:43 pm 1

   Always good to see people get bounced in a primary. Ever notice that only lib repubilcans get thrown out in a primary?

   never the other way around.

2. Michael Rinker February 14th, 2008 at 9:18 am 2

   And who endorsed and campaigned for Gilcrest? None other than NEWT GINGRICH. I am amazed by the support he has among conservatives when Newt was a terrible Speaker and did stupid things like supporting liberals such as Gilcrest.

3. ChemistryDave February 14th, 2008 at 9:36 am 3

   “”Gingrich praised Gilchrest’s intellect and courage. “Wayne is an old friend,” he said. “If only for his leadership on the Chesapeake Bay, he was a person worthy to be in Congress.”"

   Not surprised by Gingrich here. He is not a “you must be perfect or you must die” type of guy. Gingrich is the brightest guy in Washington by a country mile. Gingrich a terrible speaker? Yeah, I know. That whole Class of ‘94 thing was a disaster. LOL.

4. Michael Rinker February 14th, 2008 at 11:29 am 4

   He was a great leader of the minority, but he was terrible as Speaker. He deserves credit for masterminding the Republican Revolution in 1994, but he showed terrible political skills afterward. He would come up with goofy ideas that he thought would sell across America, but never knew how to strategize against the Clintons.
   I don’t think Gilchrest was just a little less than perfect. As stated, he was the House version of Lincoln Chafee. Newt is not as conservative as many people would like to think.

5. Press 7 for Celtic February 14th, 2008 at 12:16 pm 5

   For all the attention we’ve given the presidential race, it’s the races like this that we should really be concentrating on.

   I know McCain is far from perfect, but we live in a 50/50 country. There’s only so much we can do about who becomes our nominee, let alone who becomes president. But these downballot races for congress and even state house and state senate are where activist conservatives can make the most difference.

   I’m not going to wade into a debate over Newt’s tenure as speaker, but as a political tactician, he was brilliant. Way back in the 1980’s, Newt travelled the country propping up promising Republicans who were running for state and congressional seats. He created a political entity called GOPAC to help him seek out and assist young up-and-comers. In 1994, all his efforts came to fruition after more than a decade of patient building.

   I know a lot of you are angry about McCain, but don’t lose sight of the real goal- fighting these smaller fights so that 10 or 15 years from now, we have a truly conservative and small government party. The election of Andy Harris is a great first step, and a perfect example of what can happen when people like us decide to make a difference.

6. Gceres February 14th, 2008 at 4:04 pm 6

   Well even though I’m not voting for McCain, I’m still voting Republican down ballot…though it’s fairly useless where I live as it’s a heavily Democratic district (I’m in Filner’s district!).

   Btw…I’m revising my estimate of the Presidential election…now that it may be Obama v. McCain; I think we are looking at a 56-44 Obama victory and a landslide in the Electoral College.

7. Gceres February 14th, 2008 at 4:07 pm 7

   One other thing that the GOP simply HAS to do that it has done precious little of in the past decade is recruit and ACTIVELY promote and fund black conservative candidates.

   One of the worst decisions was to not back fully Steele in Maryland (I’m talking massive RNC spending) and to not back Herman Cain in Georgia’s Republican Primary a few elections back. And come to think of it, the asinine decision not to back Butler in the Michigan Senate race last time around.

   If the GOP is going to survive McCain era Hispanic immigration which is going to swell Democratic ranks, it has to start peeling at least 10 to 15 percent more of the black vote…just has to.

8. Michael Rinker February 14th, 2008 at 4:50 pm 8

   There is NO WAY Obama is going to win. McCain is going to be our next President, like it or not. Obama is WAY too liberal to win.

9. Sam February 14th, 2008 at 5:27 pm 9

   Michael, I wouldn’t say no way, but it won’t be a landslide. Obama was making me nervous for a while because of how much popularity he seems to be getting, but I think as the campaign moves on and his very left wing record starts to become exposed I think his popularity will dwindle.

   McCain will be around the center while Obama will be way off in Moveon.org land. I think McCain will appeal to more voters than Obama will come November.

10. Michael Rinker February 14th, 2008 at 7:00 pm 10

    The way I see it, Obama is peaking now, about 9 months too soon. Noone knows anything about him. He’s candidate “X” right now. He’s not saying anything controversial, which actually plays right in to the Republicans’ hands. IF John McCain can define him as a left-wing nutcase, he will be the next President. As a Thompson then Romney supporter, I’m okay with a McCain presidency. He has NEVER voted for a tax increase, and he will be better on spending than Bush. If he picks someone like Mark Sanford for VP, we can endure 4 years of “straight talk” if it means a President Sanford in 2012.

11. Sam February 14th, 2008 at 7:08 pm 11

    If McCain picks Sanford I will unquestionably support his White House bid.