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Dick Lugar loses primary

ravdin

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ravdin
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Oct 16, 2005
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Six-term US senator Dick Lugar has been toppled in the primary today:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/09/us-usa-campaign-lugar-concession-idUSBRE84800P20120509

Apparently, it's unprecedented for a senator of Lugar's longevity to be defeated in a primary.

I have mixed feelings: on the one hand, I haven't been too crazy about his record. He's clearly lost touch with his constituents, so it's probably time to show him the door. On the other hand, I'm not so sure I'll like his successor any better (whoever that might be, as there's still a general election in November).

Mike Lee and Rand Paul are two examples of upstarts who beat primary rivals who were much better funded and favored by the GOP establishment. The world hasn't ended yet though, and I expect the trend to continue. Interesting times.
 
ravdin said:
Mike Lee and Rand Paul are two examples of upstarts who beat primary rivals who were much better funded and favored by the GOP establishment.
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Christine O'Donnell is another. :D

Tea party upstart Mourdock defeats longtime Indiana Sen. Lugar

Mourdock will face Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly, a three-term congressman from the South Bend area, this fall. The matchup is the preferred outcome for Democrats, who view Lugar’s ouster as an opportunity to pick up a longtime Republican seat.

"Richard Mourdock is this year's Ken Buck," said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Executive Director Guy Cecil. Buck was a tea-party-backed Republican who upset the establishment favorite in the GOP primary in Colorado in 2010, only to lose in November. "Tonight's results make the Indiana Senate race a toss-up."
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This is another example of the Republican party moving farther to the right. Lugar was ousted for not being partisan enough. For not standing up during the president's speech to yell insults like Joe Wilson or calling Democrats communists like Allen West.

It's really a shame actually for the country, even if it does help Democrats in the short term.
 
Four years ago, I thought that the GOP would have turned the corner and start to retreat from the extreme by now, but then the 2010 elections happened. It was a huge validation for intensifying their demands. Will 2012 put the fright into them? We'll see.
 
If the republicons get their asses handed to them for doubling down on stupid, to the point that the party breaks up under its own weight and succumbs to the necrosis that the teatards have caused, it's all good. America doesn't need them anymore. Time for a new party or two to take their place while the Democrats are busy fixing what thirty years of republicons stupidity did to us.
 
Puppycow said:
It's really a shame actually for the country, even if it does help Democrats in the short term.
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Unfortunately, it's wishful thinking that the senate race is now a toss-up. Yes, the Democrat will likely do better against Mourdock than he would have against Lugar, but it's still pretty likely that Mourdock will win.

-Bri
 
leftysergeant said:
If the republicons get their asses handed to them for doubling down on stupid, to the point that the party breaks up under its own weight and succumbs to the necrosis that the teatards have caused, it's all good. America doesn't need them anymore. Time for a new party or two to take their place while the Democrats are busy fixing what thirty years of republicons stupidity did to us.
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The Democrats suffered from many self inflected wounds during the Clinton years, as I remember.
 
Bri said:
Unfortunately, it's wishful thinking that the senate race is now a toss-up. Yes, the Democrat will likely do better against Mourdock than he would have against Lugar, but it's still pretty likely that Mourdock will win.

-Bri
Click to expand...

Well, I haven't looked into it very closely yet, but I heard that Joe Donnelly is a conservative pro-life Democrat, the sort who might have a decent chance.

The only poll yet done shows a tie with a lot of undecided voters. Whereas Lugar was pretty much a shoo-in if he had survived the primary.
 
While I personally found Senator Lugar to be somewhat dense, I am kind of appalled at why he lost his comfy seat -- he failed to support default on government debt, he dared to support nuclear arms reduction, and he actually made deals with Demmycrats once in a blue moon. And so hangin's too good fur 'im, it seems.

Wake me when these political temper tantrums stop being rewarded...
 
Dick Lugar = Joe Lieberman. Catch the liberals around here mourning for Joe.
 
Puppycow said:
Joe endorsed the candidate of the other party for president. Made a speech at the Republican convention even. I don't recall Lugar doing anything like that.
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Like that? His wikipedia bio notes:

Although Lugar's party is in the minority in the Senate, he has good relationships with President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Lugar was named an honorary co-chairman of their inauguration. On the day of the final 2008 presidential debate, Lugar gave a speech at the National Defense University praising Obama's foreign policy approach, and warning against the isolationist, reactive policies espoused by Senator McCain.
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