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Go Home Tactical Radicals Storm The Castle

JONATHAN CHAIT JULY 27, 2010

Tactical Radicals Storm The Castle

BY JONATHAN CHAIT

The Republican Party has the enormous good fortune of having a highly popular Senate candidate, Mike Castle, running in Delaware, a state with an overwhelming Democratic tilt. Except Castle has a right ring primary challenger named Christine O'Donnell, who's been endorsed by the Tea Party and may grab the endorsement of Jim DeMint and possibly Sarah Palin:

O’Donnell, a marketing consultant challenging Castle from the right, told POLITICO she’s been courting support from both DeMint and Palin, in the hope of adding some energy to what has so far been an obscure primary fight. “I strongly believe that if we do get these endorsements, that will help bring to light what is at stake in this election,” she explained.

As O’Donnell criticizes Castle for supporting the bank bailouts, cap and trade and abortion rights, she appears to have caught DeMint’s attention. The two met recently and a spokesman for the senator’s political action committee said DeMint was “extremely impressed.”

“She’s a principled conservative who has been overlooked by the Washington establishment. The senator has not made an endorsement in this race but he's watching it closely to see if O'Donnell can get within striking distance,” Matt Hoskins said.

The Delaware GOP primary will be an interesting test of whether the party establishment can get its way. Politico's David Catanese says, "It might take a miracle" for O'Donnell to win. That sounds familiar:

Have fun storming the castle, Republican nutcases!

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22 comments

Part of me wishes to see the nutcases triumph in order to bolster the Democratic numbers on the Hill but another, deeper part of me worries about the effect the nutcases are having on our Republic. The political discourse and the electoral arena are being mucked-up by the nutcases.

- liberal reformer

July 27, 2010 at 1:17pm

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The right hand taketh away what the left hand giveth at The Daily Palin this afternoon. Andrew dialed back the hyperbole this morning concerning Journolist but he is back at it this PM. In a post where he links to the unintentionally hilarious mini-Hamlet, Mickey Kaus, he ponders why the Journolist musings couldn't have been made public. Wow, how exciting it would have been to read water cooler talk. You would think by the number of posts and by their intensity that the hysteriac Andrew was writing about Top Secret America. But Dana Priest is an actual journalist, and an award-winning one at that, not a frothing blogger with a need to comment on everything under the sun.

- liberal reformer

July 27, 2010 at 1:23pm

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Also at The Daily Palin this late morning, Andrew has an approving post on David Cameron calling Gaza a "prison camp." No mention of Hamas, of course, which helped mightily in turning Gaza into an inderdicted statelet. No sooner than Israel pulled out of Gaza, did Hamas position itself to attack Israel. The same thing happened with Hezbollah after Israel pulled back from Lebanon. The phony Oakeshottian Andrew puts all of the blame on one side, while barely mentioning the radicalism that Israel deals with on a daily basis. May I lob rockets at the domestic abode that is yours and Aaron Tone's, Andrew, and then put the onus on you for peace? No, I thought not.

- liberal reformer

July 27, 2010 at 1:34pm

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Multiple sites have argued persuasively that Palin's endorsement has hurt Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire. Maybe she'll have the same chilling effect in Delaware. Meanwhile. Rick Santorum is exploring a presidential run. Maybe he could team up with Palin and make the dumbest, most hateful ticket since Wallace-Lemay.

- propjoe

July 27, 2010 at 1:34pm

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George Wallace was anything but dumb. He was canny and street-smart. Hateful, oh my God, yes. Wallace was a relatively liberal judge and early political candidate but when he was defeated in his race for governor of Alabama, he vowed never to be outsegged again: "And I'll tell you here and now, I will never be outsegged again."

- liberal reformer

July 27, 2010 at 1:41pm

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Please Lib, no more play-by-play on what Sullivan has to say. Have mercy on us and the "internets". Move it over to the Spine if you must write on the subject.

- tnmats

July 27, 2010 at 1:42pm

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I concede that Wallace was a shrewd politician in the short run, but his social views were stupid. Segregation was both immoral and stupid. It excluded millions of people from the talent pool and thereby hurt the nation by keeping people needlessly grounded in ignorance and unable to help the US grow and innovate. That's without considering morality. In that vein, he put himself on the wrong side of history, which helps explain why he never held national office (an express goal of his) and repudiated his past when he got older. He was in no way a wise person. The same could be said of Lemay. Given immediate goals, he could accomplish impressive goals, but his views on national security and nuclear war were insanely stupid and scared the hell out of almost everyone. Except Wallace. Funny that.

- propjoe

July 27, 2010 at 2:04pm

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I was waiting for someone to object. This site was a lot more fun back in 2008, when the likes of teplukhin2you, williamyard, and roid (who is still around but not nearly so much) held court here. Often back then, someone would go off on a productive tangent and we would follow. I wish that we had more of that now. I don't mean by this that readers should ignore the topics at hand. Everyone out here knows that I think that J. Chait is a superb analyst and I comment on what he writes frequently. We can do both, believe it or not. And blow-by-blow? Not even close. Andrew is a hyperactive poster and about all I comment on is his obsession with defaming Israel, his incredible obsession with - and fear of - Sarah Palin, and lately, his bizarre fixation with Journolist. If you find something worthy of comment and it is well-stated but off-topic, I will be more than happy to read it and comment on it, too. I love this sort of thing.

- liberal reformer

July 27, 2010 at 2:05pm

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Curtis LeMay was a piece of work, no question. And now it is easy to say that Jim Crow was stupid policy, but it was a live option for millions of white Southerners for many decades. George Wallace was courting that constituency, and he sold his soul in so doing, without a doubt.

- liberal reformer

July 27, 2010 at 2:07pm

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One of the reasons that I post frequently on The Daily Dish is to show solidarity with Jonathan Chait. Andrew swipes at him from time to time on his views concerning Israel. There is also the commonality on Journolist, which Chait has written about a number of times recently. And for all of my criticism of Andrew and his blog, at his best he makes many beautiful posts and links to so much good stuff. I guess you almost have to be somewhat of a nutter if you are insanely smart and creative like Andrew most assuredly is.

- liberal reformer

July 27, 2010 at 2:17pm

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Lib ref, I really enjoy this song, and I think "I love you too, sir" is an inspired spontaneous utterance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuqY4fFUhWY Will the second season of East Bound and Down be as good as the first? Can it be? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgDaVLCaBzQ

- miceelf

July 27, 2010 at 2:18pm

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I too miss tep (sort of), but I especially miss williamyard. That guy was hysterical. Can we put together a petition to have him renew his subscription and to get him commenting again? Frankly, I don't get Sullivan's obsession with Journolist. I don't think it's right for journalists to try to shape a message for any candidate, but I don't think that's what Journolist was really about. As for Trigg (sp?), I just don't care. Andrew Sullivan is really smart guy with obsessive tendencies. Maybe if he allowed comments on his site, liberal could shop there. But Sullivan doesn't. Free speech means that he can comment here if he wants to. If you don't like it, then ignore.

- propjoe

July 27, 2010 at 2:23pm

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I stopped caring about what The Hysterical One had to say about anything a long time ago. Does he really have legions of readers/fans? Or are his followers just a bunch of hyperactive obsessives like him? Whatever. Whose got the remote? Change the channel. Meanwhile . . . I sincerely hope that O'Donnell pulls this one off. We could regain get back to sixty in the Senate at this rate, balancing losses in the House.

- timteeter

July 27, 2010 at 3:05pm

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Oops. "Who's", not "whose." (Talk about obsessive.)

- timteeter

July 27, 2010 at 3:06pm

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Williamyard was not only hilarious, he was profound, too. He wrote a beautiful meditation on Chelsea Clinton helping her mother during the latter's campaign for president in 2008. I copied it out into a notebook, which resides in my dresser drawer. I need to look it up; it has been too long since I read his stunning words. Great song, mice. For some odd reason, after I clicked off that great Black Keys piece, and I began typing this, the song started playing again.

- liberal reformer

July 27, 2010 at 3:29pm

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Hee hee, lib ref, you sure it wasn't just playing in your head?

- miceelf

July 27, 2010 at 3:32pm

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Mystery solved. I pulled up the lyrics to Your Touch in another window before listening to the song. The song itself was posted there and began playing. I discovered this after I clicked off of TNR and I went back to that window. For a minute there, mice, I thought you had provided me with a link to the other side.

- liberal reformer

July 27, 2010 at 3:35pm

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I can guarantee you that Andrew has far more visitors to The Daily Palin than there are readers of this site, unfortunately. And Jonathan C. engages him semi-frequently, so Andrew's postings, especially on matters relating to Israel and to journalism, seem germane here.

- liberal reformer

July 27, 2010 at 3:40pm

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lib ref, I actually agree with you about the upside of sullivan, when he is on, he writes really well and compellingly.....

- miceelf

July 27, 2010 at 3:57pm

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Lib, for what it's worth, I always feel relieved by your AS-postings. It's that sense of "not being the only one." The thing that also upsets me is that he allows dissenting posts, but only the ones he can knock down. Just out of curiosity, have you tried e-mailing him your thoughts on Israel? I do, however, have to disagree with you on Palin. Her influence is scary, and her story about Trig's birth is as phony as they come. Why not point that out--and ask others to report on the story. Can someone who told a lie that big be trusted? And should that person also be allowed to get away with something that's not just dishonest, but crazy?

- MOLLYSIMON

July 27, 2010 at 4:35pm

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I haven't tried emailing AS on Israel. I figure it would be a fool's errand. And you are absolutely correct: he posts reader emails that he can easily take out. How is that for a life? You have your own blog, you can say you post dissent, and you are in total control. As for Sarah Palin, there probably isn't too much difference between your views and mine, Molly. I am made uneasy by Palin but Andrew is scared silly by her, which I most certainly am not. I also think that the Trig story is likely other than how she relates it but again, my point is the obsessiveness with which Andrew pursues it.

- liberal reformer

July 27, 2010 at 4:45pm

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Yes, mice, AS's links to the neuroscientist Jonah Lehrer, his posting of Bloggingheads videos, his View From Your Window, his thoughts on torture, and much more, are why it is worth visiting his site. And I still do daily, no matter how much I disagree with him.

- liberal reformer

July 27, 2010 at 4:47pm

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