MAD
AS HELL
by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Columnist
May 10, 2010
In
what is but the first head to roll in 'The Year of the Angry Voter', three-term
Senate Republican Bob Bennett of Utah was the first incumbent lawmaker to be
shown the door this year. Bennett's ouster occurred when Utah GOP delegates
delivered his walking papers at last weekend's state convention. With eight
senatorial candidates, the top three survived the first ballot, two survived
the second ballot, and the last two were in the third and final ballot. If one
of the two finalists received a supermajority vote of 60% or more, they'd go
straight to the general election. As is stands, the two finalists will face
off in a June 22nd primary.
Bennett came in a distant third in the first round, and was 'clocked' in round two. While Bennett described the current political atmosphere as 'toxic', the fact is that between the bailout for Wall Street big shots and a bloated, ineffective stimulus package, which combined with a penchant for earmarks that left voters for lack of a better word…livid, these actions created the perfect storm for voters to start voting politicians out, one by one. Expect more incumbents to be 'tossed' as the primary season rolls on.
While
I am not at all surprised by the turn of events in Utah, I am sad to see Bennett
go. Bob is a friend I had the privilege of meeting a number of years ago (right),
and while there were some issues he and I would have voted differently on, he
is a good man, and I will miss him on the Hill. Nonetheless, I wish him well
and Godspeed as he heads into retirement and pursues other endeavors.
Bennett's departure sends a message that not even conservatives are safe. My source in the Utah GOP tells me that Orrin Hatch is next in their electoral cross-hairs. After 33 years in Washington, Hatch has gone from #100 in Seniority to #5, with only Lugar, Leahy, Inouye and Byrd ahead of him. Hatch has come to symbolize everything wrong with American government. In 33 years, Hatch has gone from being a good-guy who was a uniquely bad headache for Jimmy Carter, tanking several of Carter's nominations, to a self-server whose personal enrichment was more important than public service.
Remember last summer's town hall meetings where politicians like 'Biff' (Barney Frank), Arlen Specter, and Dianne Feinstein were telling the very people who voted them into office that THEY were the unenlightened ones? That Congress knew better than the electorate as to what was best for them and their families? Can we say Hubris? Chutzpah? To the extreme? With the public now both furious and finally demanding politicians explain their votes - and many either unable or unwilling to do so - the climate of 'toss the bums out' has again reached a fever pitch. Is anyone really surprised?
Even the Los Angeles Times has refused to endorse incumbent Barbara Boxer in the upcoming California primary, saying, "the California Democrat lacks intellectual firepower." And they're just figuring this out now?!? If the Times is already saying that at this point in the race, you just know they are holding their finger to the wind with one hand while hedging their bets elsewhere. Simply put, a non-endorsement of this magnitude sends unmistakable signals that even the Times knows Boxer's days are numbered, and for that, we can all thank the Tea Party, and their role in raising public awareness of what elected officials are doing behind closed doors.
Whether or not the Tea Party Movement is merely a flash-in-the-pan uprising or in fact, a legitimate venue for lasting positive political change in this country, is yet to be seen. However, the role the Tea Party is playing in the ouster of elected officials across the country is one that simply cannot be denied. It will be sometime after the midterms that a more accurate assessment of their influence will be known. Until then, the best thing all of us as Americans can do, is to become more informed on the issues of the day, so that when we do vote, our decisions can be made based on fact and reason, and not out of some sense of either white guilt, entitlement mentality, affirmative action, or worse, any combination of the three.
The American people have suffered long enough. The line in the sand has been drawn, and we are legally taking back our country by tossing elected officials, one politician at a time.
Kinda cool, huh? ***
© 2010 Timothy Rollins
A veteran freelance writer, Timothy Rollins
brings a wealth of political and military experience dating back more than three
decades. He is a freelance writer and policy analyst living in Oklahoma who
has been featured both on television and radio. He has appeared both in online
publications as well as in print newspapers in the United States such as the
Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel, USA TODAY, the
Deseret News in Salt Lake City, and
also in Canada, where he has appeared in The
Toronto SUN and the Daily Herald in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His television
appearances include The Michael Coren
Show in Canada and KWTV 9 NEWS in Oklahoma
City. The views expressed here by Mr. Rollins are his own and do not represent
the official views of any organization or entity with which he may otherwise
be affiliated. As such, Mr. Rollins alone takes full responsibility for them.
He can be reached by e-mail at rollins@american-partisan.com.
***
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