BREAKING NEWS: Six-term Sen. Lugar defeated in Ind. GOP primary

Now there's a better chance a democrat can take that seat.

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an opponent. (Disclosure - I grew up in Indiana, then in order was a resident of Texas, Maryland and now Florida) Lugar served my old state state best by serving the country first.

He also had the same seniority as Utah's Hatch, who will now be their most senior senator.

I believe Indiana will not go Democratic this time around and we will have a poorer Senate without Lugar.

Could it help Obama carry IN again?

I don't think Obama can win Indiana this year. Will the Senate seat go Democratic? Well, that really depends on who the Democratic candidate is (too bad it's not Evan Bayh!).

The guy that decided in 2010 not to run but gave the dems about a week to select a replacement? That Evan Bayh? Sorry but he burned that bridge and I'm glad to see him where he belongs - on Fox News now.

Well, I can't argue that I resent the way Sen. Bayh dropped out of the 2010 Senate race. My point is that Evan Bayh was one of the few Democrats who could win a statewide race in Indiana. He was a successful two-term governor and easily won his two Senate races in 1998 and 2004. By Indiana standards, he was quite liberal. Opposed Bush's tax cuts, supported health care reform, and pro-choice.

He was running off of his father's legacy. I voted for him so I agreed with his positions but he blew me away when we pulled that shit in '10. I guess I'll never forgive him for that. And he chose Hillary over Obama in the primary.

Birch Bayh (his father) was a legend, but you have to remember he was soundly defeated by Dan Quayle (gag!) in his re-election bid in 1980. Evan Bayh, at age 32, was elected governor in 1988 despite the Bush-Quayle ticket's lopsided victory in Indiana the very same day (that was a sweet consolation that night!). Evan Bayh had a kick-ass record as governor.

I also supported Hillary in the primaries (although I supported Obama 100% after he won the nomination fair-and-square) so I can't hold that against him, but yeah, I was mad as hell as Evan Bayh for abruptly pulling out of the 2010 race so late and effectively handing that seat to the Republicans.

But they do go after the old, the sick and the lame.

Lugar is not exactly young...

But he is old, sick, and lame....

LOL.

Anywho isn't Kerry running as DEM against the gopper from this race?

At least Lugar had some name recognition, soooooo I do see a pick-up for the Dems.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/Senate/2012/0508/If-GOP-s-Sen.-Dick-Lugar-loses-are-Dems-prepared-to-pounce

If you're thinking of Kerrey, that's Nebraska.

is a tea-bagger state Treasurer Richard Mourdock.

Apparently, turnout was very low.

This may put in play the Democratic opponent Rep. Joe Donnelly
to take over a republican senate seat.

and lost anyway. Just like Olympia Snowe. They both joined in the completely unjustified obstruction of Obama, and I'm sure they both shattered records for their states for filibusters. Oh well, their legacies are blown but maybe they can at least get some cash for what they did.

Kerry is NE, oops

Anywho, still a pick-up for a Dem - hopefully.

Hopefully, we'll have a Democratic pick-up.

Because this puts the Indiana senate seat into play.

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. But it takes a young dog a lifetime to learn the tricks the old dog already knows.

Put a Maximum Years of Service (say, 15) on Any Appointed Judgeship.

I will be 80 soon and have seen 40-year olds in much worse shape than me.

I'm not even old and I find that offensive. What a completely fucking douchebaggy thing to post.

That Lugar would be ousted from his seat. His Opponent was a nasty Tea Bagger that I hope cannot win in November. I really think Lugar has Alzheimer's because of his performance in the debates. Yea, go Democrats...turn Indiana into a Dem state.

...Bad welcome to worse rubbish.

Yes, we have a better chance against Mourdock than Lugar, but last time we couldn't beat Dan Coats even with a Washington lobbyist carpetbagger reputation dragging him down. I fear that taking this Senate seat might be even more of an upset than Obama's Indiana win in 2008. I think Hoosiers are about to replace a conservative who at least has some clue on foreign policy with an unqualified Tea Party puppet.

There are a lot worse Repubs than Lugar.

Dumbfuckistan.

and now my State is called "Dumfuckistan"
.
Have you ever even been to Indiana?

Some parts could be called "Dumbfuckistan," if I wanted to be honest.

Other areas people were great. had the nicest people imaginable.

Like any other state I guess, some parts have the village idiot being the norm, other parts have great people.

Or bayous.

but he is a good and honest man. I remember him as far back as when he was mayor of Indianapolis.

It is true that I never voted for him, but he is a good person

In 1986, Senator Lugar and others went to the Philippines to assess the situation in the wake of a crooked election, which, if allowed to stand, would have put dictator Ferdinand Marcos in power for another four years. It was clear that Marcos had lost the election to Corazon Aquino, the widow of a political opponent who murdered on Marcos' orders. Every knew that except President Reagan, who had already given his approval of Marcos' "election" and condescendingly belittled large anti-Marcos protest in the wake of the election.

It fell on Senator Lugar to drag President Reagan into the real world. Would the people of the Philippines have forgiven the US if the had to suffer another term of fraudster, kleptocrat and murderer Marcos? It all too clear that Marcos had to go, but President Reagan had to be convinced that it was in the interests of the United States, as well as simply the right thing to do.

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall during those discussions. We, and the people of the Philippines, can give Senator Lugar thanks for succeeding.

Having to sue to vote in your own state because you have not lived there for 35+ years....


Lugar's Attorneys Suing to Overturn Residency Issue


INDIANA (Indiana’s NewsCenter) - U.S. Senator Richard Lugar's attorneys are now suing to overturn last week's ruling by the Marion County elections board that he can no longer vote in Indiana.

The board determined Lugar was illegally registered since he lists an address he has not lived in for 35 years.


http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/political-radar/Lugars-Attorneys-Suing-to-Overturn-Residency-Issue-143623316.html

A Blue Dog member of the US House of Representatives.

Maybe the guy will outcrazy expectations ala Sharonn Angle prior to the election...

....I just hope they won't be given an opportunity to destroy our country before they destroy themselves.

I really believe the GOP wants to destroy the country.

I don't think the Rethugs want to "destroy" the country per se, but they want to take it back to how it was prior to the 1930's. A predominantly white nation with minimal government where the mafia runs the country (hey, free enterprise, you know) and minorities were second-class citizens at best.

then after an echo of puking their guts out after being associated with teabagging, the en-masse will have to go D.

I think it's the end of the Tea Bag Party when they are forcibly removed from the Republican Party and into a insane 3rd party (think LaRouchites)

And doubling down on teabaggers.

You are not a good enough dick to be a Republican Senator!

I couldn't count the times I watched Luggie stand up and lie and then rubber stamp everything Bush and Cheney wanted. I can't morn a single republican's political demise. If the tea bagger wins Lugar's old seat, he will make an instant ass of himself and in the end, speed up the downfall of the GOP. It's hard for me to pounce on another state's political bullshit, after what happened here in West Virginia yesterday.

I trusted the American voters to do the right thing until Nixon.

he was somewhat sane and respectable. I know him and Obama worked together in the Senate on a few bills. I would never have voted for him, but I think he had some dignity and level of statesmanship. If this were a real Dem pickup opportunity I'd be excited, but I'm very doubtful. Between him and a nutcase teabagger, I'd much rather see Lugar in that Senate seat.

Smooth move, Indiana GOOPers!

So many stupid hoosiers,

too few sane people here in the land of dementia.

who can win the seat. If that is the case, I am very happy.

But the last thing that the nation needs is another Tea Bag GOPer.

is a fairly easy chump to beat if Democrats play it right.

How could anyone vote for a state treasurer who lost / misplaced
over $ 400 MILLION dollars of taxpayer money.
This caused public education to be gutted for 300 million and helped
push school vouchers into law.

But lo and behold........

Now we have FOUND over 400 MILLION dollars hidden in unknown
or secret govt. accounts, but none of it will go back to public education
you can bet on that.

Can you say incompetent CROOK !

It's tough being a conservative; one cannot read a dictionary because its title is vaguely pornographic and it is sure to contain words that should be trumped by the Second Amendment. And then your Nook is all full of holes and you are back to square one.

So here's the text of Lugar's remarks, translated into Knuckledragger. The original statement:

He (Mourdock) and I share many positions, but his embrace of an unrelenting partisan mindset is irreconcilable with my philosophy of governance and my experience of what brings results for Hoosiers in the Senate. In effect, what he has promised in this campaign is reflexive votes for a rejectionist orthodoxy and rigid opposition to the actions and proposals of the other party.

Translation:

We're both assholes, but I know that to be a successful asshole, one has to be a lying asshole. He has promised to say no to everything until his diaper is full. Which is not a lie, so it won't work.

But it works in every possible way for the Democrats. It opens the seat up and will at least double the costs of the GOP election efforts in Indiana. It gives Dems an outside chance at a pickup in a brutally imbalanced Senate cycle (23 Democrats up for reelection versus 10 Republicans). It rips one of the last Republicans capable of crafting or evaluating foreign policy (or, in fact, any legislation at all) out of the process, making them even less capable of nuanced opposition in the Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate in general.

What Lugar knows that Mourdock doesn't, what he is talking about above, is that a freshman Senator has about seven days in office to either toe the line of comity and compromise, or be shuffled off to the Subcommittee on Utilities Certification and Kangaroos for the next six years. Even Republican Senators need someone they can work with; Mourdock isn't that guy, and they will have to place Mourdock someplace where he can do minimal harm, and therefore have minimal influence in the Senate.

Even a victory for the Republicans at this point will be a devastating loss in the mechanics of Senate politics. We've won big this week.

how does a breakdown in Senate functionality help anything??

...it means that the vice-Chair will not be cagey Dick Lugar. Instead, it will be some less-sophisticated schmuck who is less likely to interfere with foreign policy in a sophisticated way. "No to everything" is predictable, and exploitable.

Lugar's absence is even more valuable should the Senate fall under Republican control, because then they have a real role to play in certain aspects of foreign policy, and may even intervene in executive functions which can be a pain in the ass... unless you are dealing with Teabaggers who think all they need to know is in the Federalist Papers.

It is really no wonder the wingers laugh at us.

I'll have to go back and read my posts above, just to make sure that it is me who is the fucking moron.

Here, let me help



Yup, there it is - having a teabagger in the Senate instead of Lugar will be a good thing, especially if the Repukes have the Senate

hopefully this and the NC result will wake you the fuck up

-- May 8, 2012 at 7:55 PM EDT
Lugar's Loss Follows 'Curse' of Senate's Foreign Policy Committee
By: Michael D. Mosettig


Call it the curse of the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Sen. Richard Lugar, who has served as chairman or ranking Republican on Foreign Relations since 1985, was following in a hoary tradition when toppled in Tuesday's Indiana GOP primary (according to an Associated Press projection). He is the fifth top Foreign Relations Committee member over the last 60 years to lose his seat.

As a Senate historian noted, the men (and they have all been men) who assume that august title are treated with great deference in Washington -- many embassy invitations, overseas travel and morsels of classified information from the president and top U.S. officials -- but their constituents wind up wondering if their senator is spending too much time worrying about problems abroad and not enough about highways and public works projects at home.

In relatively recent history, the toxic trend surfaced in 1952 when Sen. Tom Connally fell under the Eisenhower landslide that swept even then-Democratic Texas. He lost to a Democratic governor who had endorsed Ike's election. Four years later, as racial politics were boiling after the Supreme Court's school desegregation decision, Sen. Walter George was toppled by Herman Talmadge.

More:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/05/lugars-loss-follows-curse-of-senates-foreign-policy-committee.html