Tucker Carlson: Do Republicans know who their base is?

Tucker Carlson had author J.D. Vance on last evening…

Closer to home, New Jersey Republicans are searching for a winning message with which to build a defensive wall around their remaining legislative districts – and as a springboard for taking back some of what has been lost. While those professionals with experience running campaigns appear to be no closer to coming up with an umbrella message under which they can unify the party, activists like John Robert Carman of the New Jersey Constitutional Republicans (NJCR), are taking a stab at it…

John Robert Carman writes:

Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting with NJGOP Chairman Doug Steinhart, NJGOP Executive Director, Therese Winegar and GOP State Director, Ron Filan. I shared with them the 5 Point Plan the New Jersey Constitutional Republicans could help initiate with NJGOP to lead Republicans, “On to Victory” in New Jersey.

The 5-Point Plan consists of Point 1: Restoration- The historical circumstances that existed in the 1850’s leading to Civil War are uncannily like our present situation in NJ, and the nation. As Lincoln restored the initial principles of the Declaration of Independence being, the equality of all mankind before the law; natural rights (life, liberty & the environment from which to pursuit happiness); protecting the right of each person to own and keep property and the legitimacy of government by consent of the people.

Lincoln incorporated the necessity of preserving the Constitution in protecting the principles of the Declaration of Independence and thereby, assuring the preservation of our Union which is precisely what is needed in our fractured state and nation today. In restoring these initial Republican principles, we return to the solid foundation of our founding documents and incorporate these ideals and values into every sphere of public policy. Republican voters and those who want to vote Republican are looking for a distinct contrast from the Democrats in philosophy and ideology. A return to initial Republican principles will clearly demonstrate the difference and strengthen our Party.

Point 2: Education-The Key to Republican Resurgence in NJ! This is NJCR’s forte and encompasses many areas of study that positively starts with history; knowing the founding documents and the spirit of their intent. Educating citizens on constitutional republican government, limited government and the proper role of representative government. Educating citizens on the initial values of the Republican Party; equality under law; liberty and justice for all, due process, and individual accountability and responsibility. Educating our citizens on the necessity of civics and the forgotten , yet indispensable role the citizens plays in forming fair and just public policy. Educating citizens on the Laws of Nature and Natures’ God which are perpetual and remain constant throughout time and place. Educating also includes the negative impact progressivism and marxism and their significant role in marginalizing our constitutional republic leading to the great dilemma and division in our state and nation today. NJCR looks to participate with NJGOP in offering educational presentations throughout the state with County GOP organizations and Young Republican organizations that equip our citizens with the knowledge and encouragement they will need to enthusiastically nurture Republican voters and assure Republican representation at the local, state and national stages.

Point 3: Preservation: The Republican Party is the last, best hope for the preservation of the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution protecting those principles. Republicans are the only entity standing between a tyrannical mobocracy and the natural rights of individual liberty and justice the Constitution assures. The Democrats are determined to eliminate the principles of the DOI and the Constitution. Republicans must proclaim the message that we are the sole defenders of our Constitution and the only Party with the desire, ability and facility to protect it.

Point 4: Participation: Self Governance. Having people actively engaged with public policy and making their voices heard in the legislative process. Establishing relationships with their elected representatives, holding them accountable to securing the rights of all citizens they represent, not just those who vote for them, calling them, meeting them, writing them, emailing them. Mobilizing blast calls and immediate calls to action when potential legislation is brought to the State House floor for a vote. Encouraging a consistent dialogue with representatives and our responsibility as leaders of the Republican Party in equipping citizens to be successful in effectively participating in Self-Governance.

Point 5: Unification: Initially the Republican Party was made up of several parties and entities, the Whigs, the Know Nothings, Free Soilers, Union Democrats and Radical Republicans. It was a constant struggle for Lincoln to maintain the unity amongst these factions to abolish slavery; preserve the Union and win the Civil War. Today we must Incorporate all the factions that share our initial values which NJGOP has begun with Grassroots21 initiatives along with the necessity of incorporating fiscal and social conservatives; 2nd Amendment Defenders; Tea Partiers; Right to Lifers; Constitutionalist; MAGA’s; Independents; Unaffiliated, and Blue Dog Democrats all into one unified Republican Party. Give candidates that may come from these factions an opportunity to battle it out in primaries and give them all a sense of ownership within the Party and the belief they can win as Republicans. Go into urban areas and other Democratic strongholds with the initial principles of our Republican Party, promoting new, consistent and lasting relationships within the Black and Latino communities. Meet with Republicans and conservatives within these communities and empower them with all the tools, education and support they would need to reach their communities. This 5 Point Plan can work but only with the participation of thousands of like minded citizens determined to restore Republican principles and values; teaching truth and justice; preserving our constitution and our constitutional republic; participating in public policy making and unifying freedom and liberty motivated citizens all determined to reinstate our sovereignty, We the Peoples sovereignty within government in New Jersey and our nation.  

Join NJGOP and the New Jersey Constitutional Republicans today and may we march “On to Victory.”

Does this message get the job done? Is it motivational, concise, and easy to understand? Can you envision this as the basis for campaign mail, social media, broadcast, cable, and radio ads? In any case, it is a start, so be thankful for that.

If the NJGOP is to survive then the “spinning” must stop

Putting the best face on a defeat is the oldest spin in politics.  The practice is ancient…

Rather than spend time trying to convince people that defeat is really victory, learn from history and discard what failed and embrace a new message.  After Watergate, Republicans embraced the message of Reagan conservatism and came roaring back at the 1980 elections – taking both the White House and the Senate.  After Democrat Bill Clinton defeated the “kinder-gentler” GOP brand of George H.W. Bush, Republicans adopted the conservative Contract with America – ending 40 years of uninterrupted Democratic control of the House of Representatives and capturing the Senate.  The populist “Tea Party” message of 2010 saw Republicans gain 63 seats to take back control of the House.  In 2014, that message completed the takeover of Congress, gaining 9 Senate seats and another 13 House seats.  And in 2016, a populist Republican took the White House in an upset that caught the professional political class of both parties by surprise. 

Nationally, and at the state and local levels, Republicans need to embrace the setbacks of 2018 and learn from them.  These lessons are clear: 

(1) Money doesn’t replace message. 

(2) Technology is a means to convey a message, not a replacement for having a message. 

(3) In the era of Trump, trying to out-liberal the Democrats is a fool’s errand. 

(4) Turnout is key and that means registering every person who would likely vote Republican and then motivating them to vote.

(5) Your message should maximize your vote without turning off your base.  Better still, find a message that excites your base while adding to it.

At present, the man with the ideas – the man leading the charge to put New Jersey back on the right economic footing – the man standing in the way of the more crazier notions of Governor Murphy’s Democratic Socialism, is in fact not a Republican at all, but a Democrat.  Senate President Steve Sweeney is calling out the Governor, challenging him to debate their contrasting ideas. 

Republicans should be challenging Governor Murphy to debates, leading with ideas and a clear message that contrasts with Murphy’s Wall Street-style social activism.  And if they can’t manage to come up with ideas of their own, then they should at least be prepared to add their united voice in support of the man who has taken on the task of challenging Murphy’s crazier instincts.

Politically, New Jersey Republicans need a message, with fully fleshed out ideas and solutions.  There are people already at work on this.  The Garden State Initiative – run by state government veteran Regina Egea – is producing a solid product of facts and stats that could back up a message… if the political will is there.  It’s up to the folks who run campaigns and the party’s leadership to take the next step.

Josh Gottheimer's Tea Party connections

From our friends at Sussex County Watchdog

Last night, Josh Gottheimer's political campaign sent out an email blast that attacked Scott Garrett and Steve Lonegan.  Gottheimer called Scott Garrett a "Tea Party incumbent" and Steve Lonegan a "Tea Partier" and a "Tea Party darling." 

Gottheimer should know.  He's been wooing the Tea Party since he got elected and a lot of people believe they've consummated their illicit relationship. 

Gottheimer is a public relations professional who worked for Bill "I did not have sex..." Clinton, Ford Motor Corporation (Gottheimer sold the sizzle after Ford screwed 44,000 working men and women out of their jobs) , and was a global spin doctor for some of the biggest scumbags on the planet.  Gottheimer is a "progressive" in the way that Bernie Madoff was a "philanthropist"  -- they put on a good show, but hold on to your wallet!

Josh Gottheimer has been at work schmoozing the GOP in full on straw-up-the-backside mode.  He has sucked up to Republican mayors and Republican activists, insisting that he ain't a "real Democrat" and that he shares their values.  Now that's a joke for a start because Josh ain't got much in the way of "values" to begin with (aside from making dough and getting power and celebrity and attention and being the guy with the cool shoes).  Hey, we get it, there are a lot of sociopaths in politics.

He even sent a nice Democrat lady -- lawyer Jennifer Hamilton -- to help schmooze the Tea Party for him.  And it looks like it worked.  Recently, Tea Partier Nathan Orr (who ran as a kind of alt-right primary candidate in June) posted on Facebook that he wants to vote for Josh Gottheimer. Now how is that for having it both ways?

In Washington, Josh Gottheimer hangs out with Nancy Pelosi and trash-talks the Tea Party and the GOP.  Calls them all Nazis and racists.  But when Gottheimer visits Sussex County (he's not from here, you know) he brings with him some extra heavy duty straws for the schmooze-fest. 

Hey "progressives" -- the joke is on you. 

Tea Party AWOL in defending Trump, Frelinghuysen

While the Tea Party is busy attacking conservative Republican legislators over singular policy differences, there is a growing cultural tidal wave forming that is threatening to sweep away everything that the average Tea Party member holds dear.  Yes, the Left has finally found religion.  And no, it is not Judeo-Christianity.

Here is what the Left thinks of Jesus Christ...

Yes, the "Mary" referred to is the Mother of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. 

And just in time for Mother's Day, allow us to refer you to another of the Left's anti-Christian, anti-Mary, pantomimes...

But not to worry.  There is one religion that they do respect.

This advertisement was recently copied from the Facebook page of a Leftist equivalent of the Tea Party in Sussex County, a group called Action Together Sussex County (ATSC):

Wow, "limited to women only... no pork products/gelatin and alcohol."  Very respectful.  Somebody has been reading the Koran.

As we have seen, the Left does not extend the same respect to all religions.

Action Together Sussex County (ATSC) has a clear agenda: 

(1) Resist the legally elected government of the United States of America until that time that a coup removes the elected President and installs someone more to the liking of the so-called "Resistance." 

(2) Harass Republican Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen until he decides not to run for re-election.  And if he does run for re-election, build a grassroots organization that can conduct social media, door-to-door, and phone bank operations to defeat him in 2018 and install a Leftist Democrat in his place. 

(3) Support liberal Democrat Congressman Josh Gottheimer and insure that he is re-elected in 2018.

(4) Defeat the LD24 Republican legislators -- Senator Steve Oroho, Assemblyman Parker Space, and Assembly candidate Hal Wirths -- in November 2017.

(5) In November 2017, elect "lawyer to the Far-Left" Dan Perez as the first Democrat Sussex County Freeholder in more than a decade.

If you want to see how focused the grassroots Left is on its agenda, just go to Action Together Sussex County's Facebook page and get an education. 

https://www.facebook.com/ActionTogetherSussexCounty/

The Tea Party is sleeping or fighting with Republicans instead of preparing to meet this challenge. 

Our message should be clear.  To meet this challenge from the Left, we can have NO ENEMIES ON THE RIGHT.  Put your egos on ice for a time and work at getting along.  Either that, or get comfortable with the Left and their cultural agenda being the world in which your children and grandchildren are raised.

Your choice.

The tea partiers who destroyed Scott Garrett

Most Tea Party members are good intentioned people who want to engage in political action to affect change.  Most hold generally conservative views.

Then there is the unacceptable face of the tea party.  These are the people who are there for the rage.  They show up to vent and to blame and they don't care about facts or ideology or consequences.

Republican Scott Garrett wasn't just the most conservative Congressman in New Jersey, he was the most conservative in the entire northeastern region of the country.  And he had a pretty safe seat too.  That is until he underwent the "death by a thousand cuts" treatment, courtesy of a few people who call themselves members of the tea party movement.

There are some people who will always find a reason to hate even the most consistently conservative elected official.  For them, if you have an A from the NRA or a 100 percent from AFP that simply means that the NRA or AFP is screwed up.  The reason for this is fairly straightforward:  These people want that elected official's job.  And it never occurs to them that they lack the qualifications or the skills or the support to achieve and hold it.  There are some people who look into a mirror and see, staring back at them, a congressman or a legislator.

There are some common elements.  Usually a recent financial or employment crisis has occurred -- a bankruptcy and loss of status -- as was the case with Mark Quick, when he began his jihad against Congressman Garrett seven years ago. 

Believe it or not, Mark Quick is a blue blood.  He claims his American ancestry goes back to the Mayflower.  But as Nathaniel Hawthorne observed, "Families are always rising and falling in America."  In Quick's case, they have been on a losing streak.  After serving a truncated stint with the Marine Corps, Quick went into business and farming.  Both ventures failed.  Then he tried his hand at politics.

Quick is a wildly optimistic opportunist of the "start at the top" variety.  His first attempt at public office was to run for Congress.  And it was not as a Republican, in a primary.  Quick went after Scott Garrett in a general election -- threatening the Congressman that he would "split his vote" and cause a Democrat to win.

Quick bad-mouthed and harassed anyone he thought connected with Garrett, including the women in his congressional staff.  Quick's behavior was so threatening that the police had to be brought into it.  His anger and frustration were evident too at a debate, where he appeared to be taking out his personal problems on the poor souls he was running against.

In that 2010 race, independent Mark Quick got 1,646 votes and came in behind the Green Party candidate with 2,347, the Democrat with 62,634, and Congressman Garrett with 124,030. 

The following year, Quick filed for bankruptcy and promptly announced his intention to run -- once again as an independent, not a Republican -- for the Assembly against Republicans John DiMaio and Erik Peterson of Legislative District 23.  Quick was deep into trashing these Republican incumbents with his usual rant, when the state redistricted Quick's hometown out of District 23 and into District 24. 

Quick didn't lose a beat.  He simply started saying the same things he was attacking DiMaio and Peterson about and applied it to Republicans Alison Littell McHose and Gary Chiusano of Legislative District 24.  It doesn't matter who holds the seat that Quick wants.  They all get the same trashing.  Quick came in last of six candidates, with 1,382 votes to top vote-getter Alison Littell McHose's 19,026. 

Others followed Quick's example, so that in the 2012 Republican primary, Congressman Garrett faced two minor candidates, each of which did their best to damage him.

Mark Quick ran in the general election that year -- once again as a third-party candidate -- but he dropped out to endorse a candidate in the Democrat Party primary.  The Democrat who Quick endorsed had the support of a special interest PAC run by Lyndon LaRouche, a notorious left winger and former head of the Marxist U.S. Labor Party.

In 2014, Quick was back at it again, proclaiming loudly that Scott Garrett wasn't conservative enough (even as Quick worked with Democrats to undermine him).  Running again as an independent, Quick siphoned a handful of votes away from Garrett, but not enough to throw the election to the Democrat.

Quick threatened runs for the Legislature, hinting strongly that he would hold off on running if he received a state job.  These threats were uniformly ignored, and an ever frustrated Quick became increasing violent in his language and actions.

In 2016, Congressman Garrett found himself facing his toughest challenge since winning the seat in 2002.  In the primary, two Quick-inspired candidates ripped at him and drove up the Congressman's negatives. 

Mark Quick drew distinctions between himself and Congressman Garrett, with Quick saying that he supported same-sex marriage while claiming to be the true conservative and Garrett an impostor.  The result was a terrible one for the Republican Party and for the conservative movement.  Quick greeted Garret's loss as a personal victory. 

During his career, Scott Garrett had a lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union of 99.38%.  The next highest Republican has a rating of 69% and the lowest Republican 46%.  The best Democrat was 10.42% and the worst has 0%.  Now there is a liberal Clinton Democrat were once there was Scott Garrett.  We will probably not look on Congressman Garrett's like again.

And what about Mark Quick?  He announced today that he is running for Assembly against Republicans Parker Space and Hal Wirths.  This time Quick is running in a GOP primary as part of a ticket with Gail Phoebus and Dave Scapicchio. 

Do NJ Senate Dems think America is worse than Iran?

Yesterday, Senate Democrats in New Jersey voted to "strongly condemn" President Donald Trump's executive orders on immigration.  Democrats made up every one of the 22 votes (they needed 21) to pass SCR-143 and Republican Jennifer Beck (who EVERY Tea Partier was calling a "conservative" last year) joined them in voting for SCR-134.  Taken together, the Senate resolutions served as "symbolic acts of resistance" to President Trump's efforts to secure the borders of the United States from terrorism. 

Some would call it a "fashion statement" or an act of "virtue signaling."  Wikipedia defines virtue signaling as "the conspicuous expression of moral values by an individual done primarily to enhance their standing within a social group.”  The term was first used in signaling theory "to describe any behavior that could be used to signal virtue – especially piety among the religious faithful" and has become more commonly used "as a pejorative characterization by commentators to criticize what they regard as the platitudinous, empty, or superficial support of socially progressive views on social media."

SCR-143 specifically condemns the federal government's efforts to secure America's porous southern border against terrorism, human trafficking, and heroin.  The Senators who voted for this must be keeping their fingers crossed that no act of terrorism gets through that border between now and November.

Yes, we understand that many liberals don't like the "feel" of a border wall and look on it as an "extreme" measure.  But in the fight against the modern misery of slavery -- which is what "human trafficking" is a polite phrase for --is it any less "extreme" than the Royal Navy's measure of blasting slave ships out of the water?  If history has taught us anything, it has taught us that for the abolition of slavery (which continues to elude us 152 years after the end of the civil war we fought to abolish it) in all its forms to be won, it will be done so piece by piece, and only through the application of "extreme" measures.

SCR-134 directs taxpayer-funded units of government (specifically school districts, along with colleges and universities) to violate federal law and refuse to cooperate with federal law enforcement authorities -- as if no terrorism suspect has ever held a student visa.  Actually, when you think about this little piece of anarchy it is kind of interesting -- especially for the precedent it sets for disobeying federal authority and federal law enforcement.  Perhaps years hence, when some latter day George Corley Wallace references it and a hundred other similar precedents for defying the federal government, we will know the harvest of what we are today sowing. 

These Democrats are trapped in the bubble of their own perspective.  A frequent situation these days that affects not just Democrats. 

A Rasmussen poll released today shows us that the more Democrat, liberal, and rich you are, the more likely you are to believe that America treats its Muslims worse than Christians living in Muslim nations are treated.  Yep, no kidding.

Everybody but the New Jersey Senate Democrats and their like understand that practicing a Christian faith in a Muslim dominated nation is an often daunting and frequently dangerous, even fatal vocation.  Many of these countries are theocratic states, which places various forms of Christian expression (not to mention Jewish) in direct conflict with the law.  And by "everybody" we are of course referring to the written work of such "far-right" sources as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Guardian newspaper.

As Rasmussen reports:  "Most voters agree that Christians living in Muslim-majority countries are mistreated for their religion.  But Democrats are more likely to think Muslims are mistreated in America than to think Christians are persecuted in the Islamic world."

Rasmussen finds that 62% of Likely U.S. Voters believe most Christians living in the Islamic world are treated unfairly because of their religion.   Just 17% disagree, while 21% more are undecided. The poll was conducted February 2-5, 2017.

And while 47% of Democrats think most Christians are mistreated in the Islamic world, 56% of Democrats believe most Muslims in America are mistreated.  For those who identify themselves as "liberal" those numbers are 45% and 60%, respectively.

And the richer you are, the more you believe this crap.  Only 12% of those earning between $30,000 and $50,000 say that Christians are not mistreated in the Islamic world, which rises with each income group, until we reach 23% among those earning more than $200,000.  As for Muslims being mistreated in America it rises from 39% to 49%, respectively.

The New Jersey Senate Democrats are very much captives of the perspective of their donor class.  Not their voters, their donors.

Dirtbag behavior: Sad to report, it's not only the Left

Last week, we all witnessed some of the more ridiculous antics of the Left, and there has been a lot of commentary about how certain people allowed their emotions to get the better of them.  Madonna made her threats, while others went in for displays of very bad taste.

Jersey Conservative reported on this, and we were quickly reminded that such poor behavior doesn't begin or end with the ideological Left.  Those reminding us were none other than those denizens of the new ideological "Right" -- the Tea Party.  Not everyone in the Tea Party behaves like a 15-year-old who got into his parents' liquor cabinet, but enough do to give the movement a bad name. 

Last week, an innocent family had an aerial view of their family home placed on a public Facebook page with the words "target acquired" posted underneath and the statement, "got to love drones LOL," posted under that.

The organizer of a draft campaign committee for Gail Phoebus publicly posted those personal details, believing that they belonged to a "political consultant" who works in Sussex County.  But as with so much that comes from these people, the Phoebus campaigner -- who is also a key figure in the Skylands Tea Party of Sussex County -- got it all wrong.

The home "targeted" by the Phoebus campaigner/ Tea Party activist is in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and it belongs to a perfectly innocent family with young children.  It is not the home of the "political consultant" that Mr. Tea Party seemed intent on injuring.

After a Sussex County blog reported this, the Phoebus campaign "administrator" appealed to his fellow Tea Partiers.  They responded with threats of violence and personal harm:

The "political consultant" (who is, in fact, a free lance writer) has already been the"target" of malicious and injurious acts by officials in Andover Township, where Phoebus once served as mayor.   They will have to shoulder some of the responsibility if one of their more emotional "supporters" gets a little too motivated and acts out against the consultant or even an inadvertent "target" of their hate.

If what these people post on their Facebook pages is anything to go by, they are certainly able to back up their anger with something a lot worse than words.

Instead of hate, maybe these folks should try calming down long enough to have a polite, rational, dignified policy discussion.  As the writer Isaac Asimov reminded us, "violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

But this keeps going from bad to worse.  Earlier this week another "administrator" of the Phoebus campaign and Tea Partier decided that he wasn't going to be outdone by the Left when it came to posting tasteless images.  He took the image below and explored an even lower range of human discourse.

Yes, this Tea Partier photoshopped the images of several Sussex County Republicans onto vaginas.  The images included a Republican State Senator, a Republican Assemblyman, a Republican candidate for Assembly, a Republican candidate for Freeholder, and a Republican free lance writer from Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  The photograph of the last, courtesy of Andover Township, New Jersey.

Mind you, the person photo-shopping Republicans onto vaginas isn't a member of some Left-wing organization protesting Donald Trump.   This person claims to be a Right-winger and member of the Tea Party, who had his photo taken earlier this month with Steve Rogers, the GOP candidate for Governor he says he's supporting.  Everyone involved is a Trump supporter.  This is how crazy some people act when they disagree with someone who agrees with them most of the time, imagine how nuts they'll get when it is someone on the other side?

The people trashed by this Tea Partier are among the most conservative in New Jersey, with perfect voting records on the Second Amendment and the Right-to-Life; top ratings from Americans for Prosperity and the American Conservative Union; who have consistently been there for the conservative movement and the Republican Party.  Heck, the free lance writer once worked for the National Rifle Association as a congressional district Election Volunteer Coordinator. 

Now we know people in the same Tea Party group -- the Skylands Tea Party.  They have names like Tom and Doug and Roseann and Sue.  They are grandparents and business owners and professionals.  How would they explain these images to their grandchildren?  Would they teach their grandchildren how to photo-shop the images of people who have helped them and their community onto a vagina?  Would they explain to them that this is the right way to deal with people when they fail to agree with you 100 percent of the time?  It's 100 percent or your face goes on a vagina! 

In closing, let us leave you with this image, posted at Halloween, by one of your members.  Our advice to you is to chill.  Push the restart button and begin to act like responsible adults.  End the rhetoric of hate.

Measuring voting records for 2017

2016 was a very strange year, in that you had Tea Party people running around calling Senator Jennifer Beck a "conservative."  That's funny, because not even Senator Beck calls herself "conservative."  In fact, it's a label she actively runs away from.

There are those who called Seth Grossman, an activist and former Atlantic County elected official,  a "conservative" -- even as he pushed a radical left social agenda that many liberals think goes too far.  His plan to repudiate the state's debt is a solution only if your town and county and state want to pay cash for everything -- up front -- from now on.  Try building a bridge without financing and see what that does to your property taxes.  It is the Argentina model.  Hardly what you would call "conservative."     

Then there are the raters -- groups like the American Conservative Union (ACU) take their cues from GOP legislative leaders who are not especially "conservative" when they choose the handful of votes by which they rate a legislator.  And so they miss big ones like welfare for drug dealers and liberal legislators suddenly become more "conservative" without changing their voting habits at all.

The truth is that what it means to be a "conservative" has changed a lot since Ronald Reagan ran for President in 1980.  That year, one of the Koch brothers who have come to so dominate modern conservative politics ran against Reagan on a libertarian ticket with a platform that made many liberals blush.

Instead of swallowing a special interest group rating hook, line, and sinker -- we need to examine who is doing the rating, what is their history, their agenda as it pertains to the votes they selected, and what did they leave out.  Knowing these things will give the reader a better idea of who the rater is.

No one rating system is going to satisfy everyone calling themselves "conservative," so for 2017 Jersey Conservative is going to put together ratings based on a  broader range of conservative identities.   In this way, individuals can decide which legislator or candidate comes nearest to their selected "identity."

There are Reagan conservatives with issue interests different from libertarians, Tea Party conservatives, Evangelical conservatives, the Pro-Life movement, the Second Amendment movement, Trump conservatives, Chamber of Commerce Republicans, and "It's My Party Too" Republicans.  We also have the platform of the Republican National Committee as a benchmark. 

If you are a traditional Reagan conservative, it would be helpful to know not only how a legislator or candidate rates based on a "Reagan" issues grid, but on a "Trump" one as well, a "Koch" one, or a "Whitman" one.  It will broaden the perspective and provide more information than the simple "conservative" label does currently.  

This is going to be a collaborative effort, so we will be looking for your input on both issues and votes.  Write to us with your ideas.

Which one do you identify with?

More dirtball Tea Party posts on FaceBook

What is it about some Tea Partiers that they have to immediately go down the dirt path?  Skylands Tea Party member and self-proclaimed candidate for the New Jersey Legislature Kevin Mazzoti was once again writing about his favorite subjects:

"Suck a big fat one"

(November 2, 2016, 9:27PM)

"You are already sucking XXXXX off.  We know you are."

(November 2, 2016, 9:29PM)

"Pussy.  Yes, guess what I just said, pussy."

(November 2, 2016, 9:36PM)

"Tea Party patriots are not violent people.  We just tell it like it is."

(November 2, 2016, 9:38PM)

Now there is a walking, talking argument for therapy.  The strange thing is that people who one would think are relatively sane, people who claim to have religious values even, cheer on this imbecile and his pornographic, juvenile language. 

Meanwhile, another Tea Partier sent out an email blast opposing Question 2 on the November 8th ballot.  According to this man, Question 2 is really a conspiracy aimed at "people like him" and not -- as those of us on Planet Earth understand it -- simply a means to ensure that all the revenue from the gas tax is used for transportation projects. 

We got to thinking about the phrase, "people like him", so we looked him up and found this newspaper report concerning his wedding, where according to the Star-Ledger, the couple "consecrating the marriage by drinking wine which contained drops of their own blood in it."  Yes, they are into the whole vampire scene.  It just goes to show you that the mainstream media has it wrong when they describe Tea Partiers as "conservative" or "Christian."  All you have to be is angry.  And apparently the vampire community is well represented.

There is a small core of social media warriors who have been working as a team to stalk and harass legislators who supported the tax restructuring plan.  They work in the same manner that similar teams on the Left do.  Are they in the employ of NJ101.5 or its agent?

Finally, we noticed these charming posts by a prominent Tea Party leader, discussing the death, from cancer, of an elected Republican official:

"I'm praying hard you suffer even more than he does. You deserve it."

"Like me, she is eagerly anticipating your painful demise, Die ...and please, oh pretty please...do it painfully." 

"And do keep us apprised of the gory details...we so LOVE those."

So when they try to tell you that it is about principle, don't believe them.  This is raw hate. 

Of course, not every Tea Party group behaves like this.  On the website of a Tea Party organization in a neighboring county, we found this admonishment to members:

Remember the quote attributed to Ronald Reagan “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally – not a 20 percent traitor.” 

If only they all could be so balanced and rational.

Tea Party candidate threatens GOP Assembly Leader

Mark Quick, who in 2011 ran with Sussex County Tea Party president Roseann Salanitri against conservative legislators Alison Littell McHose and Gary Chiusano, used social media to post what appeared to be a threat against GOP Assembly Leader Jon Bramnick and others.  Quick's post was in response to a plea for civility made by Assemblyman Bramnick:

"I am deeply concerned how partisanship has evolved into hatred and intolerance.  We must be very careful that our country does not continue down a path that can only be destructive for our nation."

Quick, who opposes the tax restructuring plan supported by Assemblyman Bramnick and others, responded derisively:

"As soon as the Traitors are in jail or swinging from a rope."

"Traitors... swinging from a rope?"  Was that violent image (lynching) really necessary?

But this is just what we have come to expect from Sussex County's tea partiers -- coarse, pornographic rants laced with threats of violence.  Posting mainly through social media, those responsible sound more like 15 year-olds than the 70 pluses they tend to be.

Here is one Sussex County tea party member musing on what should be done with the United States Congress:

"All 545 sitting in DC right now are guilty of treason. And all those living who have sat over the past 2 decades, since the signing of NAFTA are, too. That is our reality, they should all be indicted, dragged out in chains, the evidence a matter of congressional record and unimpeachable. And all should be subject to all the consequences the law provides up to the firing squad."

But not every Tea Party group is like this.  On the website of a Tea Party organization in a neighboring county, we found this admonishment to members:

Remember the quote attributed to Ronald Reagan “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally – not a 20 percent traitor.” 

Sussex County has New Jersey's most reliable conservative legislators -- year in, year out.  And yet, since the beginnings of the Tea Party movement in 2010, tea party members in Sussex County have consistently attacked them as "20 percent traitors" (actually, we'd be surprised if there was five percent disagreement on the issues between them).

The Tea Party has attacked Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose, Assemblyman Gary Chiusano, Assemblyman Parker Space, Senator Steve Oroho, and others.  It lay aside developing a door-to-door commitment for Congressman Scott Garrett, in order to focus its attentions on the apparently far more thrilling game of screw the conservative Republican.  Why go after Pro-abortion, anti-Second Amendment liberal Democrat Josh Gottheimer when you can screw Pro-Life, Pro-gun, Pro-hunting conservative Republican Steve Oroho?  It's priorities. 

It has never been about policy for the Tea Party in Sussex County, but rather about individual envy, jealousy, covetousness, and the hatred these sins produce.  Now, unfortunately, the ooze is making its way around the state, courtesy of Bill Spadea and others.

Update!  While writing this column we've heard from another Sussex County Tea Party member (Skylands Tea Party) and candidate for the state legislature.  He made this charming comment:

Now there's the kind of guy you want in the State Legislature, providing leadership, a role model for children.  Go Tea Party! 

Tea Party leader calls Nazi beer hall "charming"

Douglas Amedeo, a New York attorney and leader in the Skylands Tea Party, recently posted the following on social media:

We respectfully disagree with attorney Amedeo.  No less than the top Nazi architect himself, Albert Speer, held that National Socialist (Nazi) architecture was reflective of its ideological attitudes.  We suggest attorney Amedeo read "Inside the Third Reich", written by Speer while serving a prison sentence for crimes against humanity. 

For our part, we can find nothing "charming" in National Socialist architecture, although we do understand that taste is a very subjective and often personal matter.

To the leaders of Andover Township we have a question and a suggestion.

The Question:  Why hasn't Andover Township placed a plaque on the property to honor the victims of the ideology that was practiced at the American National Socialist Bund's Camp Nordland (what attorney Amedeo refers to as the "Barn in Hillside Park")?

The Suggestion:  That Andover Township place a plaque at the site of the American National Socialist Bund's Camp Nordland, to honor the victims of the ideology practiced there; and that Andover Township donate all proceeds from events held at the former Nazi Beer Hall to organizations representing the victims of the Holocaust and their families.

As for Tea Party leader Amedeo's suggestion that Great Britain's constitutional monarchy was somehow equivalent to the dictatorship of Adolph Hitler... well, that is simply preposterous.  America owes its democratic roots to English Common Law and our representative system of government to "the mother of parliaments" -- British representative democracy.

Perhaps we could arrange a public debate on the Tea Party's assertion that the British monarch is an equivalent to the Nazi dictator.  Attorney Amedeo could argue for the proposition, and perhaps Professor Murray Sabrin, who lost family in the Holocaust, could argue against.

And far from being "an administrative seat of King George's colonial government," Independence Hall was constructed in 1753 as buildings to house the colonial Legislature of the Province of Pennsylvania.  The refining simplicity of its construction and its layout are the very essence of representative democracy. 

To compare Independence Hall to a Nazi beer hall is asinine.  We trust that the Tea Party and its leadership will further their reading on this.  We can recommend several good authors on the subject, although "Philadelphia, A 300-Year History" (edited by Russell F. Weigley, published in 1982) is a good place to start.  For more in-depth reading, we recommend beginning with "Watson's Annals of Philadelphia" (John F. Watson, 1884).

A scene from Camp Nordland, Andover Township, New Jersey.

Five lies the Tea Party should refrain from

It's the Tea Party, so you can be sure there will be histrionics aplenty at their rally on Saturday.  Former Freeholder and town council candidate Harvey Roseff, late of the NJTA, will be on hand in his usual role as Carnac the all-knowing.  So the slogans, born from lack of study, will be flying as well.

Nevertheless, the Skylands Tea Party and Roseff with his NJTA should try to avoid re-telling a few of the bigger lies they've been pedaling.

First.  The Skylands Tea Party is not the same as "We the People of the Garden State."  You are a very small handful of the 9 million people who live in New Jersey.  You have every right to speak for yourselves, but nobody elected you to speak for "the people of New Jersey" -- and you are generally very disrespectful towards those who have actually gone before the people and who were elected.  This is probably because you see them as occupying your rightful place but... this is America, and in America we vote for our leaders.  Nobody voted for you.

Second.  Please do not refer to members of construction unions as "thugs."  The only thuggish behavior exhibited has been by members and associates of the Tea Party on social media with their pornographic insults and threats of violence.  Many thousands of building trades workers reside in Sussex County with their families.  They vote, pay taxes, read newspapers, and patronize businesses.  And while we are on this subject, if Tea Party candidate Mark Quick attends, Skylands (or Roseff) should remember that at a similar protest in July he was ordered out of the Lafayette House because of his loud and violent behavior.  He needs a minder.

Third.  "This tax increase never even got a public hearing."  Harvey Roseff and the NJTA have been pushing this lie for weeks.  And again yesterday, Roseff posted this lie on the Sussex Watchdog website.  The facts are that there were extensive public hearings on this legislation by both the Senate and Assembly.  The Reason Foundation actually gave extensive testimony at one hearing.  On top of this, Senator Oroho has publically spoken before a number of groups in Sussex County on this topic.  Just because Roseff couldn't find the time to attend, doesn't mean it never happened.

Fourth.  Carnac the all-knowing (AKA Harvey Roseff) has been shopping around the lie that he can fund the TTF through savings.  He told the NJ Herald: "The audit and the repeal go together.  You do the audit to find out how the money is being spent and to find savings. With the savings there is no reason for the gas tax." 

Two questions come to mind:  (1) How does Roseff know what savings he will find if the audit hasn't been conducted yet?  And how can he speak so assuredly that those savings will be sufficient if he has no clue as to their amount?

(2) The fact is that not since 1990 has the state's user tax on gasoline and diesel produced enough revenue to cover the cost to maintain the state's transportation system.  Today the debt service alone exceeds $1.1 billion.  In contrast, the gas tax collected just a bit more than $750 in 2015.  That means if Harvey found 100% savings -- if he found a way to build the roads for free -- he would still need to increase the gas tax just to pay for the yearly debt payment the TTF has accrued over the last decades.

As you can plainly see, Harvey Roseff is full of bullshit.

Five.  The gas tax applies to "all petroleum products."  This lie was put out there by the Skylands Tea Party in an email blast dated October 18th that invited people to the rally.  This is part of a nasty whisper campaign to frighten people into believing that the tax applies to home heating oil.  In response, the Office of Legislative Services released this definitive statement:

"Assembly Bill No. 12 (2R) of 2016, recently enacted as P.L.2016, c.57.  Home heating oil, which includes number 2 heating oil, number 4 heating oil, and number 6 heating oil,  used for residential heating is exempt from the Petroleum Products Gross Receipts Tax.  The exemption is included as part of the definition of 'petroleum products' under the 'Petroleum Products Gross Receipts Tax Act,' 54:15B-1 et seq.  The definition of petroleum products was not amended as part of Assembly Bill No. 12 (2R), and therefore the exemption still applies." 

Memo to the Skylands Tea Party and Harvey "Carnac" Roseff:  Stop telling lies.  Deal in the real world. 

Is the Tea Party anti-First Amendment?

Earlier this week the Skylands Tea Party ran a paid advertisement in the New Jersey Herald inviting members of the public to attend a rally on Saturday, October 22nd.  It was accompanied by a press release, which formed the basis of the following NJ Herald story:

Rally planned for Newton Green Saturday in wake of gas tax hike

New Jersey Herald: Oct. 17, 2016 12:01 am

NEWTON -- The Skylands Tea Party and New Jersey Taxpayers' Association will hold a rally on Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Newton Green to demand a forensic audit of NJ Transit, the Transportation Trust Fund and Port Authority in response to the approved 23-cent gas tax hike signed by Gov. Chris Christie on Friday and set to take effect Nov. 1.

"We, the people of New Jersey, have been overtaxed and poorly governed for far too long," states a joint news release submitted by Harvey Roseff, vice president of the NJTA.

"The increased gas tax, one of the largest tax increases to ever hit the family, was a bridge too far and is unconscionable. Tax policy can't fix management problems -- the problem festers and grows."

The public event is scheduled to run 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

"We are inviting friends and families to stand tall and ask for low-cost, efficient government to become the governing priority," states the event announcement.

http://www.njherald.com/20161017/rally-planned-for-newton-green-saturday-in-wake-of-gas-tax-hike

This was followed by an email from the Skylands Tea Party on October 18, 2016:

"We the People of this Garden State are staging a protest on Saturday, October 22nd.  It will be held at the Newton Green on the corner of Route 94 and Spring Street, beginning at 11:00 AM and ending at 1:00 PM."

That's an open invitation to a public meeting on public property.

But when some of the organizers of the rally found out that folks who don't necessarily share their point of view were thinking of taking them up on the offer, they flipped.  Sources claim they went to the Newton mayor's office with their concerns. 

We don't know what action the Mayor, a political ally of Assemblyperson Gail Phoebus, took.  What we do know is that a Newton police officer called people and suggested that they do not belong at the rally.  We don't know why these people were targeted or who gave their names to the police.  What is clear is that these people do not share the Tea Party's point of view.

How is that for silencing the opposition?  How is that for bullying the First Amendment? 

Anyone who uses armed government officers to eliminate the presence of opposing viewpoints, inconvenient as they may be, is nothing more than an old-fashioned Fascist.  Speech should be met with speech, ideas with ideas, not by men with guns.

Of course, we can understand the concerns some in the Tea Party might have for what some of their members might do to anyone at the rally who holds a different opinion.  Tea Party members have been going overboard using violent and pornographic images and language on social media to describe anyone who disagrees with them -- like this charming Tea Party member from Sussex County:

"All 545 sitting in DC right now are guilty of treason. And all those living who have sat over the past 2 decades, since the signing of NAFTA are, too. That is our reality, they should all be indicted, dragged out in chains, the evidence a matter of congressional record and unimpeachable. And all should be subject to all the consequences the law provides up to the firing squad."

If the Tea Party allows its members to behave this way then they should take responsibility for them.  They should not seek to protect them from any alternative opinion that might result in them going off their meds.  And they certainly should not be involving armed government officers in what should be a civilized, human-to-human exchange of ideas.

All this so Phoebus can sign-off on a liberal judge?

As a young married man, just starting a family, Steve Oroho got involved in public policy by going to March for Life walks and as a numbers-cruncher for W. R. Grace and Company -- who fed those numbers into something called the Grace Commission, set up President Ronald Reagan to find ways to make government run efficiently.  Steve's son was Senator Bob Littell's paper boy, and it was through him that he met Bob and became the Senator's campaign treasurer.

Alison Littell McHose urged Steve to get involved in local government in Franklin Borough.  He started with the economic development committee and then was elected to borough council.  He helped the town manage its debt and brought in new procedures to monitor spending.  Steve was elected to the freeholder board in 2004, where he worked with Hal Wirths and Gary Chiusano to overhaul Sussex County's budget process and establish fiscal restraint.

In 2007, he stood for State Senate after Senator Bob Littell became too ill to run for re-election.   Steve was the underdog.  Nobody in Trenton thought he could win and none of the usual sources of fundraising were open to him.  But Steve had been asked by leaders in the Sussex County community to run anyway, to try to keep the Senate seat in Sussex County.  His opponent was a Morris County resident and Morris County was crowded with Senate seats. Sussex County only had one. 

So Steve put his own money up.  It was a hardship for him and his growing family, but he did it anyway, because he listened and understood that Sussex County needed its own Senator.  That counties without proper representation become orphans in Trenton and got short shrift.  Running with an all-Sussex team of Alison Littell McHose, Gary Chiusano, Hal Wirths, and Jeff Parrott -- Steve and the whole team won. 

Since then, Steve has served Sussex County, Northwest New Jersey, and the 24th Legislative District.  Whenever a Republican candidate has needed resources, Steve has been there, putting his hand in his pocket or raising it.  Whenever the county GOP was broke and needed money, Steve has seen them through.  When the state party and Republican legislative candidates needed money, Steve has given it or raised it for them.  Conservative organizations have turned to Steve and he has never let them down.  Christian charities, places where young women can have their babies instead of being financially pressed into abortion, have turned to Steve -- and he has never turned them away. 

When Americans for Prosperity (AFP) put up a candidate for Governor, Steve Oroho incurred the wrath of Chris Christie but Steve would not go against AFP's candidate.  And when that man said that he would be a candidate for the United States Senate against Cory Booker, Steve was among the first to rally to his side.

As Senator, Steve has worked with conservative think tanks to fashion model conservative legislation.  Steve serves as chairman of the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and he's carried legislation for the NRA and other Second Amendment groups.  He is the prime sponsor of the Pro-Life community's most important piece of legislation.  He has championed the cause of religious liberty and traditional values. 

The business community -- small and large -- has relied on Steve Oroho to protect them from big government and over-regulation.  And he has protected both the job creators and the taxpayers.  Against great odds and with both chambers controlled by the Democrats, Steve has the best record of passing tax cuts in Trenton.  In fact, the Star-Ledger tracked the legislative success of legislators and found that of the top ten, only one was a Republican -- Steve Oroho.

It's true that Steve Oroho doesn't sound like Donald Trump.  He doesn't talk trash about those he disagrees with.  Instead, Steve engages in a policy discussion with them.  He comes armed with facts not curse words.  He is patient, courteous, and kind to those with whom he disagrees.  And that's why he gets other legislators, even Democrats, to see his way.

In 2011, the Tea Party got mad at Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose because she wouldn't support a liberal for the Republican nomination for United States Senate.  That liberal was Dick LaRossa, a former State Senator who the NRA had walked away from in 1996.  The Tea Party had been sweet-talked by Dick.  They liked Dick and thought he was the next big thing.  That all came to nothing.  So, seeking revenge, the Tea Party ran two candidates in District 24 against McHose and Gary Chiusano.  One Tea Party candidate got 5 percent of the vote.  The other got 2 percent.

Now they want to do it again.  And it's all over the appointment of a liberal judge to the Superior Court.  Senator Steve Oroho won't do it.  But a Senator Gail Phoebus would. 

The Tea Party has chosen as its issue the gas tax portion of the tax restructuring package.  The one tax in a five-tax-cuts package.  They have been attacking Steve Oroho for weeks using the most graphic violent and pornographic language.  The vicious rumors have been spread by people who once turned to him in their need.  Why do some people feel the need to damage someone they called "friend" and spread filth just because they disagree over a single policy?  These are people who claim to believe in God -- but what Creator would license this type of behavior towards that which is His?

We don't believe that the Tea Party will be any more successful this time than it was in 2011.  But one day, Steve Oroho will leave the scene.  And who will fill his shoes?  Then the Tea Party will be singing a different tune:

Now they're attacking Garrett for the gas tax

The anger-driven, screw-them-all cacophony of the Tea Party is now costing embattled conservative Republican Congressman Scott Garrett votes.

Facebook post:  "Didn't Garrett support the gas tax?  Really hurts Sussex County residents."

How misinformed!  But these are the kinds of conclusions drawn when you are functioning on high-octane hate.  Facts don't matter.  All that matters is rage and targets for that rage.

Scott Garrett is a Sussex County native who has represented New Jersey’s fifth congressional district since 2003.  This year, he’s locked in the most difficult race he's ever faced.  Garrett is an unabashed social conservative with an almost perfect conservative voting record.

The American Conservative Union rated him 100 percent last year. His lifetime ACU rating is 99.38.  Garrett is a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus and has the support of the Club for Growth.

Still, many in the Tea Party find him suspect because he didn't rise from their ranks and his politics predates 2009 -- Year Zero for the Tea Party.  Unlike many Tea Party leaders, Congressman Garrett is an old-fashioned conservative gentleman who eschews the kind of foul-language on display from Tea Party Facebook warriors and at Tea Party rallies.  He is definitely out of step with the movement's manner of communicating. 

This has earned Garrett problems from the Tea Party in the past.  He was challenged in a Republican primary by a Tea Party member who will be playing a big part at the October 22nd Rally on Newton Green.  Despite his 99.38 lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, that Tea Party leader described Garrett as a far-left liberal.  Violence and threats have been directed at the Congressman's office.

In the past, the Tea Party has often let their emotions get the better of them.  At times, they behave as if they are disconnected from our shared reality, rejecting fact for feeling.  Too often, violence is on their lips.  They fail to forgive long time allies and friends, and instead heap the most vicious invective on them.  Here is a chilling post, by a Tea Party leader from Sussex County, that expresses the kind of desires that can grow when you fail to keep hold of your humanity, humility, and common decency:

"All 545 sitting in DC right now are guilty of treason. And all those living who have sat over the past 2 decades, since the signing of NAFTA are, too. That is our reality, they should all be indicted, dragged out in chains, the evidence a matter of congressional record and unimpeachable. And all should be subject to all the consequences the law provides up to the firing squad."

What this Tea Party leader is describing is a lynching.  Let's hope that's not what happens on the 22nd.  People don't need any more reasons to vote for our mutual opponents.

Bill Spadea... you have a lot to answer for.

Spadea lands candidate against Oroho

Franklin Borough Mayor Nicholas Giordano, a Republican, recently bragged on Facebook that he had voted for both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.  The Mayor, who is said to be seeking a political appointment at the Sussex County Municipal Utilities Authority (SCMUA) while dodging questions about a land deal that benefits his family, has been a controversial figure since replacing longtime Mayor Paul Crowley in January.

CONSTITUENT:  Don't talk conservative when you brag about voting for Bill Clinton and Barack Obama Mayor.

Franklin Mayor Nick Giordano: Yup cause I vote best candidate at the time not by party.

"He's a critter in a big hurry," said one county insider, while another dismissed Giordano as "Mayor Thuglife".

Mayor Nicholas Giordano:  Obama was the "best candidate".

Nonetheless, Giordano seems ready to heed former GOP candidate turned talk radio host Bill Spadea's call for candidates to primary the anti-debt Republicans who stood up and took on the Transportation Trust Fund debacle after 25 years of deficit spending, debt, and lies to cover up the can being kicked down the road.  He's told supporters that he's preparing to run and will launch a recall effort against Senator Steve Oroho (R-24).

The Mayor has also trashed the state League of Municipalities for taking a position opposite his on the TTF.  On Facebook, Giordano exhibits a stunning lack of knowledge on the subject of how the TTF is funded, operates, and about the Tax Restructuring legislation passed on Friday.  Just one example is that Giordano insists that the 23 cents a gallon tax is on home heating oil and is unmoved by evidence to the contrary.

Given Bill Spadea's political history, a Giordano candidacy makes sense.  Spadea's campaign manager in his last attempt at elected office (Assembly) was none other than Tea Partier Leigh Ann Bellew.  She challenged Republican Senator Joe Kyrillos in 2013 the year after she ran Spadea's effort against conservative darling Donna Simon.  Her campaign was dreadful and ended even more dreadfully.  A popular video was circulated to describe the effort, start to finish:

This is the way with so many "Tea Party" members.  Rational discussion is suspect.  It is the anger that matters (aka, "Heart and Soul").  Welcome to Spadea's toilet.

More Republicans are now vulnerable

The NJGOP is a party organization without a base of support -- and after the Governor leaves, the views held by its leadership will not match the aspirations of a heavy majority of its natural electorate.  They disagree on issues like abortion, upholding the Second Amendment (as well as other Bill of Rights issues), and gender morphism (the new fundraising tool of the same-sex marriage lobby). 

They will also be more deeply divided than ever along lines of class.  If New Jersey Republicans were already living in a time-bubble of Kean-Whitman attitudes, that will get worse as they react to the flood of blue-collar and post-collar voters into the party, courtesy of Donald Trump.  As the GOP's voters become poorer and grungier, the NJGOP's leadership will want less and less to do with them.

At the same time, the unification of the powerful New Jersey Democratic Party, the joining up of massive resources and a huge activist base behind a single mega-wealthy candidate for Governor sets in motion an existential struggle for the NJGOP in 2017.

In the era of SuperPACS, Republicans would have been lucky to have had the resources to defend all their incumbents in the General Election next year. But the way in which the TTF debate was handled this year has made the prospects for next year much worse.  The antics of Jennifer Beck, Bill Spadea, AFP, and some in the tea party movement have opened the door to several expensive primaries. That will spend down an already limited supply of money and drive up the negatives of the eventual GOP candidate in a growing number of districts.  Given the resources of the now unified Democratic Left the TTF debate itself has opened the way for them to contest a growing number of heretofore "safe" Republican seats. 

The Democratic Left has the resources.  Remember too that the Democrats already hold all three legislative seats in the 1st District -- the 5th most Republican district in the state.  In theory then, there could be just 12 Republican legislators left standing when the dust settles.  But the Democrats have won even in rock-ribbed Warren County, where they held the Freeholder Board within memory, and pre-Oroho they were able to contest and win a seat on the Sussex County freeholder Board.  Given the right candidate and resources, the Democrats have been able to elect a Senator in Morris County.

The failure of legislative Republicans to debate their policy choices in an adult manner has led to everything from accusations of criminal misconduct to death threats against those traditional conservatives concerned about the monstrous growth of debt.  The tone of the TTF discussion within the Republican tent has been suicidal and whatever is to be gained from building the radio career of former GOP candidate Bill Spadea will be lost in the pointless rage he has directed with malice and on purpose at Republican legislators.  Through one-sided interviews, misrepresentations, and outright lies, Spadea magnified the significance of a 23 cents-a-gallon tax increase and taken the focus away from New Jersey's highest in the nation property taxes and highest in the nation foreclosure rate.

Liberal GOP insiders, like Senator Jennifer Beck, have stoked Spadea, given him permission to behave so irresponsibly.  While refusing to address the TTF debt and opposing spending on roads and bridge repairs, Beck called for new spending for Planned Parenthood.  Then she got Spadea to put out lies about a Republican colleague who is the Prime Sponsor of the most important piece of Pro-Life legislation this session.  How is that for killing two birds with one stone! 

This Republican on Republican fratricide will most certainly lead to primaries that the NJGOP and the Republican legislative committees cannot afford.  The hatred driven by the Koch Petroleum-funded AFP, some Tea Party groups, and especially Bill Spadea at NJ101.5, is such that it should come as no surprise when legislators on both sides of what should have been a mature, civilized policy discussion end up with primary challenges next year.

Good job Beck!  Good job Spadea!  Good job AFP!  Good job Tea Party! 

Instead of a rational discussion, we have had an emotional mob forgetting that while their Social Security payouts have been increasing for inflation each year, for 28 years the tax on gasoline used to fund the TTF has not been adjusted for inflation.  Let's run those numbers:  The federal cost-of-living-adjustments were 4.0% in 1988, 4.7% in 1989, 5.4% in 1990, 3.7% in 1991, 3% in 1992, 2.6% in 1993, 2.8% in 1994, 2.6% in 1995, 2.9% in 1996, 2.1% in 1997, 1.3% in 1998, 2.5% in 1999, 3.5% in 2000, 2.6% in 2001, 1.4% in 2002, 2.1% in 2003, 2.7% in 2004, 4.1% in 2005, 3.3% in 2006, 2.3% in 2007, 5.8% in 2008, zero in 2009, zero in 2010, 3.6% in 2011, 1.7% in 2012, 1.5% in 2013, 1.7% in 2014, and zero in 2015.  But the price we paid to maintain our roads and bridges remained the same.  Didn't we ever wonder how?  

One of the most interesting aspects of the operating style of Beck, Spadea, AFP, and some tea party groups is the way in which they vilify their opponents. A policy discussion over a long neglected adjustment for inflation of a revenue source was turned into an existential drama.  As Paul Mulshine noted earlier this week, how did all these people survive when gasoline was $4 a gallon not so long ago? 

The displacement of reason by emotion is the classic way of the fascist.  So is the necessity of dehumanizing your opponents.  That is how you get people to wish someone dead, to threaten it, or even to act on it.  A colleague who you have known personally for years, who has been over to your home for supper, who has met your wife and children and you his, suddenly becomes an insignificance unworthy of human understanding. 

The followers of such people are told that it is right to despise Republicans like Joe Kyrillos and Steve Oroho and Jon Bramnick and Betty Lou DeCroce.  Their followers are told that under no circumstances should they meet with these "RINOS" because meeting another human being, on-the-level, person-to-person might give rise to thoughts of moderation, to an understanding that though we disagree on this issue, we agree on much else, or to at least the recognition that in another person's face, there is humanity.

"No, that is not the way," they hiss, "you must hate these people as you hate a cancer."  All this dark energy over a policy discussion regarding how to address a long-neglected debt, over how to repair and maintain the roads every one of these people use every day.  Wow!  Wow!  Wow and wow again!

Erickson: The Tea Party is Dead.

Erick Erickson is an author, former editor of Red State, a radio talk show host, and the editor of The Resurgent.

On February 19, 2009, CNBC editor Rick Santelli, stood on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and went on a tirade against the Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan, which bailed out individuals who had (mostly) knowingly entered terrible mortgages and could not pay them off. Santelli was so outraged he predicted a “Chicago Tea Party” would rise up.

His statement went viral within conservative media. Played over and over on talk radio and reposted on conservative websites, activists who already felt alienated by a Republican Party that had drifted toward corporatism and away from conservatism decided to mobilize. Local talk radio hosts around the country organized tea party protests on tax day. “Taxed Enough Already” signs sprouted up across conservative areas.

Those tea party groups organized and the Washington conservative apparatus stepped in to try to bring some focus, order, and assistance. Donors stepped up and helped fund other groups. Because of Citizens United, small dollar donors suddenly found themselves able to combine resources without a bunch of lawyers and compete against the big guys. Organized tea party groups sprang up, national tea party coalitions sprang up, other groups rose, and the C-Team and D-List celebrity consultants of the right decided to cash in.

Tea party activists were mad at both Republicans and Democrats. They were mad at Democrats for Obamacare and big government and keeping all their promises. They were mad at Republicans for TARP, the General Motors bail out, and breaking all their promises. Over the course of 2009, tea party activists became more and more organized and by 2010 decided to challenge long time Republicans they felt had broken promises while challenging Democrats as well in open seats.

The media portrayed them as racists. They were derisively called “tea baggers” by reporters and left-wing pundits. Republicans really did not know what to make of them. Democrats considered them a hate group. During the 2009 August recess, as Democrats sought to hide from voters, tea party activists showed up at townhall meetings and began embarrassing congressmen by proving these citizens actually knew what they were talking about. Union activists showed up to disrupt the recesses. While the media blamed tea partiers for violence, all but a handful of arrests made at the time were of union activists. Being beset by all sides fostered a lot of unity and solidarity. But then, after the 2010 election, the activists expected the GOP to actually use the power of the purse to hold the President accountable. It did not happen. In the minds of the activists, goal posts were moved by Republican leaders who’d promised action. Excuses were made. The activists got even angrier.

Tea Party activists learned, in the process, what pro-life activists had long known. Many Republicans would tell them they supported their cause, but behind the scenes would mock the tea party activists as hicks and rubes. Their checks were appreciated, but their opinions were not. Pro-life activists had long gotten used to this, but still pushed and cajoled and tried to work from within and without to incrementally advance their agenda. The anger built. Activists began to suspect Republican leaders had no willingness to act and Republican leaders concluded the activists did not understand how the system worked.

As the anger grew within the tea party activists, something vital to their cause never did — discernment. Some activists decided they could make a quick buck. Some consultants learned quickly they could profit off scamPACs and take advantage of tea party activists. The activists could never discern the good from the bad. Sometimes it was because of friendships, but not all the time. It started to become a real problem though and when some began calling out the con-artists and charlatans, they were branded as too Washington friendly. The grassroots tea party activists grew more cynical and distrustful.

The national tea party groups started fighting internally and with each other. The local groups felt like the national groups were of no help. That distrust, over the next few years, would poison the well. With a lack of trust in any group from Washington, no matter the bona fides of the organization, and with a serious lack of discernment, tea party activists finally took a go-it-alone approach in recruitment. They began finding the most socially maladjusted candidates to run for office — people who showed up at all the rallies and who, frankly, had been the volunteers most candidates left in the back of the office putting stamps on envelopes. Now, suddenly, they were the candidates because they had put in the sweat equity and were true believers. In still other cases, candidates sprang up, bought tables at tea party events, threw red meat to the crowd, and got endorsements without ever really believing what they were saying.

Considerations of electability were set aside because these were the people the local activists could trust. When national groups stepped forward, whose core competencies were fielding grassroots conservatives candidates, the tea party activists chose to ignore their advice. Consequently, multiple true-believer conservatives started entering primaries against a conservative who could win and an establishment candidate. The true-believers attacked the conservative who could win as a poseur standing between the tea party and the establishment.

The damage became immense as the Republican establishment struck back. Groups like the Senate Conservatives Fund and Club For Growth were getting blamed for awful candidates running for office who they not only did not fund, but never actually supported and actively tried to dissuade from running.

As this confluence of malevolence, incompetence, and distrust built energy, the tea party began to fracture. Many of its members decided the only way to win was to adopt the tactics of the left.

Unfortunately, they defined those tactics as behaving like thugs and jackasses. The left won, they thought, by being nasty. So they would be nasty too. The face of grassroots conservatism became a face of anger.

When conservatives stepped forward to promote the idea of the happy warrior, the angry activists accused them of surrender and compromise. Eventually, conservatives began stepping back and the angry grew more suspicious of anyone and everyone within a few degrees of Washington, D.C. All the while, the ever more corporatist Republican establishment played on and off these divisions, smearing legitimate conservative organizations as profiteers while continually breaking promises. 

When Jeb Bush entered the Presidential race, the angry and suspicious became the angry and paranoid. They rallied to Donald Trump, not so much because they agreed with him, but because they were desperate. They had become convinced there was no hope, 2016 could mean the end of America, and they must take drastic measures to turn the tide. Drastic measures meant Trump. The conservatives, like Paul, Rubio and Cruz, could not be trusted because they were of Washington. That they had opposed Washington to varying degrees made no difference. The angry and paranoid concluded they were infected by establishmentarianism.

This all finally came to a head on Tuesday night. The angry and paranoid put forward Kelli Ward in Arizona, who believed in chem trails, and Carlos Beruff in Florida. Both reflected the bleak black hearts of the remains of a movement no longer driven by shared believe in limited government and instead driven by crazy town. Both were defeated and deservedly so. A tea party movement that stopped listening to sound advice and turned inward and tribal needed to lose.

After Trump’s loss in November, the angry-paranoid remnant of the tea party movement will not go away. It will still fester and troll. But those who developed the discernment to realize our ways are not the left’s ways and we do not have to proceed as they proceed will be the ones to help pick up the pieces. The others will, for the most part, be ignored.

The tea party began through common cause and it died because too many of its members failed at discernment and, as a result, were betrayed from within and from without only then to grow too angry for anyone to ever want to join their cause except the fringe. One silver lining of the movement was that it found a Republican Party of old white men and left it with younger, more diverse officials. The old white men did not back Allen West, Nikki Haley, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Tim Scott, and others. But the tea party movement did in its early days. Because of the tea party, for the first time since the Civil War, the congressional district wherein Fort Sumter resides had a black congressman and an Indian-American Governor. That congressman is now South Carolina’s Senator and that Governor may be a future Presidential contender. The group portrayed as racist by the media in 2009 and 2010 broadened the color spectrum of the GOP. That is worth remembering.