The First Honest Republican Criticism of the Kinder Debacle

While I've certainly enjoyed watching Republicans taking shots at Peter Kinder's disastrous gubernatorial campaign, it also has been more than a little exasperating watching so many of them pretending to be shocked that a Republican politician went to a strip club 17 years ago. Let's get serious here people.

So kudos to the conservative Missouri Record for actually offering an honest assessment of why many Republicans want Kinder to go:

Kinder's real sin, however, is not what he did 17 years ago, but that in this race he was never in danger of actually defeating Governor Nixon. Everything is forgivable in politics—except losing. The top of the ticket is viewed as so weak that Republicans are hesitant to run for Attorney General or Treasurer.

I do disagree with Patrick Tuohey on this last bit, though:

Kinder's choice is between leaving at the height of his career with the gratitude of many, or to risk becoming a liability to the very causes and candidates he holds dear.

Tuohey's trying to present this as if Kinder can still save face by leaving the race now. I have a hard time seeing that, considering how embarrassing the scandals of 2011 have been for him. And if he drops out and (as most people predict) Republicans lose anyway, he'll still get much of the blame.

St. Louis Tea Party: Steve Tilley Sides With "Hardest of Hard Left"

Other than Dana Loesch and Jim Hoft, the St. Louis Tea party appears to be largely politically irrelevant nowadays. However, they sure do provide some quality entertainment.

After the St. Louis Tea Party suggested a few weeks ago that House Republican Speaker Steve Tilley is secretly doing the bidding of the New Black Panther Party by supporting local control of the St. Louis Police Department, Bill Hennessy is now suggesting that Tilley is "siding with the hardest of the hard left" because Tilley is listed as a cosponsor of a bill that would allow presidential elections to be decided by the national popular vote. In a post titled Steve Tilley vs The Constitution, Hennessy writes the following:

Make no mistake: on this issue, Tilley sides with the hardest of the hard left.

He also wrote that

Team Tilley strikes out again.

In a previous post titled, Steve Tilley vs Fiscal Responsibility, Hennessy said this:

Four men risked their political lives to help solve the problem of our lifetimes, but they forgot to massage Steve Tilley’s monstrous ego...

According to the News-Leader.com:

And Tilley said the House won’t put too much weight on what he believes the Senate wants him to do.

“I’m not going to be held hostage by a few people,” he said.

Of course not. Not unless the hostage takers are billionaires.

That last quote was apparently a reference to Tilley's substantial donations from millionaire Rex Sinquefield.

Though it's fun to read, there's really not much reason for Tilley to care about these threats. Mike Flynn of Big Government threatened to "go nuclear" on Tilley a few weeks ago if Tilley didn't "massage the tea party's monstrous ego" (my words). Tilley ignored him, and lost nothing by doing so.

FiredUp asks MO GOP to "Define Unpopular"

FiredUp Missouri, as only they can, squarshed another pathetic claim by the Missouri Republican Party today. The GOP claimed that Senator McCaskill was supporting an "unpopular public option." But, as FiredUp points out, people favor the inclusion of a public option at a level of 57% in support and 40% opposed:

Image Credit: FiredUp

Not only that, but support has been growing steadily since August. Read the whole hilarious post here.