Dick Lugar: Big Spender
It is no secret that there is no love lost between Indiana Senator Dick Lugar and the Tea Party. Along with his colleagues Olympia Snowe and Orrin Hatch, Lugar represents one of the top Republican Senate primary targets for the Tea Party. But unlike Snowe and Hatch, Lugar has chosen to take a confrontational approach to this element of his party. Regarding the START Treaty, he told Tea Partiers to “get real,” and his spokesman has said that they “reject the premise” that conservative must “kowtow to the Tea Party.”
Explaining his distaste for the Tea Party, Lugar told reporters in January that Tea Party supporters are motivated by anger, complaining “we want this or that stopped or there is spending, big government—these are all, we would say, sort of large cliché titles, but they are not able to articulate all the specifics.”
If Lugar is concerned that Tea Party is having trouble articulating specific spending or “big government” policies, perhaps he will offer up cuts to the Farm Bill and agricultural subsidies. But, this is unlikely because a close look at Lugar’s record, shows he is a big fan of government spending.
As a look at his record shows, Lugar is a big spender, after the jump.
PolitiFact Virginia: Allen says he reined in state spending as governor
On August 22, 2011 PolitiFact Virginia reported: Republican George Allen is promising his unrelenting effort to curb federal spending…
Think Progress: Tim Pawlenty’s Extremely Weak Grasp Of Monetary Policy And International Finance
n August 9, 2011, Think Progress's Matthew Yglesias reported:
"When American Bridge sent a tracker to record this talk from Tim Pawlenty, I’m sure they were hoping he’d commit gaffes with a bit more political potency than the ones on display here. But if you happen to care at all about policy substance, what you’re about to see is the former Minnesota governor make a number of blundering errors that reveal fundamental misunderstandings of how monetary policy and the international financial system works:See the video after the jump
Pawlenty's Credit Rating Double Standard
Pawlenty Called Obama “Inept” In Response To S&P Downgrade. Pawlenty issued a statement in August 2011 responding to news that S&P had downgraded the country’s credit rating: “This is a sad moment for the United States, but it's a reflection that our country is in trouble. President Obama is inept when it comes to creating the conditions or job creation and economic growth. It's time for a new direction and a new President." [Pawlenty Statement, 8/6/11] More research after the jump
Washington Post Editorial: An early flip-flop for Senate candidate George Allen
An August 3, 2011 Washington Post editorial wrote: AS A ONE-TERM Republican senator, George Allen voted four times to…
Plain Dealer editorial: Josh Mandel's opportunism
The Plain Dealer editorialized on Josh Mandel's opposition to the debt deal. Mandel's position may appeal to the Tea Party…
Plain Dealer: Josh Mandel would have voted against debt deal, blasts Sherrod Brown
Steve Koff at the Plain Dealer reports: U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel, who's currently the Ohio treasurer, would have voted…
AP: Romney And Huntsman In Spotlight As GOP Contenders Weigh In On Debt Deal In Washington
On August 2, 2011, the Associated Press reported:
A Democrat-friendly outside group, American Bridge, echoed the criticism of Romney. “It’s great to see that after more than a month of negotiations, Mitt Romney finally decided to weigh in on one of the most important issues facing our nation,” American Bridge spokesman Ty Matsdorf said. “As somebody who is trying to campaign as a savvy businessman, you would have thought he would have tried to lead his party, but instead he has decided to kowtow to the tea party.”More from the Associated Press after the jump
Roll Call: Heather Wilson Running to the Right in N.M.
On July 5, 2011, Roll Call reported:
Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) sounds like a tea partyer. The former Congresswoman, who ran on her national security expertise and independent voting record to win five full terms representing Albuquerque, is now boasting that she has signed a conservative “cut, cap and balance” pledge, says she wouldn’t increase the debt ceiling unless a deal includes significant budget cuts and calls the new health care law unconstitutional.
PolitiFact: 'Full Flop' for Scott Brown
On May 23, 2011, Politifact reported:
Did Scott Brown flip-flop on supporting Paul Ryan's budget plan?