Tea Partier Jamie Radtke, who has announced her candidacy for the 2012 Republican nomination for U.S. Senate (against George Allen, Corey Stewart, “Sideshow Bob” Marshall, Bert Mizusawa, and god knows who else), is receiving bad – and I mean BAD! – reviews so far from Virginia Republican bloggers. Over at Too Conservative, for instance, Loudoun Insider writes, “The more I read about Jamie Radtke, the more it looks like Virginia will have its own Christine O’Donnell running for the GOP US Senate nomination.” Loudoun Insider points to Radtke’s “involvement in a scandalous State Senate mess” (see here for more), her connections to the “establishment” (George Allen and Jesse Helms), and her credentials as a “bona fide RINO hunter.” According to Loudoun Insider, that is not “the ticket to winning the US Senate seat back for the GOP.” We’ll see.
Over at Bearing Drift, the comments section is buzzing, with one person noting that Radtke’s “experience working for Governor Allen” involved having “worked for a few months as a receptionist.” This commenter adds, “If that’s the criteria since I worked in the Governor’s cabinet, I should be Surgeon General.” Ouch. Another commenter argues that “Radtke can’t win,” that “the TEA Party scares swing voters,” and that “With the O-bots turning out in force in November, 2012, Radtke doesn’t have a snowball’s chance.”
Another commenter (“JKM”) writes, “Before Mrs. Radtke ran VCAP (VA Conservative Action PAC) into the ground as their paid political director, she faced a subpoena for leaking a criminal indictment related to a Virginia State Senate race.” On and on it goes from there, including this gem: “The TEA Party Convention she organized was the most awsome waste of money ever seen since, well, it hasnt been that long, since JEFF FREDERICK. Come to think of it, that’s her; a female Jeff Frederick.” Yikes.
Oh, and JKM adds that Radtke “is being used by Pat McSweeney as a pawn in his never-ending grudge match against George Allen. It’s pathetic really.” According to Loudoun Insider, “Pat McSweeney is nasty,” having “funnelled money from Loudoun developers through his Virginia Conservative Alliance PAC to ‘Independent’ candidates running against duly nominated Republican candidates.”
Yet another commenter (“Politics with Pam”) says, “I’ve been involved in the Party in Va for 10 years and have never heard of Ms. Radtke until now.”
Brian Kirwin says he “watched the fox news bit” and that “No way she was ready to be on television. Heck, the host spoonfed her, and she still seemed off.”
Meanwhile, over at Virginia Virtucon, they’re actually upset at Radtke because even she is not right wingnut enough, apparently. Her sin: “she makes the mistake of lumping tax cuts in with Washington’s spending problem.” That’s right, according to “supply side”/”Laffer curve” true believers, cutting revenues doesn’t increase the deficit and the debt, only spending increases do, even though mathematically they’re basically the same thing (to oversimplify – there obviously are multiplier effects, effects on GDP growth, etc., that need to be taken into account – if you add a dollar in spending OR take away a dollar in revenue, you increase the deficit by a dollar). But the wingnut argument is essentially that since “it’s your money,” all the rules of mathematics and economics can be tossed aside, basically as a matter of right-wing economic theology. Given that it’s theology, Radtke may or may not have committed a heresy when she said, “The tax bill did nothing to cut the huge debt burden on all of us.” But she also appears to have spoken the truth.
The bottom line: so far, the reception to Jamie Radtke by Virginia Republican bloggers has not been friendly, to put it mildly. As for Virginia Democratic bloggers, I think it’s fair to say that most of us are enjoying this immensely, looking forward to the 2012 Republican primary with great anticipation, stocking up on popcorn, and enjoying the thought of Democratic victories in Virginia in 2012! 🙂
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