I have serious problems with Dick Lugar’s record, particularly on his alleged foreign policy expertise.
As documented here, Lugar has engaged in repeated wishful thinking on Iran (one more post in the series still to come), and irresponsibly vouched for Obama’s foreign policy credentials just three weeks before the 2008 election.
But, there always had been something of a soft-spot based on Lugar’s public persona, a regret that Lugar’s career might end badly not just from a defeat, but a defeat in which he ran a disreputable campaign.
Two events have changed my perspective. In the past couple of days Lugar’s campaign has gone kamikaze, willing to take down Republican chances of success in November.
First, Lugar has refused to say that he would support Mourdock against Democrat Joe Donnelly, in contrast to Mourdock who says that he will support the Republican regardless. Lugar cannot pull a Lisa Murkowski under Indiana’s election law, so hedging on whether he will support Mourdock reflects an unwillingness to view the office as larger than himself.
Second, Lugar has sought to damage Mourdock irrevocably by calling Mourdock unqualified for the office (h/t HotAir):
In an exclusive interview with The Brody File, Senator Richard Lugar says his GOP Primary opponent Richard Mourdock, “does not have the qualifications to be a Senator.”
I wish Dick Lugar well. In retirement.
Support Richard Mourdock in the critical last week.
Update: The Indiana-based Howey Politics blog has been hostile to Richard Mourdock. One of Howey’s writers, whose views on Mourdock are unknown to me, noted Lugar’s “sad” appearance last night at the Lincoln Day dinner:
At the conclusion of Senator Lugar’s speech, the people in the front two rows of tables were immediately on their feet giving applause both out of respect to his distinguished service and many out of support. Beyond the first two, no one rose for an excoriating [sic] short period – no one – and then a few started to stand and it rolled back. Nothing is more symbolic: the top elected officials and top donors sit in the front. Senator Lugar is still holding at the top but is collapsing as you go down the pyramid. Pyramids don’t get smaller as you go down….
Most common comment was, “This is a sad finish for Senator Lugar. He’s such a distinguished leader and to go out with this type of nasty campaign is sad.” I heard this from all sorts of people of various backgrounds and ideologies. As a politician, you never want to hear the word “sad” used with your name when they are describing your campaign.
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Comments
Mourdock does not have the qualifications to be Senator
But, according to Lugar, Obama had the qualifications to be not just Senator, but President?
Even Obama disagreed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4yCwqtuv5Q&feature=player_embedded
ALL entrenched politicians need to be challenged. As we have observed over and over, a good challenge brings out the very characteristics that we fear lurk beneath the mask. These are people who feel enthroned and believe they can get away with anything out of a sense of entitlement. Just boot them all out.
+100.
People need to be more aware of the political process and be involved. Change doesn’t happen unless you work to get it done.
The Senate is the most difficult to correct. A good start would be Lugar and Hatch. That would be a big victory.
Yes, the Kennedy Republicans by way of Bush’s Texas Mafia.
I wish Dick Lugar well. In retirement.
If by retirement you mean pulling in 7 figures at a Washington based consulting/lobbying firm steering government contracts…I don’t.
Wish him well that is….
It is not lost on me that he no longer resides in Indian-ana, but is now a full blown creature of Washington.
The only difference I see, is that maybe now he won’t have to sit through boring committee meetings, and no longer has to hide his assets…as much.
I would guess the vast majority of long term officeholders are going to have the same entitlement mentality and childish behavior as they are humbled through the primary process.
Oh well, their loss – pun intended.
It seems Sen. Lugar is a little too slow to get out of the way of the door, that’s going to hit him on the way out.
I rather thought it was a bus, not a door, but agree with the rest.
An irrefutable argument for term limits.
We have MILLIONS of capable people who could serve as citizen-legislators.
Hell, we have people collecting garbage who could replace Barbara Boxer…and improve the average IQ of the Senate.
The garbage would have a higher IQ.
wait-
Is that mean?
That might be mean, and maybe I ought not say it.
SoooK. Sometimes the truth hurts.
Wow – talk about not understanding the issues of the campaign, Lugar thinks it is all about “outside interests!”
Last time I checked, US Senator was a national office subject to national strategies – which means, for me, the control over the Senate by Republicans willing to support conservative programs. That means that Club for Growth, NRA and other conservative groups from outside Indiana have legitimate interests in the primary election here.
So a man who has not lived in the Hoosier state for 35 years wants to exclude outside interests … unbelievable. Oh, I forgot, he also wants to include the opposition party voters in the Republican primary, which is technically illegal in this state.
Lugar says Mourdock is not qualified to be a U.S. senator? I have not yet seen footage of Mourdock chewing gum, but I have seen footage proving he can walk and talk at the same time.
Classic RINO, that Lugar. Just like Mike Castle.
I’ve long known Lugar as an establishment GOP insider RINO, who considers himself a Washingtonian, not a Hoosier, and who never took his Article VI oath of office seriously, an oath he’s taken more than once.
Now we have proof positive that Lugar has always just gone through the motions of the oath-taking with his personal attack on Mourdock’s qualification. The Constitution, the doc Lugar pledged to defend, simply says this, “No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.”
Once those qual. have been met, it’s for the people to apply their ability to discern. Given that Hoosiers have chosen Lugar for >30 years, there might be some doubt.
I live in Indianapolis and he’s not doing well here. I’m a moderate independent voter with strong populist tendencies, and I’m not voting for him. It’s time to clean house.
Lugar contrasts with that old fox Orrin Hatch, who expressed enthusiasm when his state convention barely forced him into a primary.
I oppose Hatch but acknowledge craftsmanship when I see it.
And through it all Eddie Cantor’s YG Network keeps on keeping on. Apparently they do not read the internet. Today I received a mailer rehashing Lugar’s claim that Mourdock would feed dog food … or some such nonsense to seniors.
RICHARD MOURDOCK PROPOSES CUTTING SOCIAL SECURITY BY $3,000 PER BENEFICIARY!
Perhaps readers here understand the English language better than Lugar and his RINO friends. Treasurer Mourdock said:
Even POLITICO thinks Cantor’s YG ads for Lugar are a mistake that can hurt the entire GOP.
Let’s see….. over the age of 30. Check.
Citizen of USA. Check
Resident of Indiana. Check.Mate.
Last time I checked, that was about all it took to be qualified to be a US Senator. Am I missing something here. I’ve said it before, they all have an entitlement mentality and they will not go willingly unless it’s feet first.
Castle…what a putz. If he had defeated COD, he wasn’t gonna win Deleware….no friggen way. Biden and crew were spending serious capital (time/money) to make sure Coons won.
Exit polls showed it as well. Castle would lost to Coons in this deeply blue state.
Go stuff that in your pipe Rove!!!
I don’t wish him well in retirement. He and all the rest of the entrenched have butt fracked this country for decades.
I’m just sorry he gets a whopping retirement and top of the line medical benefits until he finally croaks.
Lugar has seemed to me to be auditioning for Secretary of State since the Reagan years, in such a way as to be available for Presidents of either Party with his foreign squishiness so typical of Foggy Bottom.
His fawning over Obama before the 2008 election should be the tipping point, though. Mourdock is a well-qualified replacement who is unlikely to lose statewide to Donnelly, who would have lost his own congressional district last election were it not for the 5% the LP candidate drew.
Lugar could have left with dignity and retired. The Senate is no stranger to octogenarian members, but not every 80 year old gets to stay. Instead of a victory farewell tour, he gets the bum’s rush.