Sen. Jeff Flake (R) announces he will not run for re-election, slams Trump and GOP - Polidicks

[url]http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/2017/10/24/republican-senator-jeff-flake-announces-not-running-senate-reelection-gop-primary-ward-trump/793952001/[/url] [quote]Condemning the nastiness of Republican politics in the era of President Donald Trump, Sen. Jeff Flake on Tuesday announced he will serve out the remainder of his term but will not seek re-election in 2018. The bombshell, which Flake, R-Ariz., intended to detail Tuesday afternoon on the Senate floor, will further roil Republican hopes of keeping the party's 52-seat Senate majority in the midterm elections of Trump's first term, when the president's party historically loses seats in Congress. It also likely will upend the race for Flake's seat. Flake, one of the Senate's more prominent critics of President Donald Trump, has been struggling in the polls. He told The Arizona Republic ahead of his announcement that he has become convinced [B]"there may not be a place for a Republican like me in the current Republican climate or the current Republican Party."[/B][/quote] [quote]Among Republican primary voters, there's overwhelming support for Trump's positions and "behavior," Flake said, and one of their top concerns is whether a candidate is with the president or against him. While Flake said he is with Trump on some issues, on other issues he is not. And Trump definitely views him as a foe, having denounced Flake publicly and called him "toxic" on Twitter. [B]"Here's the bottom line: The path that I would have to travel to get the Republican nomination is a path I'm not willing to take, and that I can't in good conscience take,"[/B] Flake told The Republic in a telephone interview. "It would require me to believe in positions I don't hold on such issues as trade and immigration and it would require me to condone behavior that I cannot condone."[/quote] [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghsmNARi3QA[/media]

A GOP senator who grows a spine when he doesn't run for re-election? About as shocking as the sun rising every morning.

He basically said he would have to become a huge asshole and a cunt to stand any chance of winning the Republican primary

This just opens up his spot for another lunatic like Roy Moore, moderates should stay in and try to keep the damage to a minimum, not flake out.

[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;52816797]A GOP senator who grows a spine when he doesn't run for re-election? About as shocking as the sun rising every morning.[/QUOTE] To be fair Flake has consistently been one of the few real anti-Trump Republicans [media]https://twitter.com/JeffFlake/status/784787317311627264[/media]

That's a shame, as we could use more people who are willing to stand up to the GOP's garbage. I was going to say that he should at least try for reelection even though he's an enemy of Trump, but it would probably be pretty expensive to run a likely doomed campaign.

First Corker, now Flake. I hope more follow suit and show just how much 'unity' the president brings. The again, that may be overly optimistic. I seriously doubt any more will jump in against Trump; they're much too comfy with their control and not bothered enough by the infant in chief.

[QUOTE=Kirbunny431;52816824]That's a shame, as we could use more people who are willing to stand up to the GOP's garbage. I was going to say that he should at least try for reelection even though he's an enemy of Trump, but it would probably be pretty expensive to run a likely doomed campaign.[/QUOTE] He hasn't though, hes voted in line for every garbage GOP bill they have put forth. Words are one thing, actions are another.

[QUOTE=ZachPL;52816922]He hasn't though, hes voted in line for every garbage GOP bill they have put forth. Words are one thing, actions are another.[/QUOTE] No kidding. [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/t1L81BD.png[/IMG] [url]https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/bob-corker/[/url]

[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;52816797]A GOP senator who grows a spine when he doesn't run for re-election? About as shocking as the sun rising every morning.[/QUOTE] Uh, better late than never? What's your point here? Should we just shit on every GOP senator even when they do the right thing for once? We shouldn't discourage this kind of thing. Flake is a hero, I really hope he's a portent for things to come. Seriously though, let's not pretend that holding off on controversial views as an incumbent is just a Republican thing, Democrats do it too. Politicians in every country do it. Are you really gonna single out Republicans for exploiting this flaw in the system?

too bad another loon will just replace him and he's still going to vote for the tax cuts because he doesn't care about the public now

[QUOTE=Judas;52816802]This just opens up his spot for another lunatic like Roy Moore, moderates should stay in and try to keep the damage to a minimum, not flake out.[/QUOTE] The crazy candidate in the Arizona race, Kelli Ward, was already beating Flake somewhere around 20-points on average in Republican Primary polling. There's no way he was going to survive a primary in which the vast majority of voters in it are huge Trump supporters, and the polling made this clear. This really just avoids him losing his primary to a lunatic like Ward. [QUOTE=Sableye;52817815]too bad another loon will just replace him and he's still going to vote for the tax cuts because he doesn't care about the public now[/QUOTE] Actually, it seems to be more likely than not that a Democrat will win Flake's Senate seat in 2018. Both Flake and the current most likely Republican nominee, Kelli Ward, trail the likely Democrat nominee, Kyrsten Sinema somewhere in the single digits. Arizona is one of the handful of states that went more strongly for Clinton in 2016 than Obama in 2012, and Trump only managed to win the state by three and a half points against Clinton. Which, given that mid-terms naturally work towards the benefit of the opposition party, which is now the Democrats, means that 3.5 swing towards Democrats is very plausible. Arizona's trajectory is consistent with that of the other south-western states moving Democratic as mid-western states move towards the Republicans. 538 has a great piece on Flake's retirement and the analysis of next year's race, and they also had a half-hour podcast episode on Arizona alone, for anyone who wants a more coherent argument about Arizona, but the consensus seems to be that it leans Democratic for now. [url]https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-does-jeff-flakes-retirement-change-the-arizona-senate-race/[/url]

[QUOTE=Splash Attack;52817313]No kidding. [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/t1L81BD.png[/IMG] [url]https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/bob-corker/[/url][/QUOTE] Maybe this is why he's dropping out? I mean he basically stated that he's tired of the bullshit he has to do to just have a chance at the nomination.

[QUOTE=Sableye;52817815]too bad another loon will just replace him and he's still going to vote for the tax cuts because he doesn't care about the public now[/QUOTE] The GOP keeps trying to treat Trump as an anomaly but really he's a culmination of Republican rhetoric.

[QUOTE=Wealth + Taste;52817744]Uh, better late than never? What's your point here? Should we just shit on every GOP senator even when they do the right thing for once? We shouldn't discourage this kind of thing. Flake is a hero, I really hope he's a portent for things to come. Seriously though, let's not pretend that holding off on controversial views as an incumbent is just a Republican thing, Democrats do it too. Politicians in every country do it. Are you really gonna single out Republicans for exploiting this flaw in the system?[/QUOTE] Knowingly working a morally bankrupt system for personal gain for your entire career, only to call it by its name as you're running out the door, does not make you a hero. A hero would have stood against the madness of the GOP and Trump from the very beginning. Note that I'm not specifically talking about Flake here, because I don't know enough about this senator to personally judge him: this is a general statement for the GOP. It is through the irrational fear, hatred, and isolation that the GOP has instilled in its voterbase through driven propaganda outlets like Fox News that it has devolved to the state we see it in today. Trump didn't just [I]appear[/I], he is the product of the manufactured "War on Christmas," of scare stories about immigrants and Muslims, of Republican-led witch hunts like Benghazi, of race-baiting buzzwords and misinformation to make White men feel like victims of modern society, and of overtly racist conspiracies like the Obama "birther" movement. Senator Hindsight doesn't get to say, "[I]I don't like what the GOP has become[/I]," and walk away clean if he helped make it that way to begin with by exploiting the hysteria and his party helped manufacture. [editline]25th October 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=Lambeth;52819684]The GOP keeps trying to treat Trump as an anomaly but really he's a culmination of Republican rhetoric.[/QUOTE] Exactly. Trump, or somebody like him, has been a long time coming. He is the personification of Fox News propaganda, and the hysteria it propagated among the conservative base.

Jeff Flake retires. Bernie Sanders stays and fights.

This speech was fucking inspiring, and I mean that.

Worth noting that right after this he decided that Americans can't file class action lawsuits against banks

[QUOTE=Lambeth;52821061]Worth noting that right after this he decided that Americans can't file class action lawsuits against banks[/QUOTE] What a hero. :rolleyes:

[QUOTE=Lambeth;52821061]Worth noting that right after this he decided that Americans can't file class action lawsuits against banks[/QUOTE] just like John McCain being "deeply concerned" by Trump and still voting 52-48 every time

[QUOTE=Lambeth;52821061]Worth noting that right after this he decided that Americans can't file class action lawsuits against banks[/QUOTE] He's not a liberal, no one should think that anti-Trump GOPers are somehow liberals, if anything he hates Trump because his madness is damaging the conservative agenda