Utah GOP decided Sen. Bob Bennett "needed to be humbled"

Bob Bennett was easy pickings. Long thought of as conservative just because of his state of origin and his votes on judicial nominees, Bennett had in fact bent over backward time and again in favor of big government and pork, all at the expense of Utah’s values. As one of Mitch McConnell’s “wise old men,” Bennett is one of the people largely responsible for the bastardization of conservatism.

Now, the great disentangling of conservatism has begun. Conservatives have had enough of being just a token of a Republican Party that never actually opts for smaller government and never actually believes in the limited powers of a federal government.

Bob Bennett, for example, voted that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, but he refused to take it out of his own health care alternative because notwithstanding its unconstitutionality, he thought it was needed. He also famously declared the constitution “an outmoded document of an agrarian society”.

If you want a nutshell explanation of Utah, it is this: Bob Bennett decided he was smarter than all the folks back home and the folks back home decided he needed to be humbled.

Utah Republicans oust Bennett in party convention

Delegates at the Utah Republican Convention today ousted Bennett in a move likely to send shivers through the campaigns of other politicians around the country running for re-election this year.

The longtime senator from Salt Lake City, son of former Sen. Wallace Bennett, was pushed aside in the second of three rounds of balloting among the 3,400 delegates gathered at the Salt Palace Convention Center.

Attorney Mike Lee and businessman Tim Bridgewater advance to a final round. If one captures 60 percent of the vote, he'll clinch the nomination. If not, they go on to a June 22 primary.

Bennett is the first Utah senator to fail to get his party's nomination since Democrats tossed out Sen. William King in 1940 over King's opposition to the New Deal.

In order to survive a second ballot, Bennett had to peel off more supporters than Bridgewater from those five candidates who are out of the running. And it didn't happen.

Bridgewater picked up momentum on the second ballot to place first with 37 percent and Lee with 36. Bennett finished third and out with 27 percent.

In what was his final appeal to delegates, Bennett argued his experience and ability to fight the Democrats is what separated him from the other two remaining contenders.

"There's only one question between the three of us; it's a question of which one will be most effective at stopping [Barack] Obama,

RedState goes after liberal GOPer Bob Bennett

The people of Utah have a United States Senator named Bob Bennett. He is the 8th most liberal Republican and Utah happens to be the most conservative state. Utah is also a socially conservative state. Nonetheless, Bob Bennett rubs Utah’s nose in his record.

•Bob Bennett supports same sex marriage benefits at the federal level.

•Bob Bennett supports comprehensive immigration reform including amnesty provisions.

•Bob Bennett supports federal funding of abortions.

•Bob Bennett supports an individual mandate forcing Americans to buy insurance or be fined by the federal government.

•Bob Bennett supports many other policies opposed by the people of Utah.

•Bob Bennett also opposes many policies the people of Utah want.

More disturbing about Bennett is that when he feels threatened, he moves right. But when the threat goes away, Bennett moves back left. We can eliminate the drifting by taking him out at the Utah Republican Convention.