Republican conservative U.S. Senate candidate Andy Ogles is calling on Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) to immediately step down from his Chairmanship of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“Senator Corker’s reckless war of words with President Donald Trump has moved into increasingly dangerous territory as his latest outrageous attacks on the president undermine our national security and foreign policy,” Ogles said.
“Corker’s statement that the president is setting the United States ‘on a path to World War III’ was completely irresponsible. His new claim that the president is ‘castrating’ Secretary of State Rex Tillerson not only damages the ability of the president and his foreign policy team to defend American interests but also undermines his authority as Commander.”
Ogles noted that it “is clear that Corker has lost the capacity to put America’s interests ahead of his petulant tantrums. If he wants to continue to attack the president he can do so, but he shouldn’t do it with the authority of and from the ‘bully pulpit’ provided to him as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.”
Corker has previously dismissed calls for him to resign from the U.S. Senate in the wake of his disparaging comments about President Trump. Corker announced late last month that he will not seek reelection in 2018.
“With each passing day, our junior Senator has demonstrated why Tennessee voters were prepared to fire him had he not decided to avoid getting a pink slip at the ballot box,” the former head of the Tennessee chapter of Americans for Prosperity added.
“Senator Corker has shown more passion in his war of words with the president than he has shown in the fight to secure our borders, repeal and replace Obamacare and cut taxes — which is exactly why none of those things have been accomplished,” Ogles concluded.
Marsha Blackburn, the only other announced candidate for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Corker and the frontrunner in the race, has not offered a statement on Senator Corker’s “castration” comment.
Former Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-TN-08) is expected to become the third candidate for the Republican nomination later this week.
Fincher, who was elected as a Tea Party favorite in 2010, has come under criticism from conservatives for his support of the Export-Import Bank, reviled by limited government activists as one of the most egregious examples of corporate welfare sponsored by the federal government.
Sources tell The Tennessee Star the former Congressman from Frog Jump, Tennessee has been encouraged by Senator Corker, Governor Haslam, and Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) to enter the race as the establishment alternative to the more conservative Blackburn.
In August, Rep. Diane Black’s (R-TN-06) gubernatorial campaign announced that Fincher, along with former Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey, “will play major roles” in her 2018 campaign.
Fincher launched a very brief “listening tour” of the state on Monday in Mountain City for the purpose of determining whether or not to enter the race.
Fincher “said he expects to wrap the tour in Memphis on Monday and have an answer between Tuesday and Friday,” The Tennessean reported on Friday.
Corker should have resigned long ago. He is a disgrace to the State, and he is certainly not a true Republican.
Andy Ogles is right. Sen. Corker should resign. But of course, he won’t. He’s power and money-hungry and sensitive as a snowflake. He will drain the very last drop of blood from the body of the Committee before he goes just to get any revenge he can on the President.
Andy Ogles is a candidate with the courage to speak the minds of his future constituency. Bravo, sir!! And this is what worries me about Congressman Blackburn as a candidate for the Senate. Her silence on this unseemly attack on Trump is mystifying. She certainly found her voice when President Trump made comments on Twitter she felt were inappropriate. Is she a mouthpiece for the establishment Republicans? If she is, she will not go after Corker. Please be careful folks in making up your mind this early in the political process. Question the candidates and scrutinize their every word and action. President Trump needs help if we are to Make America Great Again.