The Far Right Turns Against Rove-- With A Vengeance
>
Yesterday, one of the icons of the deranged right, John Birch Society standard bearer Paul Broun, announced he would be running for the empty Georgia Senate seat the far right forced Saxby Chambliss to abandon. This could be a problem-- yes, even in Georgia-- for the GOP, although it's not that likely Broun-- widely looked at as dangerously and embarrassingly insane-- could win a statewide primary.
[U]nder the right circumstances, Democrats would have a fighting chance.
And nominating Broun could provide them with that chance. As the past two cycles have shown, nominating flawed candidates-- Todd Akin, Sharron Angle, Richard Mourdock, Ken Buck, Christine O’Donnell-- can cost the GOP seats, even on GOP-friendly terrain.
The good news for Republicans who don’t want to see Broun nominated is that there are some tall hurdles he will have to jump though to get there. For starters, a candidate must win a majority of the vote to claim the nomination in Georgia. So Broun won’t be able to slip though a crowded field with plurality support on the first ballot.
A second obstacle is money. Broun had only about $156,000 in the bank at the end of last year, and will have to prove he can raise the money necessary to compete in the state’s pricey Atlanta media market.
It’s not like Broun is the only conservative option for this race-- which is where the “test” part comes in. A new national GOP effort was recently launched to promote electable Senate candidates and protect them in primaries from the unelectable ones. In Georgia, there’s a handful of choices from which the new group, and perhaps, Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, could find a candidate to rally behind who would be strong in the general election, and would also satisfy conservatives.
GOP Reps. Tom Price and Tom Graves, and former secretary of state Karen Handel would fit that bill. Rep. Phil Gingrey, a deeply conservative Republican who recently got into some hot water defending Akin’s controversial remarks might still fare better in the general election than Broun. Another option is Rep. Jack Kingston, though he scores lower than Graves, Price and Gingrey, on the anti-tax Club For Growth’s scorecard.
So far, the Club and the Senate Conservatives Fund-- two groups with proven financial muscle that have openly bucked the establishment in Senate races-- haven’t chosen sides in Georgia. That’s a good thing for Republicans hoping to identify electable candidates, because it means they are not necessarily at odds with the influential organizations. At least, not yet.
Georgia is a red state, but it contains some Democratic strongholds and moderate voters who might opt to go with a conservative Democrat over a controversial Republican. With the right Democratic nominee and the wrong GOP one, Democrats may stand a chance of surprising a lot of people. That’s why Republicans must approach the nominating process there with the utmost attention.
There’s a bigger picture. As I noted when one of Rove’s water boys attacked me personally in 2010 and sneered at Tea Party activists for their inexperience and lack of proper credentials, these GOP barons demand that we all sit quietly with our hands folded at our desks while they regale us with stories of Master Rove’s achievements and policy victories.She claims Rove's incumbency protection racket is the problem, not the Tea Party. She's partially right and partially wrong. The Tea Party brand is now a liability to GOP candidates-- just like an endorsement from the NRA. Rasmussen found 30% of voters have a favorable view of the Tea Party and 49% have a negative view.
Nope. Still not going to genuflect before the architect behind the disastrous Medicare prescription drug entitlement expansion that created an unfunded liability of $9.4 trillion over the next 75 years, No Child Left Behind federal education expansion, steel tariffs, ag subsidies, the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law and the Bush-Kennedy-McCain illegal alien amnesty attempt.
Rove and his boss abused their power and sacrificed core conservative principles at the altar of “compassionate conservatism.”
No, I will not shut up about it.
Yes, I will continue to use my little soapbox to try and support candidates who reject Rovian open borders, big spending, and federal encroachment.
As Rove, Inc. begins to target grass-roots conservatives like stalwart Rep. Steve King in Iowa for his views on immigration and supposed lack of discipline/intellectual preparedness, let’s remember who Rove wanted to sit on the Supreme Court. Flashback:
As for the supposedly “adolescent” attitude that “inexperience is itself seen as a kind of qualification,” some of us have not forgotten Rove’s furious behind-the-scenes maneuvering to secure the Supreme Court nomination of his old, dreadfully unqualified Texas crony Harriet Miers-- whom Rove and his friends supported on the grounds that her lack of judicial experience was, um, some kind of qualification.
But, hey, I’m just a petulant, teenage mutant website operator and you Tea Party people are just non-achieving ingrates who have failed to show proper deference to The Architect of two presidential victories for the Republican who crowned off his eight years by pre-socializing the economy for Barack Obama.
Now, kneel before Zod!
UPDATE: STEVE KING STRIKES BACK AGAINST THE EMPIRE
King won't say whether or not he's going to run for the open Iowa Senate seat, but this morning he blasted Rove "and his army" for undercutting him. He sent this letter to his supporters:
Friend,I’m under attack and I urgently need your help to fight back.
Since U.S. Senator Tom Harkin announced he will not seek re-election in 2014, rumors have swirled about whether I will run for his seat. I have not made a decision on this matter, but already Karl Rove and his army have launched a crusade against me.
According to the president of American Crossroads (Rove’s Super PAC), they’re concerned about my discipline as a candidate and how I would fare in the general election: “All of the things he’s said are going to be hung around his neck.” (New York Times, 2/2/13)
Please follow this link to donate $25, $50, $100 or more to my campaign right away and show Karl Rove that he cannot decide my political future. [Link disabled, of course.]
I’m no stranger to outlandish attacks like this. They said I couldn’t win in 2012-- the entire political machine was against me-- but I soundly defeated my opponent by 8 percentage points. So let me be clear. Nobody can bully me out of running for the U.S. Senate, not even Karl Rove and his hefty war chest.
At the end of the day, my decision will be based on what I believe is best for our state and our country, and whether or not I can count on your continued support. Your donation of $25, $50, $100 or more today will not only help me ward off Karl Rove’s baseless attacks, it will tell me you will continue to stand with me.
Thank you in advance for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Steve King
Member of Congress, Iowa
P.S. I haven’t made a decision on whether I’ll seek Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2014, but Karl Rove is already launching attacks against me.
Labels: Karl Rove, Michelle Malkin, Paul Broun, Republican civil war, Senate 2014, Steve King
posted by DownWithTyranny @ 9:00 PM
2 comments
|
Reddit
2 Comments:
The Far Right Turns Against Rove
Not long ago, Rove WAS the far right.
Those sons of bitches have created monsters even worse than they themselves are.
The really funny thing is that these people are so attached to a completely mythological Ronald Reagan. If the real Reagan was here today, they'd throw him under the bus faster than you could say "Tip O'Neill".
Post a Comment
<< Home