"Don't worry, Lynds, we take care of our own! We're backing some 'Tea Party' ringers in the primary! We'll fracture the conservative opposition and you'll sail on through!"
Posted on 07/26/2013 5:52:11 AM PDT by cotton1706
The contenders looking to primary the controversial South Carolina senator in 2014 are starting to come forward.
Watch out, Lindsey Graham: the Tea Party says that you are next.
Tea Party members demonstrate outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 19. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty)
According to sources in South Carolina and within the Tea Party, at least two serious challenges to Graham are expected to emerge in the next few weeks. Dustin Stockton, a leading conservative activist and head of Western PAC, told The Daily Beast that he is headed to South Carolina next month to help build a ground game for the 2014 primary.
Knocking off Graham, said Stockton, who helped defeat establishment candidates in Alaska and Nevada in 2010, was this year’s top Tea Party priority.
“The Lindsey Graham wing of the party,” he said, stands for “saying one thing and doing another, creating backroom deals, getting elected, and not doing anything.”
Richard Cash, a businessman and former South Carolina congressional candidate, announced his candidacy in April.
But Tea Party types are looking to coalesce around either Lee Bright, a Spartanburg state senator, or Nancy Mace, a public-relations executive.
Bright told The Daily Beast that he is looking to make an announcement in the coming weeks.
“My voting record in the state Senate is very similar to what Jim DeMint did in the U.S. Senate,” he said, referring to the hard-right former senator who resigned this year to lead the Heritage Foundation. “It is more of a match with conservative values in South Carolina. I just don’t think Graham is in touch with the people of South Carolina. He is more enamored of the national media than he is doing what South Carolinians would like to see him do.”
Nationally, Graham has been a frequent target of conservative ire for being willing to make deals with Democrats. And he has done nothing to endear himself to the right with his recent efforts to pass immigration reform and his outspoken criticism of Rand Paul’s filibuster on the use of drones.
Graham, he said, “is a community organizer for the Muslim Brotherhood in the Middle East and is not very concerned about our Fourth Amendment rights.” But Graham has consistently managed to remain one step ahead of his detractors, raising $1.4 million in the last quarter alone to reach $6.25 million on hand. He has become one of the leading critics of the Obama administration, accusing the White House of covering up information about the attack of a State Department compound in Benghazi, Libya, and using the IRS for political purposes.
“Every election, at the state level, the county level, the precinct level, you find a bunch of people who talk about ousting Lindsey Graham,” said Hogan Gidley, a strategist and a former executive director of the state’s Republican Party. “But then they start watching TV ads, and more about his record comes out, and they say, ‘Wait a minute. This guy is more conservative than I thought.’ South Carolinians understand that at the end of the day you have a guy who is with you four out of five times, and that can be a pretty hard thing to find.”
Mace, who wrote an autobiography after she became the first female graduate of the Citadel in the military institute’s history, did not respond to a request for comment. She is also a co-owner of FITSNews—the name comes from “First in the South,” a reference to South Carolina’s status in the presidential-primary season. The site’s other owner is Will Folks, who shook—or at least irritated—the political world in 2010 when he claimed that he had an affair with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
For his part, Bright has been pushing his conservative bona fides. He’s introduced a number of bills in the state Senate that will be red meat to GOP primary voters. One abortion bill would regulate abortion clinics in the same way that similar bills in Mississippi, Wisconsin, and Texas have done. Another, dubbed Constitutional Carry, would eliminate any special permitting for gun owners.
“If you own a weapon, you should be able to carry your weapon,” he said.
Graham, he said, “is a community organizer for the Muslim Brotherhood in the Middle East and is not very concerned about our Fourth Amendment rights. He has been very much for centralized government power and control and not very friendly to our civil liberties.”
And Bright dismissed the notion that there remained some lingering affection for the senior senator.
“I have yet to find an area of the state that wouldn’t want to see him replaced,” he said.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/PrimaryLindsey
This Bullspit RINO needs to GO!
my best to the teaparty candidates....
Can’t wait to donate money to the little faggot’s challenger.
With all these people getting into the race, Graham will win while they split the vote.
Some of this activity must be GOP-E inspired to help Lindsey in the primary.
Conservatives in SC should have a third party candidate ready to go if the RINO wins the primary which is lot more likely in a crowded field.
The issue at hand is not money as Newt who won our primary for President. Its based on values.
Holy cow. This guy announced 3 months ago and his name is basically unrecognizable. South Carolina better get it's act together. Graham is not going to be easy to beat. Isn't there a person in South Carolina with name recognition that could run instead of having to begin at the starting line?
The Tea Party has to fight both the Dems AND the Republicans. Sad.
We really need the Tea Party to totally detach from the useless Republican Party and stand on its own. We have no other option.
I’m game. How is it done? Please inform me.
Perhaps Sarah Palin is the go to person. She is talking of running for senator. Is she going to attempt a republican run?
Bright looks like the right pick here. If Mace is connected in any way with slime like Will Folks, she can’t be trusted.
Ted Cruz looks to be the real deal. A fearless and powerful personality, the type of inspirational leader that is needed for people to coalesce around. He, Mike Lee and others no doubt recognize that their association with the Republican Party is a drag on their ambitions and beliefs. The also must sense that people are looking for a new direction.
One thing we know for sure: the Republican Party is too compromised and unprincipled to represent us.
“Isn’t there a person in South Carolina with name recognition” [who can beat Flimsey Graham]?
YES! His name is Rep. Trey Gowdy.
Gowdy for Senate, then Gowdy for President!!
:^)
The people who get elected and talk about "reaching across the aisle", "my good friend from wherever" (when speaking about a liberal), or refer to Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer as "gentle ladies" are collaborators in the destruction of our constitution. They are staunch supporters of the beltway elite and don't deserve respect or support, IMO.
Considering that Grahamnesty sets the bar so low, my dog is as conservative.
The people who get elected and talk about “reaching across the aisle”...
********
Republicans, unlike their Democrat “good friends”, NEVER play to win. To the Dems, politics is blood sport and they truely believe that the ends jusitifes the means. They will use any tactic to get their way. No holds barred. By contrast, Republicans think politics is a congenial game of checkers.
Until this mindset changes (if it ever does), Republicans will never win at anything.
It’s a tall order to oust Lindsey with open primary here. I’d expect the libs to unify around a single candidate and then many will crossover instead to support Graham - trying to get the less conservative opponent, in the likely event theirs loses.
Who is the best guy for America? Lets select one or two and back them least the RINOs will by divide the vote. Who does Sarah Palin support? Who gets Glenn Beck’s Nod?
Our job is to elect support and encourage people who understand what you said there.
There are three groups of people who are joining together to rip our constitution apart and destroy the republic:
1. Liberal democrats who believe America's system of free enterprise and self determination is the root of all evil.
2. Well intentioned people who are swayed by emotional messages and fund or vote for the liberals who's real game they don't understand.
3. The "republicans" you mentioned above who are naive and don't understand the fight along with their cohorts who simply don't have the courage to stand up for our liberty.
Our fight is not easy and won't be won preaching to the choir on conservative blogs. If just ten percent of the people who voted for Mitt Romney would get out and convince one person of the value of standing for conservatism we could put the liberals back 10 or 20 years. Of those converts or recruits; if just 10% of them would recruit a voter our insurance would be written in stone.
Let's get up and hit the streets with a program of education.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.