Posted on 05/23/2014 6:45:17 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Together you can rule the galaxy.
I, too, believe Washington, D.C. is not working for Kentucky.
I, too, believe that the federal government should help or get out of the way.
I, too, want Republicans and Democrats to work together to cut spending and to help Kentucky businesses create jobs…
Join me, and let us work together to create change. Yes, we are in different parties, and we have divergent views on some issues. But if you believe that we need a fresh face to shake up Washington, I invite you to join our campaign.
If you believe that it is past time to give Mitch McConnell and his D.C. lobbyist cronies the boot, I welcome you to join our effort to elect an independent, commonsense problem solver who will fight for Kentucky values.
Is there any evidence that tea partiers disgusted with Mitch the Knife might be open to this pitch? Sort of. Remember this table from one of the last polls of the primary?
Twenty-five percent of “conservative” voters were open to voting for Alison Grimes. Granted, 21 percent of “liberals” were open to McConnell, but there are no hard feelings potentially blocking those voters from coming home to the Democrats in November. Among Republicans, there are lots of hard feelings. Read the intro to this CNN piece from a few days ago in which an annoyed Bevin shows off a “Fraud Alert” that Team Mitch sent around about him. Quote: “It’s unbelievable. It’s crap. This is how he has run his entire race. He’s attacking me for being a member of the tea party while threatening to crush these people and punch them in the nose.” His anger was, per CNN, a source of “amusement” to the McConnell camp. Politico got an even more interesting quote from Bevin the day after he was blown out: “You can’t punch people in the face, punch people in the face, punch people in the face, and ask them to have tea and crumpets with you and think it’s all good.”
Or can you?
Matt Bevin responds to Alison Grimes' letter to his supporters. Basically says no dice without explicitly endorsing Mitch McConnell.
— Jim Antle (@jimantle) May 23, 2014
"Kentucky and America do need real change," Bevin writes, but not Grimes' "proposed platform of government expansion."
— Jim Antle (@jimantle) May 23, 2014
No one believes that Bevin’s going to endorse Grimes. He’s young by political standards; if Rand Paul is blocked by law from running for president and Senate in 2016, Bevin might jump into the Senate primary to replace him. He’d be DOA in two years if he embraces the Democrat outright but maybe not DOA if he declares that, as a matter of conservative conscience, he can’t endorse anyone in the race. Besides, how much would it really matter to Mitch-haters if Bevin did endorse McConnell? Support for Bevin on the right was never about him personally; it was a pure “Not Mitch” coalition. Whether that endures or disintegrates as hard feelings soften has little to do with Bevin at this point.
It’s interesting, though, that McConnell is sufficiently worried about tea partiers staying home that he’s already trotting out Rand Paul to make the case for unity. Everyone expected Rand to campaign for him, but I didn’t think we’d see him talking up McConnell’s conservative bona fides three days after the primary — especially since tea-party groups have, commendably, already moved to closed ranks around McConnell. There is, though, something to be said for the idea that Mark Levin was kicking around (but not quite endorsing) the other day about conservatives staying home in the general election to send a message to establishment brawlers like McConnell. It comes at a steep cost in potentially losing a red-state Senate seat, but if you want to truly terrify Beltway Republicans who stray too far from the tea-party line, one lone general-election boycott — at the minority leader’s expense, no less — would do it like nothing else. It’s not going to happen, but again, it’s interesting that Team Mitch is taking nothing for granted.
Exit question: Does McConnell’s plan to repeal ObamaCare also include repealing Kentucky’s state insurance exchange? Oddly, he’s noncommittal on the question.
Pour encourager les autres
“A lot of people won’t vote for the liberal republican anymore.”
I respect that. We each have to do what we think is best. All I ask is that both sides show respect for the other. It’s clear that many conservatives are in a quandary over voting for the lesser evil. I know I am. It’s not an easy thing to do. I just don’t think electing Democrats is a very good alternative. We know they’ll vote against us 100% of the time.
But like every other Democrat, you will vote 100% for everything this Marxist president wants. Look at Manchin’s and Pryor’s voting records. They carry Obama’s water as faithfully as Charles Schumer and Elijah Cummings do.
/johnny
Well, Ginsberg isn’t working out well for me at all, LOL. However, a president has the right to nominate people who share his ideology. The senate has advice and consent, but what would happen if someone like Ginsberg was not approved. A leftist president would simply appoint another just like her. I would personally vote to toss a few nominations out if I was a senator—hoping for someone better—but Republicans have generally played nice. That’s pretty foolish given the modern Democrat party. Sadly, I see little evidence the GOPe is ready to treat Democrats like they’ve treated us.
Oh, one thing I know for sure. Had a Democrat been in Mitch’s seat for the Ginsberg vote, it wouldn’t have changed anything. That’s why I question the strategy of voting Democrat to remove RINOs. That’s like jumping from the frying pan into the fire, my FRiend.
I’d vote for the Democrat myself, since it’s now the only way to get rid of Mick.
So looking at the long term, and thinking strategically, removing a 'leader' that is liberal is moving America in the right direction.
Keeping around a liberal republican who will vote to grow the government and reduce freedoms won't ever get you where you want to go.
History proves it. Voting for the 'lesser evil' doesn't make for more conservative governance. It makes for more liberal governance.
/johnny
want Republicans and Democrats to work together
NO! That is the problem with establishment Republicans; they are willing to “work together” with Dims to further the Dim agenda, just not as fast as the Dims want to do! We want Republicans to STOP the Dim agenda!
Interesting. Have any of his judicial appointments been blocked? Supreme Court Appointments?
I am just wondering if Alison Grimes would be any better or any worse than McConnell.
Believe me, I do not know.
Guys, at this point you don’t have a choice; you need to vote for the RINO. Sorry, but we need the seat and we’ll have to look for conservatives to nullify his influence in other districts.
/johnny
I have the same problem every six years when McCain comes up. I can’t vote for the stupid token Democrat, but there is no way I can vote for McCain. I just leave it blank.
No. Mitch burned those bridges with gusto
Mitch is not “we”
Voting out a liberal leader might make sense, but we already had our chance to vote in a conservative and lost. In other words, our current choice is between a liberal Republican leader and a statist Democrat. I agree that’s a real dilemma for someone who wants to push the country to the right, but I also don’t think Mitch is as liberal as you imply.
In what way will a Democrat in that seat give us a better chance than we already had (in the primary) of turning the country conservative? It’s a six year job. That’s a very long time for the Democrat to do damage, and we know that’s guaranteed. A Republican moderate (or liberal) will at least work with us some of the time.
BTW, we still have an opportunity to take down Thad Cochran, and that in itself would be a good reminder to the moderate wing to behave.
I vote neither
Interesting. Have any of his judicial appointments been blocked?
Millions. That is why Reid has the Nuclear Option and getting every appointment through because McConnell and company were stoping all the appointments. Soon Reid will be doing that to bills. If we don’t get the Senate, Reid is going to have everything 50 votes to pass. It is going to be ugly.....but getting rid of McConnell seems to be more important.
He'll allow the dems to bring up whatever amendments they want.
That's the damage he can do.
And your feelings don't matter. What matters is that you won't convince a LOT of conservatives to vote for Mitch after he burned so many bridges.
He won by 6% last general election, with a lousy Dem candidate. Grimes is a much better candidate. Couple that with conservatives that will remember that Mitch said he would destroy them when he found them, and I think Grimes will win in November anyway.
/johnny
One other thing about this race. The media is saying it was a blow out for Mitch McConnell. That couldn’t be farther from the truth, because an incumbent Republican minority leader only got 60% of his own party’s vote? Given all the advantages of being not only an incumbent but a leader, the vote should have been more like 80%. Blevin got 35%, and that’s a very big block of Republican voters. If Mitch doesn’t convince the lion’s share of those to support him in the general election, his goose is cooked.
/johnny
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