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.
Yep
Why not? Its what leftwing Republicans have done like Dede Scozzafeva, Mike Castle, Virginia Republicans supported Mcauliff after opposing Cuccinelli and last there are Republicans politicians supporting Michelle Nunn!
Telling conservatives that he was going to destroy them isn't going to win any votes from the base.
Only the fearful 'lesser evil' voters will vote for him.
/johnny
Whether they join her or not, if they stay home in droves it will have the same effect
I kind of hope they all do go vote for the dimorat. That way the RINOs will KNOW that they can no longer take us for granted. If some of the dims did the same the country would be better for it.
We cannot go around talking about how the African American community is on a plantation voting for the rats who fail them all the time and then act the same way with our own side. Time to revolt at the ballot box. VOTE THE INCUMBENTS OUT.
No one should be in DC as a career (except maybe the cops)
I like it...a distinct call to action
Oh, I agree Mitch is very weak. Just like Romney, Mitch seems to reserve most of his ire for conservatives, and just like Romney, Mitch is going to have a very hard time convincing conservatives to vote from him in November.
That’s something I think is lost on the GOPe. They don’t understand that the moderate, even if they manage to beat us in the primaries, has to be conservative enough to inspire the base to vote. The Republican Party isn’t the moderate party. It’s generally a conservative party, and they need to meet us at least half way. They can’t continue to act like 90’s Democrats and get us to the polls.
Like I wrote earlier, I respect both approaches to this situation. Someone who votes for Mitch McConnell as the lesser of two evils is OK with me. Someone who refuses to vote for either is OK, too. I also like these discussions so long as they’re kept respectful. FReegards.
If the Democrats can get it to under 10%, they can steal it.
To each his own. Rand Paul did not trash conservatives in KY.
McConnell did.
So why is McConnell hiding behind Paul to do his “peace” thing you
mention?
The fact is there is not enough Bushites like you in KY to save McConnell
if just a small percent of KY conservatives sit it out.
McConnell only won his last election by 6%.
6% is not much.
And that was BEFORE he trashed and then bragged about crushing
them.
I hope KY conservatives help McConnell apply for a job at Trent Lott’s
Lobbying Firm. We shall see won’t we?
Little hyperbolic here aren’t we?
I thought we were being respectful on this thread, and then you all me a Bushite. That there’s fighting words. Believe me. I think both Bushes were terrible presidents, but opposed to the likes of Gore and Kerry, I’ll take a Bush. Fight these battles in the primaries, but when it comes down to general elections, do whatever you think is best for the country. I choose to stall for time rather than immediate surrender (by electing Democrats). That’s my personal preference, and I’m entitled to it. You’re entitled to do what you think is best, too, and I refuse to demonize you for it. I only wish that respect went both ways.
Both sides are the Dark Side if McConnell is involved.
Give who hell in the primaries,,fellow conservatives? I see you have a reasonable attitude.
You are a better person than I am. I hope Mitch loses his AZZ. You can’t bash and boast about *crushing* a movement and then turn around and talk all sweet and expect those you threw away to come back and forget your abuse. Not you personally. I’m talking about McConnell.
He can KMA
Give who hell in the primaries,,fellow conservatives? I see you have a reasonable attitude.
You are a better person than I am. I hope Mitch loses his AZZ. You can’t bash and boast about *crushing* a movement and then turn around and talk all sweet and expect those you threw away to come back and forget your abuse. Not you personally. I’m talking about McConnell.
He can KMA
We should give the RINOs hell in the primaries. That’s what I meant. That said, I don’t know why we should be so surprised when RINOs fight back. Of course they want to hold onto power. If a conservative held the seat, they’d fight to keep it, too. That’s politics.
BTW, it’s probably foolish to burn one’s bridges to a sizable part of one’s own base. The GOPe should at least consider that before they open a can of whoop ass on us. I don’t think there are enough independents and moderates to elect Mitch McConnell if conservatives stay home.
This is what I think is going to happen.
About 2-4 weeks before the election, polls will show McConnell losing.
The GOPe’s in DC will force McConnell to announce he will not seek
re-election to his leaderless post in an effort to save that GOP seat.
Hoping to get the same KY conservatives he trashed back to the polls.
If the GOP really wants to win that seat, McConnell will be forced to
give up his leaderless position.
The NRA is one of the most successful lobbying groups ever. What makes them successful is that everyone in politics knows that if you cross them, they will go over to the opposition party and throw their support behind them. The NRA takes heads. It DEFEATS candidates who defy it. This is how an organization gains RESPECT in politics.
The Tea Party of Kentucky *HAS* to make an example out of Mitch McConnell, or it will have demonstrated itself to be a toothless paper tiger, and not just in Kentucky. If they allow Mitch McConnell to get away with his boasts, challenges and mockery, it will cast a shadow of weakness across all the other States Tea Parties as well.
The price of letting Mitch McConnell get away with it will be far higher than just one Senate seat.
” i don’t think there are enough independents and moderates to elect Mitch McConnell if conservatives stay home.”
That is one statement I agree with you.
However, I will add one additional fact.
It won’t take a large percent of KY conservatives saying home to
send McConnell over to Trent Lott’s Lobby Firm.
Based on the small 6% margin he had in his last election! I estimate
it will only take 10-12% of KY conservatives staying home and we can
all celebrate the newest member of Lott’s Lobbying Firm.
Yes at bit. lol. Well quite a few....better?
I just hope we win the Senate with or without McConnell. I posted my fear in a previous post that I believe Reid will make ALL votes 50 to pass (except maybe Supreme Court)....that includes budget and anything else he can get changed. I believe it will be a horrible time from at least 2015 to 2017 if not longer. We better be careful this election.
Yes they will. We know they will be an enemy to our face, not an enemy behind our back. Mitch McConnell has been in Washington 30 years. He has become part of the problem. If we take him out, the other Establishment types might figure out that they need to take us seriously.
I think we will gain far more from the fear we engender in the rest of them, than that one vote we would lose by putting that Washington insider back in D.C.
If we don't start taking heads, we will be treated with impunity. In politics, if you can't swing an election one way or the other, nobody gives a d*** about you.
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