Inside McConnell’s Campaign to Take Back the Senate and Thwart Trump (just McConnell vs Tea Party all over again)

Politpost.com ^ | 2/13/22

[cotton1706]

PHOENIX — For more than a year, former President Donald Trump has berated Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona, savaging him for refusing to overturn the state’s presidential results and vowing to oppose him should he run for the Senate this year.

In early December, though, Mr. Ducey received a far friendlier message from another former Republican president. At a golf tournament luncheon, George W. Bush encouraged him to run against Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat, suggesting the Republican Party needs more figures like Mr. Ducey to step forward.

“It’s something you have to feel a certain sense of humility about,” the governor said this month of Bush’s appeal. “You listen respectfully, and that’s what I did.”

Mr. Bush and a band of anti-Trump Republicans led by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky are hoping he does more than listen.

As Mr. Trump works to retain his hold on the Republican Party, elevating a slate of friendly candidates in midterm elections, Mr. McConnell and his allies are quietly, desperately maneuvering to try to thwart him. The loose alliance, which was once thought of as the G.O.P. establishment, for months has been engaged in a high-stakes candidate recruitment campaign, full of phone calls, meetings, polling memos and promises of millions of dollars. It’s all aimed at recapturing the Senate majority, but the election also represents what could be Republicans’ last chance to reverse the spread of Trumpism before it fully consumes their party.

[RandFan]

It’s crystal clear now

The Bush Leaguers vs. Trump and the grassroots.

Sadly, they’re very much embedded in the party. Dozens and dozens of members of Congress.

Why are they fighting for a few more?

Doesn’t make much sense.

I think perhaps they see the Senate as evenly split and that will mean a Rand Paul or Mike Lee having undue influence.

The sad thing is we have limited resources and they have unlimited money.

I reckon Mike Gibbons in Ohio would be a worthy investment and making sure Ron Johnson is safely re-elected.

Pick your battles Freepers...

[cotton1706]

I think you’re right about Gibbons. McConnell would likely prefer Timken, who as I understand it, is basically Kelly Ayotte, backstabber in the end.

[RandFan]

Yes we need to pick our battles and get as many outsiders into the Senate as possible.

Gibbons fits the bill.

Also making sure Cheney LOSES and the Bush in Texas LOSES his race are equally important.

[Bratch]

'The worst of Joe Biden will be over': McConnell pitches voters on GOP Senate

[...]

McConnell said the majority runs through eight states: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and New Hampshire (which feature vulnerable Democratic incumbents), as well as Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania (four states where the incumbent Republican is retiring). As long as the party nominates quality candidates in those states and avoids the likes of Todd Akin, Sharron Angle, Richard Mourdock, and Christine O’Donnell (from the 2010 and 2012 cycles), the minority leader expects to run the table and is bullish on winning the majority.

[...]

Angle and O’Donnell lost winnable Senate races in Nevada and Delaware, respectively, in 2010, a Republican wave year. Akin and Mourdock similarly tanked winnable races in Missouri and Indiana two years later. Only in 2014, another GOP wave year, when a fed-up McConnell began intervening in primaries to weed out bad candidates, did Republicans finally recapture the Senate majority they had lost eight years earlier.

The minority leader is prepared to do the same thing this year, particularly in Missouri, where disgraced former Gov. Eric Greitens is a leading contender in the GOP primary. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is neutral in primaries, a directive of Florida Sen. Rick Scott, the chairman. But the super PAC aligned with McConnell, the Senate Leadership Fund, is poised to fill that gap — and utilize the massive war chest at its disposal against Greitens if polling suggests intervention is necessary.

So far, McConnell is keeping his powder dry. “Let’s put it this way,” he said. “If I were inclined to intervene, I certainly wouldn’t announce it.” Greitens has pledged to vote against McConnell for Republican leader if he is elected to the Senate this fall. Meanwhile, in just about every targeted state other than Missouri, McConnell sees virtually zero reason for concern.

[...]

[Empire_of_Liberty]

Arizona is trying to flush Ducey, but the septic tank is backed up.

[ncalburt]

You realize Mike Lee is a Huge Never Trumper and India cheap labor Lobbyist .
Recall Mikey Lee ram thru the India white collar Invasion Bill that
Trump Signed in Dec !
A Mormon cheap labor Assassin just like Romney .
Pure Evil .

He needs to GO in 2022 .

[ConservativeMind]

Mike Lee is Mitch McConnell-lite.

[RandFan]

He would be a much better leader.

He primaried out McConnell’s right hand man, Bob Bennett in 2010

[ConservativeMind]

So you believe promoting bad examples is how you eliminate their issues?

You work in a Corporate American business, don't you? I do, and I can recognize that thinking.

His Peter Principle limit is already met with his current position. You are promoting another level of crazy even management science can't properly label.

Maybe researchers would call it “Peter Principle 2022-Enhanced-++-Super?”

[Maris Crane]

If you want to regain the Senate, get rid of THUNE.

He is a such a depressing individual, and get someone who knows how to be passionate and articulate about this amazing country.

And he is just one of many.

[WMarshal]

Vote against McCarthy in the general.

[OKSooner]

"The worst of Joe Biden will be over."

Translation: Even Joe Biden was a preferable choice to Donald Trump, enough so to justify looking the other way as the election was stolen.

[bert]

There is no Tea Party.

The Tea Paqrty was killed and Conservatives did nothing. So, it no longer exists except as a memory, a high water mark that has never been maintained and certainly not exceeded.

Tea Party........ there is no Tea Party. There is no conservative cohesion

[Dr. Franklin]

Why are they fighting for a few more?
Doesn’t make much sense.
I think perhaps they see the Senate as evenly split and that will mean a Rand Paul or Mike Lee having undue influence.\

The idea is that they have enough RINOs to work "bipartisanly" with the Dems to keep control of the country from Trump and MAGA, and we have another Jan. 6, 2021 kind of Congress. It's time to flush ALL of the RINOs from the Republican Party, Congress, state legislatures and executive offices, etc. They all need to go, but we may well need to take all steps required to end the corrupt voting machines deciding elections to achieve this.

[SharpRightTurn]

“Mr. Bush and a band of anti-Trump Republicans led by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky are hoping he does more than listen.”

I look upon the Repukes as a necessary evil in a two party system. But the way they set themselves up for defeat is truly stomach turning.

[ClearCase_guy]

I look upon the Repukes as an accessory to evil in a one party system.

[No Party Affiliation]

The Tea Party was at the WWII memorial in 2013 when the vets decided to re-open it during 0bama’s govt furlough. Even then the Tea Party was a shadow of their former selves.

Side note: seeing the vets take the flimsy barricades down at the WWII memorial and depositing them in front of the white house was both inspiring and reminiscent (?) of some of the current demonstrations around the world.

[RckyRaCoCo]

[DIRTYSECRET]

*Mike Lee is a Huge Never Trumper /He needs to GO in 2022*
Ain’t gonna happen and you know it-so does Trump.

*If you want to regain the Senate, get rid of THUNE* Who’s the challenger? A stiff named Whelan? Watch his 2006 debate(span) vs. Hersth-Sandlin and you’ll see.

*Vote against McCarthy in the general.* How about the primary? Waste of breath.

There’s something wrong with too many of you. All I ask is that you use your heads.