The war is on. Wall Street Republicans are tired of seeing conservative Republicans lose primaries to complete freaks and then lose Senate seats to the Democrats. They are creating the Conservative Victory Fund to stop lunatics like Rep. Steve King from winning the nomination to run for retiring Sen. Tom Harkin’s seat in Iowa.
“There is a broad concern about having blown a significant number of races because the wrong candidates were selected,” said Steven J. Law, the president of American Crossroads, the “super PAC” creating the new project. “We don’t view ourselves as being in the incumbent protection business, but we want to pick the most conservative candidate who can win.”
Obviously, Karl Rove is involved in this effort, too. When the Republican Establishment starts telling the base of the party that they are selecting “the wrong candidates,” you know that fireworks will shortly follow. After all, how did progressives feel when Rahm Emanuel threw the DCCC’s money and support to conservadems over progressive champions?
I wish I could say that this is a positive development that will lead the GOP back from the wilderness and restore two-party sanity. But it’s probably just a smart thing to do that will increase conservative power in Washington. Yet, it won’t be without drama.
Didn’t they already try this with the original American Crossroads? And lose?
I hope Sarah Palin gets involved.
Karl Rove is involved??!! Wall Street Republicans must be hard up…again.
Where will the Money move? That will be the most interesting. After Money’s dismal returns this last go will they sit on their policy hands with the hope that at least they might win an election and go back to 2nd or is it 3rd chair?
More money. That ought to solve the problem.
Step one, create monster.
Step two, whine.
Step three, see step one.
I’m going to be over here with my popcorn and hopehopehope that these Victory Fund types cause sufficient aggrievement amongst the TEA Partiers that the TEA leaders support their own candidates, organize choking off donations to the RNCC/NRSC, and other such things.
After all, Amy Kremer and her fellow brave, brave revolutionaries will not be ignored!!
Sorta like the Americans for Democratic Action pushing the New Deal forward.
They’re still at the bargaining stage. Nothing to really get excited about until they try to create a counterpart to the DLC. Now what would that look like? Pro-minority, pro-union, peaceniks — Thomas Dewey.
At this stage, they’ll settle for anyone smart enough not to speak about the things he/she really believes, such as . . . oh, I don’t know . . . legitimate rape.
If this candidate he wants to defeat then goes on to win the primary, then half the work is done for the Dems. Opposition research/softening up the opponent on Karl Rove’s dime. Check.
That’s what I was thinking. This could be a positive development that restores two-party sanity, but it could also be a positive development that fractures the GOP and helps the Democrats retake Congress.
Especially because the “most conservative candidate who can win” strikes me as a very narrow sweet spot. “The most conservative candidate who can win” is an apt description of that guy who ran against Obama last year. Or at least it was, until he lost.
While there are growing differences between Presidential campaigns and statewide campaigns in red states, I believe Stephen has a good point here. Full control of outcomes is usually an illusion.
I think it would have been helpful to our cause if the TEA Party had supported primaries against the GOP’s more reasonable candidates for Governorships. My understanding is that Snyder and Walker, for examples, ran as reasonable Republicans and revealed their radical agendas only after their elections. If we had had successful TEA Party candidates waving the Crazy flag, we might have avoided the horrible policy results in Wisconsin and Michigan.
Phooey.
No way the bros are going to support liberal GOP candidates against guys like King.
They are far from being Eisenhower, Nixon, or Rockefeller Republicans.
They are Goldwater/Reagan/Bircher conservative purists.
Their only problem with guys like King is that they keep missing good opportunities to shut up.
The situation is a little different than a battle within the party, but it’s related.
Ken Cuccinelli is Virginia’s AG and he’s running for governor. He’s about as much a teabagger as one can be. He would be a disaster for VA. The current Lt. Governor, Bill Bolling, isn’t as bad. He’s considering a run for Governor as an independent (he might be able to win a primary, but they’ll be having a convention instead to pick the candidate and KC has that locked up).
If he decides to run, it should divide the Republican vote at least to some extent, presumably helping the Democrat (likely Terry McAuliffe). But some see ways that Bolling could win instead.
If Bolling could find a way to get non-insane Republican backing, he might help the party as a whole become less insane. Maybe. But I wouldn’t count on it.
More here at Blue Virginia.
Cheers,
Scott.
Terry McAwful? Should anyone care who wins?
vs Mr State Sponsored Rape? you’re kidding, right
I’d rather Cuccinelli be the face of the Republican Party than McAuliffe be the face of the Democratic Party.
Andrea Mitchell is doing this exact story right now on MSNBC. She even took the title!