War to the Knife, Knife to the Hilt

Posted on | April 6, 2014 | 44 Comments

Maybe the National Republican Senatorial Committee thought it was a smart move to play the race card against Tea Party challenger Chris McDaniel, but the backlash was overwhelming and it comes at exactly the wrong time for the NRSC’s doomed effort to protect septuagenarian Senator Thad Cochran. Glenn Reynolds, William Jacobson and Vinnie the K were among the many who expressed disgust with the GOP Establishment’s desperation tactics.

With just eight weeks left until the primary, momentum has clearly shifted. A fossil remnant of the Nixonian Epoch, Cochran is incapable of taking on McDaniel directly. Matthew Boyle at Breitbart was clearly impressed with McDaniel’s performance at this weekend’s FreePAC event sponsored by FreedomWorks:

“We’re fighting, and so it begins again,” McDaniel opened his ten-minute speech. “One last great stand for liberty. One last great stand for our Constitution. We dare not disappoint. There’s too much at stake. Our country’s too great to lose and I will not tell my children one day about a once-great Republic that we were unable to save. We will not witness the managed decline of this Republic. We will witness its revival. We will witness its resurrection.” . . .
“We stand here today in defense of that early and original American revolution,” McDaniel said. “What they brought us, what they brought you, was something unprecedented in all of American history—or for that matter, all of world history. They simply did not change the leading cast of characters, replacing one king with another for example, or replacing a king with an oligarchy. They changed your role in your government: they work for you, not the other way around. And yet in Washington, D.C., they have created a political aristocracy. They no longer listen. They have forgotten who they work for. We go to remind them again, and we’re going to remind them again, that’s our obligation. That’s our duty of this generation and we will win this fight, I promise you.”

You’re on target. Fire for effect. The road to unseating Lindsay Graham? That road goes straight through Mississippi, my friends.

CHRIS McDANIEL for U.S. SENATE
It’s Time for a Change

Category: Election, Mississippi, Senate

Comments

44 Responses to “War to the Knife, Knife to the Hilt”

Quartermaster
April 6th, 2014 @ 9:46 pm

Don’t forget McConnell. He must go as well. Even if it means the Dim wins, he must go.
BobBelvedere
April 6th, 2014 @ 9:47 pm

RT @smitty_one_each: TOM War to the Knife, Knife to the Hilt http://t.co/Qs0fpxoVAH #TCOT
WaltPimbley
April 6th, 2014 @ 10:40 pm

RT @smitty_one_each: TOM War to the Knife, Knife to the Hilt http://t.co/Qs0fpxoVAH #TCOT
M. Thompson
April 6th, 2014 @ 10:47 pm

The upside of having Al Franken (DFL-Hollywood) to run against means there’s not having to worry about this stuff being pulled.
Lemuel Vargas
April 7th, 2014 @ 12:03 am

As noted by me a while back, Tea Party will start the steam roller of both the GOPe and the Dems this 2014 and finish it on 2016. Remember employer mandate?
Chris McDaniel for U.S. Senate | Batshit Crazy News
April 7th, 2014 @ 12:06 am

[…] TOM: War to the Knife, Knife to the Hilt […]
storibund
April 7th, 2014 @ 1:00 am

Had my first chance the other day to tell a caller from the RNC that my money now goes to individual conservative candidates, and that the national GOP gets nothing from me, from this point forward.

Felt goooood. Highly recommended 😉
Adjoran
April 7th, 2014 @ 1:34 am

This is a classic case. ONLY the NRSC and his home state establishment has any interest in saving Cochran. That’s what NRSC does, protecting incumbents is their mission. But McDaniel has attracted some significant conservative support and seems a good candidate to replace Thad the Porker.

But some people HAVE to overplay their hand. Here Stacy blames “the GOP Establishment’s desperation tactics.”

What CRAP. It’s just fabrication out of whole cloth, a blatant LIE. It isn’t “the GOP Establishment” or even the NRSC who did this, it was ONE GUY at NRSC on his personal account (and supposedly a Mississippi blogger who supports Cochran).

There have been no commercials aired with the claim. No print ads or direct mail or even email campaign that we know of. You have ONE FUCKING TWEET.

Now, if you want to campaign to get Dayspring fired, I’m on board. It’s an outrage that an NRSC employee smears Republican candidates on his private account. And if he is not at least forced to apologize over the next few days, then the NRSC can be criticized as complicit. But to blame the group – and the entire “Establishment” (which is just as stupid a term now as when the hippies used it in the ’60s, btw) – for the private action of one employee is no better than what Dayspring did.
Adjoran
April 7th, 2014 @ 1:34 am

I did that in 1996. They still call a few times a year, though, and send me all the mailers.
Matt_SE
April 7th, 2014 @ 2:20 am

That’s been my position for a while now. If McConnell wins the primary, conservatives must vote for the Democrat.
We MUST be rid of this man.
Quartermaster
April 7th, 2014 @ 6:41 am

Too bad for you Adjoran. The act is typical of the GOPe. As usual, you miss the point.
NewsSprocket | Larwyn’s Linx: Digging Out From Under the Rubble of Obama’s Catastrophic “Success”
April 7th, 2014 @ 7:29 am

[…] War to the Knife, Knife to the Hilt: R.S. McCainKansas Legislature Passes Sweeping Pro-2nd Amendment Law: RWNFlorida Senate Demands a “Convention of the States” to Stop Obama: ConTrib […]
Rosalie
April 7th, 2014 @ 8:00 am

“McConnell wins the primary, conservatives must vote for the Democrat.”
There’s no difference anyway.
JeffS
April 7th, 2014 @ 9:25 am

I told them in writing. The mailers still come, though not in as man as before.
JeffS
April 7th, 2014 @ 9:31 am

Granted, the NRSC hasn’t stepped up and sponsored the anti-McDaniel campaign. But have you ever hear of “plausible deniability”? And has the NRSC pinged Mr. Dayspring for being such a douche bag?

And then there’s the pattern of the NRSC supporting pro-establishment candidates (e.g., Cristi versus Rubio a few years back).

So it’s not unreasonable to make the connection. It may not have the degree of proof that you demand, but it’s hardly “crap”.
Art Deco
April 7th, 2014 @ 9:39 am

Jeffrey Lord addressed this issue last January with regard to Dayspring. Lord used to be an employee of the NSRC and said the institutional culture is such that you can be sure that Dayspring’s thinking is a function of the management’s (which would be the Chairman of the Committee and McConnell).
StrangernFiction
April 7th, 2014 @ 9:40 am

The R before the statists name makes a big difference.
Art Deco
April 7th, 2014 @ 9:42 am

There’s a difference.

However, it is difficult to see that McConnell will not disappoint. His is a public office lifer and insists on running at the age of 72 even though he can comfortably retire to Louisville.

Another disappointment is Boehner, who had at least one foot in the business world until he was in his early 40s.
Art Deco
April 7th, 2014 @ 9:45 am

The Republicans tend to be ineffectual at liquidating disagreeable initiatives of the Democrats. Part of this is the filibuster and part is they’ve seldom had a House majority large enough not to be bedeviled by rent-seekers on particular issues. In addition, during those years the Republicans have controlled the committee architecture in Congress, they either faced a Democratic president (1995-2001) or a Republican president who was verrrry unambitious (1953-55, 2001, 2003-07).

—

Ineffectual at liquidating is not the same thing a generating problems.
StrangernFiction
April 7th, 2014 @ 10:06 am

“I think we are going to crush [conservatives] everywhere.” — Mitch McConnell

Just ineffectual you say. Please.
Dana
April 7th, 2014 @ 11:33 am

Wrong answer. We are close to being able to take control of the Senate, but we need every Republican we can get to do that. The most important vote the senators make is the one at the opening of the session which determines which party will lead the Senate. In this, the worst RINO is better than the best Democrat.
richard mcenroe
April 7th, 2014 @ 12:03 pm

You gotta wonder what Adj’s job with the GOP is.
Rosalie
April 7th, 2014 @ 12:16 pm

In this, the worst RINO is better than the best Democrat.
I think of someone like Sen. McCain. Sorry, I don’t agree with you on that. He’s absolutely no better than the best Democrat and may even be worse.
Dana
April 7th, 2014 @ 12:21 pm

Really? And if Senator McConnell wins his primary, this will be your choice:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1.0-9/1978637_717435838278929_900574681_n.jpg
Evi L. Bloggerlady
April 7th, 2014 @ 2:00 pm

If McConnell wins the primary (and I hope he does not) you cannot out of spite give a senate seat to the Democrats. That is insanity.

What is needed is getting more conservatives in the Senate to vote that quisling out of leadership. But things are way too thin to be throwing senate seats away when the majority control is at stake.
Dai Alanye
April 7th, 2014 @ 2:16 pm

I’m trying to interest people in Ohio 14, my district, where a true conservative and Tea Party favorite, Matt Lynch, is challenging a RINO and Steve LaTourette clone.

LaTourette runs Main Street Partners, a PAC dedicated to attacking Republican conservatives, and is going after Lynch. In other words, Dems are the opponent, conservatives are the enemy.
Unix-Jedi
April 7th, 2014 @ 2:20 pm

we need every Republican we can get to do that.

That doesn’t mean that they have a (R) next to their name on the ballot.

In fact, in a very close majority, the RINOs are even more dangerous, as they’re “Gang of 8-able” to cut deals and look like *ahem* “Mavericks”.
Rosalie
April 7th, 2014 @ 2:32 pm

The Republicans tend to be ineffectual at liquidating disagreeable initiatives of the Democrats.
Maybe it’s because they don’t really disagree.
Rosalie
April 7th, 2014 @ 2:33 pm

Exactly. Rubio may have a hard time coming back from that.
Rosalie
April 7th, 2014 @ 2:37 pm

Neither, if I could have my way.
Rosalie
April 7th, 2014 @ 2:40 pm

Unless with get more conservatives, there really isn’t a huge difference in the parties anymore.
Kirby McCain
April 7th, 2014 @ 2:45 pm

We’re going to lose seats. Stock up on the popcorn.
MNHawk
April 7th, 2014 @ 3:02 pm

Why not one of candidates 3 through 10? Surely you can find someone you could vote for that doesn’t have an R on it, without voting for the D, can’t you?
OBoehnerCare? | Regular Right Guy
April 7th, 2014 @ 4:45 pm

[…] War to the Knife, Knife to the Hilt […]
Evi L. Bloggerlady
April 7th, 2014 @ 5:24 pm

Yeah, the way the GOP leadership is we just might. Trust me I get the problem with McConnell. I do not live in Kentucky I would vote against Mitch in the primary and if he prevails for him over the democrat in the general.

I never forgave Castle and those other fuckers who voted against O’Donnell out of spite.
Rosalie
April 7th, 2014 @ 6:03 pm

I wouldn’t be surprised.
Rosalie
April 7th, 2014 @ 6:11 pm

I wish him well. Lynch has two opponents: LaTourette and the Establishment.
Quartermaster
April 7th, 2014 @ 6:35 pm

There are some people so bad that they must go no matter how they go. The Turtle is one of those people. Same with Boner, although he lives in a pretty safe Ohio District.
Kirby McCain
April 7th, 2014 @ 6:59 pm

The Democrats don’t have the task of unseating incumbents. We are doing that for them. The eventual winner faces the Democratic challenger with a depleted treasury. Thus in races where we’ve primaried our candidates the playing field has been leveled. Throw in southern states with large African American populations that always vote Democrat. Taking out candidates that older voters are familiar with, so they might just feel cheated and stay home for the general. It’s that graying of America thing. Anyway, you have a recipe for Reddenbacher Reserve. Don’t expect the Tea Party crew to own this mess. In case you haven’t noticed, Obama isn’t the only one blaming Bush lately.
Rosalie
April 7th, 2014 @ 7:17 pm

The one thing that we don’t know is how Obamacare might affect the elections. Are voters thoroughly disgusted with those incumbents to vote them out?
Quartermaster
April 8th, 2014 @ 9:14 am

And that’s a huge problem. Like a scenario where you have to choose one of two doors. One labeled “damned if you do” and the other “Damned if you don’t.”

McConnell will not only disappoint us, he WILL stab us in the back repeatedly. Then he’ll urinate down your back and tell you it’s raining.
Quartermaster
April 8th, 2014 @ 9:16 am

Ineffectual is just as bad as originating, even if they aren’t the same thing. As a practical matter is a difference without a distinction.

The real problem is that they really have no problem with most of what the DimoKKKrats do.
Matt_SE
April 11th, 2014 @ 7:02 pm

Sorry, but a lame protest vote doesn’t cut it. If there are 5 people with 10% of the vote, and McConnell gets 50% it will make no difference. We need someone to beat him. The best chance of that outside of Matt Bevin, is the DemoKKKrat.
Matt_SE
April 11th, 2014 @ 7:05 pm

You don’t know that. What if we flip more than the minimum 6 seats? What if we flip 8 or 9 seats, but continue on with McConnell stabbing us in the back?
I’d rather take my chances and get rid of him, whatever the cost.