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Club for Growth Wears on Some Republicans
Wall Street Journal ^ | May 18, 2009 | Naftali Bendavid

Posted on 05/17/2009 9:20:34 PM PDT by reaganaut1

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's switch to the Democratic Party underscores the clout of Club For Growth, a conservative group that targets Republicans it brands insufficiently committed to low taxes and small government.

The move also has inflamed a debate within the party: Are the group's tactics good or bad for Republicans? [welcome to the club]

Mr. Specter fingered Club For Growth as the key factor behind his decision, saying he would have lost the Republican primary to a Club-backed rival. His decision has prompted some Republicans to turn on the organization, saying it backs those who are so conservative that they then lose to Democrats.

"If their goal is to increase the Democrats' numbers in Congress, they're doing a very good job," said Rep. Steven LaTourette (R., Ohio), a moderate who won his seat in 1994. "Do they want a permanent minority of 140 people as pure as Caesar's wife, or a Republican majority that can get them 70% of the issues that are important to them?" (Republicans hold 178 of the 435 House seats and 40 of 100 Senate seats.)

The group's leaders insist its actions only help the party.

"The Club focuses on issues that are the Republican brand -- economic-freedom issues," said Chris Chocola, a former Republican congressman from Indiana who now heads the organization. "I don't think we lost the majority because we stuck to those issues. We lost the majority because we strayed from those issues."

Pat Toomey, the previous Club president, jumped into the Pennsylvania Senate race after Mr. Specter became one of only three Republicans in Congress to vote for President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: chocola; clubforgrowth; specter; toomey
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To: reaganaut1

Agreed, always a Liberal, Spector just changed the letter following his name. Thankfully, the Dims toshed him, fair warning to other faint hearted Pubbies.


21 posted on 05/17/2009 9:43:55 PM PDT by Rembrandt
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To: reaganaut1
There is a fight underway for the future of the GOP between Conservatives and Opportunists (aka RINOs). Conservatives are those who rely on principles and conviction in their decision making process and Opportunists are those who will say or do whatever it takes to get elected. If the conservatives fail in this fight they will walk away from the GOP en masse.
22 posted on 05/17/2009 9:45:36 PM PDT by Natural Law
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To: reaganaut1

Keep up the good work Club for Growth!! Look at what the Republican Party is trying to feed us now, they want Charlie Crist (FL) who backed porkulus, Mark Kirk (IL) who is more with Pelosi than most conservatives, don’t want to support Pat Toomey.

You have to keep their feet to the fire at election time.


23 posted on 05/17/2009 9:46:30 PM PDT by Steelers6
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To: reaganaut1

If Spekter signaled out the Club for Growth as a big factor in his decision, then they must be doing something right.


24 posted on 05/17/2009 9:48:19 PM PDT by Prospero (non est ad astra mollis e terris via)
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To: reaganaut1

Club for Growth is one of my favorites! Limited Government should be the #1 tenet of the Republican party.


25 posted on 05/17/2009 9:48:26 PM PDT by byteback
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To: reaganaut1

So I guess that the big tent doesn’t include the conservative side and those opinions.

Which make sense since being the Demo-lite is working out so well for the Republicans.


26 posted on 05/17/2009 9:52:49 PM PDT by rbbeachkid (The ONLY ones able to fix the economy - Small Business Owners!)
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To: reaganaut1
Rep. Steven LaTourette (R., Ohio), a moderate who won his seat in 1994.

Another Washingtonian who forgot the address of his hometown in Ohio a long time ago.

27 posted on 05/17/2009 9:52:51 PM PDT by JohnLongIsland
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To: denydenydeny

rightrightright


28 posted on 05/17/2009 10:05:46 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( Don't mess with the mockingbird! /\/\ http://tiny.cc/freepthis)
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To: reaganaut1

The CFG pretty much sucks, like most republican organizations.


29 posted on 05/17/2009 10:06:51 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: roses of sharon

The Republican Revolution was ended by the Republicans, bunch of incompetent boobs that they are.


30 posted on 05/17/2009 10:09:55 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: reaganaut1
saying he would have lost the Republican primary to a Club-backed rival. <<<<<<

Run u ba$tard RUN!!!.........someone will ease your misery with a bullet in your back

31 posted on 05/17/2009 10:16:04 PM PDT by M-cubed (Why is "Greshams Law" a law?)
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To: rabscuttle385
Bingo!!!.....I wanna see where they poop! ..Cowards!!!
32 posted on 05/17/2009 10:18:31 PM PDT by M-cubed (Why is "Greshams Law" a law?)
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To: roses of sharon
Sorry..but that boils my ass
33 posted on 05/17/2009 10:22:49 PM PDT by M-cubed (Why is "Greshams Law" a law?)
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To: Natural Law
Lets Roll!!!
34 posted on 05/17/2009 10:31:42 PM PDT by M-cubed (Why is "Greshams Law" a law?)
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To: reaganaut1

If you want an entrenched Washington controlled party that doesn’t need to answer to the people who put them there, don’t support what the Club for Growth is doing. Incumbency good. Democracy bad.


35 posted on 05/17/2009 10:55:02 PM PDT by dr_who
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To: Frantzie
Specter is scum. I used to contribute to Club for Growth until Steve Moore started writing pro-illegal immigration editorials in the WSJ.

If Club for Growth supports illegal immigration, that may be why they dissed Duncan Hunter in his bid for the nomination.

36 posted on 05/17/2009 11:01:13 PM PDT by upsdriver
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To: Frantzie

Well, that’s disappointing to hear.


37 posted on 05/17/2009 11:02:15 PM PDT by Rastus (Jedi mind tricks would work on Obama.)
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To: pissant

Am I remembering correctly, pissant, didn’t club for growth shaft Duncan Hunter?


38 posted on 05/17/2009 11:10:14 PM PDT by upsdriver
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To: upsdriver

That turned me off on the CFG also. It does look like they gave support to Lamborn though, and he is quite hawkish on borders. So apparently they’re not 100% ideological on their stance.


39 posted on 05/17/2009 11:15:05 PM PDT by CowboyJay (How does one 'eff' the 'ineffible'?)
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To: CowboyJay

It could have been Hunter’s tough talk on China trade as well now that I think of it. At any rate, Duncan Hunter was a pure conservative running for president and should have been supported by a so-called conservative group.


40 posted on 05/17/2009 11:19:37 PM PDT by upsdriver
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