Posted on 09/30/2013 5:46:59 AM PDT by cotton1706
There’s a new public enemy No. 1 in Senate GOP circles, and it’s not Ted Cruz.
It’s the Senate Conservatives Fund, an organization that used to prop up underdog conservative candidates but now is training its fire mainly on Republican incumbents — rather than Democrats. The group has ginned up anger on the far-right towards Republican senators for refusing to use a government shutdown threat as leverage to defund Obamacare — a campaign that has been good for its bottom line.
Since it started engaging in the defund Obamacare campaign, the group brought in the vast majority of the $3.5 million it has raised this cycle, pulling in $1.5 million in August as it unleashed a barrage of attacks on party leaders like Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn and veteran Republicans like Lamar Alexander.
That fundraising windfall has left the impression among the group’s legion of critics in the Republican establishment that the anti-GOP campaign has been more about boosting the group’s notoriety among the conservative base — rather than the common cause of electing more Republicans to the Senate.
“I think it’s completely destructive,” Cornyn, the Texas Republican and Senate minority whip, told POLITICO. “They are spending most of their money going after Republicans and making it harder for us to nominate and elect Republicans and regain the majority.”
The conservative organization is part of a tight-knit circle of third-party groups ratcheting up the GOP vs. GOP warfare that has consumed Republicans since the rise of the tea party in the 2010 midterm elections. The activists say without purist conservative lawmakers, the Republican Party implicitly supports Obama policies by working with Democrats. But GOP senators argue that the party needs to expand its tent and will occasionally need to compromise to work in a divided Washington.
“Isn’t it interesting that every dollar that is spent [attacking] good conservative Republicans … is a dollar that isn’t spent on winning the majority?” said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a one-time close ally of SCF founder, former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). “If your strategy is to think that you can get 60 hard-core conservative senators in this country, I don’t think it works.”
The leader of the group, Matt Hoskins, a California-based GOP operative and former aide to DeMint, is unapologetic about his decision to target Republicans in ways rarely employed in intra-party warfare.
“The Republicans are the problem right now,” Hoskins said. “That is what is standing most immediately between us and victory in this specific policy fight. Getting Republicans to unite and to fight against funding for Obamacare is the first step. We have to win that fight first and then we can go and begin pressuring Democrats.”
Still, even some of the group’s supporters don’t endorse its tactics attacking their GOP colleagues across the airwaves.
“It’s not my style, it’s not something I do,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a leader of the defund Obamacare movement, said of the anti-Republican campaign the conservatives fund has launched. “Sometimes groups choose to do that; I don’t think that’s the most effective way for me as a senator to conduct myself so that’s not what I choose to do.”
Still, Lee and Cruz were instrumental in launching the defunding movement with conservative operatives who quietly plotted a hard-ball political strategy to pressure Republicans to back their tactics or face wrath from the party’s right wing.
During the summer, several high-profile conservative activists, including Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Brent Bozell of ForAmerica, Mike Needham of Heritage Action Fund and others, huddled on Capitol Hill in a closed-door meeting in Lee’s conference room, where Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) were also in attendance.
Their mission: Create a grassroots army to support defunding Obamacare, arguing that once the government begins to implement the law in October, it will be nearly impossible to turn the funding off, according to sources familiar with the meeting. Coming out of that meeting, activists began to put together an extensive ground game for August and September where DeMint, now the head of the Heritage Foundation, FreedomWorks, Tea Party Patriots and ForAmerica and others held a series of rallies and town hall meetings.
While the Senate Conservatives Fund didn’t attend the Lee meeting, it played a key role complementing the efforts, with 1.9 million of its supporters signing a petition calling on Congress to kill Obamacare funding as part of the government spending bill. And the group has launched a series of radio and television ads, including some featuring tea party favorites Cruz and Lee, along with robocalls and direct mail pieces.
The group didn’t stop there, attacking GOP senators for lacking the courage to fight a law the party collectively hates. The group dropped $340,000 in an ad buy in Kentucky where it said McConnell “refuses to lead” the fight against Obamacare.
“Obamacare starts in October, but Congress can stop its funding,” the ad said. “What’s Mitch McConnell doing? Nothing. … What good is a leader like that?”
MAKE DC LISTEN: TELL YOUR SENATORS, ESPECIALLY THE DEMOCRATS !
State Senator Party Phone
AK Mark Begich D (202) 224-3004
AK Lisa Murkowski R (202) 224-6665
AL Jeff Sessions R (202) 224-4124
AL Richard C. Shelby R (202) 224-5744
AR John Boozman R (202) 224-4843
AR Mark L. Pryor D (202) 224-2353
AZ Jeff Flake R (202) 224-4521
AZ John McCain R (202) 224-2235
CA Barbara Boxer D (202) 224-3553
CA Dianne Feinstein D (202) 224-3841
CO Michael F. Bennet D (202) 224-5852
CO Mark Udall D (202) 224-5941
CT Richard Blumenthal D (202) 224-2823
CT Christopher Murphy D (202) 224-4041
DE Thomas R. Carper D (202) 224-2441
DE Christopher A. Coons D (202) 224-5042
FL Bill Nelson D (202) 224-5274
FL Marco Rubio R (202) 224-3041
GA Saxby Chambliss R (202) 224-3521
GA Johnny Isakson R (202) 224-3643
HI Mazie K. Hirono D (202) 224-6361
HI Brian Schatz D (202) 224-3934
IA Chuck Grassley R (202) 224-3744
IA Tom Harkin D (202) 224-3254
ID Mike Crapo R (202) 224-6142
ID James E. Risch R (202) 224-2752
IL Richard J. Durbin D (202) 224-2152
IL Mark Kirk R (202) 224-2854
IN Daniel Coats R (202) 224-5623
IN Joe Donnelly D (202) 224-4814
KS Jerry Moran R (202) 224-6521
KS Pat Roberts R (202) 224-4774
KY Mitch McConnell R (202) 224-2541
KY Rand Paul R (202) 224-4343
LA Mary L. Landrieu D (202) 224-5824
LA David Vitter R (202) 224-4623
MA Edward Markey D (202) 224-2742
MA Elizabeth Warren D (202) 224-4543
MD Benjamin L. Cardin D (202) 224-4524
MD Barbara A. Mikulski D (202) 224-4654
ME Susan M. Collins R (202) 224-2523
ME Angus S. King I (202) 224-5344
MI Carl Levin D (202) 224-6221
MI Debbie Stabenow D (202) 224-4822
MN Al Franken D (202) 224-5641
MN Amy Klobuchar D (202) 224-3244
MO Roy Blunt R (202) 224-5721
MO Claire McCaskill D (202) 224-6154
MS Thad Cochran R (202) 224-5054
MS Roger F. Wicker R (202) 224-6253
MT Max Baucus D (202) 224-2651
MT Jon Tester D (202) 224-2644
NC Richard Burr R (202) 224-3154
NC Kay R. Hagan D (202) 224-6342
ND Heidi Heitkamp D (202) 224-2043
ND John Hoeven R (202) 224-2551
NE Deb Fischer R (202) 224-6551
NE Mike Johanns R (202) 224-4224
NH Kelly Ayotte R (202) 224-3324
NH Jeanne Shaheen D (202) 224-2841
NJ Jeff Chiesa R (202) 224-3224
NJ Robert Menendez D (202) 224-4744
NM Martin Heinrich D (202) 224-5521
NM Tom Udall D (202) 224-6621
NV Dean Heller R (202) 224-6244
NV Harry Reid D (202) 224-3542
NY Kirsten E. Gillibrand D (202) 224-4451
NY Charles E. Schumer D (202) 224-6542
OH Sherrod Brown D (202) 224-2315
OH Rob Portman R (202) 224-3353
OK Tom Coburn R (202) 224-5754
OK James M. Inhofe R (202) 224-4721
OR Jeff Merkley D (202) 224-3753
OR Ron Wyden D (202) 224-5244
PA Robert P. Casey D (202) 224-6324
PA Patrick J. Toomey R (202) 224-4254
RI Jack Reed D (202) 224-4642
RI Sheldon Whitehouse D (202) 224-2921
SC Lindsey Graham R (202) 224-5972
SC Tim Scott R (202) 224-6121
SD Tim Johnson D (202) 224-5842
SD John Thune R (202) 224-2321
TN Lamar Alexander R (202) 224-4944
TN Bob Corker R (202) 224-3344
TX John Cornyn R (202) 224-2934
UT Orrin G. Hatch R (202) 224-5251
UT Mike Lee R (202) 224-5444
VA Tim Kaine D (202) 224-4024
VA Mark R. Warner D (202) 224-2023
VT Patrick J. Leahy D (202) 224-4242
VT Bernard Sanders I (202) 224-5141
WA Maria Cantwell D (202) 224-3441
WA Patty Murray D (202) 224-2621
WI Tammy Baldwin D (202) 224-5653
WI Ron Johnson R (202) 224-5323
WV Joe Manchin D (202) 224-3954
WV John D. Rockefeller D (202) 224-6472
WY John Barrasso R (202) 224-6441
WY Michael B. Enzi R (202) 224-3424
Now that we have your attention, you sorry US Senators, keep in mind that we will replace you with those who will gladly correct your errors - - - .
So, scrub and clean by 2014 !
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick —————
- See more at: http://tedcruzforsenate.org/tell-your-senators-to-oppose-cloture-on-h-j-res-59/#sthash.CvqYzXvd.s4d7EOIg.dpuf
_______________________
US SENATE GOP DEAD WEIGHT LIST LOYAL TO OBAMA
Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
John Barrasso (R-WY)
John Hoeven (R-ND)
Roy Blunt (R-MO)
Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
John Boozman (R-AR)
Mike Johanns (R-NE)
Richard Burr (R-NC)
Ron Johnson (R-WI)
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
Mark Kirk (R-IL)
Jeff Chiesa (R-NJ)
John McCain (R-AZ)
Dan Coats (R-IN)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Lisa Murkowksi (R-AK)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
John Thune (R-SD)
Susan Collins (R-ME)
Roger Wicker (R-MS)
Bob Corker (R-TN)
Not Voting:
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
Not a dime to the National Republicans...
Never again.
Uppity conservatives don’t know their place. LOL
Thank you.
Jim DeMint’s payback to Mitch McConnell.
McConnell and his Senate RINO crew shouldn’t be surprised at all.
Eff'em all. Their day is done.
“Cornyn told Politico.” Um, that’s the problem right there. Establishment Repubs working hand in hand with leftwing propaganda outlets to trash conservatives.
This statement cracks me up.
For many election cycles has the GOPe smirked at the base for not being able to nominate reliable conservatives & told us to suck it up and vote for the RINO in the general.
They told conservatives the time for infighting is the primaries, then they whine when conservatives take them seriously.
Never again!
I just wrote my Senator Isakson and told him his Yes-Cloture/No-Obamacare vote cost him my support when he runs again. I told him I’m supporting anybody but him in the primary and his opponent in the general election if he gets the GOP nomination.
NO MORE RINOs!
truth bump
A republican who votes with the Dems on critical issues is a liability rather than an asset. If we can trade two RINOs for one solid conservative, it’s a net gain for us. Of course, the Republican Establishment doesn’t see it that way.
How many of these people spent the past week trashing Ted Cruz?
I signed up to help...also sent a “love” letter to these a$$wipes explaining in terms they will understand why I joined the SCF!!!!
If it is all about party unity, why did asshat Cornyn support Murkowski after she lost the GOP primary?
I believe that Cornyn and his accolades supported Dewhurst against Cruz.
The message still hasn't pierced the GOPe mind apparently.
Having 27 RINO Senators certainly doesn't work.
good, where do I contribute
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