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Will Tea Partiers Sink Mitch McConnell’s Kentucky Senate Reelection Bid?
thedailybeast.com ^ | 8/4/14 | Ben Jacobs

Posted on 08/04/2014 5:06:45 AM PDT by cotton1706

The Senate minority leader, long reviled among many on the right for what they see as kowtowing to Democrats, is in a tough race for his seat—and in trouble with the Tea Party.

If Alison Lundergan Grimes pulls off an upset victory over Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in November, she may have Tea Partiers to thank. But don’t expect conservative voters to rally to Grimes—they simply aren't getting behind McConnell.

Although the five-term Republican ended up winning a a tough primary challenge from businessman Matt Bevin handily, the race was one of the most vicious and ugly this cycle, with Bevin’s campaign badly damaged in a cockfighting scandal. And while some disaffected conservatives have backed McConnell in November, Bevin has still not endorsed him, and many of the Tea Party groups that supported the businessman are following suit. As a result, in a recent poll, nearly 20% of self-identified Republicans didn't support McConnell.

Scott Hofstra, spokesman for the United Kentucky Tea Party, said he isn’t backing McConnell and “taking the lesser of the two evils approach.” Many conservatives, Hofstra predicted, either will leave the box on the ballot for U.S. Senate empty or will vote for David Patterson, the libertarian candidate. The senator has alienated many Tea Partiers and has yet to reach out to bridge the gap, Hofstra said. The divide was opened further, he added, by McConnell’s open support for Thad Cochran in the Mississippi Senate runoff and McConnell’s association with pro-Cochran ads that many conservatives assailed as race-baiting. “If there were some people on the fence after what happened in Kentucky, the Mississippi incident really put them over the edge,” Hofstra said. Still, he noted that Tea Party dissatisfaction with McConnell wasn’t winning Grimes their votes. “I haven’t talked to anybody who would vote her.”

(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: elections; kentuckykickback; nomorerinos; rino
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To: Rides_A_Red_Horse

You have no profile, do you live in KY?


61 posted on 08/04/2014 7:05:41 AM PDT by Beagle8U (Unions are an Affirmative Action program for Slackers! .)
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To: boycott; ChildOfThe60s

It would certainly slow obama packing the courts.


Never rule out “Maverick” McCain and his “Gang of Eight!”

Come one, boycott. You know your GOPe love progressive judges as much as their good buddies Reid and Pelosi!


62 posted on 08/04/2014 7:05:55 AM PDT by Rides_A_Red_Horse (Why do you need a fire extinguisher when you can call the fire department?)
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To: Beagle8U

You have no profile, do you live in KY?


I live in your fevered, twisted imagination.


63 posted on 08/04/2014 7:07:29 AM PDT by Rides_A_Red_Horse (Why do you need a fire extinguisher when you can call the fire department?)
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To: Rides_A_Red_Horse

Just a troll with no say in the KY election then, figured as much.

I’m not in KY, but staying home and stamping your widdle feet in protest isn’t a winning strategy.


64 posted on 08/04/2014 7:11:27 AM PDT by Beagle8U (Unions are an Affirmative Action program for Slackers! .)
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To: Rides_A_Red_Horse

Cutting off your nose to spite your face is what it is.

I don’t like mitch. I despise john McCain, Lindsey, and thad. I would hold my nose and vote for mitch just to keep Obama from packing the courts and being totally lawless his last two years.

The last two years of the Hussein Obama regime will be “DAMAGE CONTROL.” Hussein is intent on destroying this nation and we’ve got to minimize the damage.

Also, Allison wants to use your tax dollars to fund abortions — even late term abortions. I don’t know about you but I will vote against that every time.

I wouldn’t consider my vote a vote for Mitch. I would consider it a VOTE AGAINST GRIMES. We certainly don’t need that loudmouth Obama supporting bi#$h in the senate the next six years.


65 posted on 08/04/2014 7:13:11 AM PDT by boycott
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To: billhilly
Enough of this "purity" crap. Mitch has a record of moving the political Football toward the big government goalpost. Doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results is the definition of insanity.

Throw the bum out.

66 posted on 08/04/2014 7:13:22 AM PDT by SpeakerToAnimals (I hope to earn a name in battle)
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To: ChildOfThe60s

Allison wants to use your tax dollars to fund abortions — even late term abortions. I don’t know about you but I will vote against that every time.


67 posted on 08/04/2014 7:14:21 AM PDT by boycott
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To: boycott

YOU can move to Maine and YOU can vote for Susan Collins. I’ll be doing a write-in or voting third party for Maine’s Senate “race.”

After the 2012 election, I swore I would never vote for another RINO.

Fortunately, Maine has a conservative TEA Party guy, Paul LePage, as governor who is running for re-election. I’ll vote for him.

The open 2nd Congressional House seat has a conservative GOP guy running, Bruce Poliquin. He beat the GOPe guy in the Republican primary by 12 points in June. Mr. Poliquin has my vote, too.


68 posted on 08/04/2014 7:15:31 AM PDT by july4thfreedomfoundation (I don't want to feel "safe." I want to feel FREE!)
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To: Rides_A_Red_Horse
The “guilt games” don’t work.

Why do you support backstabbing quislings? You guys had to know you could only screw your conservative base so many times.

Cochran took the GOPe across the Rubicon in a jet ski. The tactics they used against McDaniel, and by extension the Tea Party, went beyond mendacious.

Reince Preibus, as the chairman of the RNC, had a chance to unify the party by disciplining those responsible. Instead, he's been playing Waldo for the last two months.

The message has been sent that GOPe despises Tea Partiers more than they want to defeat Democrats. And now they're pi$$ed off when we tell them they don't have our votes any longer? My goodness, the temerity of the Tea Party voter!

69 posted on 08/04/2014 7:15:32 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Mississippi!)
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To: Rides_A_Red_Horse
When dealing with the FReeper GOPe cult, do you ever feel like you’re trying discuss particle physics with Nancy Pelosi?

Always.

70 posted on 08/04/2014 7:15:58 AM PDT by COBOL2Java (I'm a Christian, pro-life, pro-gun, Reaganite. The GOP hates me. Why should I vote for them?)
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To: Fiji Hill

Obamacare passed on a strict party line vote. All the dems supported it, even relatively consevative dems like Joe Manchin. How many republicans, including any of the RINO persuasion, supported it?
Plus, there are a lot of old people on the Supreme Court. Plus, committees get chaired and get more representatives from the majority party. You may not love Issa in the House, but he’s a big improvement over Elijah Cummings.


71 posted on 08/04/2014 7:16:58 AM PDT by TruthShallSetYouFree (When using "he" or "him" to refer to Barack Obama, is it still okay to use the lower case "h"?)
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To: cotton1706; All
Andrew Schachtner, president of the Louisville Tea Party and a former Bevin campaign staffer, sounded somewhat more restrained than Hofstra in his comments to The Daily Beast. As for the McConnell-Grimes race, Schachtner said he had decided whom he would vote for but declined to disclose that candidate’s identity.

Come on Andy, man-up.
72 posted on 08/04/2014 7:17:09 AM PDT by Din Maker (I've always been crazy, but, that's the only thing that has kept me from going insane.)
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To: originalbuckeye

Good for you. Two words: SUPREME COURT. Would you rather have Harry Reid picking?


73 posted on 08/04/2014 7:18:07 AM PDT by martiangohome
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To: personalaccts
That's an oft-repeated shibboleth which happens NOT to be true. Look here.

McVain's vote total was 59,850,323; Willard's was 60,934,407. Willard managed a million more votes, pathetic as it was.

BO dropped from 69.5 million to 65.9 million, an official drop of 3.6 million.

So a NET total of 1 million BO voters was smart enough to switch, flipping the states of Indiana, North Carolina and Nebraska's Omaha district and a net total of 2.6 was fed up enough to stay home. That's all.

There was not a significant number of conservative voters more turned off by the RINO Mitt than the RINO McCain.

74 posted on 08/04/2014 7:19:20 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: Night Hides Not; Rides_A_Red_Horse

My goodness, the GOPe cheerleaders are really piling on in this thread. Reince must’ve announced extra bonus checks this weekend.


75 posted on 08/04/2014 7:20:23 AM PDT by COBOL2Java (I'm a Christian, pro-life, pro-gun, Reaganite. The GOP hates me. Why should I vote for them?)
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To: TruthShallSetYouFree; All
Dear Fellow Conservatives in Kentucky, If you like having Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader, than by all means, make your point about Mitch McConnell being a wimpy RINO (no argument there) and either stay at home or vote for a third party candidate who has. no chance of winning.

With all due respect, and I mean that, I think there is a bigger picture.

If you reward bad behavior, you get more of it. The RINOs have managed to own the Republican party because they know that conservatives have nowhere else to go.

Your approach is playing right into that strategy. The RINOs have become so certain of your vote that they actually believe they can continued to stay in power by declaring outright war on the conservative base.

And when they do that, they are actually declaring war on America -- war on liberty, war on free market economics, and even war on the Constitution.

The RINO Republicans cannot even make an appeal to the traditional American love of those principles, because they have lost the credibility and historical awareness to articulate them, let alone promote them.

Yes, having Harry Reid continue as speaker is a horrific scenario. But having RINO Republicans win that office is only a marginally better short-term outcome.

And in some ways it is even worse, because as they reach across the aisle" to promote Democrat policies, they give the Democrats cover from the well-deserved blame that they have unleashed on our country for the last five years.

America is out of time now. We cannot continue on the current path. And as things continue to deteriorate, who do you think the voters will blame if the Republicans are in power when the 2016 elections come around?

You think Mitch McConnell's senate will repeal Obamacare? You think it will take the right position on immigration?

America needs clear, passionate and articulate voices to advocate and defend our founding principles, to secure our borders, to preserve our nation, and to take legislative and administrative steps to turn this country around, assuming it still can be turned around.

Majority leader Mitch McConnell will NEVER provide that voice or leadership. He is not the guy to turn things around for our formerly blessed nation.

But in 2016 a newly terrified Republican will be forced to court instead of alienate the conservative base, and come 2017 will be in a position to put the party and our nation on the proper path. Such a duly chastised party has a real chance of nominating a Ted Cruz, instead of a Mitt Romney who, according to last night's panel on Fox News, is at this point the likely Republican presidential nominee.

So in November, I urge those who vote in Kentucky to stay home on election day, or vote libertarian -- anything to prove the RINOs wrong in thinking that they can stay in power by literally declaring war on conservatism.

Think about it.

76 posted on 08/04/2014 7:21:14 AM PDT by Maceman
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To: COBOL2Java

My goodness, the GOPe cheerleaders are really piling on in this thread.


If you don’t agree with them, you’re a “troll.”

They’re pathetic.


77 posted on 08/04/2014 7:26:23 AM PDT by Rides_A_Red_Horse (Why do you need a fire extinguisher when you can call the fire department?)
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To: july4thfreedomfoundation

I would vote for a conservative tea party candidate if there was a realistic chance of winning.


Tea Party had a chance in Kentucky but they nominated a guy that did enough to lose 10 elections. He blew it. Time to move on. Now choose the lesser of two evils.


78 posted on 08/04/2014 7:30:58 AM PDT by boycott
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To: Night Hides Not; Beagle8U; boycott

The message has been sent that GOPe despises Tea Partiers more than they want to defeat Democrats. And now they’re pi$$ed off when we tell them they don’t have our votes any longer? My goodness, the temerity of the Tea Party voter!


They’ve taken a sledgehammer to their own foundation and then they blame the shattered foundation for failing to support them.

Yet we’re “trolls” and we’re “stomping our feet” because we won’t get screwed over again?

That must be in the lost chapter of “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”


79 posted on 08/04/2014 7:31:34 AM PDT by Rides_A_Red_Horse (Why do you need a fire extinguisher when you can call the fire department?)
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To: Beagle8U

Our founders wouldn’t reelect traitors; they hanged them.


80 posted on 08/04/2014 7:32:12 AM PDT by Rides_A_Red_Horse (Why do you need a fire extinguisher when you can call the fire department?)
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