Posted on 05/12/2022 8:29:47 AM PDT by Red Badger
Influential Republicans in Washington and among the nationwide party elite are having a belated "oh s--t" moment over the previously unimaginable prospect that Kathy Barnette could win their party's nomination for the open Senate seat in Pennsylvania.
Why it matters: In Barnette, who's been soaring in the polls ahead of Tuesday's primary, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell would be dealing with a general election candidate who'd be an opposition researcher's dream — potentially endangering the GOP effort to take back the Senate.
McConnell has been fixated on ensuring the 2022 midterms are not a repeat of the 2012 or 2010 cycles.
The Kentuckian said Republicans missed good chances to win the majority in those years because they nominated candidates who talked about things like "legitimate rape" or had to publicly assure voters they weren't witches.
Barnette’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Barnette has surged after releasing a powerful video — "It wasn't a choice. It was a life." — in which she movingly talks about how her mother was raped when she was 11 and yet Barnette is the living, breathing byproduct of that horrific circumstance.
The video's hit a nerve with primary voters in Pennsylvania, a source close to one of Barnette's rivals told Axios, and gained resonance following the leak of a draft Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade.
Barnette is also the uncommon Black Republican candidate.
At the same time, a cursory review of her Twitter account, @Kathy4Truth, turned up tweets like this one: "Just confronted a Muslim today."
She joins Missouri Senate candidate Eric Greitens — whose alleged misdeeds are numerous and graphic — on a list of potential Republican Senate nominees giving heartburn to GOP leadership. They not only create the potential of blowing winnable seats but being unmanageable for McConnell should he return as Senate majority leader next year.
Between the lines: The past few days have brought a wild scramble to destroy Barnette. Republican operatives were late to awaken to her political chances.
Most had pegged Pennsylvania's Senate race as a two-man battle between celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund CEO and Army veteran David McCormick.
Oz and McCormick — and their outside operations — have spent millions nuking each other with vicious commercials saturating Pennsylvania television.
Oz has attacked McCormick as soft on China, and McCormick has hit Oz for his past comments that are supportive of abortion and gun control. That two-man ad war has hurt both candidates and provided a rare opportunity for Barnette to sneak up, ignored and untouched. Neither rival nor their backers have put serious money on TV to promote her history of comments that would ordinarily disqualify a candidate in a general election, if not a Republican primary.
As Oz and McCormick blitzed each other — and as former President Trump endorsed Oz and blasted McCormick — Barnette has glided through the carnage.
She's had virtually no money but gotten traction with the GOP base by relentlessly hyping Trump's false claims of a stolen 2020 election. Trump ally Steve Bannon described Barnette as an "audience favorite" for his "War Room" podcast, which is popular among the MAGA base.
He's praised her for having never stopped talking about decertifying the 2020 Biden election and for refusing to concede her own loss in a 2020 House race.
"The reason she has struck a chord is she NEVER conceded her House race loss," Bannon told Axios in a text message. "Pennsylvania is MAGA v. ULTRA MAGA." Barnette's also close to the pillow entrepreneur and "Stop the Steal" leader Mike Lindell. And she's effectively running on a ticket with the leading Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate, state Sen. Doug Mastriano.
He went to the Capitol on Jan. 6 and has been subpoenaed by the investigative committee. (Mastriano says he left before the building was breached.)
A Barnette nomination next week would present a lose-lose for Republican leadership.
Worst case: She proves to be as big a liability as many fear and hands a competitive seat to the Democrats. Best case: She's elected and ends up a thorn in the side of Senate leadership. She's already signaled hesitancy about backing McConnell as the Republican leader. That potentially aligns her with candidates such as Greitens, who's said he won't back McConnell. The Greitens campaign says its internal polling has him leading his primary contest, despite potentially catastrophic general-election baggage.
What's next: Prominent Republicans are belatedly trying to kill Barnette's momentum.
Ric Grenell, a Trump ally who's also endorsed Oz, has been spreading around a video of Barnette's past comments about "white racism."
GOP operatives have been passing around negative articles about her from Breitbart and the Washington Examiner. Pat Toomey, the Republican senator vacating the Pennsylvania seat, told Axios: "There's a lot ... voters don't know about her. A lot."
On Wednesday, one Republican operative aligned with a rival campaign reached out to Axios to flag Barnette's comments regarding systemic racism in the U.S. and the country's complicated history of racial discrimination and slavery.
The calculation, the operative conceded, is to damage Barnette among Republican base voters presumed to be hostile to ostensibly progressive views about racial justice issues.
The person also flagged an online petition Barnette created to build a statue in Washington, D.C., honoring Barack Obama and his family.
Nonetheless, it's awfully late in the game for Republicans to destroy Barnette.
Some heavy hitters also appear to be staying on the sidelines.
One group with a massive bank account and the potential to affect GOP races — the McConnell-allied Senate Leadership Fund — has no plans to engage in the Pennsylvania primary, a source with direct knowledge of the group's plans told Axios on Wednesday.
Senate Minority Whip John Thune, asked if the establishment is putting its thumb on the scale in the Pennsylvania Senate race, told Axios, "In this case, no, we're not. ... We're going to let the voters vote their will" — although he added he hasn't been paying close attention to the race. Barnette has built up impressive momentum in recent weeks.
She's surged in the polls from mid-single digits as recently as April to around 20% now.
Multiple attendees of a Trump-Oz rally last weekend said they're backing Barnette.
At the same time, a cavalry of sorts is finally coming to Barnette's aid.
The well-funded conservative group, the Club for Growth, shocked Barnette's competitors when it booked $2 million worth of TV ads on Tuesday in support of her.
The New York Times reported that Club for Growth expenditure is more than 10 times the total Barnette's campaign itself had spent on TV to date.
The powerful anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List, the Republicans' answer to the pro-choice group Emily's List and a powerful player in GOP primaries, endorsed Barnette, as well.
She did provide her documentation but it’s not a DD-214 because she was National Guard and Reserve with no active duty so it is a different form. If some one else who knows more about about these things wants to chime in feel free. I am just repeating stuff.
Both Dr Gun Grab Oz and Ching Chong China Butt Boy David McCormick are total false flag dirt balls.
From America, I assume.
She calls it military service but some people say the NG or Reserves are not military service. Some freeper said that if she never went active duty, a DD214 won’t necessarily be issued. I’ve never been in the military so I don’t know.
Here’s what she did supply. https://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/4062503/posts?page=92#92
She has plenty of future if she is the real deal.
This race I am ONLY supporting Trumps selections.
The media pushing her like crazy worries me. No on is ‘panicking’ except the Dems, who are hoping they can get her to split the vote, or become the candidate they think they can more easily beat.
Her going negative I don’t like either.
The saga continues...
“Is there any surprise @SeanParnellUSA is beating up on a woman? I don’t think so. He should be somewhere ashamed.” - @Kathy4Truth with @Richzeoli
Full interview;: https://t.co/HvWb1KtJVJ— Talk Radio 1210 WPHT (@1210WPHT) May 12, 2022
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No class. @Kathy4Truth has failed to give over and explain ALL the documents about her military service (what she says here does not match the records) so she tries to distract. It’s baloney. And the Democrats are not going to be as nice. Vote for this unknown at your peril, PA. https://t.co/3DKrW6hVNn— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) May 12, 2022
This is disappointing. @Kathy4Truth, I did not attack you. I bear you no ill will.
I simply asked basic questions about your background.
It’s deeply concerning & sad that you’re regurgitating lies to attack my personal life & family. https://t.co/Hyps3nhjDu— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellUSA) May 12, 2022
NOT a DD214. A lot of this is bureaucratic GIBBERISH. “Kathy” can’t account in any meaningful way for her Military Service. What the hell happened. And there IS a DD214. It Exists! What does it say about KATHY BARNETT? She does NOT want us to know https://t.co/9022mrTz2V— Greg Kelly (@gregkellyusa) May 12, 2022
Getting "accepted" to Officer Candidacy School is code for did not GRADUATE from OFFICER CANDIDATE SCHOOL. And Why Not? "Journalists" GOOGLE STUFF for 15 minutes and they think they're MILITARY experts. KATHY BARNETT IS CONCEALING HER MILITARY RECORD. PERIOD! pic.twitter.com/sIybRczZvN— Greg Kelly (@gregkellyusa) May 12, 2022
I don’t think it’s because they want her to win. They want Oz or mcC to lose?
I want Oz and mcC to lose too. but for other reasons. They are both RINOs.
I’ll take my chances with Barnette and if she loses than we’ll still end up with a RINO.
I don’t know what to think about Barnette. I can remember how exciting and well-spoken was also. Maybe a little too slick and schooled.
Ultra Mega MAGA.
Barnette provided her USAR DD-214. I’ve seen it posted on FR several times already. Honorable Discharge with over 7 years of service.
Kathy Barnette is a wild card in SO many ways. Apparently she has had some kind of “come to the Light” moment, as her remarks about Trump in the 2016 election seem to be in stark contrast to her statements today.
https://goodwordnews.com/kathy-barnette-attacked-trump-in-2016-gop-primary-horrible/
But if she is also p*ssing off Mitch McConnell, she must have a few positive traits. The thing that troubles me is that the “Club for Growth” is turning a lot of their attention upon her. This is sure to attract a lot of “dark money” in the general election, a pool that seems to be bottomless, and worse, totally not transparent.
If people thought there was fraud in the 2020 election, maybe you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Says the guy who believes water from the Rockies going to California is better spent flowing directly to the ocean than to people or crops.
You aren’t credible, yourself.
Yea, and Stalin was a capitalist communist! LOL!!
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🙄🙄
I did not accuse her of stolen valor. I asked basic questions. Every candidate on both sides of the aisle answers these questions.
We were initially told Kathy didn’t have a DD214.
But today she admitted she had one. She hasn’t released it yet.
Why? This is basic stuff. https://t.co/2ZyMbKkkc7— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellUSA) May 12, 2022
For what it’s worth; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DD_Form_214
Grenell is a huge faggot. Bottom line is no matter how conservative faggots appear to be, they are basically time bombs set to go off and destroy conservatives.
Ultra MAGA?
sounds great! Sign me up!!
The Fake News apparatus is cranked up to full song in pushing Kathy Barnette.
That means Mitch and Mitt must love her.
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