From the diaries . . .
How sad. Apparently, without the help of NRSC’s crack campaign team, Scott Brown may never have had a chance at victory today. It wasn’t the tea parties, or the grassroots anger at Washington, or Scott Brown’s courage to stand against Obamacare in the bluest of states… No, it was the GOP establishment in Washington that “quietly” engineered this win. You read that right, the same political geniuses that chose Specter over Toomey and Crist over Rubio, are saying Brown couldn’t have done it without them.
Let’s get serious. Here’s a reality check for the NRSC and their desperate attempt to take credit for the people’s uprising in Massachusetts.
- The claim that NRSC’s money is pushing Brown to victory is ludicrous. NRSC’s $500,000 cash infusion in Massachusetts is HALF of what the NRCC spent to elect Dede Scozzafava. And the DSCC has spent 5 TIMES as much trying to elect Coakley. In fact, Scott Brown raised twice more cash on his own through grassroots online donations in a single day. And he did that over and over for an entire week.
- Scott Brown ran against Washington, NRSC, and the party establishment. A centerpiece of Brown’s campaign is that he didn’t need the help of DC elites to win. In fact, he said over and over that he wasn’t part of the GOP establishment and didn’t want to be. “I don’t need an establishment to prop me up.”
- Scott Brown ran on conservative, tea party issues, he did not have to run a Specter-Crist Democrat-lite campaign. John Cornyn and DC Republicans keep telling us that conservative policies can’t win in states like Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Florida. Scott Brown may not be a Mike Pence conservative down the line, but he ran his entire campaign on conservative issues. Just read his issues page on his website. It’s tea party, conservative issues: against government takeover of health care, for tax cuts, eliminate wasteful spending, charter schools. He’s against cap & trade, for nuclear energy. Against amnesty. He’s to the right of Mike Castle and Mark Kirk on these issues, people the NRSC told us we must back to win in blue states. But in the bluest of states, the tea party, conservative issues look like they could win the day.
The real credit for a possible Brown victory today goes to thousands and thousands of everyday Americans in Massachusetts and across the country who have had it with Washington’s spending and takeovers, people that donated money and volunteered to help on the ground. The NRSC making a last-minute attempt to claim credit because they sent some checks in the last week, money that was a drop in the bucket compared to what the grassroots gave Brown, is laughable and pathetic. This was anything but a party effort. This was an uprising by the people, and a movement that will continue all across this country. And the people will do it without the permission of Washington GOP elites, thank you very much.
P.S. I guess we should thank the NRSC for one thing: staying quiet. They seem to know that the DC GOP brand is in the toilet and vocally attempting to help Brown would have been a disaster. Thanks for staying out of the way Mr. Cornyn. But stop trying to claim the people’s victory as a win for the establishment.
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
KnightsofMalta
Dan Spencer
Dan McLaughlin
5 nt
Aaron Gardner (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 4:56PM EST (link)conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!
“We’d be much better off if We The People had desired small government enough to keep it.” acat
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But Aaron, this is why the Beltway GOP is so Predictable.
Section9 Tuesday, January 19th at 6:51PM EST (link)The grassroots can’t hold these people in contempt and slight regard enough. This is what needs changing. Our disagreement from last night was less than meets the eye.
I have heard that Romney gave Scott Brown a leg up with staff and personnel. Good for Mittens, if true. But the NRSC had little, if anything, to do with Brown’s effort. But by God, should Brown win, you will find the NRSC taking credit for Brown’s victory in their next fundraising mailer.
Brown put boots on the ground and volunteers in the streets. That’s what undid the Alinskyites. Not the Party in Clown Shoes.
Perhaps Brown will help put a little backbone in Mitch McConnell’s gait. I’m not sure that there’s any other solution in sight other than a bloody fight for a new Minority Leader.
“History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it”-Winston Churchill
Can't Even Listen To Laura Ingraham
Swamp_Yankee (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 5:00PM EST (link)She’s been so obnoxious with her insistence that the she was responsible for the Brown Surge. She claims to have contacts in Mass, but they must suck because anyome from here knows it was a grass roots movement. One interview of 1/4 did not hange anything for Brown.
But its credit time. Maybe Ford will take credit for making the truck in Brown’s commercials.
Boastful people should be punished...
Richard Mullins (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 5:09PM EST (link)…for saying anything like that. The one thing that did was that The People saw through the haze that happen a lot up there and are voting for the one better. Sorry, Laura you didn’t do anything.
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Joe Biden is like a Decrepit Park owner with a Meth lab that happens to not only be a dealer but a user.
Let’s Bankrupt the Democratic paty. Make spend all the money to defend thier candidates.
555. It wasn't the NRSC or Ingraham who made this happen.
ColdWarrior (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 5:36PM EST (link)It was a little thing called “we the people” rediscovering that they really can be in charge if they unite and organize in a political party and campaign. Here’s a few of them:
Thank you.
ColdWarrior
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It is a GM, not a Ford
JoeG Tuesday, January 19th at 5:17PM EST (link)Among the pickup crowd getting that wrong is as bad as mixing up the Red Sox and Yankees.
When he gets a new truck he needs to make sure to buy one where no taxpayers were harmed in the manufacture of the truck (Ford).
Let them, it doesn't matter...
Vassar Bushmills (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 5:03PM EST (link)…a half a mil isn’t bad, it helped…and it was done in the dark, which I think was clever of them (more than I would given them credit for) for they finessed the Dems into spending 5x that amount. Be charitable. It doesn’t matter, not one whit.
We’re not in this for credit, but results. History will record what you’re doing here, not Gallup.
Just remember, history is written by the winners, and in the end we will win back the GOP. But in choosing my fights now?…I’d rather turn back the Left, and believe we should choose our allies accordingly .
5
aesthete (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 5:09PM EST (link)“There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.” – Ronald Reagan
Let’s not be outraged by others’ attempts to get the credit, but rather, let’s just keep in mind who/what has or hasn’t brought about results, and respond accordingly (example: I’m not gonna write a check to the NRSC any time soon).
The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice – G.K. Chesterton
Damn, can I call you brother?
Vassar Bushmills (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 5:22PM EST (link)This argument is argument is otherwise leading down a path of self-absorption.
(You have the best list of quotes I’ve seen.)
Glad I could be your inner muse
aesthete (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 11:57PM EST (link)Also, thanks for the props.
The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice – G.K. Chesterton
But when their mailer comes to you claiming credit?
Section9 Tuesday, January 19th at 6:52PM EST (link)What will you do with it?
Send it back with one thin dime, perhaps?
“History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it”-Winston Churchill
I'll think to myself,
aesthete (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 11:54PM EST (link)“Not worth the paper it was printed on”, bemusedly smile to myself, and look for the nearest precinct committeeman project-nominated candidate that I can donate to
The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice – G.K. Chesterton
Well the darn NRSC still to boast about things...
Richard Mullins (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 5:03PM EST (link)…that they don’t any credit on doing. The best you they seemed to have did was to stay out and not talk about the cash.
Richard Phillip Mullins BlogThe Squash Satire SiteNews on Happy Jet Airlines
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Joe Biden is like a Decrepit Park owner with a Meth lab that happens to not only be a dealer but a user.
Let’s Bankrupt the Democratic paty. Make spend all the money to defend thier candidates.
Disgusting. As the saying goes--I've learned that you can keep vomiting
louisiana (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 5:04PM EST (link)long after you think you’re finished
Hey they
10ksnooker (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 5:05PM EST (link)Have tried for years to credit the contract with America for the 1994 win. I was there, right in the middle of it, it was the AW ban that costs the Dems the house … As Clinton said, the gun bill cost him 60 seats.
The fact that they ONLY gave 1/2 of what was given to...
JadedByPolitics (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 5:05PM EST (link)Dede says STUPID, STUPID, STUPID! Scott Brown is VICTORIOUS today because of WE The People! remember that NRSC!
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Not sure the amount is a big deal
Neil Stevens (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 5:16PM EST (link)If they gave him enough to win, but no more, then they did their freaking jobs.
They need to do this more: Keep their heads down, keep their opinions out, and just be loyal party backers.
Now Cornyn just needs to admit genunie error, fire some rotten decision makers, and ask for forgiveness over Florida, California, Pennsylvania, and every other place he’s been vindictively wrong in.
RS contributing editor, technical administrator, and “a hardy variety of crabgrass.”
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“I rejoice that America has resisted.” – William Pitt, the Elder
Agreed
Vassar Bushmills (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 5:23PM EST (link)Cheers
Cornyn will Never admit to making a mistake with Charlie.
Section9 Tuesday, January 19th at 6:55PM EST (link)That would anger too many people in the Senate, even those who despise each other like Kay Bailey and McCain, both of whom are appalled at the thought of a gusano upstart like Rubio beating the polished Charlie Crist.
Cornyn wouldn’t admit error if he had given money to Heydrich. Some things just aren’t done.
“History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it”-Winston Churchill
The RNSC
rick554 Tuesday, January 19th at 5:11PM EST (link)didnt do squat for Brown until the grassroots did. THEY know it and so do WE. I dare Micheal Steele to post on REDSTATE. Whether Scott Brown wins or not , the Grassroots won this one!
Rick554
They need to do that more
Neil Stevens (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 5:18PM EST (link)I’d hope they’d do this more often: give to whoever wins the primary instead of trying to dictate to us whom to vote for in the primaries.
First popular support, then national support. Cornyn’s problem has been trying to astroturf for Crist, Fiorina, Specter, and the like.
RS contributing editor, technical administrator, and “a hardy variety of crabgrass.”
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“I rejoice that America has resisted.” – William Pitt, the Elder
What a shocking idea
SteveLA (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 7:36PM EST (link)Neil,
Shocking idea, and I agree with you 100 percent.
No national groups should be involved in any primary anywhere. Everyone outside the state/county whatever stay the heck out of the primaries and let the people who are going to be represented choose who they want.
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Competency over ideological purity and litmus tests
So is this group competing with the NRSC?
izoneguy (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 5:13PM EST (link)http://senateconservatives.com/v1/
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
An amusing claim by the NRSC Campaign Arm
conservative_faction Tuesday, January 19th at 5:37PM EST (link)It’s a good thing that the grassroots folks who actually can take the credit for Brown’s surge know better.
This makes me enjoy the fact that I now donate directly to candidates as opposed to the party orgs even more. Still hope the RNC and NRSC keep asking me for money though as I rather enjoy explaining my position on this to them.
NRA Life Member
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” — Ronald Reagan
I don't get it . . .
denniswayne Tuesday, January 19th at 5:38PM EST (link)I’ve read the linked Politico three times, and maybe I’m just plain dumb but I can’t see where the NRSC is “attempting to take credit away from the grassroots”. This is the very same piece that Moe cites approvingly in the piece immediately prior. So what specifically in this piece – in particular, whose quote – am I missing?
Brown isn't really a RedState guy, either...
NotSoBlueStater (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 5:47PM EST (link)Let’s be honest. He’s an independent who is conservative on the most important issues. That’s why we love him here. He’s a Massachusetts-style conservative.
Maybe this is heresy, but perhaps giving the people what they want trumps both liberal AND conserative dogmatism. Just sayin’ Maybe the key to winning is not in being true to a checklist but in being true to yourself.
Moderates aren’t always squishy. Sometimes they simply have a strong set of beliefs that defy either template.
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The Conservative creed has never offered a life of ease without effort. Democracy is not for such people. Self-government is for those men and women who have learned to govern themselves. – Margaret Thatcher
NotSoBlue, I heard Bill Krystol on Neil Cavuto today,
penguin2 (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 6:13PM EST (link)describe Scott just that way. The moderates that I think should be mocked are those that act/say one thing, but vote another way. They appear to have no principles that they stand on. The one thing that struck me about Scott Brown, was that he was going stand by his principles. It isn’t as we don’t know his stand on major issues, but if he can stay true to them, then I certainly can respect him. There are viable candidates, suitable for different parts of the country, we have to start somewhere. And if he is a man who stands by the principles of our party, then I consider him RED.
One other thing, I was thinking about your state today, (who hasn’t been) and it seems that your state is erupting because it is the first time in many years that the people are actually having an opportunity to vote freely and to throw off the yoke of the Democratic machine they have been bound to for so long. I can almost picture the rattle of the broken chains as they fall to ground…..
Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God. – Benjamin Franklin
When Good stands up to Evil, Evil blinks. – Vassar Bushmills
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Ah, but if Brown wins, it destroys the Regional Party Meme.
Section9 Tuesday, January 19th at 7:14PM EST (link)The Regional Party Meme was one of the central strategies that Axelrod and his crowd came up with in an attempt to keep the Republicans from rediscovering Reaganite Conservatism.
People like Matthews and tools like David Frum and David Brooks repeated the Regional Party meme in an attempt to turn the Republican Party away from a muscular conservatism and into a Republican Party that would echo Democratic policies the way the Bob Michel/Gerald R. Ford Republcan Party did in the postwar era.
That Republican Party didn’t know how to fight back and be aggressive. The last thing the Democrats wanted us to do was to find our footing and to learn how to fight for the principles that we stood for at one time.
Brown’s victory is something unique: for the first time since Reagan, we’ve cast off the yoke that the Dems made for us and have “nationalized” conservatism. Brown argued conservative themes in Massachussetts! And won with them!
As Republicans rediscover what made them a majority Party, we’re also rediscovering something new: a Conservatism that can win in the Northeast and the Midwest.
This is something formidable. This is a development that should bring trepidation to the White House.
“History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it”-Winston Churchill
Scott Brown ran on conservative, tea party issues.
homefree1 (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 6:46PM EST (link)Seriously!? He ran as a a pro-choice, pro-Romneycare New England Republican.
Do not make the mistake of thinking Brown is a conservative in the same vein as the Tea Party conservatives. The only difference between him and The Maine twins is ….. oh wait, there is no difference. I say this an ex Maniac who knows the Collins family well and who had the honor of having Olympia take a nap in her room when I was a kid. He is much better choice than Coakley but do not delude yourselves into thinking he will vote with the Tea Party conservatives on much in the future.
Are you someone's sock-puppet?
Richard Mullins (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 6:51PM EST (link)I’m just asking because it seems to be that way.
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Joe Biden is like a Decrepit Park owner with a Meth lab that happens to not only be a dealer but a user.
Let’s Bankrupt the Democratic paty. Make spend all the money to defend thier candidates.
I keep seeing this argument...
discerningconservative (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 6:57PM EST (link)In Massachusetts, you cannot expect a strong conservative to be elected. It is still much better to have someone who will vote with us on most issues, than someone who will never vote with us. Brown is pro-choice, but the only vote regarding abortion that the Senate will see in the near future is HCR, and Brown has campaigned as the 41st vote against it, so him being pro-choice is a non-issue.
WE don't expect MUCH just a 41st vote AGAINST obamacare....
JadedByPolitics (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 7:10PM EST (link)WE are well aware of the type of Republican Scott Brown is and as they say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. He also is against late term birth abortion when Coakley would KILL THOSE BABIES right up until the minute they breath or maybe like Obama after!
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Here's a clue: Scott is an ambitious man.
Section9 Tuesday, January 19th at 7:16PM EST (link)Like Mittens, he sees himself in the Oval Office someday.
Only Scott seems to be good with people, like Palin.
“History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it”-Winston Churchill
His Royal Highness King Obama deserves all the credit
SteveLA (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 7:41PM EST (link)When Scott Brown wins, he owes his win to one person mainly, King Obama the First.
This election is a rejection of the sort of Hope and Change delivered by King Obama for 364 days of his reign of stupidity, replaced with real Change and Hope this stops the Democrats dead in their tracks.
Dishonorable mention to Nasty Nancy for her role in convening the good people of Mass how wrong a direction Democrats are taking this country.
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Competency over ideological purity and litmus tests
the parade
fortcollins (Diary) Tuesday, January 19th at 8:09PM EST (link)The NRSC’s response reminds me of the old joke about the drum major running down the street. When asked why, the drum major replied “I need to catch up to the band because I’m their leader.”
Eventually we'll teach NRSC A LESSON
walter_hanson Tuesday, January 19th at 9:58PM EST (link)Okay they have made up for PA. But as this race should teach them a lesson we’ll drag the right people through the process even if the NRSC won’t. We’ll bring in Rubio, we’ll Lincoln unemployed this year, and best of all how about we get our Benedict Arnold Specter unemployed, Bayh, Reid, Boxer, Feingold, and every other single democrat who thought he or she was safe before tonight.
Because no Democrat even Schuster is safe as of right now!
Hopefully that’s the lesson the NRSC has learned.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN