Matt Bevin, the Kentucky conservative mounting a tea party challenge to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is
winning some praise from Kentucky politicos, though they remain skeptical of his prospects. That skepticism may wane if he keeps on picking up support at the rate that he is so far, the latest example being
the endorsement of The Madison Project, a national conservative group headed by former GOP Rep. Jim Ryun which has just launched a website at
dumpmcconnell.com.
However the horserace plays out, the most striking thing about this civil war is just how lame both sides are. On the one hand, Mitch McConnell is effectively conceding that nobody likes him by refusing to run on his record, deciding to instead run a negative campaign against Bevin, who is a political newcomer and virtual unknown. Meanwhile, Bevin and his allies are revealing themselves to be utter clowns by accusing McConnell of being a secret ally of liberal Democrats and President Obama. Take the aforementioned Madison Project's assessment of McConnell:
The Madison Project blasted McConnell’s record in the GOP leadership, including his role in negotiating a deal to raise the national debt limit in 2011 and his handling of the immigration debate.
“Sen. McConnell quietly encouraged Sen. [Marco] Rubio [R-Fla.] to join the Gang of Eight to ensure that the amnesty bill would pass, albeit without his public support,” the group wrote. “Despite the fact that this was the most onerous bill to come to the floor since ObamaCare and despite his status as GOP leader, Sen. McConnell failed to deliver a single floor speech against the bill.”
It faulted him for agreeing to let seven of President Obama’s most controversial nominees proceed to final up-or-down votes earlier this month.
It also accused him of maneuvering to keep Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) out of the GOP leadership and former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) off the powerful Finance Committee.
Think about that. According to these guys, McConnell is a liberal because he managed to hold the debt limit hostage in exchange not just for 10 years of spending caps but also for sequestration, leading to the lowest federal spending level in a half-century, and he did it without raising taxes. I'm no fan of Mitch, but given that the GOP was running a bluff on the debt limit, that was a hell of a thing to accomplish. And certainly it was not progressive in any way shape or form.
Then, on the notion that McConnell failed to block immigration reform because he didn't give any speeches about it? Aside from the fact that 32 of the 45 Republicans in the Senate voted no, McConnell among them, McConnell did in fact speak on the floor against the bill ... yet it still failed.
Follow below the fold for more of their utter inanity.
On the criticism that McConnell willingly threw in the towel on the filibuster debate, they ignore the fact that McConnell voted against the deal, which he was powerless to stop. And more importantly, they ignore the fact that McConnell more than any other Senate leader ever has managed to use the filibuster to stop legislative progress.
Finally, while McConnell may have opposed Ron Johnson to be in the Senate Republican leadership, are they seriously going to argue that John Cornyn is some sort of left-winger? And as far as Jim DeMint goes, do you know what really hurt his chances of getting on the Finance Committee? Resigning from the Senate.
I'm sure it's possible to be more extraordinarily conservative than Mitch McConnell. But it's hard to imagine anyone being more effective than he has at pursuing conservative goals than he has been ever since President Obama took office. And I don't say that to defend him, but rather to point out the sort of lunacy that is animating Matt Bevin's campaign—and the GOP's civil war.