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Blame Ourselves

Submitted by Conn Carroll on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 10:54
in

Last month after the House passed Waxman-Markey with help from 8 GOP votes, Robert Stacy McCain called on conservatives to stop giving money to the NRCC: Not One Red Cent. I thought this was an over reaction at first. But then I stopped by the NRCC to see if they were actually supporting any of the 8 cap and tr8ors. I clicked on their Patriot Program and learned that "The NRCC unveiled ten incumbent Members who, because of their outstanding efforts as "Patriots," will be rewarded with participation in "Patriot Day" on June 25th." But was there a list of these "Patriots" anywhere on the NRCCs site? No. I had to resort to Google news to find out that:

Among those on the list are Reps. Dan Lungren, Ken Calvert and Brian Bilbray of California, Judy Biggert of Illinois, Anh “Joseph” Cao of Louisiana, Thad McCotter of Michigan, Erik Paulsen of Minnesota, Leonard Lance of New Jersey, Christopher Lee of New York and Dave Reichert of Washington.

Matching the two lists up we find that the NRCC's Patriot program is in fact providing comfort to two traitors: Reps. Leonard Lance (NJ-7) and Dave Reichert (WA-8).

So on second thought, yeah, by all means conservatives should definitely stop giving any money to the NRCC until Lance and Reichart are kicked out of the Patriot Program. But that is not enough. Duncan Black and I don't agree on much policy wise, but when it comes to politics,  we agree a lot. Responding to RSM, Atrios wrote: If you ever demonstrate an ability to actually raise money for these organizations, they might start caring what you think. Before? Unlikely.

But this isn't really what the netroots did. They didn't move their party to the left by throwing money at the DCCC. Quite the opposite. Instead they created their own institutions, a parallel party, that allowed them to support the candidates that they trusted. So instead of leading a boycott of the NRCC, conservatives should be raising money for candidates challenging those Dems who are vulnerable to cap and trade.

But how can we do that? The left has ActBlue which allows bloggers to get together and create fundraising pages that allow easy one-stop shopping for donating to Democratic campaigns. So where is our ActBlue? Why can't we go out and create a page allowing fired up conservatives to vent their anger at the NRCC by giving their money directly to challenger campaigns? Slatecard is retooling. So is Rightroots. Meanwhile ActBlue is enabling the nutroots to raise money for Michael Jackson Fans AGAINST Peter King.

Conservatives are fired up about Obama's spending and imminent taxing disaster. Independents aren't far behind. We need to make sure our infrastructure is in place to best harness the incipient wave of Obama anger.

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Comments

Money doesn't change everything

Submitted by NoMoreBlatherDotCom on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 12:51.

If you want to do something about the "tr8tors" (their term, not mine), have you considered actually trying to get into a debate about these issues with them? This plan - one I've been unsuccessfully pushing for over two years - could be used to show that the "tr8tors" are wrong. It would send a message to the rest and to the Dems, and it wouldn't cost that much money. Bear in mind that people are kinda trying to do something like that, they just aren't smart enough to do it the right way.

Also, are there any polls showing people in fact "fired up" about spending? They might be concerned, but are they "fired up"? I don't think so.

Maybe, just maybe

Submitted by tdawg11870 on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 14:30.

...you shouldn't call people traitors (or the equivalent in 12-year-old text message-speak) because they voted against you on one bill that was probably going to pass anyway.  

Maybe attacking representatives who win majorities in their districts isn't smart, considering the likely alternative is a Democrat. 

Maybe they won't feel compelled to take the conservative route the next time they feel as if it's a tough choice. 

Maybe it's tough enough being a Republican in New Jersey or Washington State.  Sometimes, you have to comprimise.

Maybe it's a little hubristic to think that every elected member of your party should vote the way you want every single time.

Maybe this is more about yearning for a sense of political potency by the "not one more red cent" supporters than getting the GOP in shape to make a credible run for a majority in 2010.

Oppose them in primaries.

Submitted by JackinMichigan on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 20:42.

Sometimes you just have to take one out and shoot him (figuratively speaking) as an example to the rest. Also, when it comes to affecting the political system as a whole, who loses an election is almost always more important than who wins it.

Thus, the correct thing to do with these rino pukes is obvious: Work for their defeat in the primary. Never mind who the opponent is, or that the entire party establishment is saying, "We need Rep. Puke on the November ballot or something bad will happen!" Yeah well, given the message it sends to the political class as a whole - or more accurately fails to send - something much worse will happen if Rep. Puke's tenure is extended.

tdawg writes:"Maybe attacking

Submitted by Conn Carroll on Wed, 07/08/2009 - 05:48.

tdawg writes:"Maybe attacking representatives who win majorities in their districts isn't smart, considering the likely alternative is a Democrat." By this logic we should never hold incumbents accountable for terrible votes. That is the same head in the sand mindset that produced the Tom DeLay Congress.

"Maybe it's a little hubristic to think that every elected member of your party should vote the way you want every single time." Nobody is asking them to vote the way John Boehner tells them to every time. Hell I don't like the GOP leadership half the time. But as a movement, we have to pick our battles and this cap and tax disaster is one of those bright lines.

"Maybe this is more about yearning for a sense of political potency by the "not one more red cent" supporters than getting the GOP in shape to make a credible run for a majority in 2010." Reread the post. I'm not a huge fan of "not one more red cent." I don't like boycotts. The post is a call for conservatives to support GOP challengers. And yes, that is all about making "a credible run for a majority in 2010."

Tom DeLay?

Submitted by tdawg11870 on Wed, 07/08/2009 - 09:34.

The Tom DeLay problem had nothing to do with the fact that nobody challenged him in the primary.  They'd lose, obviously.  The problem had to do with the fact that he was corrupt, a bipartisan ill.  Trying to defeat general election winners in a primary for a few off votes is a different story entirely.

As for bright lines, I wouldn't be so sure that is a great idea.  You must remember how Democrats tore themselves asunder in '02-'03 about Iraq.  It hurt them and created years of recriminations within the party.  Yet aside from the challenge to Lieberman (which was a disaster for them), the folks who voted for the use of force resolution were welcomed back to the fold because they were needed for the next big issue, whether it was the stimulus or healthcare.

The numbers game matters - a lot of things change when you get a numerical majority based on party ID, even if you don't have a voting majority on some issues.  You set the agenda.  Traditionally, Republicans have not had the level of lockstep discipline that they have now.  This is at least partly caused because the decline in party ID and registration has left the levers of intra-party power to die hards who want a big tent, but no wiggle room on issues that have different levels of popularity within different districts/states.  In a two party system, that is a recipe for disaster.

Thoughts

Submitted by Whitehorse on Wed, 07/08/2009 - 19:58.

It's pretty hard to debate people about a bill which hadn't really been cobbled together.

The people in these states don't want cap & trade - most see MMGW for the snake-oil con game it is. These 8 are entrenched & were bought off for their votes, much like some Democrats. Getting in their face & asking questions on video would be good.

I don't personally think every Republican should agree with me 100% on every issue. I do believe that egregiously horrible things like Cap & Trade should be opposed in unison - supporting this is like a dentist crusading against brushing & flossing.

McCain lost because he went to the wrong side on issues like this - I fully expect him to vote for this horrible bill. The voters, especially the swing voters, want to see candidates come out strongly against things like this & strongly for proposals to help the economy.

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