Nothing To See Here

by digby

The Hotline blogometer says:

So What?

In sum, that’s Ramesh Ponnuru response to lefty criticism of Club for Growth’s targeting of Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) at the possible expense of a GOP majority in the Sen. For months now, progressive bloggers have been decrying the lack of media attention RI SEN has received compared to their efforts to unseat Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT). There are many things that distinguish the two races (Chafee was never a GOP VP candidate, for starters) but the more important difference is mentioned by Ponnuru: the Club for Growth does not exist to help the GOP control Congress.

On the other hand, pure partisanship is the stated goal of DailyKos’ founder Markos Moulitsas in his book Crashing the Gates. This is part of what made the targeting of Lieberman such a story. Perhaps it is a function of who is in power, and who is not, but the lefty blogosphere is much more concerned with tactics and strategy than ideological purity. If the Dems have a Sweet November, then maybe we’ll see if Lieberman-like purges become the norm, instead of the exception.

Uhm. Ok. But if the lefty blogosphere, under the iron rule of our Exalted Overlord Markos, only cared about “pure partisanship” then why would we target a Democratic senator in a safe seat? Kicks? Anyway, I thought we were a bunch of fanatical hippies trying to inflict our marginal 60% Iraq position upon the Democratic party against its will in order to re-run the 1972 election. Which is it?

And, yes, it’s true that the Club For growth doesn’t “exist to help the GOP control Congress,” but then the GOP already controls congress, doesn’t it? It doesn’t make them any less partisan. Here’s what the Club For Growth itself has to say about its intentions:

The Club for Growth exists to encourage, and make possible, the enactment of pro-growth economic policies by the federal government. The primary tactic of the Club for Growth PAC has been to provide financial support from Club members to viable pro-growth candidates to Congress, particularly in Republican primaries.

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One lesson we’ve learned from the Left, is that if you really want to advance your agenda, take on an incumbent who opposes you. Let the people know the truth about how they vote in Washington. This terrorizes all the rest. In fact, it’s amazing how fast cowardly politicians see things our way when they believe that their political careers are in danger.

Ed Crane of the Cato Institute has praised the Club for Growth as “the conscience of the Republican Party.”

Yikes. Maybe they ought to change some of that “terrorize” rhetoric. Lord knows if we ‘angry leftists” said it there would be rending of garments from one end of the radio dial to the other. And I don’t know when the Club “learned” this from the left because the last I heard we blogofascists had just started this thing in Connecticut. When has this technique ever been used by lefty groups? Our special interests won’t even withhold their support from Republicans when they stab them in the back over and over again?

The Club For Growth admits that it exists for the sole purpose of hammering Republicans who don’t toe their line and puts big, big money into play in Republican primaries to mau-mau the incumbent or turn the seat over to someone they prefer. They brag about it all over their site. Yet we lonely bloggers sitting in our homes around the country, mostly as a hobby, are Stalinists who are purging the Democratic Party of anyone who deviates from our party line, which is … pure partisanship.

The Club For Growth wrote the book on purging the Republican Party of politicians whom they deem to be insufficiently conservative on issues they care about. Why it should be considered a national story when “the angry left” challenges a senator they believe is out of touch with their values and not a story when “the angry right” does the same thing makes no sense.

Certainly, it’s puzzling, to say the least, that nobody deems it a problem that a very close senate election looms — and “the angry, suicidal left” was pragmatic enough to choose a safe Democratic seat to make their point, while the Republican Club For Growth (don’t bullshit me) may just cost the Republicans the Senate.

No story there, nosiree.

I want to say thank you to the Club for Growth, one of the nation’s most conservative organizations! They’ve always taken on tough races in order to help conservative candidates win in Republican primaries. The Club for Growth added a significant punch – just when we needed it most.

—After winning the GOP primary run-off in North Carolina’s 10th district, Patrick McHenry,2004

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