War on Conservatives

The Lexington Herald-Leader recently reported that U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Republican Leader in the Senate, has decided to declare [like: Obama (WesternJournalism.com); Boehner and Cantor (VARight.com); RNC (BreitBart.com); GOP RINO (ConservativeNewsAndViews.com)] "war" on the [grassroots] conservatives [Spectator.org] who disagree with him [MeetUp.com; TheCaucus.blogs]. He is specifically targeting the Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF), Heritage Action, Madison Project, and FreedomWorks in a misguided attempt to destroy the Tea Party [MeetUp.com].

But that's not all... McConnell's operatives told the New York Times that he has ordered the Republican Party to stop doing business with private companies that provide services to SCF and to oppose candidates endorsed by SCF. Their offense? They're associated with our grassroots organization and we support Matt Bevin, McConnell's conservative primary challenger.

Mitch McConnell can't hurt us directly so he has instructed the party to punish our vendors and our candidates. Not only has McConnell forced his party to support bailouts, debt limit increases, tax hikes, and funding for Obamacare, he's now going to force it to abandon the free market and even the freedom of speech [CanadaFreePress.com].

Here's what his Chief of Staff, Josh Holmes, told the New York Times: "S.C.F. has been wandering around the country destroying the Republican Party like a drunk who tears up every bar they walk into. The difference this cycle is that they strolled into Mitch McConnell’s bar and he doesn’t throw you out, he locks the door." McConnell's aide was alluding to the bar fight scene in A Bronx Tale where mobsters beat up a biker gang. He's wrong about SCF being drunks, but he got the description of his boss right when he compared him to a mobster [NYDailyNews.com].

Mitch McConnell can't defend his record so he's using threats to intimidate those who disagree with him. Conservative blogger Dan Riehl described it this way: "Yet, here we see a DC GOP establishment on display at its worst. In effect saying -- If you engage in a form of commerce we don’t like, we will try to destroy you! If you attempt to exercise your First Amendment right to free speech to say something with which we disagree, we will try to destroy you?" [MeetUp.com; RiehlWorldView.com]

War on Conservatives. For many, Mitch McConnell's hostility toward conservatives is not news. But this the first time he has been open about it. In the past, he only attacked conservatives in private meetings or through disconnected surrogates. Now, he's admitting something that he's tried to keep quiet for years: he doesn't like conservatives. You see, Mitch McConnell is a Democratic dealmaker and he doesn't like conservatives getting in his way. It's why he has lashed out and called conservatives "fringe", "traitors", ...and now "drunks"...

Erick Erickson at RedState described how McConnell's war on conservatives is hurting people in Kentucky and across the nation: "It’s all the sadder still in that McConnell worked against Ted Cruz’s effort to defund Obamacare. 280,000 Kentuckians are losing their insurance. But McConnell would rather drive a private enterprise out of business than fight for those Kentuckians losing their health insurance. If only McConnell had put as much energy into stopping Obamacare as he has stopping a business that does work with the Senate Conservatives Fund." [JoeForAmerica.com; RedState.com; Support Ted Cruz]

McConnell says conservatives hurt the Republican Party, but what truly hurts the party is a leader who doesn't listen to or even like his own voters. What hurts the party is a leader who refuses to stand up for conservative principles and helps the Democrats enact their liberal agenda. What hurts the party is an incumbent who ignores his unpopularity at home and selfishly chooses to run for another term rather than retiring and helping the party hold his seat and save money to win others... [JeffersonReview.com].