The Briefing Room
General Category => Politics/Government => Topic started by: mystery-ak on November 22, 2013, 05:35:48 pm
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http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/11/22/Exclusive-McConnell-Tea-Party-a-bunch-of-bullies-who-me-and-Karl-Rove-are-going-to-punch-in-the-nose (http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/11/22/Exclusive-McConnell-Tea-Party-a-bunch-of-bullies-who-me-and-Karl-Rove-are-going-to-punch-in-the-nose)
by Matthew Boyle 22 Nov 2013, 8:36 AM PDT
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on a conference call organized by Karl Rove’s Crossroads organization for large donors and their advisers on Oct. 30 that the Tea Party movement, in his view, is a “nothing but a bunch of bullies” that he plans to “punch … in the nose.”
On the call, according to a donor who was on it, McConnell personally named Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) as Tea Party conservatives he views as problematic for him. “The bulk of it was an attack on the Tea Party in general, Cruz in particular,” the source, a prominent donor, said in a phone interview with Breitbart News.
But the most memorable line came at the end of the call.
“McConnell said the Tea Party was ‘nothing but a bunch of bullies,’” the source said. “And he said ‘you know how you deal with schoolyard bullies? You punch them in the nose and that’s what we’re going to do.’”
Rove, as well as American Crossroads President and CEO Steven J. Law who also serves as the president of sister group Crossroads GPS, were also on the call. Rove “talked in a slightly gentler way, or let’s say, a more diplomatic way,” the source said. “But the message was pretty well the same: That if we’re going to save this thing, we have to back real Republicans.”
Pointing to how Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid just invoked the “nuclear option,” breaking 225-year old Senate rules to slip through President Obama’s liberal nominees, an aide to a Tea Party lawmaker said that McConnell’s focus on trying to go after the Tea Party has jeopardized Senate Republicans’ chances at actually beating Democrats. “Under Sen. McConnell's watch, Republicans today just got rolled over by Democrats who pushed the button on the nuclear option, destroying years of well-established Senate order,” the aide said in an email to Breitbart News. “Perhaps if he focused less on destroying the Tea Party and more on defeating Democrats, he'd have more to show for his leadership.”
Rove spokesman Jonathan Collegio denies that anything was said about Cruz, Lee, or the Tea Party in general but admits the call did take place and that “some discussion” about the government shutdown and the Senate Conservatives Fund took place.
“Your source is ascribing things to the call that simply were never said,” Collegio said in an email. “There was no ‘anti-tea party donor call.’ There was a call, and there was some discussion about the government shutdown and the Senate Conservatives Fund (note this was one day after SCF launched a dishonest ad about McConnell), but nothing about the Tea Party or Sens. Cruz or Lee.”
Collegio declined to provide a transcript or recording of the call to Breitbart News. McConnell’s office has not commented on the matter.
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Rush discussing this now....
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Rush discussing this now....
What did Rush say about it?
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...an aide to a Tea Party lawmaker said that McConnell’s focus on trying to go after the Tea Party has jeopardized Senate Republicans’ chances at actually beating Democrats.
Oh shucks. I hate when that happens...
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Mitch McConnell is the poster child for what's wrong with Washington!
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Squirrel!
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He should be so rough on Democrats.
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Mitch McConnell is the poster child for what's wrong with Washington!
I'd really like to see him punch a man who isn't in a wheel chair or otherwise physically disabled and no older than McConnell. As long as someone had a camera to take a picture of McConnell's wimpy face after it gets battered would be great. He's starting to sound more like his fraternal twin brother, Harry Reid, every day. :tongue2:
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Democrats are expanding their power. Democrats can step all over themselves with Obamacare, and still come together to grab more power. And all McConnell can do is pick a fight within his own party.
I really do hate what's become of this country.
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Ain't that the truth: He should be so rough on Democrats.
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hmmm I see Sink has nothing to say about this :whistle:
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I'm not even so sure he even said this - who is this donor, the source?
But it very well could be true, and if it is, I hope Bevins punches him in the nose in the primary results. Has to aim there, Mitch has no chin.
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:whistle:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/22/rumor-check-did-mitch-mcconnell-say-he-wants-to-punch-tea-party-bullies-in-the-nose/
The Washington Examiner, however, claims it has obtained audio of the conference call, which cannot be released due to the private nature of the topics discussed, and what they heard contradicts the Breitbart News report.
“McConnell’s comments about dealing with ‘schoolyard bullies’ by punching them in the nose…were accurate but were explicitly directed at the Senate Conservatives Fund, not the Tea Party or a specific conservative senator,” the Washington Examiner reported.
McConnell dinging the SCF should come as a surprise to no one. The SCF has relentlessly targeted the senator’s reelection campaign and he was merely reassuring supporters he has opposition under control.
Lastly, according to the Washington Examiner, at no point during the 27-minute call did Sen. McConnell specifically criticize Sens. Lee and Cruz.
“McConnell additionally criticized the failed fight to defund Obamacare, which led to a government shutdown, a position consistent with his public remarks criticizing the shutdown strategy,” the report adds.
Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio, for his part, flatly denied the Breitbart News report, saying that the call covered the 16-day government shutdown and the SCF attacks on McConnell only briefly.
“Your source is ascribing things to the call that simply were never said,” Collegio told Breitbart. “There was no ‘anti-tea party donor call.’ There was a call, and there was some discussion about the government shutdown and the Senate Conservatives Fund (note this was one day after SCF launched a dishonest ad about McConnell), but nothing about the Tea Party or Sens. Cruz or Lee.”
Breitbart News had yet to respond to the Washington Examiner’s report as of Friday evening.
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:whistle:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/22/rumor-check-did-mitch-mcconnell-say-he-wants-to-punch-tea-party-bullies-in-the-nose/
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thanks for that. Not a huge Mitch fan, but that didn't sound like something he'd say to me at all. I can see him talking like that over the other group, though.
"The source" should be a little more wary of talking to the "conservative media" as well as the MSM.
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Bump :whistle: