John Cornyn and the Rest of the Idiots at the NRSC Will Never Learn, Will They?

You've heard the old adage, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

But what to make of an organization so inept that they allow themselves to play the fool over and over and over again?

... If, as seems clear, the goal of the Committee is to defeat Democrats, why they should have any preference in a primary — especially one where two Republicans are separated by one percent — is beyond me. Drew counters that, as a sitting senator, Murkowski’s partly responsible for raising money for the NRSC and therefore should be able to call on its resources, but again, that’s not what the Committee is supposed to be for. If incumbents want to start a National Incumbent Committee and raise money for themselves that way, fine; as it is, fundraising on the NRSC’s behalf is ostensibly done for all Republican candidates in the name of the betterment of the party. How does Murkowski have a stronger claim to that than Miller? Besides, not all of the NRSC’s money is a product of incumbents showing up for fundraising events. They have an online donation page for small donors just like every other political group nowadays (note that the photos on the page are all of Democrats, not Republican incumbents), and in any event, given the enthusiasm among the base this year for “true conservatives” like Miller, I wouldn’t be surprised to find more support for him than for Murkowski among NRSC donors.

So no, I still don’t get why the NRSC is helping her out. Neither does Erick Erickson, who hears that she’s angling to make a deal with the Libertarian Party in exchange for a huge donation even as an NRSC lawyer is on his way up there to help her with the next steps in the GOP primary. Which, by the way, is still winnable for her: Fully 20,000 absentee or “questioned” ballots, most of them Republican, remain to be counted and she only needs to net 1,700 votes to win. (Remember, Miller surged late in the race so early absentee voters might favor Murkowski.) But in case the absentees don’t come through for her, old Palin nemesis Andrew Halcro has reportedly commissioned a poll for this weekend showing how Murkowski would fare in a three-way race if she joined the Libertarians. And the Libertarians themselves seem increasingly open to the idea...

For those of you who haven't been keeping score, here's the NRSC's recent track record in cases where they've gone to bat for the less conservative candidate over the more conservative candidate:

•In the 2004 and 2010 Pennsylvania GOP Senate Primary races, the NRSC endorsed Arlen Specter, not once, but twice, over the more conservative candidate, Pat Toomey. The second time the NRSC involved itself in trying to pick and choose Pennsylvania's Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, Toomey actually had a sizeable lead over Specter and an arguably better chance of winning the general election. A month after the NRSC endorsement, Specter switched parties and became a Democrat.


•In the 2006 Rhode Island GOP Senate Primary race, the NRSC endorsed the perennially unreliable Lincoln Chafee over the more conservative candidate Steve Laffey. Chafee went on to win the primary but lose in the general election. A short time thereafter, Chafee abandoned the Republican Party to run as an independent for Governor of Rhode Island.


•In the 2010 Florida GOP Senate Primary race, the NRSC endorsed mushy moderate Charlie Crist over the more conservative Marco Rubio. When Rubio pulled well ahead of Crist, NRSC Chairman John Cornyn said he was sticking with his endorsement of Crist as a matter of "honor". With Rubio crushing Crist among Republican voters, Crist abandoned the GOP to run for the U.S. Senate as an independent. Crist has declined to say whether he will, if elected, caucus with the Republicans (unlikely) or the Democrats (quite likely).


And now, wouldn't it just be fitting for the NRSC to rush to Alaska to help Lisa Murkowski in her recount efforts against the apparently victorious (and Palin-backed) Joe Miller, only to see Miller remain the victor and Murkowski abandon the party and land on the ballot as the Libertarian nominee?

Jackasses.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
The "Stupid Party" is All the More Stupid for Having John Cornyn Among Its Ranks [UPDATED]