Another Fracture in the GOP Wall
This time TalkingPointsMemo documents the infighting:
For Republican candidates across the country, the movement du jour seems to be a pledge to repeal health care reform if elected. Republicans are rushing to co-sponsor and promote efforts to repeal the bill on Capitol Hill. But not everyone is biting, exposing another fissure between the GOP’s right and far-right.
The latest GOPers caught in the mix are in Delaware — with candidate Christine O’Donnell (R-DE) challenging Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) to sign on to repeal plans. Castle, like every single Congressional Republican, opposed the legislation. But he said that repealing “is not realistic.”
Even DelawarePolitics.net (in their capacity as unpaid PR arm of the Christine O’Donnell campaign) gets quoted from Christine’s press release:
But according to DelawarePolitics.net, O’Donnell charges that by not signing, Castle is “breaking faith with the people of Delaware and America in refusing to support the conservative-led effort to repeal ObamaCare, a totally disastrous and unconstitutional health bill.”
There’s more spats at the link, but one thing that TPM missed was that Castle made his decision to not repeal the Affordable Care Act conditional on Democrats still controlling government. Apparently he would be on board with rolling back a new regulatory regime on insurance companies as well as expanded coverage for Americans if Republicans were in charge.
Unfortunately for Christine, it is a safe bet that Mike Castle probably doesn’t even know she has issued this challenge to him — it seems a safe bet that given the messy way she seems to occupy the political space, Castle and his people (and the entire State R Party, I’d bet) have pretty much decided that they can safely ignore her.
(Thanks to Jason330 for the h/t!)
Tags: Christine O'Donnell, DE-Sen, Mike Castle, Republican Crazy
I still think O’Donnell doesn’t stand a chance and this may be the last bit of attention she gets. It does rankle a bit that O’Donnell is fighting Castle more aggressively than Coons seems to do.
True. Neglect and deflect will get Castle pretty far. He sure as hell does not need to worry about the NJ asking pesky questions.
Ignoring her is definitley his best strategy. If he starts responding to RINO attacks, he has to at least pretend to tack to the right and make it seem like he’s a true conservative, which is in direct conflict with his preferred veil of moderatnessativity. He’s not nearly slick enough to successfully respond to conflicting attacks, so the smart thing to do is ignore one of them.
O’Donnells a joke but the question of where Castle stands on”repeal” has essentially been answered. Since anything but whole hearted support for repeal will be considered treason by the Tea Baggers and thier like look for Castle to change his mind on this.
Bam: The drooling Delaware conservative punditocracy already has been trashing Castle as a RINO for years. Check out the attacks on him at DelPol by O’Donnell defenders.
It’s actually a question a lot of GOP candidates will have to face soon — how seriously to take their tea party challengers and how far to the right to swing to beat them. As Jason330 pointed out in another thread, the problem is the primaries, because they tend to draw primarily the most fervent voters, which are the TPers right now in the GOP. I think a fair number of Republicans will be forced to say things they don’t really believe in order to win their nomination, then quickly hope most people forget they ever said them.
Our job, and Chris Coons’s job is to make sure that Castle can’t run away from what’s he’s saying and what he’s actually doing.
BTW I read Coons email today and I am either getting his strategy or indulging in wishful thinking. But it is all about saying “congressional republicans, congressional republicans, congressional republicans” right now. People hate congressional republicans so at some point he pivots to, oh yeah Mike Castle is a congressional republican.
Jason,
Can you forward that email to the team? I’m still not getting them.
If you’re right Jason, I think that’s fantastic — and not just because it’s what I’ve been saying all along. It’s also a valid point and not just a muddy-the-water misdirection. The most important point to make is that if Castle is elected, he’ll be a GOP Senator, and will act and vote just like all the other GOP Senators. Go Coons!
Here’s the email, FWIW (thanks Jason!):
I like it. I think Coons is establishing a theme about Castle and fiscal responsibility. That certainly explains his first email about PAYGO.
The Teabaggers will be voting for Christine. Castle isnt worried about that little fly in his ointment. The man will say and do anything to win. If the democratic party doesnt do something now to get their message out to democratic voters about Castle, Coons will find himself left in New Castle County. This is where the party should help, by reaching all those voters especially in Sussex and Kent. Castles record is the proof of his right leaning republican votes against the working man and woman. Greenville will deliver to Castle and some of the rich republicans in Kent and Sussex. Its those common every day hard working democrats who dont listen to tv or read the news who will still stand with him because “he is a nice guy”.
Aw, say it ain’t so
Mr. Ashjian,let us introduce you to fellow teabagger, Christine O’Donnell. Even if you aren’t a match made in heaven, she may have some PR tips for you.
Bad week to be a Bush voter. They are even losing their porn.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/26/24-canceled-fox-ending-sh_n_515603.html