Last Call

The Great Conserva-schism I talked about over the weekend is now a war in earnest.  The corporate wing of the GOP has decided enough is enough with Tea Party anchors around the GOP's collective necks when it comes to trying to win back the Senate.  They've formed the Conservative Victory Project to push the Tea party loonies out the back door.  The problem is that the Tea Party isn't taking this lying down, and they have plenty of money backing them too.

Both the Club for Growth and the Senate Conservatives Fund – two of the most prominent groups that have boosted candidates on the right – mocked the new initiative as yet another hapless establishment-side attempt to muzzle the GOP base.

Matt Hoskins, executive director of the Senate Conservatives Fund, branded it the “Conservative Defeat Project.”

“The Conservative Defeat Project is yet another example of the Republican establishment’s hostility toward its conservative base. Rather than listening to the grassroots and working to advance their principles, the establishment has chosen to declare war on the party’s most loyal supporters,” Hoskins said. “If they keep this up, the party will remain in the wilderness for decades to come.”

Club for Growth spokesman Barney Keller essentially responded by pointing to the scoreboard in recent primaries in which conservative insurgents have prevailed and emerged as influential GOP leaders.

“They are welcome to support the likes of Arlen Specter, Charlie Crist and David Dewhurst,” Keller said of the new Crossroads group. “We will continue to proudly support the likes of Pat Toomey, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.”

Them's fightin' words, kids.  The war over the direction of the GOP is finally on.  Both sides are now drawing lines and taking up battle positions ahead of the 2014 primaries.  Each side is convinced the other will lead the GOP to total defeat and domination by the Democrats.

The funny part is this:  both of them are right.  The GOP is screwed either way.  They can't win national elections with the reactionary right, and they can't win primaries without them.  It's going to be awfully fun watching these guys rip each other to shreds to see who's left standing...

...because it'll be the Democrats, either way.