NRSC Weekly Rundown: #ConfirmKavanaugh, Tester Gets Trumped, Dems: 2020 > 2018 and more!
And here’s this week’s edition of the NRSC Weekly Rundown:
#ConfirmKavanaugh: It’s clear Senate Democrats were more concerned with partisan stunts than substantively questioning Judge Brett Kavanaugh at his Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing this week. Editorials across the country even noted that the dramatic hysterics of Democrats during the hearings revealed the lack of legitimate attacks against the qualified nominee and accomplished nothing but slowing his inevitable confirmation. And as Democratic presidential hopefuls tried to turn the hearing into more of a 2020 primary contest than a serious debate, it’s their red state Dem colleagues who will pay the price as the national Democratic Party lurches further to the left. Do vulnerable 2018 Dems like Heitkamp, Manchin and Donnelly agree with their fellow Democrats’ tactics as they throw tantrums and attempt to drag an incredibly qualified nominee through the mud?
#WVSen: The NRSC is up with three new billboards around Charleston reinforcing the message that West Virginians can’t trust Washington Joe Manchin. The billboards highlight Manchin’s two-faced support for abortion giant Planned Parenthood, displaying the infamous pictures taken less than a month apart featuring Manchin holding signs both supporting and opposing the nation’s largest abortion business. Manchin is desperate to repair his image in the state, releasing a new TV ad vowing to protect the Second Amendment. But the NRA beat him to the punch, giving him a “D” rating for siding with anti-gun liberals and sponsoring new gun control legislation.
#MTSen: Jon Tester is taking heat on all sides. President Trump held a rally in Billings yesterday, slamming Tester for voting against his agenda every step of the way. And just this morning, Donald Trump Jr. slammed Tester as “a liar and a lapdog” on local radio and ripped him over the controversial Pearl Jam poster released to promote his fundraising concert, which depicted President Trump’s dead body in front of the White House. Trying to insulate himself from these blistering attacks, Tester released a new ad that glosses over his record of obstruction. But Montanans will see through Tester’s desperate attempts to cozy up to President Trump. One day after the ad launched, Tester undercut his ad’s message by sending a fundraising email for the DNC begging for cash to help Senate Democrats “hold the line” against President Trump. Making matters worse, Tester was busted for lying about his refusal to meet with Judge Brett Kavanaugh after the White House denied they canceled the meeting as Tester had claimed. Instead of pushing all these silly excuses, you’d think it’d be easier for Tester just to admit he planned to stonewall Trump and his agenda all along.
#AZSen: Arizonans are still waiting to see where Kyrsten Sinema stands on the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Since Judge Kavanaugh was picked for the court, Sinema has gone MIA, refusing to give Arizonans a straight answer on how she’d vote if she was elected to the U.S. Senate. But back in 2009, Sinema was all too happy to pen a full op-ed for the Arizona Republic calling for Justice Sotomayor’sconfirmation. And that’s not the only part of Sinema’s past she’s running from. AfterMartha McSally called out Sinema’s radical record of protesting our troops, Sinema was forced to put out a new ad grasping at straws and flat-out lying to cover up the truth about her anti-military history.
#NDSen: Following the ridiculous antics by her Senate counterparts during this week’s hearing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Heitkamp’s office “did not respond to a request for comment” when asked whether she approved of her colleagues’ actions. With her electoral future hanging in the balance, Heitkamp is hunkering down and hoping this will all blow over. Unfortunately, the blind ambition of her colleagues and party boss, Chuck Schumer, have made her no-win situation that much worse – and North Dakota voters are taking note.
#WISen: Tammy Baldwin found time to blast out fundraising emails during this week’s hearing to raise money off her opposition to Judge Brett Kavanaugh, but still hasn’t found the time to actually do her job and meet face-to-face with President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. Tammy originally refused to meet with Judge Kavanaugh until she flip-flopped after coming under pressure from her opponent,Leah Vukmir. Baldwin’s shifting positions prove she couldn’t care less about giving the esteemed jurist the fair consideration he deserves.
#TNSen: Phil Bredesen has told Tennesseans he’s from a “more sophisticated world,” and voters are getting to see what that means, as the Tennessean released a report detailing more than half a million dollars in shady tax breaks Bredesen benefited from. According to the story, “Former Gov. Phil Bredesen has avoided paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in local taxes thanks to a 1976 law, according to a review of his property tax records.” Tennessee voters deserve a Senator more focused on their interests than his own bank account. Despite claiming he wants to end “partisan squabbling,” Bredesen is set to attend a Memphis rally headlined by Cory Booker, who’ll be fresh off his ridiculous week-long antics during the Supreme Court confirmation hearing. But Phil Bredesen’s refusal to condemn the antics by Senate Democrats this week is exactly why Tennessee voters can’t trust him.
#FLSen: Bill Nelson sent out a fundraising email claiming he is working in the Senate on the toxic algae issue impacting Florida’s waterways. But actions speak louder than words. Last week, he ducked out of a Senate hearing on the issue after delivering a grandstanding speech before the testimony of any expert witnesses. After decades of inaction on Florida’s algae crisis, it’s time for Nelson to do his job. Also this week, Vice President Mike Pence visited Florida, telling Floridians “Bill Nelson doesn’t stand for Florida values and Florida priorities and it’s time to send Rick Scott to the United States Senate.”
#NJSen: Politico reported that Hillary Clinton will be coming to Jersey City for a fundraiser benefitting disgraced Senator Bob Menendez next month, just a couple weeks before the election. It’s a natural fit that Menendez would bring in another politician who was the target of an investigation by Obama’s Justice Department to fundraise for him. While they’re together, perhaps the two can compare notes on how best to beat a federal investigation. The shamelessly corrupt Menendez could sure use the advice. After all, he only narrowly avoided a lengthy prison term for bribery thanks to a hung jury.
NEWS AND NOTES:
Politico: Pence to hit 3 Democratic Senate candidates in TV ad buy
Vice President Mike Pence is going on the air in three Senate races — not so much to pump up Republican candidates but to tear down Democratic incumbents. Pence rips Montana Sen. Jon Tester, North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp and Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly over a range of highly charged partisan issues, from opposition to the GOP tax bill and Obamacare repeal to support for sanctuary cities and Planned Parenthood funding. Each of the ads are being paid for by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. READ
Axios: The Kavanaugh headache for red-state Dems
The red-state Democrats who are up for re-election in November are in a no-win situation over Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination — and Tuesday’s protests at his confirmation hearing didn’t help. Why it matters: The progressive base is demanding that Democratic senators vote no on Kavanaugh. But Republicans say support for his nomination is highest in four Trump states with Democratic senators: Montana, West Virginia, North Dakota and Missouri. READ
Washington Examiner: Democrats Can’t Stop Brett Kavanaugh, And Their Hysterics Show It
In this current Trump reality, many feel as if their hands are tied. Of all the players involved, none feel the pain of inability to effect change so acutely as the Democratic Party. The collective performance of opposition members on the Senate Judiciary Committee during the first day of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings was one for the record books. But instead of taking a legitimate stand against the nominee, their deliberate and continued calls for adjournment were nothing but last-ditch attempts from a group resigned to a future failure. They know they can do nothing. On Tuesday, Democrats spent a total of 80 minutes before the hearing’s official start trying to stall the proceedings. READ
Boston Herald: Unhinged Liberals’ Havoc At Brett Kavanaugh Hearings A Supreme Waste
A wild circus act that included liberal activists and their ilk rudely interrupting Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation proceedings with wild outbursts, screaming and other unruly behavior, resulting in constant delays and at least 70 arrests. And that was just Day 1 of Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings. Sadly for our democracy, it wasn’t just uncivilized spectators disrupting the constitutionally enshrined proceedings. READ
Washington Examiner: Kavanaugh hearings are merely an audition for 2020 Democrats
Three Democrats rumored to be exploring presidential bids in 2020 sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, helping explain why Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation have become theatrical #resistance. With all eyes on the committee, it’s a golden opportunity for ambitious senators to make headlines just months before the early days of the race. And the intensity of anti-Trump sentiments in their party makes those headlines especially alluring. READ
Washington Times: As Democrats flail, Kavanaugh sailing to court
Presidential aspirants were all preening for the cameras. Sen. Cory Booker, New Jersey Democrat, tried nearly every quarter-hour to delay the hearing on the first day. Meanwhile he disgracefully sent out a fundraising appeal during the hearing — while seated on the dais. We all can see where his priorities are. Fellow Democrat Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, a former chairman of the committee, spent nearly the entire 30 minutes of his opening round talking about his own emails from 2001-2003, trying and failing to prove Judge Kavanaugh knew anything about an email breach at the time. Mr. Leahy showed how incredibly out of touch he is by making his emails the issue — rather than literally any other issue that Vermonters care about regarding a Supreme Court nominee. READ
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Jobless Claims Fell to a 49-Year Low Last Week
The number of Americans filing applications for new unemployment benefits fell at the end of August to a nearly five-decade low. Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs across the U.S., declined by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 203,000 in the week ended Sept. 1, the Labor Department said Thursday. This is the lowest level of unemployment benefit applications since the end of 1969. READ
Market Watch: American manufacturers growing at fastest pace in 14 years, ISM finds
Growth in the U.S. economy exploded in the spring and the third quarter that got underway in July is also shaping up to be a good one. The economy is firing on almost all cylinders, though the persistent threat of a broader trade war continues to threaten recent gains. READ
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