NRSC Weekly Rundown: Sinema Doesn’t Care If You Join the Taliban , #KavanaughConfirmed, McCaskill’s Candid Camera and more!
And here’s this week’s edition of the NRSC Weekly Rundown:
#AZSen: It was a disastrous week for Kyrsten Sinema after several extreme, out of touch statements from her past resurfaced. Fox News reported this week that Sinema promoted events at Arizona State University with a lawyer who helped pass secret messages to terrorist organizations for a client who plotted to bomb the United Nations, an FBI building, two tunnels, and a bridge in New York City. But rather than renouncing her actions, Sinema doubled down on her support for the terrorist sympathizer, saying Americans should provide protection for the terrorists who want to do our nation harm. Making a bad week worse, the Free Beacon also reported that leaked emails from Sinema’s anti-war activist group show she compared American soldiers dying in Iraq to illegal immigrants, saying, “the deaths that people suffer in the Mexico-Arizona desert are the same as the deaths that people suffer in the Iraq desert.” Then, Sinema was busted on camera insulting Arizonans and calling her state “crazy” and “the meth lab of democracy,” showing her utter disdain for those she hopes to represent. And to top it all off, CNN reported that in a 2003 interview, Sinema told Arizonans “I don’t care” if you want to join the Taliban. “Go ahead.”
#KavanaughConfirmed: Senate Dems made it official this past weekend, proving to Americans that they prefer to be the party of unhinged protesters rather than a rational party willing to give an eminently qualified jurist a chance. When former President Obama nominated Justices Sotomayor and Kagan, Republicans were willing to give them a fair evaluation. But now, with President Trump in the White House, the Democrats have become so extreme that any qualified jurist would have been voted down. That’s why you saw Senate Dems coming out in opposition even before a nominee was named. But now, the Republican Party is more energized than ever, and red state Dems are going to pay for their party’s absurd antics.
#National: Just in time for the midterms, red state Dems’ favorite failed presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, has returned! In the wake of the chaos the left put the country through as they attempted to smear Justice Kavanaugh, Hillary has decided to join the mob, advising her fellow Democrats that they “cannot be civil” with their Republican friends and neighbors. Clinton went on to say that civility can return only when Democrats take over Congress. And as President Trump laid out in an op-edthis week, if Democrats take Congress in November, their “Medicare for All” plan would “end Medicare as we know it and take away benefits that seniors have paid for their entire lives,” and cost taxpayers an astonishing $32.6 TRILLION.
#MOSen: In Springfield, Vice President Mike Pence slammed Claire McCaskill for voting against Justice Kavanaugh, telling Missourians, “The truth is Missouri’s other Senator, Claire McCaskill, was there with the Democrats in the Senate every step of the way.” And as stories about how Claire McCaskill and her husband got rich at the expense of taxpayers continue to mount, there are still many unanswered questions about the $273.3 million in tax credits McCaskill and her husband have profited from. In Kansas City this week, McCaskill held an event advertised as a public town hall, but when she walked out to begin the event and spotted a camera, McCaskill quickly walked back to talk to organizers who then announced that no filming would be permitted, despite acknowledging that members of the public were welcome at the event. And a new ad from Attorney General Josh Hawley revealed McCaskill’s true thoughts on rural Missourians, catching her on camera telling supporters that, “If we do our job in St. Louis County, I can give up a few votes in the bootheel.”
#NDSen: Heidi Heitkamp is facing intense backlash after turning her back on North Dakotans and voting against Justice Kavanaugh. And Heitkamp’s response to the voters who trusted her to represent their voice in Washington? “That’s the way it just goes.” As she continues to desperately spin her vote to oppose Justice Kavanaugh, Heitkamp, who literally ran away from reporters leading up to the vote, now can’t get enough of the media, doing a host of interviews with major media outlets. But what Heitkamp hasn’t offered North Dakotans in her ridiculous explanations for her opposition is an apology for abandoning the 60% of North Dakotans who wanted Kavanaugh confirmed to side with Chuck Schumer and an angry mob of liberal activists.
#TNSen: Phil Bredesen released a desperate new ad this week that claims Marsha Blackburn is a liar for bringing up the extensive reporting done on Bredesen’s administration shredding documents related to sexual harassment allegations. But if Bredesen insists the attacks about his failures surrounding sexual harassment are all lies, how does he explain the detailed and extensive reporting that the Tennessean, the AP and other outlets conducted? To cap off Phil’s terrible week, Marsha Blackburn wiped the floor with him at the final debate, repeatedly reminding Tennesseans how out of touch Bredesen is. Bredesen’s former legislative director and current spokesman for TN Victory 2018, Mark Brown, continued to mock Tennesseans, this time insulting gun-owners, saying “white male ‘Murican gun nuts” are “the biggest terrorist organization on the planet.” Bredesen also tried to distance himself from his support of Hillary Clinton’s presidential run, saying the $33,400 he donated to Clinton was to support his friend Tim Kaine. Rough.
#MTSen: The NRA announced that they have downgraded Jon Tester to a “D” rating after his vote against pro-Second Amendment Justice Kavanaugh. In its rating change, the NRA criticized Tester for having “joined forces with Chuck Schumer and anti-gun liberals to vote against our fundamental right to self-defense,” adding that “Jon Tester can’t be trusted to protect our constitutional rights.” A new report from the Washington Free Beacon spells out in detail Tester’s ties to big money lobbyists at JPMorgan Chase – the bank that also lent Tester the money to finance his million dollar “Cosmopolitan Castle” where he lives in Washington D.C.
#WVSen: New polling finds the West Virginia Senate race in a statistical tie, with Joe Manchin leading Attorney General Patrick Morrisey by just 1 point, 41-40, as the Democrat continues to get hit with stories about his shady dealings. A complaint from a nonpartisan watchdog group alleges that Manchin broke Senate ethics rules by failing to disclose the existence of a business owned by Manchin and his wife. And a new report from the Free Beacon shows that while Manchin was governor he attempted to use a $44 million opioid settlement to buy a personal “Governor’s helicopter,” even while opioid deaths were nearly doubling. Manchin also got some unwelcome help this week when Abolish ICE ringleader Kirsten Gillibrand defended his liberal credentials, assuring Democrats that Manchin is with them “nine out of ten times” and “shares your fundamental values.”
#INSen: In the first debate of the general election, Mexico Joe Donnelly spent his time running from his record and misleading Hoosiers about his reason for voting against Justice Kavanaugh. It’s been a rough month for the Democrat whose do-nothing, anti-Trump record has been exposed, which as forced him to respond with a new ad attempting to fit as many lies as possible into 30 seconds. The ad resulted in an ethics complaint, because it used a picture taken in Mexico Joe’s official office, a practice his spokesman acknowledged was illegal. Making matters worse, Mexico Joe was caught in yet another lie when the AP released a report confirming Donnelly is even more of a hypocrite on outsourcing than Hoosiers thought and has profited from importing goods from China despite criticizing the practice.
#WISen: In the first debate of the race, Wisconsinites got a cold hard look at how Tammy Baldwin continues to put Washington over Wisconsin. From health care to veterans to Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation, voters heard how Baldwin turned her back on Wisconsin and why they can’t afford to elect her to another term. Wisconsin media took note of Baldwin’s abysmal performance, calling her “half asleep,” “sometimes painful” and “unprepared and awful.”
#FLSen: A new report by the Washington Free Beacon revealed that Bill Nelson was building donor lists under the guise of hurricane relief. In an email and on social media, Nelson urged people to donate to disaster relief efforts. But a closer look reveals that the link goes to ActBlue, which saves donor emails for future fundraising efforts. On top of that, Bill Nelson continued to send out multiple fundraising emails before the monster storm hit and while it was pummeling the panhandle.
#NJSen: The Wall Street Journal is out with a scathing editorial criticizing disgraced Senator Bob Menendez for his corruption and lies on the campaign trail. With his approval ratings deep underwater and in the middle of a tough race, Menendez has resorted to spreading falsehoods about his opponent, Bob Hugin.
NEWS AND NOTES:
USA Today: Donald Trump: Democrats ‘Medicare for All’ plan will demolish promises to seniors
Throughout the year, we have seen Democrats across the country uniting around a new legislative proposal that would end Medicare as we know it and take away benefits that seniors have paid for their entire lives. Dishonestly called “Medicare for All,” the Democratic proposal would establish a government-run, single-payer health care system that eliminates all private and employer-based health care plans and would cost an astonishing $32.6 trillion during its first 10 years. READ
CNN: Kyrsten Sinema’s anti-war activist past under scrutiny as she runs for Senate
Appearing on the radio show of local libertarian activist Ernest Hancock a day before the event, Sinema said, “Libertarians, Democrats, Republicans, Greens, independents, anarchists, socialists, communists, whoever wants to come. They’re all welcome.” Later, Sinema and Hancock discussed their political views, with Hancock taking up the libertarian argument against intervention and raising as a hypothetical against Sinema’s worldview if she would oppose him joining the Taliban army… “By force?” Hancock asked. “By me, as an individual, if I want to go fight in the Taliban army, I go over there and I’m fighting for the Taliban. I’m saying that’s a personal decision…” “Fine,” Sinema interjected, “I don’t care if you want to do that, go ahead.” READ
Minot Daily News: The fight over Kavanaugh is tanking Heidi Heitkamp’s campaign
What we are left with, then, is a Democratic Senate incumbent who, lacking the courage of the convictions expressed in her campaign messaging, has utterly failed to call out her own party for perpetrating a weeks-long travesty on Judge Kavanaugh and his family. Now she’s paying for it at the polls, and even voting for Kavanaugh may not be enough to reverse the trend. READ
CNN: Trust the polls: Heidi Heitkamp is in trouble
A new Fox News poll gives Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer a 53% to 41% lead over Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in the North Dakota Senate race. This year, there hasn’t been a single statewide internal poll released by the Democrats to suggest that Heitkamp is leading. Moreover, it’s not as if there has been a consistent pro-Democratic bias in the polling out of North Dakota. In the last two competitive major statewide races before 2012, the polls, if anything, underestimated the Republicans. READ
WFB: Sinema Compared Deaths of U.S. Soldiers to Deaths From Illegal Border Crossings
Representative Kyrsten Sinema, the Democratic nominee in the Arizona Senate race, wrote a group email in 2006 in which she drew equivalence between the deaths of people trying to illegally cross the U.S. southern border to American soldiers fighting and dying in Iraq. Additionally, when detailing her views on immigration in a profile from 2009, Sinema said, “I oppose all of them [immigration laws],” a stance that appears to differ from the policy positions she currently advertises on her campaign website. READ
Fox News: Senate Dem hopeful Kyrsten Sinema promoted events featuring convicted terror lawyer
U.S. Democratic Senate hopeful Kyrsten Sinema promoted events at Arizona State University featuring a lawyer convicted for aiding an Islamist terror organization and its leader. Sinema, a co-founder of the activist group Local to Global Justice, invited people in a now-closed Yahoo group to attend two events with Lynn Stewart, both in 2003. At the time of the invite, Stewart had been charged with helping her former client Omar Abdel Rahman, a radical Egyptian spiritual leader of a terror group, to pass on secret messages to his followers to commit terror attacks. READ
ABC: Poll: Martha McSally gaining in Senate race against Kyrsten Sinema
A new poll of Arizona’s contested Senate race shows frontrunner Republican Martha McSally increasing her lead over Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. In the latest ABC15/OH Predictive Insights poll, McSally has a six-point edge on Sinema, 47 percent to 41 percent. Eight percent said they had yet to decide on a candidate. READ
Washington Examiner: Kavanaugh catapults Marsha Blackburn into lead in key Tennessee Senate race
Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn holds her first sustained lead in the race for an open Tennessee Senate seat, catapulted ahead of Democrat Phil Bredesen by the partisan battle to confirm newly minted Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The Kavanaugh clash has awakened complacent Republicans and motivated conservative voters blase about President Trump to rally around the GOP flag. READ
News Channel 5: Blackburn Has 8-Point Lead Over Bredesen, CBS News Poll Finds
A new poll from CBS News indicates that Congressman Marsha Blackburn has an eight-point lead over former Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen in Tennessee’s U.S. Senate race. Tennessee finds Republican Marsha Blackburn with an eight-point lead over Democrat Phil Bredesen, 50-42. READ
AP: Donnelly family business uses import practice he criticizes
Yet for Donnelly, whose neck-and-neck race with Braun could help determine which party controls the Senate, it ignores one inconvenient detail. Stewart Superior Corp., a family business that he owned stock in, has also received repeated shipments of goods from China for much of this decade, records reviewed by The Associated Press show. That makes Donnelly susceptible to charges of hypocrisy while undercutting one of his main attacks on Braun before an election in which working-class support will be crucial. It’s also likely to ratchet up a GOP onslaught that was already intensifying after Donnelly cast a “no” vote against Trump’s second Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh. READ
Wall Street Journal: The Menendez Method
After narrowly dodging a corruption conviction, New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez faces a re-election dogfight against former Celgene CEO Bob Hugin. The Senator is now lying to voters about his opponent’s business record the way he dissembled about his political corruption. None of Celgene’s business practices are corrupt—unlike Mr. Menendez’s machinations to procure visas for his doctor friend Salomon Melgen’s girlfriends. READ
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