Club For Growth Wears On Some Republicans

[babylonsister]

Club for Growth Wears on Some Republicans


By NAFTALI BENDAVID


WASHINGTON -- Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's switch to the Democratic Party underscores the clout of Club For Growth, a conservative group that targets Republicans it brands insufficiently committed to low taxes and small government.

The move also has inflamed a debate within the party: Are the group's tactics good or bad for Republicans?

Mr. Specter fingered Club For Growth as the key factor behind his decision, saying he would have lost the Republican primary to a Club-backed rival. His decision has prompted some Republicans to turn on the organization, saying it backs those who are so conservative that they then lose to Democrats.

"If their goal is to increase the Democrats' numbers in Congress, they're doing a very good job," said Rep. Steven LaTourette (R., Ohio), a moderate who won his seat in 1994. "Do they want a permanent minority of 140 people as pure as Caesar's wife, or a Republican majority that can get them 70% of the issues that are important to them?" (Republicans hold 178 of the 435 House seats and 40 of 100 Senate seats.)

The group's leaders insist its actions only help the party.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124260719695528797.html

[MADem]

1. It's become a WART, that club!! Bwahahahaha! nt

[LeftishBrit]

2. I think I've said before...

that the name 'Club for Growth' reminds me of the shady organizations that sometimes spam me about ways of increasing the size of a certain body part that I do not in fact possess!

At any rate, it's worrying that there are all these pressures to move the Republican party way to the right, and that however RW their candidates are, they'd prefer someone further right. (Didn't they once try to get David Duke as governor of Louisiana?) At least in the UK, it's unusual for Tory MPs to be deselected in favour of far-RW extremists - though we get some extreme enough people without that.

[tularetom]

6. Reminds me of the "Hair Club for Men"

And just about as effective.

[workinclasszero]

3. Club For (Democratic)Growth

Keep up the good work boys! PURGE the rethugs back to the stone age where they belong! Yippee!

[Cary]

4. The radicals will never loosen their death grip on the party.

So do they kill the party off permanently? Do they allow it just enough air to muddle along until the radicals themselves die off? Do they start to see reason and evolve?

The only bad outcome I can think of is if somehow they manage to appeal to enough voters to win elections again.

[NewJeffCT]

5. They're counting on their control of the media & the courts

to ensure that they can still enact their agenda. So, they can afford to go for purity because even only controlling 40% or so of both houses, they are still dominating the media coverage.