According to The New York Times, the Republican party's biggest donors are banding together to fund the Conservative Victory Project, which is aimed at electing better candidates. And while that is a noble goal, they've already made their first mistake by choosing Karl Rove to head the project.
The effort would put a new twist on the Republican-vs.-Republican warfare that has consumed the party’s primary races in recent years. In effect, the establishment is taking steps to fight back against Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations that have wielded significant influence in backing candidates who ultimately lost seats to Democrats in the general election. [...]
The Conservative Victory Project, which is backed by Karl Rove and his allies who built American Crossroads into the largest Republican super PAC of the 2012 election cycle, will start by intensely vetting prospective contenders for Congressional races to try to weed out candidates who are seen as too flawed to win general elections.
The project is being waged with last year’s Senate contests in mind, particularly the one in Missouri, where Representative Todd Akin’s comment that “legitimate rape” rarely causes pregnancy rippled through races across the country. In Indiana, the Republican candidate, Richard E. Mourdock, lost a race after he said that when a woman became pregnant during a rape it was “something God intended.”
This almost guaranteed to backfire. In fact I chuckle with glee at the thought.
The Republican party, with the aide of one Karl Rove, transformed itself into the radicalized chimera of Real Americans that it is today to win elections in the short term at the cost of long term goals. And in case anyone forgot, Karl Rove's last attempt to win an election was a miserable failure, with Rove's Crossroads PAC receiving a very Freudian 1 percent return on investment in the 2012 election.
Karl Rove's malfeasance is enough by itself to doubt the feasibility of this new endeavor without even considering the fact that radicalized elements of the party have more power now than they've ever had. Enter Jim DeMint, the new head of the Heritage Foundation.
The Senate Conservatives Fund, founded by former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, issued a statement calling the project “another example of the Republican establishment’s hostility toward its conservative base” and even criticizing the new group’s name, Conservative Victory Project.
"The Conservative Defeat Project is yet another example of the Republican establishment's hostility toward its conservative base," said SCF Executive Director Matt Hoskins. "Rather than listening to the grassroots and working to advance their principles, the establishment has chosen to declare war on its party's most loyal supporters. If they keep this up, the Republican Party will remain in the wilderness for decades to come."
I like what I'm hearing.
"This is a continuation of the establishment's effort to avoid blame for their horrible performance in the 2012 elections," said Hoskins. "They blew a ton of races up and down the ticket because they recruited moderate Republicans who didn't stand for anything. Now they want to use this new PAC to trick donors into giving them more money so they can lose more races."
The Lunatic Base doesn't like being told what to do regardless of whether it's President Obama or Karl Rove giving the orders. And given the dismal failure of Rove in the 2012 election, the moment primary voters learn that the opposing candidate is backed by Rove they may vote accordingly just to spite him.
The Tea Party and the establishment declaring war on each other is ultimately good news for Democrats and, by extension, good news for America.
(h/t Steve Benen)