MIssouri GOP Insider Reveals Disdain for Party Base

A recent Columbia Tribune article about Akin included an amazingly honest quote from a Missouri GOP insider:

The anger at Akin is intense. With his refusal to step aside, they see serious damage to GOP chances in many races this year. "I, personally, and a lot of people like me, want to punish Todd Akin," one insider said. "This is about getting you freaking people out of our party."

In my opinion, the positions of the extreme religious Right are ridiculous and I can see why someone wouldn't want them "in their party." But of course, the reality is that Republicans do want them in the party, as they want them voting for their Big Business candidates like Mitt Romney. They just don't want them in positions of leadership or influence.  Hence, when a True Believer like Todd Akin gets elected, the GOP party bosses are quick to try to destroy him and push him out in favor of an insider like John Brunner or Ann Wagner.

The quote, I think, reveals a core truth about the modern GOP; it's controlled by the super-wealthy and Big Business who use social issues to manipulate hordes of people into voting against their own self-interest.  The Roy Blunts, Mitt Romneys, and "grassroots Ambassador" to Luxembourg Ann Wagners of the world run for office for the purpose of putting more money into their and their friends' pockets, and they manipulate evangelicals into thinking that they care about social issues. The Religious Right should have their own party, and they should try out their own views in the free marketplace of ideas, but there's really no reason for them to keep giving away votes to people who only want to plunder the middle class.

Steelman: Brunner is Trying to Buy the Election

Whoa! I actually agreed with Sarah Steelman on something! Here's what she had to say at the GOP Senate primary debate that John Brunner was afraid to attend:

Oh well I say it’s due to his tv ads and the fact that he’s basically trying to buy this election. The 30 second ads or he’d be here tonight participating in a debate where he could actually get questions from the audience and share his views of the country’s problems are. I also note that he’s got a lot of money to spend. He made the decision he wants to invest a lot of his money in buying this race. The way I look at it, that’s what’s wrong with politics today.

h/t Caitlin Legacki

John Brunner Listened To The Debate He Was Too Scared To Attend

Todd Akin and Sarah Steelman debated today in the contest for the GOP nomination for the Senate race. I really don't know what crazy things they said, because the real action was over at the Twitter hashtag #wheresbrunner, which was making fun of the fact that St. Louis businessman John Brunner was skipping yet another debate. The guy is pretty clearly not yet ready for primetime, and he prefers to spend boatloads of money on advertisements versus having to talk to germy people.

There were a lot of funny tweets, but this one was my favorite:



To make matters worse, it turns out that Brunner was actually listening to the debate while it was going on! Here's a message from Monte Schisler, the News Director at KRZK/KOMC in Branson:


In other words, it's not like he had something better to do; he really was just afraid to be subjected to the questions! How in the world does this guy expect to be a Senator?

Update: Confirmation that Brunner listened online to the debate:

He said he couldn’t attend the Conversation with the Candidates due to his schedule, but HometownDailyNews.com has confirmed that St. Louis businessman John Brunner listened to the event online.

John Freakin Loudon Was "Not Far Right Enough" for Brunner

John Loudon, the original tea partying, right-to-work-for-less pushing, friend of the National Organization for Marriage who said that gay people should just quit complaining and move to a state that allows gay marriage, had a post last week saying that he was "not far right" enough for Missouri GOP Senate candidate John Brunner. Well, technically, Loudon said he wasn't far right enough to accept Brunner's father's offer to go as a delegate for Pat Buchanan to the RNC in San Diego, but since the younger Brunner was Buchanan's state chairman in Missouri, ipso facto the same reasoning should apply. If you're too far right for John Loudon, well then you're just too darn far right.

Here's what Loudon had to say:

For those conservatives wondering about John Brunner, I can tell you this. His father picked me to be a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1996. I turned down the trip to San Diego and the chance of a lifetime because I was not as far right as Jack Brunner who was requesting that I serve as a delegate for Pat Buchanon. .

John Brunner's Favorite Candidate Pat Buchanan Ousted From MSNBC Over Racist Book

MSNBC, after years of pleading, has finally gotten rid of Pat Buchanan because of racially-charged language in Buchanan's latest book. Buchanan, as pointed out by Think Progress, has a long history of bigotry, and included chapters in his book titled, "The Death of White America," and "The Death of Christian America."

But the local angle is that despite Buchanan's long history, Republican Missouri Senate candidate John Brunner has been a huge supporter of Buchanan. Brunner was Buchanan's state campaign chair when Buchanana ran for president, and donated thousands of dollars to his campaign, even when Buchanan jumped from the Republican Party to the Reform Party. Check out Progress Missouri for all the gory details.