In a terse statement stained with his own personal disgust, NRSC Chair John Ensign lambasted his GOP Senate colleagues today for failing to financially support his committee:
“I recently challenged my colleagues to step up to the plate and help me provide the resources our candidates need to compete in races across the country – to match the [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee] expenditures in targeted races,” Ensign said in a statement. “It has become clear that my call has gone largely unanswered. I have no control over the timing or content of IE ads, but I have had no choice but to decrease the total budget of our IE Unit. It is still my hope that my Republican colleagues will engage in this election and help match what the Democrats are doing. If they do, I will adjust our budget accordingly.”
CQ Politics notes that Republican Senators have only contributed $1.1 million to the committee through June, while Democrats have forked over a much more generous $5 million.
Ensign’s failures as NRSC chair are already having immediate consequences. From the Politico:
The NRSC reserved about $6 million in ad buys in North Carolina, according to sources from both parties, which was meant to show that the GOP was ready to play hard in what has become a dead heat race between Dole and Democratic challenger Kay Hagan.
But on Wednesday the NRSC yanked the money because, it turns out, the dough was never available in the first place. One GOP Senate source said it was a “head fake” that pulled the rug out from under Dole. But Dole told Politico in a phone interview Thursday that she realizes in this tough national climate for Republicans that she’s on her own in the race and will have to raise all her own money without relying on the NRSC.
As the polls show, Dole could really use a boost right about now. Too bad for her, the NRSC is hamstrung due to the stinginess of her GOP colleagues. This is what I like to call schadenfreude at its most delicious.
Enjoy the pain, Republicans. You bastards deserve it.
Is it any wonder that Dole is the first one to lose NRSC funding?
That’s got to be the quote of the day.
That’s gotta make every Repub. candidate in close or difficult races start trembling that they’ll be next in line to get the rug pulled
I think it’s somewhat a bit over the line for you to refer to Republicans as bastards. Technically, a bastard is someone born from unmarried parents; an illegitimate birth. I think you can only use this word, therefore, if you have solid evidence that everybody from George Bush down to those hypocritical young Republicans who are pro-war yet unwilling to enlist are ALL bastards, then you might have grounds to call them such.
I know it’s probably not my place to question how you run your website or what words you choose to use. As a foreigner, I just find it hard to fathom such seemingly genuine hatred for your opposing political opponents. It reminds of Senate Guru’s obsession with destroying Susan Collins at every turn. I guess coming from a country with a political environment that’s more gravitated to the political center and where the introduction of low blow politics has only been around for the past 2 years, it’s understandable why I’m in shock.
Anyway, I’m not expecting you to change your tune, since you guys run the show. I just thought I get it off my chest and make such an observation.