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Rep. LizCheney(R-Wyo.) on Wednesday criticized her party for what she sees as a growing sector of the GOP that supports Russian President Vladimir Putin as he wages his attacks on Ukraine.

You know, the Republican Party is the party of Reagan, the party that essentially won the Cold War. And you look now at what I think is really a growing Putin wing of the Republican Party, Cheney said at a McCain Institute event at Arizona State University.

The outgoing congresswoman, who lost her reelection bid in Wyoming to her Trump-backed Republican challenger, knocked Fox News for running propaganda and called out Fox host Tucker Carlson as the biggest propagandist for Putin on that network.

You really have to ask yourself, whose side is Fox on in this battle? And how could it be that you have a wing of the Republican Party that thinks that America would be standing with Putin as he conducts that brutal invasion of Ukraine? Cheney asked.

In a sweeping conversation with John S. McCain Democracy Fellow Sofia Gross, Cheney talked about the stunning developments she sees in the Republican Party that have stoked her concerns about the American republic and the democratic process.

The congresswoman quipped that she never imaged she would find herself spending so much time with Democrats.

Homing in her analysis on Arizona, where the McCain Institute event took place, she criticized Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who touts former President Trumps false claims of fraud during the 2020 presidential election.

Its important for us as Republicans to demand from our Republican leaders that they not accept this unraveling of the democracy. Glenn Youngkin should not come here and campaign for Kari Lake. Ted Cruz, who absolutely knows better, absolutely knows that what hes advocating is unconstitutional, that what shes saying is unconstitutional. They know it, Cheney said.

She cautioned voters against voting for Lake and state Rep. MarkFinchem(R), who is running for Arizona secretary of state, underscoring that both Trump-endorsed candidates have backed the former presidents election fraud claims in the face of evidence that his allegations were unfounded.

For almost 40 years now, Ive been a voting Republican. I dont know that I have ever voted for a Democrat. But if I lived in Arizona now, I would, Cheney said.

We cannot give people power who have told us that they will not honor elections, the congresswoman said.

See the rest here:
Cheney knocks growing Putin wing of the Republican Party - The Hill

It's October, which means football metaphors mixed with a few boos as politicians give stump speeches surrounded by falling leaves and a bit too much sunlight for sweater weather.

The Kansas Republican Party kicked off a statewide bus tour spanning six days and 27 stops, starting Wednesday afternoon at Kansas Grain & Feed Association in Topeka.

With the Halloween spooky season approaching, voters watching fall football games on their TVs may see Republican attack ads raising fears of high inflation, violent crime, open borders, men playing girls sports and federal overreach from the President Joe Biden administration. All were also talking points on the bus tour.

"No matter what happens in November, we're stuck with Biden for two more years," said U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, who emceed the event.

"Boo," one of the several dozen attendees said quietly.

"We need more audience participation," Marshall said, eliciting several more boos.

It's not just participation in campaign rallies that Republican candidates are looking for. They also want to get people to the polls.

"Voters hold the power, and I can tell you every vote counts," said Rep. Steven Johnson, R-Assaria.

Johnson, who is running for state treasurer, narrowly won a primary where the margin was close enough that a limited recount was automatically triggered.

"My friends, we need your sweat. We need your work. We need your mouths telling your friends this is an important election," said gubernatorial nominee Derek Schmidt. "We need you to show up at the polls and vote for us, and we need you to bring 10 friends and have each of them bring 10 friends. We need the signs in your yards. We need word of mouth at the cafe. We must do better."

More:Who has endorsed Laura Kelly and Derek Schmidt? Here's why they may matter in Kansas politics

Yet Secretary of State Scott Schwab raised concerns that turnout among his fellow Republicans may be dampened by the "trying times" of conspiracy theories about election integrity.

"If we talk about election fraud, election turnout drops 12-18% amongst Republicans," Schwab said.

Schwab stood up for the integrity of Kansas elections, saying it was proven by the ill-fated $118,000 recount effort on the so-called Value Them Both amendment, paid for by Wichita anti-abortion activist Mark Gietzen's credit cards.

Schwab also urged his fellow Republicans to focus on the economy, citing polling data suggesting a lack of enthusiasm among younger unaffiliated voters who lean Republican and say the economy is their top issue.

More:Kansas primary election officially over, despite anti-abortion activist vowing, "I'm not done yet"

"I'll speak in football metaphors, because KU's 5-0," said attorney general candidate Kris Kobach, who lives outside Lawrence in Lecompton. "I'm sure it happened sometime in my lifetime. I'm just not remembering when that last happened."

Despite the shoutout to the University of Kansas Jayhawks, the bus tour will not make a stop in Lawrence, a Democratic stronghold. The tour will make a Saturday morning stop in Manhattan, where the Kansas State University Wildcats are also having a strong season.

More:Kansas football to host ESPN's 'College GameDay' for the first time

"I think Kansas needs to continue going on offense," Kobach said. "And that means suing Joe Biden when he violates the constitution, when he violates federal statute, when he tries to do something through executive order."

Noting that Democratic opponent Chris Mann implied he would not "waste" taxpayer money defending abortion restrictions after voters rejected Value Them Both, Kobach said defense is also key for the AG.

"You always play defense," Kobach said of the attorney general's office. "You defend every single statute, no matter what, that the Legislature passes. I am pledging to you I will defend every statute, even if I would not have voted for it."

Subscriber exclusive:Kansas abortion clinics are highly regulated. Will that change in the future?

Harkening back to a gubernatorial debate just hours earlier in Johnson County, former Gov. Jeff Colyer called out when his predecessor, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, seemingly forgot about his existence or implied that he was dead.

"I am fortunate to have the endorsement of every living governor in the state of Kansas, minus one that would be Sam Brownback and I am very proud of that," Kelly said.

"Guess what, I am still alive," said Colyer, who dropped out of the GOP gubernatorial primary last year after a prostate cancer diagnosis.

Marshall then pretended to check the pulse of Colyer. The two politicians once attended medical school together.

"He didn't lose his skills," Colyer quipped.

The Kansas Democratic Party labeled the GOP efforts a "Back to Brownback Reunion Tour." The Democrats also took a jab at Republicans for hosting former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, "who was crowned the nation's least popular governor in 2017 a title previously held by Schmidt's ally, former Governor Sam Brownback."

"If Derek wins in November, I'll be back here in January to watch a great governor take the oath of office and get Kansas back on the right track," Christie said.

The Republican tour bus is dark blue with the names of congressional candidates plus Schmidt on the sides, as well as a call to "fire Kelly" and "fire Pelosi" on Nov. 8.

"We need to make sure after 35 years that Nancy Pelosi is done once and for all in Washington, D.C.," said U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, urging voters to flip the Kansas City area's congressional seat to Republicans.

The only woman to speak at the podium was Katie Sawyer, Schmidt's running mate. She also had the shortest stump speech, at about 35 seconds. The speeches collectively lasted about 35 minutes.

"We have to get our state back on the right track," Sawyer said.

Read the original post:
Republican bus tour kicks off in Topeka with praise for KU football but no stop in Lawrence - The Topeka Capital-Journal

Democrats have settled on a national strategy for the midterm elections: portraying themselves as the party of reproductive rights, and Republicans as extremists who will take those rights away entirely. Its a clever inversion of the normal dynamic of voters punishing the party in power in midterms, with the Supreme Court standing in as the party in power. The Court was the most disruptive government force of the past two years, and Democrats want voters to focus on what its rulings have stripped away.

Polling has shown shifts among independent voters when abortion rights are given the primary focus. Ive seen in my own reporting that swing-district Democrats are turning to abortion as their main argument, and Lindsey Graham certainly helped them a great deal by filing a national abortion ban and vowing to pass it if Republicans gained power. Most of the advertisements from the Democratic side hit this issue, including one from former Rep. Max Rose of Staten Island intimating that Republican attacks on reproductive rights will cause women to die. Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker allegedly funding the abortion he wants to criminalize has only added fuel to the strategy.

There are some hiccups to this approachthe one pro-life Democrat in Congress (Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas) benefiting from millions of dollars in Democratic campaign cash, for examplebut its a powerful message that draws simple contrasts between the consequences of Democratic and Republican rule. You can absolutely see why Democrats are taking this path, especially after high-profile victories in special elections and votes in the previous few months.

More from David Dayen

Perhaps the biggest of those votes was in blood-red Kansas, where voters rejected an effort by far-right groups to change the state constitution to allow for abortion bans. That makes it even more remarkable that the Democratic governor of that state, Laura Kelly, is not leaning into abortion rights in her tight re-election campaign against Republican attorney general Derek Schmidt.

Kelly has been focused instead on the economy. Shes run an ad about a Panasonic EV battery factory coming to De Soto, one about eliminating a tax on food that has brought down the cost of living marginally, and several about fully funding schools, defending them from the slash-and-burn project of Republicans like her predecessor Sam Brownback. Despite resounding support for abortion rights in Kansas, Republicans patently unpopular stance on the issue hasnt factored into Kellys messaging.

Its weird to hear analysts say that sidestepping abortion is the right strategy for Kelly after an election that showed a large bipartisan majority in favor of retaining abortion rights in the same state. But polling in the race shows that three times as many voters care about the economy relative to abortion access. A similar prioritization is seen in national polling, where economic issues take precedence over social policy, and Republicans tend to be seen as more trustworthy.

If there were no way to penetrate the Republican advantage on economic matters, maybe the focus on abortion would be seen as Democrats only recourse. But there is a story to tell here, based much like Grahams proposed bill on what Republicans have explicitly said they would do if they got back into power.

I havent really seen advertising that lays out this promise from Republicans to make prescription drug prices higher.

The Inflation Reduction Act has a silly name, but if there is anything in the bill that will actually reduce the cost of living, its the measure to negotiate prescription drug prices with Medicare. I speculated that Democrats would have a hard time making the sale on this measure because negotiations dont kick in until 2026, meaning Democrats would have to promote something that voters wont feel in their lives for four years.

But Republicans are helping out by vowing to repeal the law, on the record and in public. If the courts havent gotten to it beforehand, yeah weve got to do our job and try to defend the Constitution, said Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) last month, intimating a constitutional right to protect a particular industry from bulk purchasing discounts. I havent really seen advertising that lays out this promise from Republicans to make prescription drug prices higher.

President Biden has mentioned that Republicans would damage Medicare and Social Security if elected, using the blueprint of Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (the Senate GOP campaign arm), as evidence. But its not just Scott. Don Bolduc, running for Senate in New Hampshire, advocated privatizing Medicare in August. Arizona Republican candidate Blake Masters has mused about privatizing Social Security, as has Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson. There have been scattered ads and mobilization about this, but nothing like the concerted effort around abortion.

Many candidates have explained to me and other Prospect reporters that they are highlighting a Republican vote against oil company price-gouging in their campaigns. One broader point, made by frontliner Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA) in a Los Angeles Times piece and others, is that Republicans have articulated no solutions to higher prices other than incoherent bellowing, while Democrats have put forward short-term and long-term proposals. (Levin mentioned the price-gouging bill.)

Finally, theres the signature Republican vow to defund the tax police, by repealing the $80 billion for IRS efforts in the Inflation Reduction Act. Polls show that voters detest the two-tiered tax system, one for the wealthy and large corporations and one for everyone else. Republicans are publicly determined to keep that going, and to reverse Democratic efforts to end that dynamic.

Womens health is obviously critically important, and highlighting the Republican position of criminalizing reproductive rights creates a larger perception of GOP policy aims as extreme. But so does reminding voters that Republicans continue to worship at the feet of trickle-down economics, with tax cuts and business deregulation seen as the answer to any possible problem. They want to remake America in the image of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom, last seen furiously backpedaling from a tax-cut policy proposal that virtually collapsed its economic system. Its worth not letting that get lost in the midterm shuffle.

Read this article:
Republican Ideas on Economics Are as Bad as Their Ideas on Abortion - The American Prospect

Marc Short:

I think he's encouraged, Judy, by traveling the country and the feedback that he gets and the candidates he's campaigning for.

I think he's encouraged because he believes that there's something else he can continue to give to the American people. But I think this is a very personal decision for him and his wife. And I think that the way they have always considered every opportunity he's had, whether it's running for Congress, running for governor, serving on a ticket with Donald Trump, was to pray about it and say, are we being called to serve? Is this something we're feeling is our next step?

And I think that, right now, his focus is going to be on the midterms. Last night, he was in Kentucky and part of an event raising resources for five different House candidates. This week, on Thursday, he will be in New Mexico campaigning for a Republican candidate there. He's traveling the country looking to try and make sure Republicans win this midterm.

That will take care of itself sometime in the future.

Read more here:
Marc Short on tensions within Republican Party - PBS NewsHour

To The Eagle:

Steve Bannon (Trumps pardoned chief strategist) helped get Mussolinis party back in power, 70 years after he was hung upside down. Giorgia Meloni and her far-right party, along with Hungary's autocratic leader tells U.S. conservatives to join his culture war, at CPAC. Ted Cruz calls CPAC crowd "dangerous radicals" to raucous applause, obviously in jest for fodder. After winking at QAnon for years, Donald Trump is overtly embracing the baseless conspiracy theory, even as the number of frightening real-world events linked to it grows.

I keep thinking, we still have good Republican leaders, who do not follow the extreme far right. If that is so, I dont hear them. What I see and hear, is those who speak up, are drummed out. Meanwhile the rest cower in silence, fearing the far rights hammer. Have we not learned from history? Silence is compliance. Brazil being engulfed by its own internet-fueled big lie, copied from Trump, who copied it from Hitlers Big Lie campaign that worked for him. What also helped, it was seen as a minor phenomenon on the lunatic fringes of German politics. The dramatic ascent of the NSDAP and Adolf Hitler began in 1923 when Germany was facing economic hardship.

Inflation today, here and throughout the world, is a serious problem, causing serious discord, clamoring for change. What change will we vote for? Educate yourself before you vote and choose wisely. I was born under Nazi occupation, so not so long ago.

Poul Toftemark

Rosburg

Read more from the original source:
Where is the Republican party? - The Wahkiakum County Eagle