The Disingenuousness of Vulnerable House Republicans

To be a Republican nowadays means one's stock in trade is lies and misogyny, yet on the campaign trail one sees the lies most sharply, especially among vulnerable Republican House members.  In the Virginia 2nd District, Scott Taylor is lying through his teeth and misrepresenting his lock step voting with Trump and the GOP leadership.  At a Hampton Arts Foundation event over the weekend, he was so sleazy and dishonest I wanted to wash my hand after he insisted on shaking my hand.  Move westward in Virginia and similar intentional misrepresentations are being disseminated by David Brat who is even more repugnant than Taylor.   A piece in Politico looks at the deliberate dishonesty of these Republican candidates who like Scott Taylor are trying to desperately dupe independents and moderates to believe they are not lock step with Trump.  Here are excerpts:

Vulnerable House Republicans have to lead double lives these days if they hope to hang on.

Take Dave Brat. At a private fundraiser in early September, the Virginia Republican joked to a roomful of Republicans about how he mimics archconservative House Freedom Caucus founder Jim Jordan on Fox News when discussing the FBI’s Russia investigation.

But in TV ads, Brat has touted his work on issues that transcend party lines. One of them features images of puppies playing with children, and a narrator touting the congressman's work “to stop a federal agency from conducting cruel medical research on dogs.”

The two sides of Brat, a member of the Freedom Caucus, highlight the dissonant strategies House Republicans are deploying in their struggle to keep the House. As national Republicans implore endangered members to localize their races and tout bipartisan victories, hard-liners are urging them to embrace the president to get Trump voters to the polls.

Survival might ultimately depend on Republicans successfully doing both — not an easy feat since Democrats are reminding voters of their ties to Trump at every opportunity. But the conundrum is clear: GOP office-holders in swing districts can’t afford to repel independents by appearing too cozy with Trump, yet they also need Trump’s followers to turn out in force.

“I would argue it's best in the vast majority of congressional seats to nationalize the election,” Jordan, a guest speaker, told the crowd during the fundraiser for Brat in Arlington, Va., on Sept. 7, according to the recording.

The advice is quite different from that being given by Republican leaders, who as recently as three weeks ago encouraged vulnerable members to run hyper-local races, focusing on their legislative accomplishments and de-emphasizing the president.

Instead of choosing one path or another, many Republicans appear to be trying to do both, adjusting their tones depending on the audience.  Democrats have held up partisan comments Republicans have made to base voters as evidence that their more moderate tone toward independents is phony.

Brat isn’t the only vulnerable Republican who’s welcomed help from his friends on the far right while trying to hold off a blue wave from the left. Jordan has been raising money and stumping for other Freedom Caucus conservatives in tough races.

He’s appeared with many of them at fundraisers or events aimed at turning out Republicans. In recent weeks Jordan sent emails soliciting donations to help Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Rod Blum (R-Iowa), all top Democratic targets.

During a recent event with Republican women in Southern California, Republican candidate Diane Harkey described the predicament she's facing in trying to succeed Darrell Issa in a swing district. According to a recording obtained by POLITICO, Harkey said, “We need to get the Trump voters out” and tried to brainstorm ways to do it while also attracting independents.

“In order to hold this election, we're going to have to get Republican voters to vote at least 2 percentage points higher than they normally do in a midterm,” she said. . . . . Harkey proposed that local Republicans make the election about Democrats potentially trying to impeach Trump and roll back the GOP tax cuts.

Jordan has encouraged Republicans to go even further. At the Brat event, he suggested that GOP leaders were in part to blame for Republican Rick Saccone’s loss to Conor Lamb in a Pennsylvania special election earlier this year. Their sin: running “cookie cutter traditional campaign” ads accusing Lamb of being a Pelosi puppet [Scott Taylor is running such ads].

"Even in these suburban districts," Jordan said, "you still have to run toward the president to bring our team out.”

For anyone believing Taylor's and Brat's intentional lies, I have some ocean front property in Colorado I want to sell to you.