Faith and Freedom Roundup — Social Conservative Edition
Thursday, June 18th
- Marco Rubio's dog whistle to religious conservatives on Hobby Lobby and religious discrimination laws. YouTube
- Ted Cruz announces 2016 will be the "religious liberty election." YouTube
- Steve King calls for civil disobedience over gay marriage. YouTube
MEMO: Social Issues Front and Center at Faith and Freedom Conference
The gravitational pull of religious conservatives at this weekend’s Faith and Freedom Conference in D.C. is too much to resist for the Republican presidential field. Look no further than their partner, Concerned Women of America, to see that social issues will be front and center. For a primer on the Koch-backed CWA, read Bridge Project’s just-released report here. Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and the rest of the GOP contingency (remember Chris Christie?) will be speaking in between breakout sessions on “The War On Christianity: How Religious Freedom Is Under Attack” and “Tolerance Vs. True Love: When it Takes Courage to Protect Your Conscience & Compassion to Reach the Lost.” Attendees will be demanding their speeches focus on social conservative issues; after all, that’s why they’ve all trekked to Washington.
Jeb! In NH: Privatizing Social Security? My Brother Tried, 'Next President' Will Too
Speaking in New Hampshire today Jeb! showed that his ties to his brother's unpopular policies don't stop with Iraq. Watch American Bridge tracking footage of Jeb! taking passive-aggressive shots at Social Security and telling voters that while his brother tried and failed to privatize it, the "next president" would "try again."
The Uncompassionate Conservative: Vicious Headlines for Jeb Bush
Shady Ayotte Allies Behind Factually-Challenged Attack on Hassan
Senator Kelly Ayotte is battling trouble on multiple fronts, from her awkward attempts to distance herself from onetime ally Frank Guinta to her experiment in legislation to cover up her anti women's health record and getting busted in a lie about a campaign film crew at a taxpayer-funded event. Now, she's turning to a pair of shady old allies to try and rough up Governor Maggie Hassan with misleading claims about her record. Read more about Ayotte's ties to this shady special interest group in the Bridge Project's Conservative Transparency database:
Impact America Action is a shadowy right-wing organization that first popped up in the 2014 Nebraska gubernatorial election. In that election, the group ran $200,000 in ads against then-candidate Pete Ricketts “for once supporting a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants during his 2006 U.S. Senate race” despite Ricketts’ reversal on that position in 2014, according to the Omaha World-Herald.
Virtually no information is available about the organization, and IAA’s website provides little more than a boilerplate endorsement of “pro-growth solutions.”
Pat McCrory, A Record of Broken Promises
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory can't keep his word. During his 2012 campaign, he said he would not sign any additional…
Rick Perry For President 2: Another Sequel No One Asked For
Are his infamous "hipster" glasses causing Rick Perry to misread the polls, or has he fallen prey to the same affliction as the producers of Grease 2 and Hot Tub Time Machine 2? Today, Perry adds to America's epidemic of sequels no one asked for with the announcement of his second presidential run. Despite his (literally) guns blazing approach, Rick Perry hardly enters the race as a top-tier candidate and will be lucky to even have a chance to remember that third agency at a national debate this round. However, Perry has proved he has a formidable fundraising network and could pose a threat to the multiple candidates hoping to get a monetary bump from their Lone Star State connections.
#tbt: Rand Paul Brought Back His 90s Argument Comparing Entitlements to Fraud
Rand Paul said that federal pensions "might be fraud" at an event yesterday...a Rand Paul argument that he has kept dormant since 1998. Paul has compared Social Security to a Ponzi Scheme and has advised the young-uns it's better to put "your money under your mattress." Comparing pensions to fraud was a pure #TBT to his early political career. Paul is hardly the first 2016 GOP contender to call for cutting Social Security benefits and entitlement reform with Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, and Marco Rubio calling for the same thing.
Professional Political Loser Rick Santorum Joins the Bloated GOP Field
With all the momentum of a sloth moving up a branch, Rick Santorum is announcing his formal bid for the presidency today. Coming off of losing his Senate seat in 2006 by a crushing 17 points and an ill-fated run for the White House in 2012, Santorum is back to squeeze out the last vestiges of support he has from the Tea Party. The former Pennsylvania senator has already been pushing his particular brand of social conservatism on the GOP 2016 field and the spotlight-seeking politician won't be letting up anytime soon. While the poll numbers might exclude him from the "big-league" debates, Santorum's knack for extreme stances proved enough to win him Iowa in 2012 and will keep the rest of the field watching their right this time around. Take a look at Santorum in his own words: On limiting legal immigration: "Medium income in going down. Why? Part of the Reason is that we're bring in floods of legal -- not illegal -- legal immigrants into the country." "We need to take the 1,050,000 people legal immigrants to this country – almost all of whom are unskilled – who are competing against the 74 percent of Americans who don’t have a college degree. We need to reduce that.”
SRLC Roundup: GOPers can't help but talk extreme social issues
The Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Oklahoma City dealt the latest blow to Jeb Bush after coming in sixth in the straw poll while Ben Carson ran away with first. The race to the right continued with Bridge catching Scott Walker and Rick Santorum threatening to close the door on legal immigration. Bush is so scared of W's shadow that he starts off speeches telling the crowd how much he loves his brother (and his policies, we'd note.) Bobby Jindal couldn't help but remind voters about how extreme the GOP slate of candidates is with Indiana-style RFRA discrimination laws, Hobby Lobby, and his belief that the Republican Party shouldn't be supporting big business. Take a look at the highlights from the week: Scott Walker "Wake up" that immigrants have "other motives" than jobs. Chris Christie Calling to raise the retirement age. Jeb Bush “I’m proud of my brother.”