The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘Everyone Sells Out in Iowa’

Posted on | December 29, 2011 | 33 Comments

DAVENPORT, Iowa
According to Michele Bachmann, that’s what her former campaign chairman state Sen. Kent Sorenson told her before he switched allegiances to Ron Paul.

Ed Morrissey is shocked — shocked! — to discover that Republicans can be bought, but it happens every day.

Remember when Tim Pawlenty was supposed to be the “conservative alternative to Mitt Romney”? And yet when Pawlenty dropped out, his campaign deep in debt, he endorsed Romney. Like that wasn’t about money?

Shane Vander Hart at Caffeinated Thoughts:

The principled thing for Sorenson to do would have been to see his commitment through to the end. . . .
I don’t know how much this will help Paul.  I would suspect not much.  What Sorenson did manage to do however is fatally wound the Bachmann campaign and damage his own credibility in the process.

Sorenson’s defection may have served the purpose of signaling to evangelicals in Iowa that, given the choice between Santorum and Bachmann, hers is the weaker of the two campaigns. A for the impact on Sorenson: “He just committed political suicide.”

Yeah. You can have a fine career in the GOP as a greedy opportunistic backstabber, but only if you maintain a public reputation as a Man of Principle and Integrity.

But why bring Ralph Reed into this, huh?

Category: Fear and Loathing in Iowa, Iowa, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul

Comments

33 Responses to “‘Everyone Sells Out in Iowa’”

  1. EBL
    December 29th, 2011 @ 1:26 pm

    So how much did Ron Paul pay him?  

    How does this guy have any credibility ever again?  Well except among the Paulistinians, but they will take in anybody.  

  2. EBL
    December 29th, 2011 @ 1:28 pm

    As for Tim Palenty…I mean come on.  The conservative alternative?  He was Mini Mitt from the get.  He is probably regreting he did not manage his money and stick in this thing, he might have had a mini boomlet and been able to sell a book or something.  

  3. EBL
    December 29th, 2011 @ 1:29 pm

    Michelle Bachman should do the right thing, drop out and give all her support to Santorum!  Screw them!  

  4. Dcmick
    December 29th, 2011 @ 1:57 pm

    Did, or did not Ralph Reed stick a shiv into that fraud Max Cleland?

    Who here thinks on his own that Saxby Chambliss would have known how to unseat that fraud Cleland?

    The Russians have a proverb: “If you speak against a wolf, speak for him as well.”

    That guy Reed you just threw under a bus was instrumental in the GOP winning some seats in the South that thereto had remained out of their grasp.

  5. Dcmick
    December 29th, 2011 @ 1:58 pm

    If the pure lady in white, that she enjoyed styling herself as, is going to endorse anybody, it will likely to Romney.

    Who was the one guy on the stage with her that consistently remained outside of her crosshairs?  That should tell you something.

    She’s been serving as a stalking horse for Romney for many months now.

  6. Dcmick
    December 29th, 2011 @ 2:02 pm

    Remember when Gingrich shut up Paul in the debate by succinctly reminding all viewers that “McVeigh succeeded,” recall how Paul responded, by bitterly launching a vicious attack ad against Gingrich within 48 hrs, and pouring TEN MILLION dollars worth of his funds into an ad buy targeting nobody but Gingrich.

    Well now Bachmann got into a tussle with Paul at the last debate, and much of the media was favourably commenting upon how she had “taken it to him.”

    This latest campaign maneuver is but another example of the aging and bitter Paul lashing out at anyone who takes him on.

    Paul’s ego is the size of Texas, and it can’t much abide being pricked at.

    He’s a trip……….

  7. Kent Sorenson’s Defection From Michele Bachmann to Ron Paul Demonstrates Politics, Not Principles » Caffeinated Thoughts
    December 29th, 2011 @ 2:04 pm

    […] McCain makes an astute point on this, “Sorenson’s defection may have served the purpose of signaling to evangelicals in Iowa that, […]

  8. Edward
    December 29th, 2011 @ 2:13 pm

    No matter how old I get it seems like the grade school playground politics are always in vogue.

    meh.  I’ve got a headache.  I think it’s time to open a bottle of wine and give that headache a reason to exist.

  9. EBL
    December 29th, 2011 @ 2:20 pm

    I know.  I doubt she will take my advice.  I am just a cow.  

  10. Charles Johnson
    December 29th, 2011 @ 2:21 pm

    I sold out years ago.  I am a complete fraud.

  11. richard mcenroe
    December 29th, 2011 @ 2:33 pm

    The conduct of these poeople reminds my of the “professionals” I met in my own brief forays into the film business… even aside from the thievery and personal corruption.

    When you’re an outsider or novice trying to find your way in, be wary of the “professional” who’s too readily available.  There’s a reason, and it usually isn’t a good one.  If he’s (she’s, its, don’t bug me) at all competent or connected, why isn’t he already working for one of the established operations? Odds are he’s been tried and found wanting, or f***ed so egregiously that even in a business that is built on relationships and debts and favors, no one felt obliged to take care of him until you came along.

    Apparently it’s the same thing in politics.  Look at Block in the Cain campaign, look at the back and forth defections in the Newt and Perry camps. Look at Sorenson now.

    If I ever have to organize a political campaign, I’d give a wide berth to the “available” second-stringers, who are only a) looking for a paycheck and b) angling for a way back to the big boys’ table, even at your expense.

    There are so many professional event organizers and promotional firms outside of DC, why would anyone trust an unemployed journeyman?

  12. Adjoran
    December 29th, 2011 @ 3:01 pm

    I don’t buy the “bought him” story.  There is no value to the services of a staffer from a 5th place campaign with less than a week to the caucuses, none.  If they were actually going to to buy him, it would have happened a while ago.

    More likely Sorenson just jumped like a rat from a sinking ship, no payment necessary.  The Paul organization in Iowa is permanent and well established, and can help him in his state senate reelection.

    Bachmann’s penchant for dishonesty means this charge must be proven, or disbelieved.  Her campaign previously falsely charged Gingrich with buying Tea Party support in South Carolina, and she’s been anything but forthcoming about her husband’s Medicaid revenues.

  13. Lisa Graas
    December 29th, 2011 @ 3:07 pm

    I am glad this helps my candidate, Rick Santorum, but it is still wrong, and so I would have preferred it not have happened, and I am praying for Michele Bachmann. 

  14. republicanmother
    December 29th, 2011 @ 3:13 pm

    It sure doesn’t help that her CURRENT political director is calling her a liar:

    “I won’t say much about the situation or the conflicting statements beyond this; I can say unequivocally that Kent Sorenson’s decision was, in no way financially motivated.  His decision had more to do with the fact that the Ron Paul supporters have been something of a family to him since he was first elected in 2008 and here in the end, as it becomes more and more apparent that the caucus cycle is coming to an end, Kent believed that he needed to be with them as they stand on the cusp of a potential caucus upset.  While I personally disagree with Kent’s decision, and plan to stay with Michele Bachmann because I truly believe in her, I cannot, in good conscious watch a good man like Kent Sorenson be attacked as a ‘sell-out’ ….That is simply not the case, and it was not the basis of his decision,” said Mr. Enos. 

  15. EBL
    December 29th, 2011 @ 3:23 pm

    Off Topic, but why am I not surprised by this.  
    http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/2011/12/weiner-was-wiener-curious.html

  16. chuck coffer
    December 29th, 2011 @ 3:41 pm

    Problem is, he and Bachmann have conflicting stories and I have absolutely no reason to assume she isn’t lying.  She shown no antipathy toward it up until now.

  17. SVT
    December 29th, 2011 @ 3:45 pm

    Being an opportunist is much more honorable than being a whore.

  18. Edward
    December 29th, 2011 @ 4:48 pm

    http://hotair.com/archives/2011/12/29/former-sorenson-campaign-manager-told-me-several-times-that-paul-campaign-offered-money-for-switch/

    “Former Sorenson campaign manager: Told me “several times” that Paul campaign offered money for switch”

    Everybody sells out in Iowa.  And in New Jersey.

    I’d sell everybody out for a cheeseteak right about now.

    And if it’s an Italian hot dog?  I’d leave the gun and take the cannolis if you get my drift.

  19. Thursday Roundup 12/29/11 | Katy Pundit
    December 29th, 2011 @ 5:27 pm

    […] ‘Everyone Sells Out in Iowa’ […]

  20. ThePaganTemple
    December 29th, 2011 @ 6:01 pm

    I don’t get why this should “fatally wound” the Bachmann campaign. I can see where it might if he took a whole busload of paid staffers along with him, but otherwise that sounds like wishful thinking to me. It seems to me like if anything it might get her an extra one or two percent vote out of sympathy. Not the way I would prefer her to get that extra one or two percent, but its better than not getting them at all. It doesn’t make her look bad, other than arguably having a penchant for not making the best of hiring decisions. But it sure as hell makes him look bad, and if he is a state Senator I hope his constituents remember this when he comes up for reelection.

  21. Adjoran
    December 29th, 2011 @ 7:32 pm

    No one is saying Sorenson is honorable.  We are saying Bachmann is a liar.

  22. Adjoran
    December 29th, 2011 @ 7:33 pm

    Stacy quotes that, too.  Note the “former” – why is that the case?  Axe to grind?

    Be careful accepting stuff on face value. 

  23. Adjoran
    December 29th, 2011 @ 7:36 pm

    From all the stories on this, it seems that most of his own backers are Paul supporters already.  Far from “political suicide,” he may be ensuring his reelection.  The Paul organization in Iowa is a permanent fixture, being more or less congruous with the LP there.

  24. IOWA NOTEBOOK: Occupy Caucuses? : The Other McCain
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    […] in the car if I had to, but you can’t drive a motel room. OCCUPY TIP JAR!PREVIOUSLY:Dec. 29: ‘Everyone Sells Out in Iowa’Dec. 29: Rick Santorum Gets ‘The Kind of Optics a Cash-Strapped Candidate Can’t Buy’Dec. 28: […]

  25. Edward
    December 29th, 2011 @ 8:02 pm

    The use of the word “former” was done by Ed Morrissey.  It’s not in the original article quote by Morrissey.

    Frankly so many conservative pundits are totally in the tank for one candidate or another that I don’t really trust any of them.  They all have an axe to grind and they are all proving themselves guilty to one degree or another of trying to manipulate their audiences.

    For what it’s worth Geddes ran Sorenson’s 2008 & 2010 re-election campaigns.  Maybe Morrissey assumes that anybody who outs their boss as a scum-sucking corrupt shill is probably a “former” regardless of the actual process undertaken in the professional separation.

  26. Anonymous
    December 29th, 2011 @ 8:20 pm

    Absent hard evidence, there’s really no way to know, as both Bachmann and Paul have histories as liars.

    But, I tend to think it’s Bachmann who’s making shit up this time. It’s not like the Paul campaign had so much to gain by recruiting this guy such that they’d be willing to give him a brown paper bag full of cash. If it was Romney’s campaign manager or Gingrich’s chair or something, sure, but frankly this called more attention to Bachmann than she’s had in a month, and didn’t greatly benefit the Paul campaign.

  27. ThePaganTemple
    December 29th, 2011 @ 9:39 pm

    Well if that’s true then it looks like she needs to do a better job at background checking her staff.  It’s just a shady story all the way around. And its not just the Bachmann and Paul campaigns, you go to any of the campaigns you can scratch and sniff a rotten, two-bit no account with little effort. Are these supposed to be the kinds of people we should trust to save the Republic from Obama? This kind of shit is the reason Washington warned against factions, ie political parties.

  28. ThePaganTemple
    December 29th, 2011 @ 9:47 pm

    All right, look at it this way. Why would she lie about it? If she wanted to get back at him, wouldn’t it be better to say he’s been a real snake in the grass, stabbing her in the back while working for Paul the whole time he was with her? He probably told her what she said he did, precisely because in the fucked up world of the political operative, abandoning one campaign for another for financial gain is probably understandable and acceptable. Listen to them long enough and they might even manage to convince you its noble. These people are  as fucking toxic as rabid cobras.

  29. Anonymous
    December 29th, 2011 @ 10:06 pm

    TPT,

    My guess at an answer to the question “why would she lie about it” pretty much comes down to “because lying seems to be a compulsion with her.”

  30. ThePaganTemple
    December 29th, 2011 @ 10:24 pm

    Oh bullshit. She’s a politician, of  course she lies, its part of her fucking job description. That’s not the point, the point is the overall political culture, the way they ALL do business. Case in point-

    http://legalinsurrection.com/2011/12/rollins-bachmann-stayed-clear- of-attacking-romney-in-hopes-of-vp-slot/

    Here we have Ed Rollins declaring out of the blue that Bachmann held off attacking Romney hoping for a VP slot. This is something I have suspected for some time, and though I never approved of it as a tactic or strategy, I can understand her reasoning.

    But the point is, why would Rollins come out and say this now. Answer-because he’s a fucking snake in the grass. If he is telling the truth, like Professor Jacobson, a Newt supporter, seems to think, then there’s only one way he would know that. And that would be because IT WAS HIS FUCKING STRATEGY TO START OUT WITH.

    Of course his main purpose was never to help her, it was to help fucking Romney. As for this little toadstool we’ve been talking about, ask yourself, how long has he, at heart a Paul supporter, been working for Bachmann? Why do I have this strange suspicion he probably come on board shortly after Bachmann edged out Paul for first place in the Ames Straw Poll.

    To paraphrase Gaius Caligula if all these fucking people had one neck I could wring it once and be done with it.

  31. Newt Throws A Hail Sarah Pass? : The Other McCain
    December 30th, 2011 @ 8:43 pm

    […] Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition.I mentioned this little blip on the radar to well know Ralph Reed aficionado Stacy McCain, and he suggested it merited a post. The conversation veered into the bizarre notions afloat these […]

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    January 3rd, 2012 @ 12:32 pm

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