October 17, 2018 – Wednesday
Senate Dems Show Their Red State Lie-ability
Some politicians will say anything to get elected — and thanks to Project Veritas, Americans are finding out exactly who those politicians are. In deep red states, where Democrats have to play moderate to win, it’s been tough for people like Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) to keep their true feelings in check. It’s a tough act to maintain — too tough, new undercover videos show.
The Missouri senator, who pretends to be a friend of the Second Amendment, has quite different views behind closed doors. In the safety of her campaign offices, the woman in a neck-and-neck race with state Attorney General Josh Hawley (R) made it clear in a new undercover video that she’s just hiding her agenda for votes. In footage released this week, McCaskill and her staffers are almost giddy at the thought of tighter gun control laws, including outlawing “high capacity magazines. Turning to the senator, an undercover journalist asked her if she would support a ban, “Of course! Of course!” she insists.
But she’s not going to tell voters that, her office insists — “because that could hurt her ability to get elected.” Off the record, far-Left groups like Mom’s Demand Action know they have a friend in the senator. It’s just better to keep the relationship “hush-hush.” “She’s worked out stuff with Mom’s Demand Action to make sure that she can support their goals without supporting the organization openly,” said one of McCaskill’s staffers. And what about Barack Obama? Why isn’t he out campaigning for the senator?
“He’s a very liberal candidate. And like … Claire [is] distancing herself from the party [because it will] help her win more votes.” Nicolas Starost, who works on the McCaskill campaign, said they do everything they can to keep voters in the dark about her radical views. So she and Obama “essentially have the same views on everything?” the Project Veritas journalist asks. “Yeah,” Starost replied smiling. “People just can’t know that.”
Just like people can’t know McCaskill’s secret support for impeaching President Trump. Campaign worker Glen Winfrey says she could explain her flip-flop on the issue by telling Missourians, “Get over it. It was a national security question.” Or her private push to outlaw semi-automatic weapons. “… I think we could actually be in a position to get votes on this stuff on the floor and we’d get 60…” Of course, McCaskill’s race to the middle might convince a few people, but it’s hard to bury her actual record. She has an “F” rating from the NRA and supported President Obama’s agenda 98 percent of the time.
Now, in frantic damage control mode, she’s insisting that these Project Veritas videos are the work of challenger Josh Hawley. “It is startling that Josh Hawley would be part of fraudulently embedding somebody in my campaign. He’s the Attorney General of the state of Missouri. He’s supposed to be going after fraud, not participating in it.” Nice try, Hawley fired back. “@clairecmc & staff caught on tape deceiving Missouri voters and her response is to accuse me of fraud? For HER words? Her campaign is unraveling.” The latest numbers seem to agree. Most polls have Hawley pulling ahead of McCaskill by anywhere from two to five points.
In Tennessee, the Volunteers got a front-row seat to the split personality of Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s (R) opponent for Senate, Phil Bredesen (D). Like McCaskill, his campaign office was also caught on video spilling the beans on the Democrat’s strategy on Brett Kavanaugh. Field organizer Maria Amalla said his statement about supporting the new Supreme Court justice was a complete lie — “a political move… to make up points.” The undercover journalist says that he was “so confused because I just can’t believe he would actually vote yes [to confirm Kavanaugh.]” Oh, Bredesen’s staffer says, “He wouldn’t. He’s just saying he would.” Don’t worry, a worker named Will Stewart says, “Between you and me, once Phil actually gets into the Senate, he’ll be a good Democrat.” Does that mean he’s not a fan of Trump, the mole asks? “…Oh yeah. Oh, he hates Trump, like yeah…” “Are the people of Tennessee that ignorant?” “Yeah,” Stewart replies.
Now, like McCaskill’s campaign, the Bredesen camp is scrambling to explain the footage away. That’ll be tough to do, insiders think. In the handful of days since singer Taylor Swift trashed Blackburn’s views and the tape was released, Marsha has managed to turn her single-digit lead into a double-digit advantage. “This is exactly the kind of ‘say whatever to get elected’ politics Tennesseans hate,” Blackburn’s campaign told reporters. “Marsha always says you ‘may not always agree with me, but you will always know where I stand.'”
Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC Action senior writers.