The Political Director for the Madison Project, a conservative outside group, called Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) a “tool” after the junior senator from Kentucky took a very subtle jab at the Senate Conservatives Fund.
Reading this @Politico piece on @SCF I thought a few things. One, Matt Hoskins is a rockstar. http://t.co/LiXtTDwb2G (1/3) #tcot
— Drew Ryun (@DrewRyun) January 9, 2014
Two, Rand Paul is a tool (uh, dude, you beat the McConnell machine because of @SCF!) http://t.co/LiXtTDwb2G (2/3) #tcot
— Drew Ryun (@DrewRyun) January 9, 2014
Ryun’s dig is in response to Paul, in a Politico profile of Senate Conservatives Fund executive director Matt Hoskins, saying that the outside group’s tactics are “unusual.”
“I would say it doesn’t create a lot of extra happiness around here when people are opposing people in a primary,” Paul said.
Paul’s comments are perhaps one of the more direct (although far from aggressive) criticisms he’s made of SCF. Other critics have been far more vocal about SCF and The Madison Project, among others, for spending resources attacking Republicans rather than Democrats. In the same article, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who’s been the target of SCF called the group “very destructive.”
The “McConnell machine” Ryun mentions is a reference to Paul being endorsed by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who founded what would become SCF, in the 2010 Republican primary. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) endorsed Republican Trey Grayson over Paul in the primary.
