"The reason why we don't have a majority in the Senate today was the attacks the Club for Growth made on Lincoln Chafee ..."
- John McCain
A few points here on why this is a bad move ...
1. Patrick Hynes (McCain's blog coordinator) had done a good job of making this Club for Growth issue go away. His argument was that McCain was missing the meeting because he was scheduled to be in Iraq. Now, the issue is once again being discussed. I don't see how it benefits McCain to pick a fight with a conservative organization? In short, this doesn't make political sense.
2. Right after the Primary Election, I had dinner with one of the folks doing polling for Lincoln Chafee. He told me that Laffey's challenge to Chafee was the best thing that ever happened to Chafee, because it taught him how to campaign. The truth is, last year was a very bad year for a lot of Republicans -- especially in the Northeast. Chafee's loss had little to do with the Club for Growth. In fact, I would argue that he would have done worse without them. So, assuming this made smart political sense (which it doesn't), I also don't believe McCain's accusation is even factually accurate.
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Update: 11:15 - Here is a very good video showing McCain saying: "We lost the election because of spending..."