Conservative Media Coordinating With Ted Cruz Faction?

A  right-leaning news organization this morning details the unusual degree to which House and Senate Republicans have been coordinating their strategy and messaging efforts surrounding the government shutdown. Perhaps it comes as no surprise to learn that the whole thing is being coordinated by showboat Sen. Ted Cruz. The Washington Times reports that House and Senate conservatives unite against everyone else:

House and Senate conservatives have formed a caucus all their own, separate and apart from moderate Republicans and their own GOP leaders. Their meetings, held in person and over the phone, have helped the relatively small band of lawmakers maintain a united front and outsize influence in a budget debate that led to a government shutdown.

At the meetings, they have shared information and ideas, developed strategy and discussed how to frame the fight over Obamacare as part of a larger budget debate… The private pow-wows have enabled conservative lawmakers to coalesce around some of the hallmark proposals of the government-funding fight, including the notion that they could fund government programs one at a time.

While this is a new and unconventional arrangement, and many would argue  it violates congressional etiquette, it’s not the most interesting tidbit of the story. Many writers have spilled pools of virtual ink on the idea that Cruz is positioning himself as the titular head of a sort of party within a party. But almost lost in the story is this:

House and Senate conservative lawmakers are not the only ones coordinating, either. A non-government email listserv organized by Cruz’s staff, called “We Win, They Lose,” has been a hive of activity before and during the government shutdown.

Members of the group have engaged in more than 100 email threads during the government funding debate, featuring discussions about legislation and messaging among Tea Party leaders, advocacy groups like the Senate Conservatives Fund, conservative media, and like-minded senior staff in the House and Senate.

Did you catch that? The conservative media says the conservative media is participating on a listserv, maintained by a sitting senator, along with members of  conservative advocacy groups, for the purposes of promoting conservative policy and coordinating messaging. We all knew it happened; it’s just so odd they admit it.

To be fair, while the Washington Times is definitely on the right with their opinion writers, this is a news report. So I don’t mean to imply that the Times or this writer are part of the same conservative media mentioned in the article. Then again, the participation of members of the media is certainly glossed over. Let’s wait and see if we get more of the story.

By: Sandi Behrns

Sandi Behrns is a noted policy nerd, new media & web developer, and consultant to progressive organizations and campaigns. She is a senior contributor to Liberaland, and the Executive Editor of Progressive Congress News.