A roster of conservative speakers savaged the GOP establishment -- including Arizona Sen. John McCain, the party's onetime presidential nominee -- as traitors to the cause.
"The old bulls will not act on our behalf," warned Mark Levin, the radio host.
Louie Gohmert, a tea party aligned congressman from Texas, even accused McCain, a noted foreign policy hawk, of supporting al Qaeda.
4) “I guess that we could get lower in the polls. We’re down to blood relatives and paid staffers now,” said Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) said on CBS, referring to recent polls that showed Republicans losing support during the government shutdown. Mr. McCain said fellow Republicans had taken the wrong strategy in tying the shutdown to the undoing the health-care law. He said the government shutdown was hurting America’s ability to defend itself. “Al Qaeda is not in shutdown,” he said.