Tag: National Republicans
The Tea Party’s Rebel Yell!
TPM has a story up about how the Tea Party looks at what happened yesterday.
For a certain block of House conservatives, the ones who drove Speaker John Boehner toward a government shutdown and near-default against his will, the lesson of the last few weeks isn’t that they overreached. Not that they made unachievable demands, put their leadership in an impossible position, damaged their party’s position with the public and left a deep uncertainty about whether the GOP conference can recover and legislate.
No, what they’re taking away from the 2013 crisis is: They didn’t go far enough.
Erick Erickson Predicts GOP Split, 3rd Party Coming
Via TPM:
Incensed that House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) are reportedly abandoning the effort to defund or delay the Affordable Care Act, RedState.com editor Erick Erickson predicted Thursday that Republican leadership is providing fertile ground for the rise of a “real third party movement” that will split the GOP.
I’m torn on the idea of the Republican Party splitting in two – mainly because the Tea Party has already taken over, and deep down Republicans (95% of them) actually agree with the Tea Party agenda. Jason wrote a post the other day, in which he said, “I don’t use “Tea Party” any more because the fact is the Republican Party is staffed and run by members of what was once called the Tea Party.”
Jason’s correct. Go ahead and try to put today’s Republican politicians into column A (RINOs) and column B (Tea Partiers). You won’t end up with a balanced list. Column A is pretty empty.
New Poll Should Make The GOP Change Their Priorities
But it won’t. Via TPM: The poll found that 73 percent of American voters nationwide believe that dealing with the economy and unemployment should be a higher priority than the investigations. Fewer than a quarter of Americans — 22 percent — believe that the investigations should be the higher priority. But… but… but… Benghazi! Has […]
GOP Rape Sensitivity Training Program
The Republican Party has sent itself to rape sensitivity school.
And it may have added new urgency to a training program that’s already being launched by an anti-abortion group — the Susan B. Anthony list — to keep candidates and lawmakers from continually making the same kind of comments that may have helped ruin Republicans’ chances of winning the Senate.
I agree the GOP needs a course in Rape Sensitivity, but that’s not what this course is shaping up to be.
Republicans May Need To Shut Down The Government Just To “Get It Out Of Their System”
Getting something out of your system is never a sign of maturity. It can be a step towards maturity if the person survives the procedure, but it’s rarely good in itself. We associate getting things out of your system to such things as youthful experimentation, sowing wild oats, drugs, alcohol, sex and obsessions.
Know who else we say needs to get things out of their system? Toddlers having temper tantrums.
Which brings me to this quote:
GOP officials said more than half of their members are prepared to allow default unless Obama agrees to dramatic cuts he has repeatedly said he opposes. Many more members, including some party leaders, are prepared to shut down the government to make their point. House Speaker John Boehner “may need a shutdown just to get it out of their system,” said a top GOP leadership adviser. “We might need to do that for member-management purposes — so they have an endgame and can show their constituents they’re fighting.” [emphasis mine]
[…]
Starting Monday, Boehner will huddle with his leadership team to discuss his preliminary thinking on a spending strategy. A source who attended meetings to prepare for those private talks said GOP leaders are authentically at a loss on how to control members who don’t respond to the normal incentives of wanting to help party leaders or of avoiding situations — like default — that could be public relations nightmares.
So how do you think that huddle is going to work out? What exactly will John Boehner, worst Speaker in history, do? Why he’s going to hold a class (“walk members through”) on default. Don’t get me wrong, the majority of Republicans need this class. They also need a sex ed class and one on Climate Change.
My Advice To Dems: Ignore Republicans
Republicans are in tough guy mode. Lots of chest thumping and trash talk going on as they, once again, thrust the debt ceiling onto center stage. The howling is quite intense, and, as usual, our awesome media will latch onto the hysterics with a passion that would make a Twilight fan blush. My advice to Dems… Ignore it.
Boehner Is Weak
John Boehner will probably go down as one of the weakest Speaker of the House in history. He has absolutely no control of his caucus. Altho… the most you can be sure of when trying to organize crazy people is that if you put sticks in their hands they’ll trash the place.
So Boehner, who can’t save himself, expects to be saved by President Obama. Republican Leadership is an oxymoron.
Republicans Can’t Govern
Republicans are all about big, brave (and vague) talk on the campaign trail, but once they get into office and have to govern they become whiny babies. President Obama has put a plan on the table. Unsurprisingly, Republicans don’t like it. So, what do Republicans do? Counter with a different plan? Nope – because that would actually require doing work and putting their big, bad and vague campaign talk into written word.
What they’re asking for is President Obama to negotiate with himself, and that ain’t happening.
Perhaps the key lesson the White House took from the last couple of years is this: Don’t negotiate with yourself. If Republicans want to cut Medicare, let them propose the cuts. If they want to raise revenue through tax reform, let them identify the deductions. If they want deeper cuts in discretionary spending, let them settle on a number. And, above all, if they don’t like the White House’s preferred policies, let them propose their own. That way, if the White House eventually does give in and agree to some of their demands, Republicans will feel like they got one over on the president. A compromise isn’t measured by what you offer, it’s measured by what the other side feels they made you concede.
The GOP is right: This isn’t a serious proposal. But it’s not evidence that Obama isn’t serious. He’s very serious about not negotiating with himself, and his opening bid proves it. Now that they’ve leaked his initial offer, the next question is obvious: What’s their offer?
Pay Attention To What Republicans Do, Not What They Say
Since losing the election, Republicans are trying to employ the “I have a black/brown friend with a vagina” strategy. Every time I turn on the television or surf the net I’m bombarded with Republican politicians and pundits performing mea culpas over their past behavior. But their words ring hollow when you look at their actions.
Take a look at this picture ….
Romney 100% Believes His 47% Comment
Here’s Mitt Romney being a jerk and a sore loser and doing his best to further divide the country:
Saying that he and his team still felt “troubled” by his loss to President Obama, Mitt Romney on Wednesday attributed his defeat in part to what he called big policy “gifts” that the president had bestowed on loyal Democratic constituencies, including young voters, African-Americans and Hispanics.
May I suggest that one of the main reasons Mr. Romney lost was due to comments like these, along with a stunning contempt for most people?
Bobby Jindal countered Mitt’s sour grapes temper tantrum by basically saying, “So long, loser. Don’t let the door hit you on the ass…”
The Party That Cried Wolf
So I read this today… American Crossroads and its affiliate Crossroads GPS are going up today with their biggest paid media push so far in the 2012 cycle, with a $16 million one-week buy on TV and radio in eight presidential battlegrounds and four Senate contests, POLITICO has learned. On the presidential level, American Crossroads […]
Republicans Just Can’t Fake It
After watching the first night of the Democratic National Convention I was impressed by how “on message” the Dems were. I also couldn’t help but draw comparisons between what I saw last night and what I saw last week – And here’s where I’ve arrived: Republicans just can’t fake it for Mitt Romney.
How To Remove A Tea Partier
Like a good Tea Partier, Wagner voted against every single appropriation of money put forward by the legislature, including a bill that arrived on Governor Brian Schweitzer’s desk last April which contained grant money for local communities (including Wagner’s district), for things like sewer upgrades, fire department repairs, and the like.
Schweitzer–who is known to enjoy mixing it up with right-wingers–saw an angle. He noticed that Wagner had voted against the bill. So, Schweitzer used his “line item veto” power and selectively crossed out the funds that would have gone to Wagner’s district. Schweitzer did this to several legislators who voted against the grant billl. Schweitzer said that it was logical to assume that if Wagner and others voted against the bill, then their constituents must not have expressed much interest in getting the money.
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