Tea Party Conservatives Are The Bane Of The Republican Party

Anyone who thinks Republicans and Tea Party Republicans are one and the same, think again.  Isn't it time for both to move on?  They're definitely not compatible.

Go back to 2010 with the likes of Tea Party favorites Christine O'Donnell and Sharron Angle.  These Tea Party favorites cost the Republicans two seats and essentially the Senate.  Today's favorites are Ted Cruz who cost the Republicans dearly with his Quixotic stand on ACA defunding.  Marco Rubio has turned tail on immigration reform and Rand Paul is now attacking Chris Christie to deflect his own problems with plagiarism.

Then came Virgina. Yes, Terry McAuliffe's Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. It was the Tea Party Republicans.  He didn't win the race as much as they gave it to him.  They changed the rules to select their nominee for governor from an all inclusive primary to a convention where self interest rules.

They bypassed a very popular Lieutenant Governor, Bill Bolling, for a social conservative who was far less popular but met their social criteria. Those who read me know I don't think social issues should dominate politics the way they do.  Apparently other Republicans and Independents agree so they now have the less than squeaky clean and very liberal Terry McAuliffe.

For a long time I gave the Tea Party a lot of slack for lack of experience and political savvy.  It is no longer just that.  It has become the vehicle for social conservatives.  All you have to do is listen to the likes of Limbaugh and Hannity, if you can stomach it, to realize this is true.

Social conservatives are all wrong when they label moderates RINOs.  Republicans In Name Only.  They've been around a lot longer and personify what the Grand Old Party used to be.  It's the social conservatives who are out of step with the party, not the other way around.

That being said, the Republicans still need a voice.  Their figurehead is now Chris Christy who has shown he can work with Democrats and more importantly is willing to do so. He can also win!  Too bad he has a state to run because that will keep him busy.  No one in the House or Senate seems to be willing or, more likely, able to take the bull by the horns and do what needs to be done. In one way or another it falls to Christy, at least for awhile.

2014 will be here before we know it and then the action will shift to 2016.  Essentially two years to pull it together.  One hopes they don't wait until the last minute like they usually do.  They may not have an "Obamacare" to bail them out is it almost did for Cuccinelli. Almost.

If the Republicans in Congress won't clamp down on the social conservatives, then what?  So far they aren't strong enough to push their agenda through on their own so they really need the Republicans who have a misguided idea that they have to stick together.  On the other hand the Republicnas really don't need the obstructionist social conservatives.

Perhaps it's time for that third party. Democrats.  Republicans. Social Conservatives.  That gives the independants and libertarians another choice, a better choice.  And the Republicans might actually win something. 

The Republican Civil War And Syria

In listening to the news about the continuing Syrian civil war, it occurred to me the one within the Republican Party isn't very different.  No, no one here is getting killed, but in another sense what had been the traditional Republican Party is being massacred by the Tea Partiers.

When life became impossible Syrian civilians formed a rag tag army to fight an oppressive regime. Without aid they faltered and outside groups, sensing weakness, began infiltrating their ranks.  The fight then became a three way conflict with the former civilians on the losing end.  How it will play out in the end remains to be seen.

In an imperfect analogy, the oppressive government would be the current Democratic administration. The Republicans take the part of the frustrated opposition.  Being unorganized in their resistance the Tea Party sensed weakness. Now it's a three way conflict with the traditional Republicans taking it on the chin.

This does not bode well.  If the Tea Party had stuck to it's original purpose of promoting less intrusive government and fiscal responsibility all would be relatively well.  Slow as molasses to be sure, but never-the-less flowing along.  Then those with ambitions of their own, their chance to be on TV or 15 minutes of fame, began exercising their new found power.

The problem is they got caught up in the power surge without the skill to use it.  They threatened those who didn't agree with them and began backing candidates who lacked the experience and knowledge to be good representatives in either house. A few won unseating good people who understood the process and how to best use it.  Enough lost to have left the Senate in Democratic hands.  It didn't have to be.

They recently took a beating on the defund Obamacare stunt yet they continue onward.  They either are too bull headed to admit their strategy didn't have a chance to work or too dumb.  Take your pick. Yet they threaten more of the same.

The leadership of the majority hasn't found their voice and the longer it takes them to say enough is enough, the more clout the Tea Party, with their irrational and unworkable methods, will gain.  I hope it's a temporary phenomenon.

Of one thing I am certain, the Republicans have an opportunity, purely by happenstance, to regain some support as the ACA continues to flounder.  If, however, the RINOs as the Tea Party love to call them,  aren't themselves willing to work with the Democrats who are also willing, they might as well begin their own party and start again.  The Tea Party doesn't want another party.  They aren't plentiful enough to accomplish anything on their own.  That's why they hijacked the weak Republicans.

In Syria, our inaction paired with the astute and well armed insurgents, has assurred the Syrian regime of keeping Assad at the helm.  In the Republican civil war, if the mainstream can't beat back the inssurgent Tea Party, they will guarentee the American people that the next President will be an extension of the administration now in power.  They will elect Hillary Clinton.

Should that be the case, America will never regain the status  and power for good it once had.  It's not in the Progressives vocabulary nor mind set and it will be a very sad day indeed.

...And The Beat Goes On...

The continuing soap opera coming out of D.C. would be laughable if it wasn't so serious.

First thing this morning, west coast time, we waited anxiously for Speaker Boehner and the House leadership to announce a new plan.  Last night they had been cut of of the dealing due to lack of movement and the Senate was said to be making progress.

Well, you can't have that! Finally after much delay the Republican leadership paraded before the microphones and cameras to tell us they didn't have a plan yet but were definitely working for for fairness for all the people.

You'd think by now they'd realize that Obamacare is off limits in these negotiations but those squeaky wheels insist on beating their heads against the wall. It's time for Speaker Boehner and his fellow moderates come up with a new strategy.  The Tea Party element is killing them.  So here's the new strategy.

Quit worrying about being challenged in the primaries by Tea Party approved candidates.  They're making such a bad name for themselves they're ruining their own chances.  Let's face it, if it hadn't been for them the CR and debt limit would be old news by now.  Until the next time, I grant you.

But it gets worse. I was listening to the noon news and heard Ted Cruz and a conglomeration of Tea Part cronies from both the House and Senate were huddling in  secret in the basement of a gin joint called Tortilla Coast.  I kid you not! Well, maybe not so secret.

What were they doing?  Figuring more ways to keep the monkey wrench in the pile?  Both Boehner and McConnell should tell them to go pound sand.  Band with the Democrats, get the CR and debt ceiling business done and gird themselves for the next fight which can be Obamacare if they insist.

Actually it looks more and more like it's going to meet its demise on it's own because they can't get it rolled out and more and more people with some actual knowledge and clout are becoming more vocal.  Besides, foreign policy needs some serious atttention in case you haven't been following that too.

So what's next with Cruz and The Cronies? Maybe putting such a punitive a tax on Botox shots that Nancy Pelosie would have to reveal her real face?  Along with several other ladies of high office?  I'd love it.  Then we could move on from racism, like the vet that had a Confederate flag along with the American one he was waving in front of the White House on Sunday.  Gasp.  Black people live there!

Yep.  On to sexism! They think they're having a tough time with the Democrats and White House?  Wait until they get the Ladies of the Houses mad at them.  Hell hath no fury...

...to be continued.

Beware The Tea Party Darlings

The Republican Party has lost it's identity to the Tea Party and hasn't a clue what to do.

More and more so called Republicans are turning away from the moderates in their own party in an on going and effective effort to reshape the GOP into one of far right conservatism.  Whatever conservatism is these days.

If that isn't reason for a viable third party I don't know what is.

It has happened again in Texas where a darling of the Tea Party beat a more moderate opponent in a runoff for Kay Bailey Hutchisons's Senate seat. I question the stance of any candidate that has the active support of Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, Rand Paul, Glenn Beck and Jim DeMint. Why is that?  Because they are all far right and by some considered to be on the fringe.  In some respects they want to intrude into your life just as much as the Democrats only with religious dictates rather than governmental.  Family values.  On their terms.  Not yours.

We've seen from the 2010 elections what happens when people with an ideology and an inability or unwillingness to think about what's best for the country and act accordingly are voted into office. Analyze and compromise are not in their vocabularies.

We hear a great deal about true conservatives without a firm definition.  We hear a great deal about wanting to take back our country but is electing the inflexible really the way to do it?

Granted many Republicans who have been turned out of office have been there too long.  However, these new nominees and electees are not the one man wonders they are made out to be.  They begin their terms with no seniority which minimizes their clout from the get go.  They alone, as one person, will not bring new leadership for years to come, nor shrink government, nor give it back to the people,  especially by refusing to compromise.

Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Report, had this to say about the candidate I'm referring to, Ted Cruz. "...Cruz is not willing to compromise even if it means being irrelevant to the legislative process."

Read that again.  What's the point of electing a man like that to...well, legislate?

Isn't it time to cut the Tea Partiers loose?  They serve no purpose other than obstruction.  Like spoiled children, if things aren't the way they want them they throw the equivalent of a tantrum.  It's no way to run a country.  Actually, they aren't running the country at all except maybe into the ground. Is there anyone in office who is actually for the country in either party?

Politics As A Double Negative

As the debate over deficit reduction and debt ceiling drags on, I've drawn a couple of conclusions from recent reading.  Let me try them out on you.

 Let me address the members of congress who got there on the strength of tea party support first.  The more I see of them and listen to them the more I am convinced none of them could have gotten elected left to their own devices. Without tea party support they had nothing to offer against their opponents, especially other Republicans, except they were smart enough to know capitalizing on tea party issues could do the job.

For some it didn't work.  Thank heavens.  For too many others it did.  I sense they haven't a clue about how government works.  I also think they are deluded if they really believe they were elected to do the very thing they were to be against,  diminishing this country to the level of Europe. That's what their refusal to compromise on these debates is doing.  And, it's what Obama wants - for us to be on an equal level with Europe and no longer the leader that had been our destiny.  They were not elected to be obstructionists, but to find solutions.  The country was to come first, not ideology!

The more moderate Republicans are afraid of being 'primaried' by the likes of Grover Norquist who runs around with his 'pledges', threatening to run candidates against them if they don't sign.  Any politician who does is foolish.   Norquist is a self-appointed arbiter of what's good for all of us. Why anyone pays him any attention is beyond me but enough do and they fear him.

Hand in glove with all this, and my second theory, is the idea that public office should not be any one's career goal.  It wasn't intended that way, yet when I look at how office holders prostitute themselves to rise in the leadership ranks turns my stomach.

When George Nethercutt wrote recently about the climb to leadership, he had this to say.

When a member chooses a career path to congressional leadership, a member's independence is often compromised in favor of the leadership team, and the member's constituents are sometimes left behind.

Could anything be more damning?  I think not.  It gives you a pretty good idea what congressional leadership is all about.  Themselves.  What about the country?  What country.  Nothing exists outside of Washington.  Except the rest of the world.

Maybe, as has been suggested in times of frustration about the middle east,  we should build a fence around them so they can't get out and leave them to their own devices.

We, the people would have to do it though.  Those folks in Washington can't even get a secure one build along our border!

Pass the debt ceiling!  The next congress isn't beholden to anything the current one does anyway.  The deficit can't be fixed without a budget.  There is no budget.  Continuing resolutions do nothing more than extend spending at current levels and solves nothing.

Do I sound angry?  I am.  Thoroughly fed up with all the posturing and politicking on all sides including the President.

They all need to grow up and start thinking about the country as a whole.  And so do we, the voters, because we're the ones who put them in office and keep them there.

Whatever happened to "duty, honor, country"?  Especially country.  It starts with a 'C'.  Not an 'R' or a 'D'.