Saturday, December 13, 2014

The GOP Power-Play---How Boehner and Company Plan on Dealing with the Tea Party


In a Breitbart post dated December 12th, 2014, Rush Limbaugh surmises that the legislation in the Cromnibus that eases campaign finance rules was inserted to basically help John Boehner neuter the Tea Party Conservatives: 

"Limbaugh continued "This is how corporate America is going to defeat the Tea Party. By allowing limitless donations from that crowd under the rubric that its campaign finance and money is speech and freedom of speech and 1st Amendment, the theory is that Main Street, Tea Party people can't come close to competing with corporate money and so it is a Republican Establishment ploy that kind of dovetails nicely with Obama siccing the IRS on the Tea Party to basically eliminate them as a viable threat by relaxing a regulation in Dodd-Frank that pretty much permits corporations to spend any kind of money they want on politics."  LINK

It would certainly make sense that Boehner would do anything to neuter the Tea Party, since they've been a political thorn in is side for/since what, when ever they started making waves?  2009?  If this is truly the case, (that the establishment beltway Republicans, (EBR's) will exist in their own separate world---and fund themselves exclusively apart from Tea Party Conservatives, (TPC's), then so be it.  

When I wrote my post at COTR about the funding bill finally passing, it was under the mindset that given the current position of Republicans, (only controlling the House), my first thought was (with more power coming in Jan), give "the people"---and the fuckin' media---the impression that Republicans "can govern" under regular order and pass legislation.  

Most of us should know that for months before this bill came to a head, that both the Senate and House committees got together and agreed to put a funding bill together that 1) would eventually pass, and 2) had enough “goodies” added in for both parties to again insure enough of both sides would eventually commit to its passage.  It’s a bit ironic that in the end, it was Nancy Pelosi that almost threw the huge monkey wrench into their plans, not a simi-powerless Tea Party.

This is where it would be understood why so many of the TPC’s saw those in the EBR’s as nothing but status quo Democrats when it came to restricting federal spending---justifiably so.  Just the sight/realization of Boehner and Obama working together in the end to gather the last votes to pass this thing had to leave a bitter taste in many of the mouths of conservatives.  As a side note, it was also a bit ironic to see Steny Hoyer going against his minority leader’s wishes.  (It’s my guess that there might be a power-play in the works and Hoyer might have been playing his small part in this whole thing).

Again, my first concern, (while perhaps misguided), was that both the Democrats and the media didn’t have another repeated narrative to run with that Republicans shut down the government and spoiled Christmas.  As it did turn out, the previous “shutdown” had no real impact on Republicans last November.  But my first thought was for this incoming power to leave the impression that the days of gridlock in Congress was over in the eyes of the voting public.  That said, I do understand the frustrations of the TPC’s who are asking “what the fuck did we win!” [in the last election] ???  

As for Rush’s “money thing”, more corporate money and resources to the EBR’s to neuter the TPC’s, this ploy “could” also backfire IF the TPC’s find a way to solicit this new money without sacrificing their principles.  Again, if “this is the game”, what’s to stop the TPC’s from sitting down at the table and get a hand dealt to them? Their attitude, going forward should be two can play this game. 

It has to be understood by the EBR’s that they will need the TPC’s block of voting to hopefully win the WH in 2016, and maintain the Senate.  If Boehner and company, the EBR’s choose to completely annihilate and eliminate their competition within their own party, you can almost bet the farm that those 4-6 million Republican voters will stay home AGAIN, and we’ll have a repeat of 2012.

I guess my point is, MONEY isn’t going to solve everything for the EBR’s.  
They still have to “fight” the ideology---a battle they might not win without paying a price they can not afford. 



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