Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
12 Times the GOP Establishment Kicked the Conservative Base in the Teeth
1. The 2014 Mississippi Senate Primary: In order to stop Tea Party Conservative Chris McDaniel from unseating Thad Cochrane, a superannuated Washington lover of pork spending (who didn’t even want to run for re-election), the GOP establishment ran a ruthless campaign of attacks and dirty tricks, and when those failed, they openly courted Democrat voters to cross over into a Republican primary. (The GOP-E also intervened in Kentucky and Kansas to protect moderate establishment Republicans from conservative opponents.)
2. Funding Obamacare and Executive Amnesty: In 2015, the GOP Congress voted to fully fund Obamacare and Obama’s Executive Amnesty, despite campaigning in 2014 on a promise to defund both. Defunding them against an entrenched Democrat administration was always unlikely. However, the GOP-E went beyond failure by attacking conservative Congressmen and Senators who fought to defund them as extremists who were siding with terrorists.
3. Virginia Governor Election. In 2013, the moderate GOP Establishment undercut and refused to support Tea Party Conservative Ken Cuccinelli’s 2013 campaign for governor of Virginia, allowing deeply corrupt Clinton crony Terry MacAuliffe to win narrowly.
4. Gang of Eight: In 2013, Republican Senator Marco Rubio (along with John McCain and other DIABLOS) allied with far-left New York Democrat Charles Schumer to sponsor the “Gang of Eight” Immigration Reform Bill. The bill not only guaranteed amnesty for illegal immigrants, but its border security provisions were filled with loopholes and waivers, and the whole thing was stuffed with special interest spending.
5. Gang of 14: In 2005, moderate Republican John McCain leads the “Gang of 14” senators to make a compromise with Democrats, abandoning conservative judges nominated to the Federal Courts the Democrats had been filibustering. McCain considered the “nuclear option” of ending the partisan filibusters of Judicial Nominations unthinkable, and sponsored the Gang of 14 compromise to prevent it. Harry Reid, as Leader of a Democrat majority Congress, would later use the “nuclear option” to stuff the courts with Obama judicial appointments.
6. Undercutting Conservatives in Congressional and Senate Elections: In 2014, the GOP Establishment funded a primary campaign opponent to libertarian Congressman Justin Amash. Their tactics included a sleazy campaign ad suggesting the congressman (who is of Middle Eastern heritage) was sympathetic to Al Qaeda. (This is part of a longstanding GOP Establishment policy to backstab conservatives in House and Senate races when their preferred candidate is rejected by primary voters: See also Dede Scozzafava and Liza Murkowski)
7. Border Security: In 2006, the GOP Congress passed a law requiring over 900 miles of double layer fencing to be built on the Southwestern border. In 2007, Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison sponsored a bill gutting the fence requirement. The fence was never built. (Yet the GOP still claims to support “border security.”)
8. TARP: In 2008, over the objections of Conservatives in Congress, the Bush Administration in its last days pushed through TARP, a massive taxpayer bailout of large, politically-connected banks and labor unions. Conservatives had offered a less expensive, less Government-empowering alternative to TARP, but were ignored by the leadership who cut a deal with Democrats instead.
9. Allen West: In 2012, The Florida GOP gerrymanders Tea Party conservative Allen West’s district to a Democrat majority.
10. Supreme Court Saves Obamacare: In 2012, Bush-appointed Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts saved Obamacare by pretending to find that its enforcement provisions were just a tax. In 2015, John Roberts saved Obamacare again by pretending that the Federal subsidies were supposed to flow regardless of the explicit language of the law and the expressed intent of those who passed it. John Roberts had previously voted to gut Arizona’s Immigration Enforcement laws on the basis that unwritten Federal policies carried more weight than written law.
11. George H.W. Bush Raises Taxes. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush cuts a backroom deal with Senate Democrats to raise taxes, violating a campaign pledge not to raise taxes during his administration.
12. Iran Deal: Passing the Corker Bill to cede treaty power to Democrat minority with regard to the Iran Nuclear Deal, the convoluted plan allowed the bill to pass while forcing Democrats to vote on an unpopular administration bill. But the Democrats just filibustered the bill and avoided the vote, notching up a big win for Obama. This is worth remembering any time the GOP Establishment tells you that that their differences with the conservatives are just about “tactics,” and they are the smart ones when it comes to “tactics.”
Published in General, Politics
Jager- I don’t really want to litigate which side in the Tea Party/Establishment fight is the greater violator of Reagan’s 11th Commandment, but I think it’s fair to say that both sides have shown less fidelity to it in recent years than they should have.
If some members of the GOP establishment have disagreed with some members of the base a dozen times in the past 25 years, that’s pretty strong evidence that there are two clearly defined camps that have been in a state of perpetual war, no?
I don’t know what your metrics for “war” are, but mine certainly include “as often as once every two years someone says something insulting and/ or opposes a policy”. It’s my understanding that this definition goes back as far as the Peloponnesian insult.
It’d be even more obviously warlike if the list were more accurate. For instance, if we had amnesty, the point that amnesty was guaranteed by the Gang of Eight would be stronger. Similarly, if we didn’t have hundreds of miles of fence, the claim that we never built the fence would seem pretty darn solid. The Iran sanctions bill didn’t pass; it failed to pass. It’s true that there was a failure to educate the electorate on the Corker bill, but it’s genuinely hard to educate people on an issue when their preferred media sources are based on a business model of lying to them about it.
Not this guy. There better be a reason for me to do so, or it’s hello Hilldabeast.
James, come on now — do you think Trump and Carson and Fiorina high in the Republican primary polls reflect nothing? Business as usual?
Did you read my hostile takeover analogy?
Putting this to bed right now:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/183386/social-ideology-left-catches-right.aspx
That’s fair, and I am critical of the Republican Establishment. They’ve been mostly inept and unwilling to do what they claimed they would do. I’m just under the impression that infighting is counterproductive at this point in the election cycle. I fear a fragmented, alienated base fixated on immigration willing to vote for Trump instead of a Republican and getting a HRC elected.
He’s not only the President. He’s also a client.
To my dismay, sometimes I’m a “lesser of two evils” voter. I get the impression that many conservative voters don’t take that into consideration, and will allow a Democrat to win office instead out of “protest.” If for some reason it came down to Trump running as an Independent, Bush as the Republican, and HRC as the Democrat, I’d vote Bush without hesitation.
Your concerns are valid. Trump should be the easiest bowling pin to knock over. I am surprised someone hasn’t done it yet, but it is still early.
From the latest headlines on Bloomberg this morning the Jeb! campaign is on death watch and not expected to make it much past next week’s debate.
I fear a Trump/Carson insurgency looming. I admire Dr. Carson, but I don’t see him as president. Trump, don’t get me started.
I hate to compare Dr. Carson to Mr. Trump, but the area where they are both weak is policy specifics. Dr. Carson’s 2A position is democrat friendly and Trump’s tax plan is a sad regurgitation of Jeb!’s.
With a dozen folks in the field each getting a snippet of time in a debate it is all about charisma right now.
I think when the field narrows and the candidates are challenged to address policy specifics they will both be in for some tough sledding.
What’s your point? To justify the base’s anger?
@BrentB67
That can’t come soon enough. As much as I’d like to see a political newcomer in office, I don’t think it’ll be Trump or Carson. They have a few key issues appealing to some, but nothing of substantive weight — other than building a wall.
Vote Cthulhu 2016. “This time, why vote for the lesser evil?”
Ahh, so don’t vote according to your personal assessment of the honesty and positions of the candidate, vote for who the GOPe tells you to, for the country…
Remember the classic National Lampoon cover, buy this book or we shoot this dog?
Vote for the chamber of commerce Republican, or else HILLARY! and the end of the country.
If that is the way they want to play it, I will just stay home…
I agree. However, that wall matters very much and until someone comes along with at least as strong a plan, or stronger, without any prior voting baggage in conflict I think Trump is going to remain a threat.
Meaning, of course, that if Trump or Cruz wins the nomination, GOPe will fully support them, and all the anti Trump conservatives will hop on board and vote for him, right? ( see #3 Cuccinelli in VA)
The reason Reagan even brought that up was because HE was the anti establishment Republican of his day, and he was loyal even while they sabotaged him. He was simply saying, like the TEA party is now, ‘we supported you for all these years, its our turn now!’
I, for the life of me, cannot understand how or why Trump is the front runner according to polls. I know he is entertaining and his immigration policy, for what it is, is very compelling. But that is all he offers. He is not a Conservative. He is not going to lead the Movement and the country to the Right a la Reagan. Conservatives wake up!!!
For the record, I don’t support Trump. But it isn’t hard to see why he is the front runner. He stands up to the left, he stands up to the GOPe, he isn’t afraid to tell it like it is, and he has at least the veneer of honesty and independence from the donor class.
Even people who don’t agree with all his positions would rather an honest and independent man over someone who runs right and governs left. That is what we get now from the GOPe.
Yeah I get your concern. I just don’t think that this is solely a conservative thing. Less conservative Republicans refused to support a Conservative for the Virginia Governor and got a Democrat elected. A long list of Republicans endorsed the Democrat for Governor in Kansas against Brownback because Brownback pushed spending cuts.
I really think that Trump became the front runner because of JEB. JEB was the front runner and the donors choice getting $100 million dollars. What did Trump do? He ran to opposite of JEB on immigration and common core while insulting JEB and the donors.
The fastest way to get rid of Trump might be for JEB’s campaign to collapse.
I have heard this recently. Maybe you are right, I don’t know. What I do know is that for all of Jeb’s faults Trump has just as many, in terms of orthodox Conservative ideology. This is what I don’t understand. Is the desire to beat, crush, and drive into asylums the GOPe (yes it exists) that great that we would possibly propel to the nomination a man who funded multiple Democrat campaigns and is in favor of single payer?
In fact, Roberts has been a stalwart conservative on the bench, he has consistently voted with Alito, but angered the complainers in exactly the two healthcare cases (federal preemption for immigration is long settled law): 1) Agreeing RE the Commerce clause, but being unwilling to toss out a 2700 page law over a $95 fine (he specifically urged that this be fixed at the ballot box; funny how populists were suddenly looking for the courts to solve all their problems), and 2) after the fractious Republicans showed no sign that they were willing to pull together and, you know, agree on language and pass a bill that would not leave millions standing there with no insurance coverage (that was blocked by people demanding that a law be passed killing ObamaCare even though there was no hope of getting it signed), he reluctantly let the state exchanges law stand. That is it. For that, he is branded an establishment liberal?
Yes
Many feel that amnesty will spell the end of any chance for a conservative to be elected nationally for a generation. They are trying to dilute the voter pool.
If you agree with that, then Trump and his immigration stand would be a better conservative choice, no matter what other ways Jeb may be more conservative then Trump. Immigration truly is the trump card!
You can add this…
https://twitter.com/mckaycoppins/status/657616333463539712
I just remember when the House leader was Bob Michel and the Senate leader was Hugh Scott. We have too many people who think that you can wave a wand and the Titanic will turn 180 degrees.
Quick: What stalwart movement conservative was Reagan’s chief of staff? Who waived the environmental laws in order to build the Texas fence?
No you are absolutely right and I agree with that. But isn’t Cruz as good–certainly better than Jeb or Rubio–on immigration?