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.
The GOP Establishment Celebrates a Victory
Here is a representative of the GOP Establishment on primary night, celebrating the defeat of Tim Huelskamp, one of the good guys in his own party. The same GOP Establishment used valuable resources two years ago in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat Justin Amash, my own Congressman, who happens to be the best person in Congress. (It was through his mailing list that I learned of this tweet.)
Turns out Speaker Boehner is indeed enjoying Kansas primary night. Just received this from former staffer! pic.twitter.com/hIzmFt8hn0
— carl hulse (@hillhulse) August 3, 2016
It’s stuff like this that has shown me that it isn’t just that the GOPe is stupid and lazy. It’s not that that the GOPe wants the pragmatic path forward, while the firebrands in the Freedom Caucus just don’t understand the complications of how to achieve GOP goals.
No, the problem is that the GOP Establishment is vigorously opposed to anything good that the GOP stands for. It doesn’t want spending reform. It doesn’t want to set a good example of the way forward by cutting off Ex-Im and corporate welfare spending. It doesn’t want opportunities for the middle class, opportunities that are stifled by crony capitalism. It is doing well by corrupt accommodation to the Democrats, and doesn’t want anyone swirling up the stink of the cesspool where it has made itself comfortable.
Published in Politics
Amen, brother! A more useless waster of space on this planet with an ‘r’ after his name probably doesn’t exist…..
And never forget Mississippi …
Enbalmed Thad Cochran carried over the finish line by democrat pallbearers paid by Haley Barbour.
A big chum of Trump, by the way.
So one more reason to hate Boehner?
Sitting alone, drinking. Fitting indeed.
Once again my Populist and Grassroots compatriots, I’d urge you all to seriously consider reconciliation and to minimize the recriminations when this election cycle is over, because if you hadn’t figured it out yet (and as this post clearly illustrates) they will pick each of us off, one at a time until all these ‘Wacko Birds’ and troublemakers are gone.
I have no use for Boehner, but would we expect someone who votes against a farm bill to win in that district? I’m sure that Huelskamp has his reasons, but political realities are political realities.
It will work only if you can make a case for shared sacrifice, and if you can make a case that you have the best long-term interests of the middle class farmers in mind. And this cannot be done if your own party works against you.
If his opposition was based on fiscal considerations, I’m surprised that Joe Ricketts and his ESA Fund PAC–who’s existence is based on fighting spending–was instrumental in supporting Marshall. Ricketts’ son is on the RNC, so perhaps there’s something there.
I didn’t know about that. Thank you for calling it to my attention.
As I understand it, the farm bill was loaded with ‘pork’. But he wanted the farm & food stamp bills separated, and voted against them anyway. Were there poison pills in either of them that made him do that? We’ll probably never know. But know this—anything Boehner likes, then I don’t like it!
Ricketts, eh? The scurvy knave, arrrrrrgggghhhh!
Hoisting a glass and hiding the cigarette. A metaphor.
But he fights! Just kidding CBA
I am sure there were similar celebrations when it became clear tat none of the more conservative candidates were going to get the presidential nomination.
Establishment Democratic politicians have to make center-left noises on the campaign trail while actually maneuvering hard left in office. Establishment Republicans are compelled to voice center-right sentiments while actually pulling center-left.
In short, Democratic politicos are left of their base, as are their colleagues across the aisle.
Oh, and the Democrats make more progress since committed ideologues can be counted on to work harder than a lukewarm center-anything, including our red wine sipping former Speaker of the House.
I don’t think I’ll ever get over Macho Grande. Or Cuccinelli.
Fixed it for you
You forgot crying.
We didn’t get 20 Trillion in debt with an honest, responsible Republican Party. When GW was President with a Republican Congress we got another entitlement that doesn’t work (Plan D drug bill) and an extra 6 Trillion in debt.
I haven’t talked with Tim for about 4 years, so I am only guessing that his vote against the farm barf was anti-corporate welfare. We had a rather lengthy conversation about ethanol subsidies at a Labor day picnic and got the impression that he was against that and a lot of other picking winners and losers in WDC.
What’s Macho Grande. “Oh that’s a Del Taco item, but that’s not important now”.
http://ricochet.com/archives/open-your-eyes-johnny-b/
I put that together right after he became speaker. Check it out…
It still applies. GOP is enamored of the media seductress, she’s not what she seems. Not at all.
Uh, hate to rain on this, but it’s a photo of Boehner doing something he does often (family business, after all). Why is this connected with the Kansas primary with any certainty? He’s no longer in leadership, why would he care at all? Moreover, why do we care what he’s doing?
I’ll defer to the two observers I’ve noticed on Ricochet from the district, but principled or not, Huelskamp seemed like a jerk.
Anybody who is any good will seem like a jerk.
Huh?
I agree but I think you’re being redundant in that when I saw John do his whiny ‘crying jag’ pretending to be the freedom caucas saying:”oh it’s too hard”, that was it for me. I was done with the establishment completely not that I wasn’t already pretty much disconnected.
Let’s face it Bush II (not unlike his Daddy), started shoveling dirt on the conservative grave himself .
Huelskamp was one of the bigger barriers to Boehner’s efforts to pass conservative reforms and engaged in relentless attacks on Boehner. Boehner sat and took it because if Boehner so much as raised an eyebrow in response you’d have a week of Breitbart headlines about how Boehner was implacably destroying everything good about America (remember headlines like this in which supporting Boehner’s advertising efforts against Democrats, and exclusively against Democrats, was described as being against the Tea Party; people wanted actions taken against the Tea Party very badly indeed, to the point that they had to invent them when the didn’t arise). Heck, this post isn’t unusual on the web for people getting mad at Boehner for smiling at the improvement in Kansas’ Congressional delegation. How dare he, right?
I don’t have any inside information about whether this photo is of Boehner, but it would be very surprising if Boehner didn’t take pride in his party growing up and ejecting one of the worse tantrum throwers, surprising if Boehner didn’t take some mild satisfaction in a guy who attacked him so often getting his come-uppance, and surprising if he didn’t smile when he got proof that hating on Boehner wasn’t always a way into the hearts of the electorate.
A lot more people than “the GOP ‘establishment'” celebrated Huelskamp’s loss. He has operated as a one man jerk on Congress, while mouthing meaningless conservative platitudes for every camera he could find. This is one guy on the far right who deservedly lost- because he simply did not represent his constituency, as well as playing Don Quixote on meaningless occasions.
When will our side stop this generalizing and look at each case to understand the facts? We are getting to be as bad at this stuff as Think Progress. There are “moderate” Republicans who deserve to fight primaries, and there are superconservatives- like Huelskamp- who deserve it.
BTW, the primary against Paul Ryan was imbecilic.