The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

When A Conversation You’ve Had Comes Out Of A Different Mouth

Posted on | February 1, 2012 | 18 Comments

by Smitty

A lot of this sort of talk in the air of late:

“Then came 2011,” Rebecca says, and her mood clouds. “It felt like every time I turned around, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell were selling us out, hanging our Tea Party freshmen out to dry, and doing it for no apparent reason.”
She’s unsure why this is. “Are they idiots, or just the worst chess/poker players ever? Every time they have an opportunity to limit government, reduce taxes, etc. they blow it.”

Dad and I were speculating on the reasons:

  • Boehner and McConnell share half a testicle between them–unlikely.
  • The 2010 election was merely a restraining order; they just haven’t got enough horsepower to go beyond delaying actions–maybe.
  • They’re a brace of Ruling Class Overlords trying to surf the Tea Party energy without, you know, listening–likely.
  • The situation with the debt is so far down the Greece-ie slope that they can’t get their minds around altertatives–plausible.
  • Whatever those two jokers are doing, they are doing an utterly suck-tacular job of communicating the strategy to the American people–ding ding ding!!!

via Daily Pundit

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Category: Republicans, Tea Party

Comments

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MJGP4QXZ5PRW2MFA5E25CV2WNU rosalie

    First they denounce it; then they do their little song and dance pretending to fight it; then the Democrats get pretty much what they want.  Totally good-for-nothings.

  • Anonymous

    Until there’s more Tea Party Caucus than old guard – and a unified, serious one at that – then the goal of the legacy GOP leadership is to “co-opt them”, the Tea Party, just enough to castrate it.

    Trent Lott, GOP House Leadership personified, wasn’t kidding in his candid gaffe.

    The GOP is not a friend of conservatives; it’s a necessary evil until it can be either reformed or replaced.

  • http://twitter.com/RangerSG Shawn Gillogly

    Replaced. The Ivory Tower will never, ever let the rank-and-file conservatives into party leadership. We’ve tried getting in by the Precinct Chair route. But it’s not that simple. And it never was.

    She’s right. If the GOP answer, after watching the Tea Party do all the leg work in 10 for them, is Boehner, McConnell, and Romney, we need something that represents us. And it isn’t the GOP.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    They do not have a damn clue and I’m not sure they want to,

  • http://www.leftbankofthecharles.com/ Charles

    The Tea Party has to sign up and/or elect more more than the 62 Congressmen and 4 Senators currently in the Tea Party Caucus if it wants to overthrow the leaders of both the Republican Party and the Demcratic Party.

    Otherwise the Tea Party is asking for more than it earned at the ballot box, and should think in terms of more attainable goals. The alternative is going the way of the Reform Party.

  • http://itsaboutliberty.com/index.php/board,4.0.html CO

    @AnonymousDrivel
    “The GOP is not a friend of conservatives; it’s a necessary evil until it can be either reformed or replaced.”

    They are worse than unessary, they are a duplicitous pox visited upon America and must be excised from office.  Donate early and donate often.  They are a cancer on the body of America.

    “We don’t need a lot of Jim DeMint disciples,” [Trent Lott said in an interview. “As soon as they get here, we need to co-opt them.”

  • Anonymous

     Sadly, I wish it were mere ignorance.

    The aphrodisiac of power/influence is too great. They know exactly what’s going on to the nth degree because it’s in their interest to know. The trick is to balance that which they want personally (or professionally if one prefers) to that which their constituents want. Furthermore, their own desires become primary as soon as they are in position to enjoy them.

    We have very few statesmen as the Party system does not really allow it. The collusion to satisfy the party always competes with the individual representative’s goals which itself trumps those of his constituency. The profession of “politician” has been corrupted and it’s silly to perpetuate the myth that its actors are operating in service the nation. Is this too cynical? Perhaps. Or not cynical enough. Considering the nation’s current trajectory, I’m siding with the latter.

  • Anonymous

    In reply to CO:

    I abandoned donating to “the Party” years ago. I donate only to individual candidates and, now, the recently-formed Senate Conservatives Fund founded by DeMint. It’s pretty routine that the only thing GOP gets from me is the finger, and I’m getting to the point where I won’t even bother giving them that.

  • Mariner

    I’ll take “C: They’re a brace of Ruling Class Overlords trying to surf the Tea Party energy without, you know, listening–likely.”

    Final answer. If we allow them to remain in power they will be the final answer for America.

  • Pathfinder’s wife

    Now is the time for all good men (and women) to come to the aid of their country.

    And that may very well mean telling both the Republican and the Democrat parties to go pound sand.

  • http://twitter.com/ilovegrover Thane_Eichenauer

    If it isn’t the Republican Party what is it?

  • DaveO

    The principle of like promoting like is in play here. Lott brought up McConnell, and Boehner rose through the ranks under former Speaker Hastert. Both McConnell and Boehner have the intelligence, parliamentary experience, and resources to flame Obama, Reid, and Pelosi whenever they want.

    Lott and Hastert weren’t like that: they wanted their perks, and only drew knives at disloyalty, or as a display of power – but nothing that would disrupt their perks. When McConnell and Boehner leave office, their replacements, unless they are TEA Partiers, will be exactly like Lott/McConnell and Hastert/Boehner.

    That the TEA Partiers will eventually become corrupted is a given. Hopefully the TEA Party farm team is developing their replacements, along with candidates in key elections.

  • http://thepagantemple.blogspot.com/ ThePaganTemple

     The best thing in my opinion is to retain GOP membership, but make it plain that membership is a mere technicality to afford us the right to vote in the primaries, but that basically we are independents who will vote for the most conservative candidate in general elections. That’s the only thing I can see that is going to change things in the short term. A third party isn’t going to be able to get the money or other resources it needs to be competitive for a very long time to come, if ever.

  • Finrod Felagund

    Heh.  I figured Stacy would blow a gasket when he read this part:

    The Republican presidential stakes kicked in, and Rebecca engaged. Her hopes rise with Rick Perry’s entrance, but then “he gets hammered for stupid things, and drops.” She thought about Herman Cain, “but his lack of campaign management was disconcerting.” She never really thought Bachmann would make it to Florida, and says “Erick Erickson has educated me too much to cast a vote for Rick Santorum.”  She considers Ron Paul’s views right on a number of accounts, but thinks his foreign policy is “crazy.”
    “So here I am, supporting Newt Gingrich,” Rebecca says. “I’m not in love with Newt, but I trust him more to stay true to conservative ideals. The guy pushed Clinton right, for goodness sake. I only trust Mitt to stay true to himself.”

  • http://twitter.com/ilovegrover Thane_Eichenauer

    If the Republican Party is too big to fail soon then it is too big to be allowed to continue to be worthy of your support either in the short term or long term whether your contribution is registering or actual cash.  If a third party is a very long time from coming to prominence then I hesitate to imagine how sucky the Republican Party will have to be to change your (and other people’s) opinion.

    How is a person to know how bad is too bad?

  • http://twitter.com/RangerSG Shawn Gillogly

    For the moment, it’s whoever best represents conservative principles at the ballot. And if that means picking a minor party, so be it. Right now, I hold membership in the American Conservative Party.

    And yes, winning a place for a new party in American Politics is a long road. But if not now, when? If we can’t figure out the GOP doesn’t get it after handing them a historic victory in 10 and getting stuck with this and told to like it. Well then, we deserve what we’re left with.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    The country cannot handle three major parties, so either we (1) take over the GOP or (2) make it go the way of the Whig Party while building a new party on it’s grand old structure [anybody for a new Federalist Party?].

    I’m leaning very heavily towards the latter because the Boehner’s, McConnell’s, Rove’s, Cantor’s, etc. will fight like the devil to preserve their precious positions in The Elite Club – the one battle where they will actually fight like the dickens.

  • Pathfinder’s wife

    I was thinking more along the lines of making it go the way of the Whig Party (heck, throw in the Democrats too — they don’t represent a lot of their own voters either).
    Both parties have gotten away with flipping the bird at everybody, while managing to cling to support by 1)shameless lying; 2)scare tactics.