GOP Civil War in Full Swing

[scott]

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/chamber-renews-vow-to-step-in-on-primaries-101903.html#ixzz2pprvwesQ

[boutons_deux]

"I think they’re well-intentioned people"

:lol

[Oh, Gee!!]

there's nothing civil about it

[boutons_deux]

It's not about governing, it's not about policy, it's all about campaign contribution $Bs.

[boutons_deux]

http://nationalmemo.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/5_2jqzaulusmlps9-fmska.png

[AntiChrist]

http://nationalmemo.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/5_2jqzaulusmlps9-fmska.png

So, since Obama took office, more Dems have left their party than GOP. thanks for posting

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

So, since Obama took office, more Dems have left their party than GOP. thanks for posting

:lol does that surprise you? IMO it's pretty sad how many people still identify as Democrats after Obama has made it clear what the modern day Corporate-Democrats are all about.

[boutons_deux]

BIG PICTURE stuff, the VRWC strategy:

Why The Republican's Old Divide-and-Conquer Strategy Is Backfiring


For almost forty years Republicans have pursued a divide-and-conquer strategy intended to convince working-class whites that the poor were their enemies.
The big news is it's starting to backfire.

Republicans told the working class that its hard-earned tax dollars were being siphoned off to pay for "welfare queens" (as Ronald Reagan decorously dubbed a black single woman on welfare) and other nefarious loafers. The poor were "them" - lazy, dependent on government handouts, and overwhelmingly black - in sharp contrast to "us," who were working ever harder, proudly independent (even sending wives and mothers to work, in order to prop up family incomes dragged down by shrinking male paychecks), and white.

It was a cunning strategy designed to split the broad Democratic coalition that had supported the New Deal and Great Society, by using the cleavers of racial prejudice and economic anxiety. It also conveniently fueled resentment of government taxes and spending.

The strategy also served to distract attention from the real cause of the working class's shrinking paychecks - corporations that were busily busting unions, outsourcing abroad, and replacing jobs with automated equipment and, subsequently, computers and robotics.

( aka: Hey! over here, watch this hand wave social issues (while the other hand secretly screws you hard and deep) )

But the divide-and-conquer strategy is no longer convincing because the dividing line between poor and middle class has all but disappeared. "They" are fast becoming "us."

Poverty is now a condition that almost anyone can fall into. In the first two years of this recovery, according to new report (http://www.census.gov/prod/2014pubs/p70-137.pdf) from Census Bureau, about one in three Americans dropped into poverty for at least two to six months.

Three decades of flattening wages and declining economic security have taken a broader toll. Nearly 55 percent (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/02/poverty-in-america-is-mainstream/?_r=0) of Americans between the ages of 25 and 60 have experienced at least a year in poverty or near poverty (below 150 percent of the poverty line). Half (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/02/poverty-in-america-is-mainstream/?_r=0) of all American children have at some point during their childhoods relied on food stamps.

Fifty years ago, when Lyndon Johnson declared a "war on poverty," most of the nation's chronically poor had little or no connection to the labor force, while most working-class Americans had full-time jobs.

This distinction has broken down as well. Now a significant percentage of the poor are working but not earning enough to get themselves and their families out of poverty. And a growing portion of the middle class finds themselves in the same place - often in part-time or temporary positions, or in contract work.

Economic insecurity is endemic. Working-class whites who used to be cushioned against the vagaries of the market are now fully exposed to them. Trade unions that once bargained on behalf of employees and protected their contractual rights have withered. Informal expectations of lifelong employment with a single company are gone. Company loyalty has become a bad joke.

Financial markets are now calling the shots - forcing companies to suddenly uproot, sell out to other companies, transfer whole divisions abroad, liquidate unprofitable units, or adopt new software that suddenly renders old skills obsolete.

Because money moves at the speed of an electronic impulse while human beings move at the speed of human beings, the humans - most of them hourly workers but many white collar as well - have been getting shafted.

This means sudden and unexpected poverty has become a real possibility for almost everyone these days. And there's little margin of safety. With the real median household income continuing to drop, 65 percent of working families are living from paycheck to paycheck.

Race is no longer a dividing line, either. According to Census Bureau numbers, two-thirds (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/02/poverty-in-america-is-mainstream/?_r=0) of those below the poverty line at any given point identify themselves as white.

This new face of poverty - a face that's both poor, near-poor, and precarious working middle, and that's simultaneously black, Latino, and white - renders the old Republican divide-and-conquer strategy obsolete. Most people are now on the same losing side of the divide. Since the start of the recovery, 95 percent of the economy's gains have gone to the top 1 percent.

Which means Republican opposition to extended unemployment insurance, food stamps, jobs programs, and a higher minimum wage pose a real danger of backfiring on the GOP.

Just look at North Carolina, a bell-weather state, where Democratic Senator Kay Hagan, up for re-election, is doing well by attacking Republicans back home as "irresponsible and cold-hearted" for slashing unemployment benefits and social services. The state Democratic Party is highlighting her Republican opponent's "long record of demeaning statements against those struggling to make ends meet." (Tom Tillis, the speaker of the State, had spoken of the need "to divide and conquer" people on public assistance, and called criticisms of the cuts as "whining coming from losers.")

The new economy has been especially harsh for the bottom two-thirds of Americans. It's not hard to imagine a new political coalition of America's poor and working middle class, bent not only on repairing the nation's frayed safety nets but also on getting a fair share of the economies' gains.

http://robertreich.org/post/72770488951

[RandomGuy]

So, since Obama took office, more Dems have left their party than GOP. thanks for posting

meh. Play with the starting point of when you look at the data, and the conclusions differ. Not unlike the dishonest shit you pull with climate debates.

SOSDD

[Nbadan]

Tea Party Group Mobilizes To Oust House Speaker John Boehner
Source: CBS News-7 minutes ago


In a fiery press release on Friday, the Tea Party Leadership Fund announced an ambitious plan to oust Boehner from Congress, accusing the speaker of “stabbing conservatives in the back.”

“John Boehner has declared war on conservatives demanding lower taxes and limited government," said Rusty Humphries, a talk radio host and spokesman for the Tea Party Leadership Fund's Primary Boehner campaign. “Today we declare war on him. We intend to send a message to his fellow 'Republicans In Name Only' that such ideologically bankrupt leadership must come to an end."

The group, which bills itself as the nation’s largest tea party political action committee, announced a $25,000 ad buy targeting Boehner’s record and vowed to recruit a conservative primary challenger to take the fight directly to the speaker. The group also announced a petition drive to collect 1 million signatures in support of its effort.

The statement aired litany of complaints about Boehner, including his decision to “continue the funding of Obamacare” and his “further bankrupting America by raising the debt ceiling without any meaningful concessions.” Also among Boehner’s list of sins: “Agreeing go to pass Amnesty for those illegal immigrants who have broken our laws” and “Kicking courageous Tea Party congressman off of important, key House committees to remove conservative objections to his liberal policies.”

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tea-party-group-mobilizes-to-oust-house-speaker-john-boehner/

[EVAY]

The U.S. electorate does not have a super long tolerance level for wars, including intra party wars.

The Tea Party screamers have been into manufactured rage for so long now that even the old-time Republican establishment is tired of them, and the American electorate, imo, will NEVER tolerate listening to the screams for an entire presidential election campaign. They are dooming the Republican Party from ever being a National Party again. They can keep themselves functioning in their safely gerry-mandered political districts, and thus they can keep screaming among themselves, but they will simply never be able to overtake American political power. They are, imo. the political equivalent of the suicide bomber.

[Winehole23]

ouch

[Nbadan]

The Tea Party screamers have been into manufactured rage for so long now that even the old-time Republican establishment is tired of them, and the American electorate, imo, will NEVER tolerate listening to the screams for an entire presidential election campaign. They are dooming the Republican Party from ever being a National Party again. They can keep themselves functioning in their safely gerry-mandered political districts, and thus they can keep screaming among themselves, but they will simply never be able to overtake American political power. They are, imo. the political equivalent of the suicide bomber.

Trouble is the teapotty are also using their gerrymandered districts to win State elections and screwing things up at that level..

[boutons_deux]

Ted Cruz Delivers Huge Slap In The Face To House GOP Leaders Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) delivered a slap in the face to House Republicans Monday, hiring an operative they fired just last month for working with conservative groups to undermine the leadership's agenda.


Cruz announced Monday morning that he was naming Paul Teller, the former executive director of the Republican Study Committee, his deputy chief of staff. Teller begins work on Thursday.
"Paul's many years of experience working in Congress and his tireless work to advance conservative principles make him a tremendous addition to our team," Cruz said in a statement. "I look forward to working with him to keep making Texans' voices heard in Washington and to promote a positive policy agenda that will restore economic growth, rein in government overreach, and protect Americans' personal liberties."

Last month, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the head of the RSC, announced he had fired Teller because he no longer had the "trust (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-gop-leader-steve-scalise-fires-top-aide-paul-teller-citing-breach-of-trust/2013/12/11/5bee749e-62a1-11e3-a373-0f9f2d1c2b61_story.html)" of lawmakers in the group, which is dedicated to pushing a conservative agenda.

The ouster came after Scalise learned that Teller had been allegedly leaking internal information (http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/rsc-fires-executive-director-for-leaking-member-level-talks-to-outside-groups-20131211) to outside conservative groups in order to undermine the bipartisan budget deal being worked out between Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/13/ted-cruz-paul-teller_n_4589217.html?ref=topbar

[RandomGuy]

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/chamber-renews-vow-to-step-in-on-primaries-101903.html#ixzz2pprvwesQ

Todays vocabulary word is:

schadenfruede

I have to work hard to feel sorry for them, but remind myself the Republican party is still composed of a lot of decent people, in general.

[boutons_deux]

The Big Conversation

Washington, D.C., is abuzz over the latest perceived thumb to the eye delivered byTed Cruz to the House leadership: his hiring of former Republican Study Committee Executive Director Paul Tellerto be his new deputy chief of staff.

Teller, as reported (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/13/cruz-takes-on-house-republicans.html) by The Daily Beast's Ben Jacobs, was fired last month "for leaking details of the Ryan-Murray budget negotiations to outside conservative groups in an apparent attempt to sabotage a bipartisan budget deal." Both Jacobs and Roll Call's Matt Fuller point to other instances (http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/cruz-hires-paul-teller/) in which Cruz has moved to undercut members of the House leadership, such as Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Pete Sessions of Texas.

More Jacobs: "Rather than trying to mend his rifts with the GOP establishment, Cruz is widening them. By hiring Teller and praising [Sessions challenger Katrina] Pierson (and allowing his father to endorse her), the Texas senator is pouring more fuel on the fire. Other Tea Party favorites like Rand Paul have taken conciliatory steps in recent months

... But Cruz is taking the opposite approach and betting that continued intraparty strife will boost both his ambitions and ideological agenda."

http://www.texastribune.org/2014/01/14/brief/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20None

[boutons_deux]

Todays vocabulary word is:

schadenfruede

I have to work hard to feel sorry for them, but remind myself the Republican party is still composed of a lot of decent people, in general.

how can "decent people" elect so many insanely indecent, destructive politicians.

[RandomGuy]

how can "decent people" elect so many insanely indecent, destructive politicians.

I don't think a lot of them vote in primaries, leaving the nutballs to pick the candidates. Decent but still culpable.

[Nbadan]

This could have goine in the great demagogue thread..

Ted Cruz trolls House GOP leadership
The Texas senator's newest hire is being interpreted by some as a "huge slap in the face" to GOPers in the House

ELIAS ISQUITH



Continuing his courting of the Tea Party/activist wing of the GOP, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz announced on Monday that he had hired former Republican Study Committee Executive Director Paul Teller as his deputy chief of staff.

Teller was unceremoniously fired from the Republican Study Committee (RSC) in late 2013 for, allegedly, leaking sensitive information about ongoing budget negotiations between Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray to outside conservative groups looking to sabotage the deal.

Rep. Steve Scalise, head of the RSC, announced at the time of Teller’s firing that the longtime GOP aide no longer had the full “trust” of the RSC staff and leadership.

Nevertheless, Cruz has brought Teller on to his staff, releasing a statement which called Teller “tireless” in his efforts to “advance conservative principles” and describing him as “a tremendous addition to our team.” Amanda Terkel of the Huffington Post describes Cruz’s move as a “huge slap in the face” to the leadership of the RSC.

more:
http://www.salon.com/2014/01/13/ted_cruz_trolls_house_gop_leadership/

[Nbadan]

Shots Fired: McConnell-Cruz Feud Intensifies Ahead Of Elections
SAHIL KAPUR – FEBRUARY 18, 2014, 10:22 AM EST


Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was forced to spend the long weekend defending his debt limit vote and talking up the importance of compromise to being a good leader.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) did the exact opposite: he publicly torched his own party's leadership for walking the plank and portrayed Republican senators a bunch of liars and cowards who think Americans are "rubes."

Tensions between the leader of the party's establishment wing and the leader of its tea party wing are reaching an all-time high as the two camps move in opposite directions in preparation for the November congressional elections.

"My job is to protect the country when I can and to step up and lead on those occasions when it's required. That's what I did," McConnell said in Louisville at a campaign event over the weekend, as quoted by CNN. "I negotiated the Budget Control Act with Vice President Biden in August of 2011. It led to a deficit-reduction package that actually reduced government spending for two years in a row for the first time since right after the Korean War."

More
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/mitch-mcconnell-ted-cruz-feud-infighting

Has Cruz renounced his Canadian citizenship yet?

[boutons_deux]

TX rubes elected egomaniac asshole Kruz The Krazy Kuban to the Senate.