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The Tea Party Purge of 2012
Slate ^ | Dec. 4, 2012 | David Weigel

Posted on 12/05/2012 11:02:07 PM PST by neverdem

Republican leaders are punishing some of the party’s most conservative members. And they won’t go down without a yelp.

Everybody knew that Tim Huelskamp would make trouble in Washington. That was sort of the point of Tim Huelskamp. In 2009, when a safe Republican seat in western Kansas opened up, State Sen. Huelskamp established himself as the mad-as-hell candidate. He told conservative bloggers of his fight to defund Planned Parenthood, ban gay marriage, and keep Kathleen Sebelius out of the Obama cabinet. In one TV ad, as the mellow-looking Huelskamp climbed into a tractor, voters were told that he “went against his party leaders, and was kicked off his committee, for bucking the establishment and fighting wasteful spending.” He won easy.

History repeats. On Tuesday, the re-elected Huelskamp walked into a luncheon at the Heritage Foundation and told conservative activists how he’d just been booted from the Budget and Agriculture Committees. It was a “purge,” and his crime was being exactly as conservative as he’d promised.

“We’ve heard from multiple sources that someone walked in with a list of votes and said, ‘if you didn’t [fulfill] a particular scorecard on the ‘right’ votes—which by the way, in most cases, were not the conservative positions—we’re gonna remove you from committee.” The activists quietly chewed Chick-fil-A sandwiches as Huelskamp scorched his party leaders. “It confirms, in my mind, Americans’ deepest suspicions about Washington...

--snip--

On Nov. 14, conservative Rep. Tom Price lost a secret ballot election for a leadership post. The next day, the conservative Republican Study Committee gave its chairmanship to Rep. Steve Scalise, who’d been opposed by the group’s former leaders—like Tom Price...


(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Business/Economy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: gopcivilwar
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To: neverdem
When do you think it'll be time to jump ship for "The Conservative Party?" I'm getting really sick of the GOP. But I've stayed in the hopes of reforming from the inside. What do y'all think?
41 posted on 12/06/2012 8:34:23 AM PST by ExSoldier (Stand up and be counted... OR LINE UP AND BE NUMBERED...)
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To: chemicalman

Me! I told the RNC when they kept calling me for money that I only donated to TEA Party backed candidates and directly to their campaigns. Then hung up in their ear.


42 posted on 12/06/2012 9:17:43 AM PST by southernindymom
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To: neverdem

Boner is a Leftist Establishment Big Government Hack.

Defeat the eGOP!


43 posted on 12/06/2012 9:18:42 AM PST by Uncle Miltie (BOHICA eGOP!)
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To: Venturer
"I believe Boehners closest advisor is Jack Daniels."

That's impossible because....

Boner doesn't know JACK!

44 posted on 12/06/2012 9:21:03 AM PST by Uncle Miltie (BOHICA eGOP!)
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To: Uncle Miltie

And that a fact Jack.

45 posted on 12/06/2012 9:33:29 AM PST by McGruff (No New RINOs!)
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To: neverdem

I am a conservative first and a Republican second. This purge crap is an example of why I put my conservative values far ahead of any notions of party loyalty. I’m as loyal to the GOP as the GOP is to me.


46 posted on 12/06/2012 10:06:47 AM PST by MeganC (Our forefathers would be shooting by now.)
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To: CatherineofAragon
“Coulter was on Fox last night saying that we have to cave to the Dems on certain things for PR purposes.”

I heard her say that. Do what you have to in order to get good press - that's the only way to win. If she had any principles, they are gone.

47 posted on 12/06/2012 1:05:32 PM PST by Marcella (Prepping can save your life today.)
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To: willowdean

I believe the number is 16.

We need to start taking names now. Get pledges from congressmen that they will not vote for Boehner as speaker.

Someone needs to put up a blog or running list maintaining who is and is not on board.


48 posted on 12/06/2012 1:06:57 PM PST by Brookhaven (theconservativehand.com - alt2p.com)
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To: Marcella

I agree; I don’t know what happened to her. Hannity told her she sounded just like a liberal.


49 posted on 12/06/2012 1:32:39 PM PST by CatherineofAragon (Support Christian white males---the architects of the jewel known as Western Civilization)
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To: FreedomPoster
I hadn’t heard that about Tom Price. That is not good news, he’s one of the good guys.

That's why I included it in the excerpt.

50 posted on 12/06/2012 2:14:36 PM PST by neverdem ( Xin loi min oi)
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To: willowdean
"If a sufficient number of conservatives just don’t vote .then the house will have no leader for a year. To be elected leader you have to have 217 votes . Pelosi wont ever get there and if we can get 20 abstentions neither does boo hoo boehner. I would rather have no leader than Boo Hoo."

Cantor would be the de facto leader until a Speaker vote would be held; which might be all of 18 minutes since if you could get 20 conservatives to withhold from supporting Boner, the cake would be already baked; one presumes that Cantor would get the job as the barely supportable alternative...

51 posted on 12/06/2012 2:26:27 PM PST by StAnDeliver (Own It.)
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To: ExSoldier; Uncle Miltie; MeganC
When do you think it'll be time to jump ship for "The Conservative Party?" I'm getting really sick of the GOP. But I've stayed in the hopes of reforming from the inside. What do y'all think?

I'm beside myself. Boehner can barely play checkers when he's forced to play chess. He needs to retire.

I used to be a member of the NYS Conservative Party. I registered as a pubbie in Oct 2007 to vote for Fred Thompson in the spring primary in 2008. (That's how far in advance you had to change registration to vote in NY's closed primaries.) Thompson dropped out by the time of the primary, so I voted for Romney then as the alternative to McCain in 2008. This last spring I voted for Newt, IIRC.

The GOP is damaged goods. Last November, "White voters did not turn out, and they did not turn out in significant numbers." Only the stupid party would nominate Daddy Warbucks to run in the worst economic downturn since the grreat Depression! However, "there is a Blue Civil War coming," too.

I could go for a new mostly conservative party, stressing fiscal conservatism like the Tea Party. My only break with social conservatism is if someone wants to gamble, do drugs or have same sex civil unions, that's their problem. The state can't change human nature which by its nature isn't perfect.

In the meantime, the GOP will be blamed for anything it does. I think the House should renew all of the Bush tax cuts even though it makes our debt worse. Taking those taxes out of the economy won't help our economy. Obama wants to tax the only people who have any disposable income. Our problem isn't enough revenues, it's chronic Keynesian deficit spending.

The real problem is increasing the debt limit. If they won't decrease spending, then we have to increase the debt limit or have our bonds downgraded. Anybody will want more interest to buy our bonds, IMHO.

52 posted on 12/06/2012 4:21:11 PM PST by neverdem ( Xin loi min oi)
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To: hosepipe

Where Boehners go to die:

http://www.myspace.com/video/tara/where-boners-go-to-die/789008


53 posted on 12/06/2012 5:15:05 PM PST by pghoilman (Earth First. We'll drill the rest of the galaxy later.)
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To: CatherineofAragon

I used to think her writing was both insightful and hilarious. Now she seems to be just angry and shrill and it seems like she is sliding further left all the time. Don’t know what happened to her. Did her ghostwriter die?


54 posted on 12/06/2012 6:46:04 PM PST by generally (Don't be stupid. We have politicians for that.)
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To: neverdem

” - - - we have to increase the debt limit or have our bonds downgraded. - - - “

WRONG! Our Bonds and credit rating will be downgraded because our National Debt to Annual GDP ratio is > 1.

Raising the Debt ceiling is only to allow Obama to keep overspending our tax dollars.


55 posted on 12/06/2012 7:26:54 PM PST by Graewoulf ((Traitor John Roberts' Obama"care" violates Sherman Anti-Trust Law, AND the U.S. Constitution.))
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To: generally

It’s funny you mention shrillness; I noticed that quality over and over, before the election. There was one interview with Hannity during which she became almost hysterical, practically screaming. I remember Hannity repeatedly telling her to calm down. Very strange.


56 posted on 12/06/2012 7:31:27 PM PST by CatherineofAragon (Support Christian white males---the architects of the jewel known as Western Civilization)
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To: neverdem; sickoflibs; stephenjohnbanker; DoughtyOne; Gilbo_3; Impy; NFHale

57 posted on 12/07/2012 1:18:43 AM PST by ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas (Fool me once, shame on you -- twice, shame on me -- 100 times, it's U. S. immigration policy.)
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To: littleharbour

Bachmann- was attacked incessantly up here- by both Demonrats-the news- ANd republicans!- Almost lost
her seat!! ( oh..- also redid her district lines!)

So, guess what- the RINO’s are working hand in hand with
the Demons- always have always will.


58 posted on 12/07/2012 5:37:06 AM PST by mj1234
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To: Brookhaven

“I believe the number is 16.
We need to start taking names now. Get pledges from congressmen that they will not vote for Boehner as speaker
Someone needs to put up a blog or running list maintaining who is and is not on board”

The problem is that none of them will want to put their names on first because if they don’t get the 16, they will personally be “out”. But, they are supposed to represent what we have mandated them to do on our behalf. I will be contacting my Congressman Ron Johnson to ask him to be the first.


59 posted on 12/07/2012 3:35:05 PM PST by Wisconsinlady ("Never give the devil a ride; he will want to take over the driving.")
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