Posted on 01/16/2014 3:15:25 PM PST by SkyPilot
This week's spending-bill fight revealed deepening fractures within the GOP, spelling trouble for 2016.
Imagine the ground is splitting open beneath your feet. The rocking plates of earth slowly spread apart, and you're left straddling both sides to keep from falling in.
That is how some of the most publicly visible GOP lawmakers are feeling right now. They must choose whose side they're on: establishment Republicans or the far-right flank.
Ultraconservative groups are furious over the omnibus appropriations package that coasted through the Republican-led House on Wednesday. The bill, which would fund the government for the rest of the year, is expected to pass the Senate later this week, but conservatives are not done pushing back. They have put the Grand Old Party's most vocal members on the defensive on budget issues, and they're not mincing their words.
"I have often been proud to be a GOP-er, sometimes embarrassed, but never until today ashamed," said influential conservative talk-show host Hugh Hewitt during a heated interview with House Budget Committe Chairman and usual conservative darling Paul Ryan this week. For Hewitt, the most offending part of the spending bill is a 1 percentage point cut to annual cost-of-living increases, which translates into a pension cut that would affect active-duty members.
"If you think that I wanted to do this or enjoy doing this, that's not true," Ryan told Hewitt of the budget cuts. "Had Mitt [Romney] and I won that election, this would not be required. This would not be necessary." He added later, "Now do I want to do this? Did I think this was a great thing to do and what we needed to do? No, course not," he went on. Ryan did, of course, vote for the bill.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
Conservatives are educated on the issues, and when their principles are betrayed by those who supposed to represent them, they stay home or take their vote elsewhere.
Once the feckless RINOs are exposed and ousted, it'll be just the patriots vs the leftists. That's why when the Rats held power from 2009-2011, they tried to goad Republicans to support their leftist policies. Ain't gonna happen this time.
Conservatives get NOTHING from the Ryan cave. A pox on his house.
“Ain’t gonna happen this time. “
There are a number of people working to keep conservatives on the GOP plantation. It might happen unless they stand up now and clearly tell them to pound salt. Because in another few months, those same people will be telling you that it’s too late to bicker and the dem will win and you should have made those decisions back in January.
History always repeats. Stand up now.
“TC isn’t GOPe or the problem and you know it. Second, while you make excuses for continuing to empower our problem, our problem is screwing our military, scheming to cement Obamacare and screw the rest of us besides.
Pick a side and live with it.”
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I know that Ted Cruz is not GOPe—but HE IS GOP. Do not conflate the GOPe with the GOP as a whole.
“Pick a side and live with it.”? I have years ago picked a side—the side known today as the Tea Party. Many here are working toward the day when the Tea Party BECOMES the GOPe and the surviving RINOs are relegated to being backbenchers in that revitalized party.
So that’s my side. I hope you support those of us working toward that end—and not on the side of those who are sabotaging the effort. And that sabotage can be done by folks either knowingly as a fifth column here or by those who are unintentionally obtuse and don’t realize what they are doing.
Here’s what I know. There are good people still calling themselves Republicans. I support them.
Since 1989, the GOP has gone left at a geometric rate. That is a carved in stone fact.
Today, we have a GOP, not Dems...GOP that is actively fighting for gay rights, against the military, for obamacare via ALWAYS approving funding, against people like most on FR.
This is no secret. Another not a secret is that Rove, the Chamber of Commerce and the Crony wing of the GOP funding brigade wants you replaced with Mexican voters with new citizenship cards. You will not take the party from within. If we could have done that, we’d own it by now.
I am not saying do not vote for a Republican. I am saying do not vote for a GOP republican.
When Ted Cruz, Mile Lee and a couple others are all we can hang our hats on, it’s time to take matters into our hands and out of the partys. Now if you believe any of that is in any way wrong, please lets discuss why.
bunch of moron republicans attacking each other while Obama sit back and laugh.
No, in fact, Mr. Ryan isn't going to cut it. He represents the faction within the GOP that needs to hit the road, because accommodation has given conservatives nothing but the back of the hand in the form of such epithets as "ultra" conservative. He might be - he is - frightened by such labels, which is why he has to go, as does every other spineless, intimidated go-along-to-get-along poor excuse for a politician that's been stinking up the Republican party for far too long.
"Us leftist types really against"?
Why is it “ultra” conservative to think that continuing to throw trillions of tax dollars down the drain is a fair deal?
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Hey! You are using logic. No fair! That’s not allowed.
Ryan’s a liberal bastard!!!
And yet people claiming to be conservatives still demand we support him and those like him in the gop as a ‘lesser evil’.
Something seems somehow ‘wrong’ about that.
I'm done, I'm not even participating in this year's mid-terms. And if Sarah's not running in 2016, I'm staying home and preparing for the worst.
No, vote. Just do not vote to continue helping advance our problem. It matters.
at this stage of our total disintegration of our country, we need strong smart decent men to lead....I don’t give a damn anymore whether they’re virgin conservatives.....
you vote for third party and constiutional hacks you might as well send bammey a nice fat check....
so called “conservatives” have outdone themselves and elected so many leftist rats....
but maybe that’s the idea...maybe we have just so many plants here, attacking pubs so people here will just not vote...
thus we have Freakin in Minn and bammey in his kings chair....
WAKE UP PEOPLE!
Voting Republican doesn’t mean it will stop the country from disintergrating when Republicans are helping Democrats advance their agenda.
Its pointless to blame voters when the GOP has dropped the ball in advancing Conservative ideas within federal legislation.
If voters stayed at home or voted 3rd party its the fault of the GOP candidates for not bothering to embrace and speak of Conservative principles.
a balance budget is not an ultraconservative position
Yup. People need to get rid of the “vote against” mentality and truly embrace “Vote FOR”. The whole “The dem is worse” BS has resulted in a loss. Several across the last election in fact. Fear leads to bad choices. We live with the proof.
Vote FOR what you want to happen or you subsidize that what you do not want to happen. Simple economics.
Paul Ryan is no conservative. What he did to our US Military Retirees is TREASON.
Another Wisconsin Liberal RINO pushed off by Phonycons and GOP Media. Now the same PhonyCons are pushing Amnesty Liberal and Anti Tea Party Wisconsin Liberal RINO Scott Walker
If the GOP does not get conservative in 2014, 2016 will be absolute disaster
I unfortunately voted for those lying bs’er Corker and Alexander in the general election...yeah the lesser of two evils is still evil.
Your way has been tried...note that no one is calling PhonyCon Liberals McCain and Romney “President”
I voted McCain to get Palin. I still want Palin but I see now it was a mistake that helped push the GOP left. We make mistakes. And we eat crow. If we learn from them and not repeat them, we can make progress fixing this mess.
But there are some so blind.
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