Posted on 06/13/2014 4:19:27 PM PDT by Kaslin
On Sept. 20, 2005, Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré, answered reporters' questions during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Honoré focused on steps being taken to prevent future storms. Reporters kept drawing him back to planning prior to Hurricane Katrina hitting.
"You're asking last storm questions for people who are concerned about the future storm. Don't get stuck on stupid, reporters," Honoré said, coining a phrase. The General concluded, "You are part of the public message. So help us get the message straight. And if you don't understand, maybe you'll confuse it to the people."
Republicans in Washington are confused and stuck on stupid after the hurricane that blew through Virginia's seventh congressional district. For the first time in American history, someone beat the House Majority Leader in a primary. In this case, Dave Brat, a Ph.D. in Economics, beat Congressman Eric Cantor in a Republican primary. Cantor spent more on steakhouse dinners than Brat spent on his entire campaign.
Voters are fed up with Washington. Cantor spent his time campaigning to be the next Speaker of the House and forgot he was a congressman. In 2008, many conservatives embraced Cantor as a fighter fighting for them. At RedState.com, where I serve as Editor, the front-page writers collectively called for John McCain to nominate Cantor as his Vice Presidential running mate. By the end of 2008 and the battle over TARP, the kind words began disappearing.
Since 2010, when Republicans took back the House of Representatives, conservatives have felt Cantor led a series of betrayals and all-out assaults against conservative positions and principles. By 2014, conservatives were at open war with Cantor and his very-high-handed staff. After heralding him as one of them, post-Obama conservatives viewed Cantor and his senior staff as untrustworthy, too Machiavellian and too unprincipled. Cantor seemed coziest with lobbyists and donors, not his Virginia constituents or conservatives who make up the voting base of the Republican Party.
In Virginia, local tea party activists helped Dave Brat. They went door to door. They made the case that Cantor was out of touch with the district and too far in the pocket of Wall Street. They pointed to all the prior disappointments and betrayals and made the convincing case that Cantor could not be trusted on immigration. Immigration may not have been the sole reason Cantor lost, but it became the capstone on top of every other concern.
With Cantor's defeat, House Republicans could have chosen to go a different direction and work toward some level of truce with their voters. Instead, truly stuck on stupid and not understanding what had happened, they have coalesced around the idea that Cantor's defeat was an anomaly. Cantor was just an absentee ruler from his ungrateful fiefdom whose consultants mishandled the race for him.
House leaders quickly moved to lay the groundwork for Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), presently the No. 3 Republican in the House to take Cantor's place. They rapidly set an internal election date, giving conservatives little time to mount opposition to McCarthy. But McCarthy has an even worse voting record and is a far more liberal stooge of special interests than Eric Cantor.
Heritage Action for America, which produces the most accurate scorecard of conservativeness in congress, ranks Eric Cantor with a 53 percent grade. Kevin McCarthy has a 42 percent grade. News reports surfaced earlier this year that Kevin McCarthy would be attending a retreat of the Main Street Partnership.
That organization has worked tirelessly to defeat conservatives, undermine the conservative agenda in congress and has actively opposed sitting Republican congressman for being conservative.
Kevin McCarthy voted for the massive food stamp and farm bill opposed by conservatives. In fact, a majority of Republicans rejected it, but McCarthy aligned himself with Democrats to try to get it passed. He even voted to give Barack Obama a blank check to raise the debt ceiling.
Republicans in the House of Representatives had an opportunity to do better than Cantor. Instead, they've chosen to stay stuck on stupid and keep the internal fighting alive and well.
Make sure they are stuck on broke.
Ah.. i called my rep today and told his office pretty much the same thing.
Someone had said ACU wasn't all that it formerly was, and has been cracked up to be.
Bookmarkable website.
Big government Republicans aren’t going to give up their cozy crony capitalism without a whale of a fight. There are just too many perks they don’t want to lose. Without more teaparty successes and a huge change this November, we may be stuck with another Democrat in the White House after Barry leaves.
The time has come to cut congressional staff, and the benefits of congresscritters. No more free medical, they should pay in the obastard care exchanges for themselves and their families, end of their pensions.
Thank you for this, LG - I always appreciate being alerted to the useful stuff as I am too busy to do much investigating to see what’s “good” (or “bad”, as is more often the case).
The time has come to cut a huge amount of $, about 80%.
Yep...
You know, it is really hard for me to keep fighting the “establishment/leadership” in the republican party in my current position...
I’m not really involved that much with any Tea Party group in my area...Does that entrench me to be labeled as “establishment” as well...Less conservative than your typical Tea Party grassroots type person???
I lost a good friend yesterday in Dan McCool...He and I and a few other republicans ran for a leadership position in our Senatorial district...He was a great conservative, he and I were friends before, during and after and had quite a bit of fun trying to “out-conservative” one another and the others running for the same position...
You know I had to back out recently of that race because of the health reasons you know about...And I do not anticipate, even if asked, to consider running for it again till I heal up...If the SD chair wants me to step in and do it in the interim, before a formal election process can be initiated, I’ll consider doing it...I will step aside and allow an elected person to run the show till the next election cycle...
How much more conservative and virtuous is that??? I cannot think of another scenario...McClintock and Issa could not walk in Dan McCool’s shoes...
It goes hat in hand with the idea that politicians, no matter your ideology are corruptible to a certain point...Politics corrupts the best of us, in the conventional sense...
I believe it is absolutely ok, to compromise your politics...It is the art of persuasion...It is not ok, to expect a person, no matter the political association to compromise their principles, nor would I waste time these days to even attempt the feat...
I do not see how un-conservative these beliefs are...I always believe there is room for improvement, as there is plenty of room to become feckless, compromising your principles to justify your existence trying to hide behind empty rhetoric, to shield yourself, for as long as possible, in the public trust...
Maybe that is why no one like myself will ever be able to prove these attributes because the people we consider to be of like mind are not willing to understand they are there at the behest, and the trust of others that voted them into office to begin with...
What a horrible situation we are in across this country when we cannot even trust our own to at least put up an effective fight against these destructive political forces...From both sides of the aisle...
Sorry for the long rant...But many of these things have been percolating for a very long time, and it makes it even harder because I have to say goodbye to another good friend of mine who truly deserved what the people (recently selected) in this district wanted to represent them this cycle...
I hope someone will find something that can improve upon in what was said here if I do not come across as conservative, or without personal virtue, that I feel is seriously lacking these days...
BTW, “Stuck on Stupid” is a catchy phrase that would definitely ruffle a few feathers in the chicken coup of the republican party leadership...
Does it mean I might be shooting myself in the foot???
;-)
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