Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Reagan Biographer Craig Shirley: GOP Resembles a Crime Family
Conservative HQ ^ | 2/18/14 | CHQ Staff |

Posted on 02/19/2014 11:36:33 AM PST by xzins

Yesterday our old friend Craig Shirley, chronicler of Ronald Reagan’s five-decade war of ideas against liberalism and communism, defined the national Republican Party this way in an interview with Brietbart’s Michael Patrick Leahy: "The Washington Republican party is no longer a political party in the way we understand political parties. It more resembles a crime family than a movement of ideas."

Shirley was commenting on the charge that the reason Congress has not gotten to the bottom of the IRS targeting of conservatives and Tea Party movement groups is because the establishment GOP wants the IRS to hobble these groups just as much or more than do the Democrats.

The notion that the Republican Party leadership is slow-walking the investigation of the IRS was first raised publicly by Democratic pollster and Fox News regular Pat Caddell.

"The establishment Republicans want the IRS to go after the Tea Parties," Caddell told Fox News on Sunday.

"When you have 71 percent who want an investigation, 64 percent who believe that it is a sign of corruption including nearly a majority of Democrats," Caddell said, "the reason is the establishment Republicans want the IRS to go after the Tea Parties. Got it?"

According to Breitbart’s Leahy, Caddell said the GOP establishment is happy to have the IRS take the Tea Party down a notch.

"Because the Tea Parties are an outside threat to their power hold and I'm telling you the lobbying consulting class of the Republican party and Republican leadership who have been attacking the Tea Parties, and alienating them, they want the IRS to do this," Caddell said.

Caddell’s comments echo remarks he made at CPAC last year in which he compared the inside the Beltway Republican consulting class to a RICO conspiracy. (The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act or RICO is the federal statute that prohibits criminal syndicates and conspiracies, such as the Mafia and drug cartels.)

Rush Limbaugh then waded into the fray by addressing the controversy during his Monday radio program remarking: "That is a serious charge. That is a very, very serious charge that the Republican establishment is aligned with Obama and is okay with Obama using the IRS to investigate the Tea Party. But it's believable, because we know the Republican establishment, the political class in Washington, is spreading the word that they are not gonna criticize Hillary, it isn't gonna happen, and we shouldn't, either. It shouldn't happen."

We think Craig Shirley, Rush Limbaugh and Pat Caddell are on to something, but we wouldn’t limit it to the IRS scandal.

You can go right down a long list of issues, starting with the IRS scandal, but including the failure to get to the bottom of the Benghazi attack, the establishment Republican Party “leaders” betrayal of conservative principles on spending and the debt ceiling, and the GOP’s failure to use their full constitutional powers to carry the fight against Obamacare to a successful conclusion, and see the pattern.

And the pattern is this: It doesn’t matter which establishment Party is in power; the progressive inside “leaders” work together to grow government and make themselves and their friends rich in the process.

Craig Shirley is right, such an intellectually bankrupt process does resemble a crime family a whole lot more than it does a movement of ideas.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: corruption; cronyism; gope; liberalism; teaparty; uniparty
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-29 last
To: VRW Conspirator
"The GOPe is suicidal".

You would think that but then again the GOPe is doing their best to extend their riches and power, albeit as a permanent minority. I guess life is still good when you are a lackey to the King.

21 posted on 02/19/2014 1:20:30 PM PST by buckalfa (Tilting at Windmills)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: xzins

Wow.

Bases are loaded. He walks up to the plate. There goes the pitch...he swings...he KNOCKS IT OUTTA THE PARK!! HOME RUN!!


22 posted on 02/19/2014 2:30:38 PM PST by RKBA Democrat (Having some small say in who gets to hold the whip doesn't make you any less a slave.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: brownsfan

Not for free stuff, but for the conservative issues you care about. I have 2 that I hone in on: guns and life. That’s a good starting point. If they’re pro gun they trust people, if they’re pro life they care about people. I can work with that.


23 posted on 02/19/2014 2:34:51 PM PST by RKBA Democrat (Having some small say in who gets to hold the whip doesn't make you any less a slave.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Robe
I think we have now moved beyond the tipping point. We have been patient not wanting to take first action, however this option has been taken from us. God Help Us All...

I've been saying the same thing for quite some time.

In the dark corridors of power, the Constitution was quietly overthrown by nefarious traitors of both parties, intent on substituting a new totalitarian order for the system of checks and balances left to us by the Framers.

About the last civil option remaining, is for the states to call for an Article V convention to propose amendments to the Constitution. Short of that, our options narrow to:

1. Massive, sustained, and widespread civil disobedience on the part of tens of millions.
2. Revolution.
3. Secession by several red states.
4. Acceptance of the New Progressive Order.

None of those options is palatable, but we WILL find ourselves on one of those paths soon.

24 posted on 02/19/2014 2:38:14 PM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: onyx

You are absolutely right, Onyx.


25 posted on 02/19/2014 4:24:15 PM PST by DallasSun
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: xzins

Both the DNC and RNC (and the elites that support them) need to be prosecuted under RICO. They are corrupt organizations that are joined at the hip.


26 posted on 02/19/2014 5:10:42 PM PST by MasterGunner01
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DallasSun

GOOD to see you, sweetheart.


27 posted on 02/19/2014 5:45:53 PM PST by onyx (Please Support Free Republic - Donate Monthly! If you want on Sarah Palin's Ping List, Let Me know!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: xzins

I’m not convinced that money motivates most members of Congress.

A considerable number, about 20%, are rich when they get there, with net assets of at least $2 million.

Most of the others are upper middle class professionals when they first arrive.

And most Congress members run for reelection until they die or become too old to function, so, only a small number quit and become millionaire lobbyists or middlemen.

I think most Congress members just like the job.

And why not?

The celebrity, the “respect,” making your own hours, flying first class, the catered social and political events, having your own well paid staff without needing to earn enough money to pay them, having a wonderful private office without needing to pay rent or utilities.

And, the pay is good, the benefits are superb, and the retirement package is superb.


28 posted on 02/19/2014 6:37:25 PM PST by zeestephen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: xzins

I’ll stick with my characterization of our government as the Harlem Globetrotters vs the Washington Generals. Members of both teams are simply and totally concerned only with the security of their positions.

In a 2-party system, there is every bit as much security for the #2 team as there is for the #1 team, and that’s all they’re concerned about.


29 posted on 02/19/2014 10:24:54 PM PST by Attention Surplus Disorder (At no time was the Obama administration aware of what the Obama administration was doing)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-29 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson