Posted on 10/10/2015 9:36:37 AM PDT by Kaslin
Rep. Tom McClintock of California is about as conservative a Republican as you can find in Congress. As a state legislator in Sacramento, he was a well-known budget hawk. In the House, writes The Almanac of American Politics, he has been "a faithful conservative vote, though an occasionally nettlesome one to GOP leaders seeking to limit internal dissent." Former California Gov. Pete Wilson has such marked antipathy for McClintock that he took the unusual step of supporting a GOP challenger in McClintock's latest re-election bid.
It says everything about how dysfunctional the GOP House has become that such a solo flier as McClintock has taken a stand against the GOP insurgency that torpedoed House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's bid to become speaker of the House. I talked to McClintock on Thursday after McCarthy bowed out of the race. He was "stunned by the announcement and very disappointed."
Last month, McClintock resigned from the House Freedom Caucus, a rump of some 40 GOP members who have demanded outsize representation in the GOP caucus. Before McCarthy left, the House Freedom Caucus announced its support for Rep. Daniel Webster of Florida -- which undercut McCarthy's ability to lead.
Though McClintock says he agrees with the group's fiscally conservative principles, he also believes that its tactics have sabotaged the conservative cause. In February, the House Freedom Caucus pushed to defund President Barack Obama's immigration policies -- and failed. In May, the caucusers tried to kill the free trade bill. Failed again. Worse, the caucus forced the House leadership to abandon legally binding action against Obama's "disastrous Iran nuclear agreement" in favor of a symbolic and legally meaningless vote.
"A common theme through each of these incidents is a willingness -- indeed, an eagerness -- to strip the House Republican majority of its ability to set the House agenda," McClintock wrote, saying the behavior has unwittingly become House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's "tactical ally."
McClintock believes that representatives can and should vote their conscience on specific legislation. But when it comes to the party, no Republican should sabotage the leadership. "We're now in a situation where at least 29 Republicans have taken the position that if they don't like the Republican nominee for speaker, they will combine with the Democrats against that nominee," he told me. It's a dangerous game because Democrats could end up cutting deals with 29 centrist Republicans who might care to, say, eliminate the mandated spending caps. Open this door, it can swing either way.
McClintock saw a prequel to the House brawl in California's 1995 speakership wars. One Republican -- actually three in a row -- cut deals with the Democratic minority to thwart the GOP majority's ability to control the state Assembly. In the next term, Democrats regained the majority.
The Republicans have their largest majority since 1928 -- 247 seats -- until you subtract Republicans who are willing to sacrifice unity for feckless gestures. The simple fact is that the House Freedom Caucus does not have the votes to put one of its own at the helm. It can only stop other Republicans from winning 218 votes.
Rep. Devin Nunes of California, a McCarthy ally, has spent years working on serious policy, only to see conservative initiatives drowned out by the chaos. "They've hijacked the whole conservative movement," he lamented. Indeed, he is so fed up with this GOP minority's trying to control the party that he suggested kicking out Republicans who won't support the majority's choice. "They don't understand what power is," Nunes told me. Their idea of winning is "no speaker" or a "weak speaker."
After the outgoing House speaker, John Boehner, announced his resignation, his former lieutenant, Eric Cantor, took on Boehner's detractors in The New York Times. Cantor often hears, he wrote, the lament of the GOP base that the party needs to fight: "On this I agree. It is imperative that we fight for what we believe in. But we should fight smartly. I have never heard of a football team that won by throwing only Hail Mary passes, yet that is what is being demanded of Republican leaders today."
[But when it comes to the party, no Republican should sabotage the leadership. ]
But nothing about “leadership sabotaging the party”
Who Even Wants to Be House Speaker?
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Mark Cuban and Newt Gingrich, so far.
MARSHA BLACKBURN!!
The only ones that don’t want to be speaker are the ones who want to run the party away from its base. The Republican party is quite unified. Just look at all their campaign adds from the last election. The problem is that the current leadership is running in a different direction from that. If they elect a leader who follows his own campaign ads, the Republicans in the House will be quite unified.
The problem is that far more GOP representatives espoused, ran on, and were elected/reelected based on the principles of the Freedom Caucus only to bail on them once voted into office. At issue here is not 40 GOP members, "demanding outsize representation"; rather, it's a much bigger number failing to provide the representation they promised to.
Oh yeah...Boehner and his GOP-E cronies keep siding with Obama.
BINGO!!!
Trey Gowdy needs to get a spine and enter the race.
A few million Conservatives who have watch what a complete mess of things the Establishment GOP has made of the job since 2010
He was classic in that presidential debate where he b*tch-slapped the moderator about starting off the questioning with a derogatory interrogative about Newt's personal life. Newt would have none of it and the audience roared their approval at his quick-thinking response. That behavior would serve him well as Speaker again.
I'm just sayin'....
Sometimes it’s hard to be the only adult in the room.
Since the current Republicans in in the house & senate (with the exception of Senator Tom Cotton) have failed us, it makes no difference to me who is leader. When Trump is President he will (i.e. get what he wants for the American people). Or he’ll use the bully pulpit as he does now to level their miserable egos! I love the counter puncher!
“The problem is that far more GOP representatives espoused, ran on, and were elected/reelected based on the principles of the Freedom Caucus only to bail on them once voted into office. At issue here is not 40 GOP members, “demanding outsize representation”; rather, it’s a much bigger number failing to provide the representation they promised to.”
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Excellent. Post of the Day !!!
I think there is something to this, and I would like trucons or socons to respond.
They are stealing our country, and they want to ruin what is best in America. I believe it. I get it.
The mainstream Republicans are scum. I get it.
But...
The trucon/socon movement is now strong enough to defeat any Republican. They have grown in power to the point that they can block candidates for leadership positions in the House.
However - they are not yet strong enough to elect 218 Membersof Congress on their own. A lot of trucons/socons are acting as if, once they can block a GOPe candidate that the very large GOPe contingent or voter block will have no choice but to support the trucon/socon, but this is not the case.
The GOPe fear of and hatred for the trucon/socons is growing. Many if not most GOPe Members and voters are MUCH closer to the median Democrat than they are to any trucon/socon.
As the rebellion grows, it’s important to assess what it can and cannot achieve. Without a very substantial change in the composition of the House, they cannot (IMO) elect a Speaker and set an agenda.
In fact, it’s more likely (IMO) that the result will be a liberal Republican caucus of 35-60 Members who will vote with the Democrats to elect a Speaker and keep the free sh*t flowing.
Comments?
It’s simple. The Liberals (of both parties) control Congress. Basically, they agree with 0bama (though there is some disagreement about the details). The people demand a Conservative Congress, so a number of “politicians” have managed to get themselves elected to Congress by lying about their Liberal beliefs. As long as Congress remains in the grip of Liberals, no Conservative will be allowed to be Speaker of the House, or to be Majority Leader in the Senate, and no Conservative program will be allowed to pass. QED.
Once it looks like conservatives might actually win, of course McClintock turns against them. Typical GOP-e hack.
And that power right there can be used to force what is known in negotiations as "compromise". It would be nice if people who are supposed to be smart leaders knew what that was. It means that conservatives in Congress might not be able to get Louis Gohmert as the Speaker. It also means that progressives should not be able to get John Boehner or Kevin McCarthy. Someone in between, perhaps, someone who won't cave immediately, someone who agrees with the Hastert rule and lets the caucus decide, instead of joining the leftist wing of the party with the Democrats to pass Obama's agenda. That's all that is asked.
McClintock used to be better than that. The troubles in California in 1995 don't have anything to do with this. We had a majority of 1 vote, and the Dems kept picking off the most liberal members to take away that majority. Republicans have a HUGE majority, Dems can't get 40 of them to vote for Pelosi. When push comes to shove, all except for one or two will vote for whoever gets a majority in the caucus. If conservatives can't get a majority in the caucus, they can deny one to a leftist, and force a compromise. And then the winner will get all 247 votes when the formal vote is held.
McClintock must belong to the Boehner school of negotiation. This is exactly what Boehner does when caving in to Obama, he says we can't force him to give us everything, so we will get nothing. That's not how it works. Send him a bill and let him veto it, and then then negotiate with him on what you will let him have. Don't play that stupid government shutdown threat game.
I did check out Rep. Rep. Tom McClintock ratings at vote smart.org and from all that I have checked out he does have the best ratings.
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