Bachmann voted for Boehner?
Paul Ryan voted for Boehner?
Well then, according to the Collective Wizdumb of FR's venerable Drum Corps of Whiners Blamers Moaners Handwringers and Fingerpointers, Rep. Ryan and Rep. Bachmann and the 220 or so others who voted for Boehner, must immediately be drummed out of the ranks of True Conservatives, have "RINO" permanently affixed to their foreheads with hot branding irons, and be consigned to the lowest level of RINO Hell with bus treads all over their bodies.
The only task remaining is to whip up a list of those Certified Patriotic Republicans who voted against Boehner, and pick one to be our standard bearer. This shouldn't take very long at all, since there are only nine (9) of them:
Ah! What an illustrious list. Every single name is no doubt instantly recognizable to those who pay even the least amount of attention to politics, due to their extremely high name recognition. Yes indeed.
Everyone not on that list gets thrown under the bus! So c'mon, hurry up and state your choice before the voting ends.
I can comment on only two of them.
I was once a reporter in New Mexico. I heard Rep. Pearce speak for some events. Hard-right unapologetic conservative. Seems like a good guy who won't be bullied, both from what I saw firsthand and from what I heard from others. But I haven't followed him recently and can't say more.
Rep. Amash is a different story.
I'm originally from Grand Rapids. My roots in Republican politics in that city go back many, many decades. Those who are supporters of Israel and those who have problems with Ron Paul need to stay away from Amash, at least for now. I may have a different view in a few years, because I cannot see how Amash can survive politically if he doesn't change.
On the positive side, Amash is very open about explaining his positions, he's quite internet-savvy, and part of his “problem” is that because he's open about what he believes, his enemies have more ammunition. I can respect him for being honest and upfront and I don't want to hold that against him.
Long-term, I can't see Amash being able to keep his seat in a socially conservative area like Grand Rapids unless he's able to cut a deal with Christian conservatives or with the Party establishment — which in West Michigan were once closely connected but not identical groups before the religious wars that badly damaged the social and political clout of the Dutch Reformed church world.
Amash won his seat after a badly-divided Republican primary in a district where it's extremely difficult for a Democrat to win. If the Democrats had been able to effectively promote a strong socially conservative candidate, I am not convinced that Amash would not have lost to the Democrat because a lot of Republicans were **REALLY** unhappy with him as the nominee. If Amash keeps up what he's doing now he's going to be in big trouble.
I'm guessing he won't be around much longer.