By Douglas V. Gibbs
No surprise, here. A plan, which still had a few flaws (like a raise in the debt ceiling) proposed by Boehner and the House Republicans was good enough to convince a few Tea Party members in the House to vote for it. Then, when it got to the Senate, Reid, and his loony lefty liberal Democrats, rejected it.
But there are more things going on than meets the eye. This battle has been a significant battle for sanity. Some 25 to 30 Tea Party members of the House of Representatives have been fighting hard for their principles, over party. The GOP establishment is upset because these conservative Republicans can't be bought. This is driving the GOP establishment and the Democrats nuts. They are doing all they can to buy these Tea Partiers with perks, money, and committee assignements, and it is not working.
The establishment has resorted to lashing out. In the case of Jim Jordan, the GOP Leadership actually has threatened to write his district out if he doesn't get in line with the establishment - as if that would mean Tea Party folks like Jordan wouldn't be able to win in districts with new lines drawn.
The GOP establishment's antics are simply reminding the voters of why they put in the Tea Party candidates, and this will result in even more Tea Party candidates in office after the 2012 election.
The Democrats and GOP establishment's antics against the fearless Tea Party Congressional members is setting the table. . . for an even greater landslide victory for the Tea Party in 2012.
The government hacks are pulling out all the stops, but the informed public is wise to their garbage.
"Yeah," says the liberal, "but your plans are being stopped by the Senate. Everything you are trying to do is going down in defeat, making this a disaster for the Republicans."
Au Contraire, my fine liberal friends. This is not a disaster. It is a great start.
The newest Boehner Bill has 104 pages, that makes only a tiny dent on the trillions of spending, but it has a fascinating trigger in it. It disallows taxes going up, and though it paves the way for the debt limit to be raised through the 2011 election in two chunks, it mandates that the second increase of the debt ceiling could only occur after a balanced budget amendment passed both chambers of Congress and went to the states for ratification.
This is an update. This is better than the earlier Boehner bills, not that this one is acceptable. . . yet. But think about it. In old politics, the first one would have gone through with the attitude "it's the best we can muster." But the conservative members of Congress said, "Hell, no. We can do better." The establishment Republicans put out watered down garbage because they operate in fear because they listen to the idiots on the Left. They believe the attacks, they believe the lies, so they compromise against themselves and produce watered down crap.
The Boehner Bill, though still short of what we want, was changed a few times because the conservatives are demanding better. The Tea Party people are telling the Republican leadership, "Quit being afraid of being blamed for something. The liberal Democrats will make stuff up to blame us for. Let's at least be blamed for something that's worth it, like a bill based on our principles."
The inside-the-Beltway Republicans are fearful, but not so much of the liberals, but now of the conservatives. They know that their establishment politics will get them kicked out of office in the next election, they know that the Tea Party has its finger on the pulse of the people, and they are begrudgingly listening.
This is how we change Washington.
The Republican Party is slowly growing a backbone, and the Tea Party is making an impact. It is only a start, and there is still much to be done, but this battle is definitely positive news.
There is no reason to continue to fear the liberal left, or the Republican establishment. We have won the last election, and if we don't become complacent again, that was only the start. We keep this up, and keep informing the public, and next year we will see the Tea Party enjoy the November election as landslide winners.
This has been made possible by the Tea Party's unwillingness to compromise. Why compromise with losing strategies? Why compromise with failed agendas? So what if nothing gets done - you don't sell your soul because the whining of the Left says you must.
The establishment compromises because they don't realize they have true power, the power of truth and facts, and the voice of the people. It is time to stop acting like we are defeated every time the Liberals come up with a well-fashioned lie (like the one about us defaulting if we don't raise the debt ceiling).
The Democrats have taken our country to the brink. The gross domestic product is unacceptable. The unemployment rate is unacceptable. The spending is unacceptable. There's no excuse for this, and we have no business compromising with the idiots behind the disaster that has a grip on our country.
Obama acts like he's the parent and the Congress are his children. Who is he to make demands? He's and idiot. He's the least qualified person in the room, and he acts like he knows what he is doing. Barack Obama is not a leader. His policies are failures, his agenda is a proven failure, and his party got the snot beaten out of it in the 2010 elections. He has no power. He is back-pedaling. The liberal Democrats are befuddled over these Tea Party freshmen, and it is great stuff.
Even the media can't figure this out. They are coming up with incredible lies just to try to get a hold of what little they can.
Like on Anderson Cooper, the conversation was hilarious. Regarding the House vote, Anderson Cooper said, "What happened? It looked like things were moving in the right direction for Speaker Boehner earlier today. They had the test vote. It went big. What happened?"
BORGER: He ran up against freshmen who don't owe him anything, Anderson. They were elected outside of the establishment, and honestly a lot of them don't care if they get reelected.
COOPER: (coughing)
BORGER: They believe they were sent to Congress to make government smaller and, duhh, to cut the deficit, and this is what they intend to do -- and they believe that the Boehner bill is not strong enough because they understand that, at some point, there's going to have to be a compromise. So they want the House to have the strongest possible bargaining position that it can have.
They even realize that the Tea Party members can't be bought. They can't be bullied. The Tea Party members believe they were sent to Washington to make government smaller and that's what they intend to do.
The Democrats use scare tactics. They attack, they make crap up, they twist the numbers, they do everything they can to scare the Right into doing their bidding. The Tea Party freshmen aren't buying it, and the Democrats and GOP Establishment are panicking. Normally, out of fear, the Republicans compromise to the point that the liberals get what they want, but not this time.
This is not to say the fight will lighten up. The establishment is going to come out swinging. The Senate rejected the bill, and they want the Tea Party to lower its head in defeat, and capitulate. They want the Republicans to vote for anything that they demand because they feel defeated. Reid has his own ideas for a bill, and he will use the scare tactics to get it.
But John Boehner is not going to be able to corral these Tea Party Republicans, because he can't buy them off. They don't want earmarks, they don't care about their committee assignments. The attitude of the Tea Party Republicans is "principles before party," and they don't care if they win the next election, just as long as Tea Party Republicans continue to grow in numbers in the Congress.
This is not what the establishment wants in Washington. The leftists, the establishment, and the media is ticked off. They can't control these Tea Party freshmen, and they are starting to panic.
Which is why we need to keep winning elections.
The Tea Party is doing as they said they would do - they are putting the country before party.
The Tea Party is doing what Obama lied about what he would do during his campaign. He claimed he would put country before party, and Obama is the typical leftist Democrat dirtbag. And the Tea Party is pissing him off because they can't be bought off with committee assignments or with campaign re-election funds. They can't be bought, and Obama, and the Democrats, and the establishment in Washington can't understand this.
The November election was about cutting spending, and that is what these Tea Party folks are demanding. . . and the liberal left is in a panic.
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Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Jordan in redistricting crosshairs after bucking Boehner - The Hill
Conservatives Bar House Republicans From Passing Debt-Ceiling Bill - CNS News
House passes Boehner’s debt ceiling plan–and Senate puts it on ice - Yahoo News
Boehner tries to tame GOP on debt ceiling plan - Politico
Debbie Wasserman Schultz says GOP seeks ‘dictatorship … spark panic' - Politico
