THE GOP - A MAD HATTERS' TEA PARTY

One of the more enduring attributes of the Republican policy makers, within and without Congress, is their ability to put on blinkers and carry on as if nothing has happened, (See BLOG, The Republicans Ongoing Denial of Reality, December 2012). The fact that they have had to abandon all their cardinal principles and avoid the fiscal cliff and increase taxes on the rich is ignored. Also the fact that there have been crucial differences between factions of the party, for all to see, appears to be irrelevant and part of the denial that allows the phony debate on the American future to continue.

The bare facts show that nearly every Republican in the Senate voted for the tax increase on the rich. (Senate vote was 89 to 9 in favor). The fact that a third of the Republicans in the House of Representatives voted for this is further parsed over like it never happened. The reality is that the leaders of the GOP were split on which way they voted, (Mc Connell, Ryan and Boehner for and Cantor and McCarthy against), is not acknowledged.

Violation of Republican Commandments.

Also two cardinal rules of the Republicans, of how they operate, were broken. This was done in order not to create a situation where they were not seen to increase taxes on everyone in order to protect the rich. The first cardinal rule relates to never increase taxes at all especially the rich, who are the “Job Creators” This they ending up doing for those earning more than $400,000. The other cardinal rule is never to allow a vote on an issue that the majority of their caucus did not agree upon.

The rationale of the desecration of these two commandments was as follows: Never again will the Republican majority allow a Bill to go to the floor unless a Majority of them agree on it, (so ergo it never happened!).

With regard to the tax increase on the rich – it never occurred.  None other than Grover Norquist keeper of the Republican chastity belt, in the form of no tax increase pledges maintained that Congress had lowered taxes on the 99% and not raised taxes on the rich! What Norquist ignored was if this was so then two thirds of Republicans voted against lowering the taxes for the 99%.

GOP REALITY

Central to all that is happening are three facts that the Republicans will not face up to:

• They are in fact two parties. One the Tea Party and the other, mainly made up of the Establishment
• All the Republicans fiscal positions are at odds with the majority of the electorate.
• While the Tea Party has an agenda, the Establishment have not. They are caught between spending control and no taxation and the realization that there is a chasm between the rich and the poor that government has a responsibility to resolve. To use Ryan’s terminology “The Makers” have got to see to it that all the rest do not become “Takers” otherwise whom will the “Makers” get to buy their products and their services – financial and otherwise?  The Establishment thus has no coherent policy other than to oppose Obama and follow the Tea Party’s lead from time to time. The man doing the balancing act in this three ringed circus is Speaker Boehner but more about him later.
• The good news for the Establishment is that although the Tea Party has thus far controlled the base and therefore the Primaries, their standing has decreased dramatically in the country with only 7% approving as opposed to 23% previously. If, and it is a big if, this trend were to be translated across the spectrum the new Center of the road Republican poster child, Chris Christie, would stand a chance of winning the Republican Presidential Primaries.

HURRICANE SANDY FORGOTTEN

More political insanity occurred from the Republicans in the dying day of the 112^th Congress. They refused to put to vote the Senate endorsed Bill to pay out the $61 billion relief moneys for the hurricane Sandy disaster. Besides the political insanity there were the humanitarian implications of this decision. Quick to attack Boehner and the caucus was Republican Representative, King of New York. He maintained that he would switch to the Democrats and no one in New York should give money for Republican candidates.

Even more devastating was the Republican New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie’s attack on Boehner and the Republican caucus for this egregious omission. (See BLOG: Jon Stewart, Chris Christie and Republican Philosophy, December 2012). Christie said that this decision was the reason why the public was disillusioned with the Republican Congress. Christie, who has a 72% approval rating in this strongly Democratic State and has the highest approval rating of any Republican politician, maintained that the Republicans did not care about non Republican States. He also charged that he, Christie, unlike Boehner and the Republican House caucus had actual responsibilities. Christie showed where there were big Republican Constituencies, for example Louisiana and Florida relief money came through far quicker from the Republican Congress.

This was not just a callous omission by an irritated Boehner. Rather he was responding to two powerful Conservative Groups, Americans for Prosperity and the Heritage Action who had called upon the Republicans not to pass this bill. Heritage Action is now lead by former Senator Joe DeMint who is regarded as the Tea Party Godfather. So this was just another insane balancing lurch by Boehner to keep Republican constituencies happy. The next day he compromised by putting to the vote $9.1 billion of the money and 67 of his caucus voted against even that!

The GOP main fundraiser Ms. Georgette Mosbacher has said she is “mad as hell with the Republican Party”. She listed a host of events and concluded with the, "… epic failure of the fiscal-cliff negotiations, and, most recently, the House’s dithering over disaster aid for the victims of superstorm Sandy”. She concluded that there was just no leadership.

REPUBLICAN LEGISLATIVE VISION

The Republicans have stated that they have not lost the debate on the tax and money issues. They are going to fight this in February on the issues of the Debt ceiling and sequestration, which relates to spending cuts. However, they are not focusing on these issues at all but rather on smearing Obama’s cabinet nominees and Hillary Clinton.

The reason that they are not concentrating and educating on their two big issues is they are totally against the grain of the way the country is leaning.

The Debt Ceiling.

The definition of insanity is repeating the same action again and again and hoping for a different result. The Republicans have vowed once again not to pass the Debt Ceiling increase. The latter is the amount of borrowing the Government has to effect to pay its debts. These are debts not of the Government’s own making rather they have resulted from carrying out legislation passed by the Legislature.  This is the selfsame legislature that the Republicans control!

The Republicans filibustered on the issue the last time making all sorts of demands and in the process succeeded in having the USA’s credit rating lowered, reducing consumer confidence and generally causing havoc. The Republicans have said they will do it again even if it results in shutting down the Federal Government.

Prior to the Republicans grandstanding in this fashion the vote on raising the Debt Ceiling was a mere formality. They and everybody else cheerfully voted for it 19 times between 2001 and 2006 when the Bush led administration spent like drunken sailors.

The last time the Republicans forced a Government closure was in 1995, with House Speaker Gingrich at the helm. This resulted in a vicious public backlash. Gingrich has warned the Republicans not to do it again. A new retreaded Obama has said he is not even prepared to discuss the issue with them. If they want to close down the Government then it is on their head. If they don’t want to pay the country’s debts that they raked up then so be it.  Gingrich has confirmed Obama’s resolve by telling his colleagues that they will have to cave in the end so better now.

The consequences of a failure to raise the debt ceiling would be massive. Credit ratings will plummet as will the dollar and it could push the country back into recession. So once again they will be playing chicken with an electorally emboldened Obama. Also the Republicans in the Senate will not go along with it. Most significantly their natural allies big business want this like a hole in the head. The public, by a two to one margin, have said again and again that they blame the Republicans for the financial impasse. So there is no way they can go through with this. However, the anger at being so outmaneuvered by Obama on the tax issue has led to this rhetoric and that the Tea party wants it’s revenge.

Sequestration.

Sequestration really means where there are going to be spending cuts by the Government. Obama says he agrees and there should be bipartisan discussions on this, However, the Republicans feel they need to make an issue out of this too. They are on the same agenda that got soundly trounced in the election. Obama is even prepared to go right of his base on a compromise here but it is all falling on deaf ears. 

Further than that there is no articulated vision - nothing on education, gun control, immigration reform, job creation, infrastructure improvement, energy, and climate – zilch. Just clichés about small government cutting everything from Social Security to Medicare and no taxes.

All this seems a replay of the do nothing Republicans in the 112^th Congress where the Republican controlled House passed the least legislation in 80 years and those in the Senate instituted the filibuster a record 400 times.

LEADERSHIP

As Jay H. Ell has blogged again and again that the Republican Party is now run by unelected megalomaniacs and unelected Conservative Groups.

There is a leadership vacuum in the Republican Party. The defeated Romney has been forgotten. Mitch McConnell leader of the Senate has serious problems about being the Republican nominee for the Senate seat in Kentucky and McCain previously defeated candidate of the Republican Party for President is regarded as a bit of a joke.

The De Facto leader has to be John Boehner Speaker of the House of Representatives, the one arm of legislature that the Republicans still control. His position is tenuous to say the least having narrowly been voted in for the 113^th Congress. His standing and credibility is at an all time low generally. He says he will not negotiate with Obama ever again – this regardless of how negatively this will play in the public arena. He told Harry Reid, Democratic Leader of the Senate, to “fuck off” and repeated the story to anyone who would listen. His natural support would be the Republican establishment but even they must be despairing – come back Romney all is forgiven.

So the Republicans are leaderless. The unelected megalomaniacs and the institutions on both sides of the Republican divide are preparing for tense nomination fights in the Republican Primaries for 2014 to see whether the Tea Party or Establishment will control the Grand Old Party. Also could Chris Christie win the Republican nomination with his current image – you can already see the attack ads with his arm around Obama while singing the latter’s praises.

Meanwhile all they can do is run against Hillary Clinton for President in 2016, oppose all Obama’s cabinet nominations and hope that that “vision” will hold the Party together.