Establishment GOPers assail tea party on shutdown

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — From county chairmen to national party luminaries, veteran Republicans across the country are accusing tea party lawmakers of staining the GOP with their refusal to bend in the budget impasse in Washington.

The Republican establishment also is signaling a willingness to strike back at the tea party in next fall's elections.

"It's time for someone to act like a grown-up in this process," former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu argues, faulting Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and tea party Republicans in the House as much as President Barack Obama for taking an uncompromising stance.

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is just as pointed, saying this about the tea party-fueled refusal to support spending measures that include money for Obama's health care law: "It never had a chance."

Iowa Republicans are recruiting a pro-business Republican to challenge six-term conservative Rep. Steve King, a leader in the push to defund the health care law. Disgruntled Republicans are further ahead in Michigan, where second-term, tea party-backed Rep. Justin Amash is facing a Republican primary challenger who is more in line with — and being encouraged by — the party establishment. And business interest groups, long aligned with the Republican Party, also are threatening to recruit and fund strong challengers to tea party House members.

In more than a dozen interviews, Republican leaders, officials and strategists at all levels of the party blamed Obama for the shutdown but also faulted tea party lawmakers in the House, who have insisted that any deal to reopen the government be contingent on stripping money for the health care law.

An Associated Press-GfK poll released Wednesday showed why these party loyalists are so concerned: More Republicans told pollsters that the GOP is mishandling the shutdown than is handling it well. And among those who say it's being poorly handled, twice as many Republicans say the party is not doing enough to negotiate with Obama than those who say the party is doing too much.

Party leaders interviewed said the tea party's demands to defund the health care law — and the House leadership's willingness to follow suit — were distracting from what they said is the GOP's best strategy to recover from its 2012 losses: a focus on reducing long-term spending. They said defunding the health care law would not achieve that goal because the money was already flowing to the law.

"At the end of the day, you're fighting legislation that's already passed," said former South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson, describing the fight to defund the health care law as a lost cause.

Republican activists around the country also said in interviews that the shutdown — and House Republicans' demands — have deflected attention from problems with the launch of key parts to the health care bill.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-politics/20131011/US-Shutdown-GOP-Tea-Party/

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Well, Republicans either cut out that cancer that they've been burning to grow since 2010 or that cancer will kill the GOP.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Bob Michel couldn't end the forty years of Democrat rule in the House, but Newt Gingrich did. If you want to be a permanent minority, you just be a gentleman like Michel and roll with the punches, peeling off like minded-members of the other party when you can. If you want to be a majority from time to time, you have to expose the opposition for the corrupt politicians they really are. That is what Gingrich did, and he broke the backs of the Democrats for while. Of course, when you are tipping over the neighbor's trash cans, well, change the rules for one, you change the rules for all.

Edited October 11, 2013 by The Patriot

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Do you believe that the Tea Party is strengthening the Republican brand? Really? All the evidence points in a different direction.

[RGinWA 816]

The tea party is fantastic!

May they have much more success doing absolutely nothing and then creating chaos.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Bob Michel couldn't end the forty years of Democrat rule in the House, but Newt Gingrich did. If you want to be a permanent minority, you just be a gentleman like Michel and roll with the punches, peeling off like minded-members of the other party when you can. If you want to be a majority from time to time, you have to expose the opposition for the corrupt politicians they really are. That is what Gingrich did, and he broke the backs of the Democrats for while. Of course, when you are tipping over the neighbor's trash cans, well, change the rules for one, you change the rules for all.

Gingrich? ? Seriously? ?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The tea party is fantastic!

Yes, the Tea Party is the best campaign the Democrats could ever hope to run.