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.
Thousands of Americans were unable to shop for health insurance on the online marketplaces when they went live on Oct. 1 because of software glitches. And, these Republicans say, the GOP in Washington — and specifically tea party House members — got in the way of the troubled rollout, which the GOP could have seized on if the government were still open.
"We're not saying Obama is right. We're saying what Republicans are doing is wrong," said Matt Cox, a former executive director of Ohio's Cuyahoga County GOP. He said that instead of pursuing the shutdown strategy, Republicans in Washington could have passed — and taken credit for — a spending measure that kept dollar levels at those set by the automatic $1.2 trillion across-the-board cut approved last year, also called the sequester.
Generally, these Republicans said that because of the tea party's effort to defund the health care law, the Republican Party had missed an opportunity to hammer Obama after he hit a rough patch over Syria just a month ago.
Former Illinois state Sen. Laura Douglas wants to believe that the holdouts can win. But she has her doubts.
"My heart says, 'Keep fighting, don't give up,'" said Douglas, a resident of Quincy in western Illinois. "But my head says, 'If we keep this kind of thing up, we're going to get creamed next year.'"
Her worries are reflected in the AP-GfK poll. Roughly three-quarters of Republicans nationally said their party in Congress deserves a moderate degree or most of the blame for the shutdown.
Establishment GOPers assail tea party on shutdown - Yahoo Finance
I've said it over and over again. The Republicans allowed the savages from the Tea Party to take over and they'll be paying for it next election. As ****ty as it sounds, say hello to a weak GOP house, a Democratic Senate and another Democratic president next year guys. Thank the Tea Party for it. The best part is that the Tea Party fans will come here and tell me 75% of Republican are traitors or RINOs - insurgents to the cause or better yet blame the media for all the negative coverage the GOP hijacking is taking.
Bring it on
Time to sweep out of Socialists in the GOP anyways
Establishment GOPers assail tea party on shutdown - Yahoo Finance
I've said it over and over again. The Republicans allowed the savages from the Tea Party to take over and they'll be paying for it next election. As ****ty as it sounds, say hello to a weak GOP house, a Democratic Senate and another Democratic president next year guys. Thank the Tea Party for it. The best part is that the Tea Party fans will come here and tell me 75% of Republican are traitors or RINOs - insurgents to the cause or better yet blame the media for all the negative coverage the GOP hijacking is taking.
I'm surprised you didn't use "fascist". Good job on expanding that vocabulary.
Hehe, yeah, the Tea Party repubs control the house, all 18 of them. :lamo
Hehe, yeah, the Tea Party repubs control the house, all 18 of them. :lamo
Establishment GOPers assail tea party on shutdown - Yahoo Finance
I've said it over and over again. The Republicans allowed the savages from the Tea Party to take over and they'll be paying for it next election. As ****ty as it sounds, say hello to a weak GOP house, a Democratic Senate and another Democratic president next year guys. Thank the Tea Party for it. The best part is that the Tea Party fans will come here and tell me 75% of Republican are traitors or RINOs - insurgents to the cause or better yet blame the media for all the negative coverage the GOP hijacking is taking.
Establishment GOPers assail tea party on shutdown - Yahoo Finance
I've said it over and over again. The Republicans allowed the savages from the Tea Party to take over and they'll be paying for it next election. As ****ty as it sounds, say hello to a weak GOP house, a Democratic Senate and another Democratic president next year guys. Thank the Tea Party for it. The best part is that the Tea Party fans will come here and tell me 75% of Republican are traitors or RINOs - insurgents to the cause or better yet blame the media for all the negative coverage the GOP hijacking is taking.
I sometimes wonder if the republicans are just a little smarter than we give them credit for in forming the tea party. This is kinda conpiricy theory type stuff, but it fits. Republicans have had great success with blaming the "left wing media" every time they fail, so why not add yet another scapegoat, and one even more useful. Convince the uneducated that they are forming a movement on vague, patriotic jingo. Put your people in charge. Choose outlandishly extreme positions and candidates so that your basic negotiating position is far more extreme than usual, then meet in the middle in negotiations, getting more than usual. When people realize tea party positions are retarded, disown them and blame everything on them. It is win-win for republicans.
Hatuey said:I always find it interesting that self-professed Canadians, the more patriotic the better, are fixated to an unhealthy extent on the inner workings of the United States. It's as if they have virtually no voice in their own country so they have to find someone, anyone, who may actually listen to them.
I'm pretty sure you could find a few lost souls in the US who'd give you a quote negative to Canada, or any number of Canadian "policy" positions, but Americans really don't give a rats ass about the inner workings of the Canada - we're not real fascinated with igloo inhabiting rednecks.
Lolz.
I've said it over and over again. The Republicans allowed the savages from the Tea Party to take over and they'll be paying for it next election.
Canada...is that in Alaska?
May I show you examples of a small group of people leading and manipulating a larger number?
Establishment GOPers assail tea party on shutdown - Yahoo Finance
I've said it over and over again. The Republicans allowed the savages from the Tea Party to take over and they'll be paying for it next election. As ****ty as it sounds, say hello to a weak GOP house, a Democratic Senate and another Democratic president next year guys. Thank the Tea Party for it. The best part is that the Tea Party fans will come here and tell me 75% of Republican are traitors or RINOs - insurgents to the cause or better yet blame the media for all the negative coverage the GOP hijacking is taking.
In other words, the decades of irresponsible, self-serving, destructive policies pushed by the "establishment Republicans" - only to be pushed harder and farther by Democrats, when it's their turn - that happy time may be coming to an end? The proverbial "screeching halt"?
Good. Like, the best news in a long, long time.
I have to do some math, to see how much I can donate in the coming electoral season, but I am almost sure that at least some of the "tea party darlings" - like Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Justin Amash, Thomas Massie, Chris Christie, Charlie Baker (MA) - will get my (even if mostly symbolic) support.
Doesn't mean that I agree with any of them on everything - but they have earned some appreciation. Much to my surprise, I have to say.
I sometimes wonder if the republicans are just a little smarter than we give them credit for in forming the tea party. This is kinda conpiricy theory type stuff, but it fits. Republicans have had great success with blaming the "left wing media" every time they fail, so why not add yet another scapegoat, and one even more useful. Convince the uneducated that they are forming a movement on vague, patriotic jingo. Put your people in charge. Choose outlandishly extreme positions and candidates so that your basic negotiating position is far more extreme than usual, then meet in the middle in negotiations, getting more than usual. When people realize tea party positions are retarded, disown them and blame everything on them. It is win-win for republicans.
Edit: and before some one gets confused, the above is satire, though you gotta admit it is scarey believable.
In the house, yeah sure, go for it. But make sure that small number doesn't include party leadership in your example.
Pretend you weren't going to support guys who support legal prostitution, legalizing drugs and a general return to 1900s corporatist America. Please, please pretend.
Yes, you have said it over and over again and you are just as wrong each time. The shutdown will have zero impact on 20124 and even less on 2016. But you could clarify something for me, however. Aside from pure hyperbolic nonsense, what do you mean by calling Tea Party members savages? That just makes you sound stupid.Establishment GOPers assail tea party on shutdown - Yahoo Finance
I've said it over and over again. The Republicans allowed the savages from the Tea Party to take over and they'll be paying for it next election. As ****ty as it sounds, say hello to a weak GOP house, a Democratic Senate and another Democratic president next year guys. Thank the Tea Party for it. The best part is that the Tea Party fans will come here and tell me 75% of Republican are traitors or RINOs - insurgents to the cause or better yet blame the media for all the negative coverage the GOP hijacking is taking.
May I show you examples of a small group of people leading and manipulating a larger number?
One guy - leading both the Senate and the House into a witch hunt.
Joseph McCarthy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
May I show you examples of a small group of people leading and manipulating a larger number?
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