Some tea party congressmen find signs of political backlash at home

[DonViejo]

Source: WaPo

By Philip Rucker, Published: October 6

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Nearly three years after a band of renegade congressmen brought the tea party insurgency to Washington, there are early rumblings of a political backlash in some of their districts.

Here in the Dutch Reformed country of West Michigan, long a bastion of mainstream, mannerly conservatism, voters in 2010 handed the House seat once held by Gerald R. Ford to Justin Amash, a 33-year-old revolutionary and heir to the libertarian mantle of former congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex.). Amash was part of an attempted coup against House Speaker John A. Boehner (R- Ohio) and is a leader of the House tea party faction that helped force a government shutdown last week.

But within Grand Rapids’ powerful business establishment, patience is running low with Amash’s ideological agenda and tactics. Some business leaders are recruiting a Republican primary challenger who they hope will serve the old-fashioned way — by working the inside game and playing nice to gain influence and solve problems for the district. They are tired of tea party governance, as exemplified by the budget fight that led to the shutdown and threatens a first-ever U.S. credit default.

Similar efforts are underway in at least three other districts — one in the moneyed Detroit suburbs and the others in North Carolina and Tennessee — where business leaders are backing primary campaigns against Republican congressmen who have alienated party leaders. The races mark a notable shift in a party in which most primary challenges in recent years have come from the right.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/some-tea-party-congressmen-find-signs-of-political-backlash-at-home/2013/10/06/d13d698a-2d27-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

[liberal N proud]

1. I don't think this will jar the teabaggers

They are answering to a different constituent than those who are speaking out.

[roguevalley]

35. if enough of them get kicked out the marginals

will man up. if they are shown to be all bullshit and no reality then it will break the spell.

[Cha]

2. I cheer at any signs of a smidgeon of sanity

that wants these Terrorists gone.

thanks DV

[SaveAmerica]

3. I wonder who the NC Reps are that they're trying to get rid of, too?

Has anyone seen any info anywhere?

[Recursion]

4. Republicans will regret statewide gerrymandering

Mark my words.

They should have shored up a bare majority rather than trying to go for a larger one.

Every district you gerrymander makes the other districts you control weaker by that fact.

[Jackpine Radical]

21. Not really--

The ideal objective is to set things up so that a minority of Republicans can control a majority of the seats. The way to do this is to corral all the Dem votes in one district, leaving it 95% Dem, & create surrounding districts that are maybe 55-45 Republican: secure but not overwhelmingly so. They certainly did that in Milwaukee, where Gwen Moore carried her district by 90% or something.

[JCMach1]

29. And today's software for drawing the maps can do that all day... have seen demos of several of them

literally you tell it you want a 55-45 (R) district in Central FL shaped like Mickey Mouse and it will do it.

[Sunlei]

5. republicans count on their little Rs to sign anything they're told to sign.

Spending billions in 'donation' cash, Rs can get their little rs to vote and elect a corpse.

[mgardener]

6. Sorry

They KNEW what they were getting when they elected this idiot.
They knew and they wanted what he was pushing.
And now they have second thoughts?

[Skittles]

36. you have to be careful what you wish for

[AllyCat]

7. Would be great to see Duffy go.

[mtasselin]

14. not soon enough

Great idea, but who can you get to go against this teabagger piece of shit.

[AllyCat]

20. I dunno. That is not where I live, but I have family there.

Planning to pick their brains a bit about who might be a good rep...then travel up there to help them get the person elected since my Rep is a safe Dem seat.

[Jackpine Radical]

22. I dunno which Duffy you're talking about, but Sean Duffy (7th-WI)

got himself Gerrymandered into a redrawn version of the seat Obey had held since the 60's, and I'd dearly love to see him fade into history. I used to be part of the 7th but got Gerrymandered out and into DINO Ron Kind's 3rd in the Republican Coup.

[AllyCat]

23. I was talking about Sean Duffy.

Lots of responses elsewhere are talking about the limitations of gerrymandering. I don't understand it really, but many posters saying it only works for awhile and then the population base changes and they are out again. I just hope we still have a country left when that happens. Any thoughts who might be able to run against Duffy? Someone asked me but I don't live there and am not familiar with the potentials. I have a rep in a safe seat, so would like to come up and pound pavement and visit family

[Jackpine Radical]

25. I haven't heard of anyone stepping forward yet.

I do really hope Julie Lassa sits on her thumbs this time, though. She's a thoroughly uninspiring little DINO.

Pat Kreitlow? I think he still has ambitions, but may have gotten himelf Gerrymandered out of the 7th like I did. He'd have to move a few miles in that case.

[AllyCat]

37. Can we move his house there for him? I'd help if he needs it :)

[vinny9698]

8. Big money is turning against tea party candidates

The Chamber of Commerce is also getting involved in helping to get rid of tea party politicians. Corporations love government spending, they get a lot of money from that.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. ^^THIS^^

They just found their trough emptied because of the loons so they have decided what is more important. Lunacy or the overflowing cornucopia of government $$$.

[Heather MC]

9. We keep blaming Tea Turds but the rest of the party is in Lockstep with them

They are ALL in this together

[vinny9698]

10. Those Repulicans in those safe seats are going to lose the majority

They might have their safe seats, but when you are in the minority in the house you are practically powerless. They need to look at the big picture.

[toby jo]

12. Glad to see the table turning. Hope the process sticks with em.

[workinclasszero]

13. Republicans are idiots

They elected teabag jhadists whose main goals are to destroy the republican party and the government.

They got suckered by Faux news, Palin, limpballs and his minions on Hate radio, etc. F***in knuckle draggers.

[geek tragedy]

15. Selfish but rational is vastly preferable to suicide lemmings nt

[magical thyme]

16. ^^^^ this, exactly

Ayn Rand worshipped at the alter of *rational* selfishness. The means you rationally consider other people in any equation if only because if you don't, and you do trample all over them, they may come back after you. Of course, one big flaw in her "religion" is the assumption that all people are all rational all the time.

They may still worship Ayn Rand, but they recognize that some people are totally lacking in any rationality, are totally psycho nutcase bullies just looking for a fight. And unfortunately for them, that is their teaparty "base."

[Grins]

17. The problem is who shows up to vote

They can want a more old line Republican all they want, but they have to defeat Amash in the primary and that's where the "reasonable" (Bwahahahahah!) Republicans will fail. The 'Baggers will show up and vote for Amash in the primary. The "reasonable" Republicans, not so much.

Pretty much true in every state, esp. in an off-election year.

[WCLinolVir]

18. They have their poison and are now forced to drink it.

[TheOther95Percent]

19. One or Two Nuts Can Be Tolerated by the Monied Class

I thought this would happen in states where the tea jihadis have only a couple of seats relative to their congressional delegation. The monied class relies on government spending.

[lonestarnot]

24. squirm you rat bastards!

[Larkspur]

26. SUN TZU says "never interfere when your enemies fight among themselves, just stand aside"

Democrats and Progressives need to learn Sun Tzu and the Art of War and apply it to politics.

[gopiscrap]

27. Good, I hope they get wasted

[freshwest]

28. The 2014 elections will be irrelevant after a year of default.

The USA will have ceased to exist by that time. A Constitutional convention, or whatever it will be called, will create a governing body written by plutocrats. We can forget everything that happened since the Constitutions was ratified in 1789.

[gopiscrap]

30. That's cheery

[freshwest]

33. It's what the Randians are bragging about now. It makes me very gloomy.

Snippets from a libertarian nutjob I stumbled on this week doing a search on the debt ceiling. Wasn't sure what it was:

Shut the government down for good! Who needs them????

...the "real billionaires and trillionaires" of the world are coming together now - bypassing the traditional banking system, and starting their own thing!

...the "old" system will be saddled with the debt, and fade away. The new system will be able to expand unhindered.

That is what one sees here! The fading away of the old and the beginning of the new! It' a very exciting and fulfilling thing!

I mean, this is beyond gleeful, it's messianic fervor for the end of our government. The see the elderly, disabled and poor as just liabilities to be swept away.

The billionaires and trillionaires don't have a good track record in this regard. I'm working on getting my spirits up today, but reading the Salon article and that, I don't know how this country can stay in one piece with this kind of thinking.

Sorry if you think I'm downing your thread. Just explaing the way it seems to be. We are in the grip of people who hate us.

[Turbineguy]

31. The trick then is for the teabaggers to finish destroying the country

before the next election.

[blkmusclmachine]

32. Whatever happened to the Tea Party/GOPee, last year:

LET HIM DIE!

LET HIM DIE!

LET HIM DIE!

[awoke_in_2003]

34. They made the shit sandwich...

now they have to take a bite.