Take a look at some of these statements below:
Peter King said Republicans all over the country are going to suffer because of what Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has done: “I don’t care where you’re from, what Ted Cruz is doing is affecting the entire country.” – Rep. Peter King
“When it comes to the tea party’s influence on the GOP, the debt ceiling should be the least of Wall Street’s concerns.” – “How the Tea Party GOP May Force Megabanks to Raise More Capitol,” AEI You’d think perhaps Elizabeth Warren might be of more concern to folks.
“Things were just fine as long as the tea party contented itself with running around in tricorner hats and Uncle Sam costumes on stilts accusing anyone who believed in man-made global warming of being a commie-loving traitor. Good times. We all have to have hobbies.” – “Tea Party is Over for Big Business Republicans,” Daniel Ruth
“I can’t look at the disabled, I can’t look at the poor, I can’t look at the mentally ill, I can’t look at the addicted and think we ought to ignore them,” Kasich said. “For those who live in the shadows of life, for those who are the least among us, I will not accept the fact that the most vulnerable in our state should be ignored. We can help them.” – Ohio’s governor, John Kasich, pushing Medicaid expansion per the ACA
“I had a conversation with one of the members of the legislature the other day. I said, ‘I respect the fact that you believe in small government. I do, too. I also know that you’re a person of faith. Now, when you die and get to the meeting with St. Peter, he’s probably not going to ask you much about what you did about keeping government small. But he is going to ask you what you did for the poor. You better have a good answer.’”– Gov. John Kasich
“I don’t know of anybody in the business community who takes the side of the Taliban minority,” said Dirk Van Dongen, longtime chief lobbyist for the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors
“There are members with a different agenda,” [Rep. Charles] Boustany said Wednesday in an interview in his office. “And I’m not sure they’re Republicans and I’m not sure they’re conservative.”
“Ted Cruz and his Tortilla Coast Republicans are leading us to a default,” a Senate [Republican] aide told TPM
“They hurt the conservative movement, they hurt people’s health care, they hurt the country’s economic situation and they hurt the Republican party,” he says. “And a lot of congressmen and senators are not going to win.” – Grover Norquist
“Right now, tea party extremism contaminates the whole Republican brand. It’s a very interesting question whether a tea party bolt from the GOP might not just liberate the party to slide back to the political center.” – “A Tea Party Exit Would Be a Blessing for the GOP,” David Frum
The entire goal of each statement above appears to be to give up and shrink the tent.
The point being, these people who think they are the wiser part of the party can get annoyed at Ted Cruz, Mike Lee or outside groups such as Heritage Action — but you do it within the family.
If you are so deserving of leadership, you should do the following.
- Don’t piss all over yourself at the hint of challenge to your leadership.
- Stop punching down if these people are truly beneath you.
- Remember great leaders and lead by example. Try it sometime.
- Try not to sound like the left and blame shadowy interests, or start with the assumption that somebody has a personal motivation such as acting from a position of greed or misdoing. Especially if they are doing what all politicians do — raise money. You look like hypocritical clowns. We know you’re better than this, so prove it or new blood will continue to attempt to lead instead.
- It’s not enough to run against something. That include running against the Establishment or against the Tea Party “terrorists.”
- Don’t relish the role of Pet Republican in the media. You aren’t helping and they’ll discard you as soon as you aren’t useful (Hi John McCain!)
- Remember when you are trashing the Tea Party or the Establishment, you’re both trashing Republicans and it will be used as such by the media to further define Republicans as unelectable.
You have to earn the right to lead. It’s not a given. Try winning people over. It’s more fun and guess what? It works.
Blaming everyone but the actual politicians in the House who all bungled this mess by not lining up 218 votes for something better than the Senate deal was stupid. I’d say, yes, while personally I was for negotiating on the ACA — if I got a group to follow me into the fox hole, I would have had a bottom line we all agreed on before we decided to go into the breach.
In the end I would have backed the guys in the foxhole with me and aligned to a single solution. Part of being conservative isn’t just policy. It’s character and being aware that you are on a team, knowing what they’re capable of.
You can blame leadership, moderates, and conservatives for that. None of us were in the room, and we know all sides have an incentive to spin and shift blame. Being cautious of all politicians is a sane response — picking sides among people who are all self-interested isn’t.
To moderates: if it was you who balked at sending a counter — you suck. To conservatives: if you balked at aligning to a final offer that was on the table because somebody would score your vote — you suck.
You should do your job with integrity and a score isn’t as important as backing the guys who went into the breach with you despite their reservations.
Defend your decision and sell it as the best way to get the most conservative offer finalized. No score is a substitute for being a good candidate and politician. Scoring can be somewhat helpful, but you are expected to be a functioning human being. Weigh your options and defend your final decisions.
GOP leadership: if you went into this to “teach people a lesson” — that’s tragic, not leadership. If you went into this without a commitment to which solution your final 218 vote count would support, I don’t even know what to say. You don’t go there.
For everyone else who isn’t a Republican House or Senate member: I’d suggest that passing blame around to everyone but your federal representatives is quite helpful to your representatives — but not for you getting your desired outcome. The buck stops with your representative and not some outside group or a guy on Twitter who has an opinion. So perhaps it might be time for a cease fire since the performance all around was not spectacular.
If the Tea Party is so stupid, I can’t imagine it would be so hard to stop them from ruining everything. I mean if you can’t outwit backwoods anti-science rednecks, who can you beat? Or is it that they might actually be smarter, more educated, and wealthier than you?
A little friendly competition is healthy. Try not to panic and act like a screaming leftist at the thought of it. Oddly enough, it might make you a better candidate.
Happy to continue a dialogue here to aid in getting people to attack the real enemy: the statists (ie Democrats and leftists). Feel free to use the comment section liberally….
Ace was much more eloquent here regarding what divides us.