tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post3548568657696160663..comments2023-10-16T07:13:12.123-05:00Comments on A plain blog about politics: More on 1995/2011Jonathan Bernsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-21917703023346854772010-10-09T23:33:34.027-05:002010-10-09T23:33:34.027-05:00Matt,
Awful hard to tell which pols really believ...Matt,<br /><br />Awful hard to tell which pols really believe their own rhetoric, and which are just committed to using it for whatever political reasons. What I would say is that if it's the former, it may be possible for a good Speaker to educate them; if the latter, probably not.Jonathan Bernsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-42818241777253505512010-10-08T16:07:58.756-05:002010-10-08T16:07:58.756-05:00Boehner will keep his foot out his mouth but I dou...Boehner will keep his foot out his mouth but I doubt he can keep his entire caucus from doing the same when it includes people like Bachmann. Even if congressmen say nothing wild there is still Mama Grizzly. Do you really think she will spend two years out of the limelight by not saying anything to embarrass Boenher? If I worked in the White House I would treat the Pitbull as the head of the GOP.<br /><br />Fox News, Limbaugh and Beck are in the entertainment business. They also do not care about offending the majority of the country. They care mainly about good ratings for themselves. They will give a platform to Palin, Bachmann and company if they say anything wild to get attention.Mercernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-34277182208710019202010-10-08T15:27:36.538-05:002010-10-08T15:27:36.538-05:00Boehner might go over the side much quicker than y...Boehner might go over the side much quicker than you think. <br /><br />McConnell as well.<br /><br />Notice that amidst all the hoo hah and whining about the Tea Party, politics is taking on a more retail flavor. The committed ideologues you're decrying here are connected more closely to the electorate as a result.<br /><br />That electorate knows what it wants... and it isn't spending at 25% of GDP and trillion dollar deficits, borrowed from the Chinese.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-16012822327974478942010-10-08T15:26:13.705-05:002010-10-08T15:26:13.705-05:00Is the Tea Party comparable to Ralph Reed, Gary Ba...Is the Tea Party comparable to Ralph Reed, Gary Bauer and the rest of the Christian Coalition types of the late '80s? I recall that the religious right threatened to splinter at that time, and it seems as though the issue has been addressed by moving the party significantly to the evangelical right...(regrettably, in this RINO's opinion). This evangelizing of the party may have silenced the separatists among the religious conservatives.<br /><br />Will the Republicans have to become deficit hawks to mollify the Tea Party crowd? I agree in the abstract that the support of the Foxy/talk radio media machine, together with the experience of the new leadership, could allow Boehner et al to skate around actually doing anything about the deficit while still romancing the Tea Partiers.<br /><br />But if the Tea Partiers are as insistent as the Christian right was 20 years ago, that could make things awfully dicey for Boehner and Co.CSHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-65163878170946331042010-10-08T14:35:49.707-05:002010-10-08T14:35:49.707-05:00A glimpse at these tensions as they're already...A glimpse at these tensions as they're already developing (the URL itself tells the story):<br /><br />http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/tea-party-leader-slams-cantor-for-taking-government-shutdown-off-the-table.phpJeffnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-84345163918571719812010-10-08T14:27:15.713-05:002010-10-08T14:27:15.713-05:00Sorry, it WASN'T just Newt's personality, ...Sorry, it WASN'T just Newt's personality, it should say above.Matt Jarvisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-20257296211158321502010-10-08T14:26:24.191-05:002010-10-08T14:26:24.191-05:00I think Boehner faces a tougher problem than you g...I think Boehner faces a tougher problem than you give him credit for. He doesn't face "an entire conference absolutely terrified of their primary electorates." He faces maybe 2/3 or 3/4 of a conference like that.<br />The other 1/4-1/3 of the conference won't be SCARED of their primary electorates, but has consumed the Kool Aid themselves. <br />This was also part of Newt's problem. It was just his personality; he also helped bring to DC a bunch of people who were, quite frankly, committed ideologues. Thus, in 1998, a handful of these ideologues could toss him overboard. Boehner will be facing a minority of insane nutjobs inside his own conference, people with whom there will be no compromise. <br />How is this different? Primary-pressured members want cover. Ideologues want their policies, and only those. You can buy off pressured members with promises of campaign support, with public statements, and with horse-trading. You can't buy off the ideologues, especially on the issues that motivate them.<br /><br />If the GOP holds on for a few years, Boehner will very likely meet the same fate as Gingrich, though he'll be hoisted on somebody else's petard.Matt Jarvisnoreply@blogger.com