2013-10-18

GOP Civil War Gets Corporate

Republican Civil War Erupts: Business Groups v. Tea Party
We are going to get engaged,” said Scott Reed, senior political strategist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “The need is now more than ever to elect people who understand the free market and not silliness.” The chamber spent $35.7 million on federal elections in 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based group that tracks campaign spending.
The Tea Party is about to be hit hard. The national media hates them, the Washington establishment hates them, and now the GOP insiders are fed up and will try to destroy them, once and for all.
Meanwhile, two Washington-based groups that finance Tea Party-backed candidates said yesterday they’re supporting efforts to defeat Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran, who voted this week for the measure ending the 16-day shutdown and avoiding a government debt default. Cochran, a Republican seeking a seventh term next year, faces a challenge in his party’s primary from Chris McDaniel, a state senator.

Cochran is at least the seventh Republican senator to face a primary in the 2014 midterms.
The targets of the Tea Party tend to be entrenched insiders who have spent a lifetime in Washington. The Tea Party is accused of extremism, but in reality they aren't as extreme in their political views as they are in terms of practice. The main targets of Tea Party primary efforts are the politicians most seen as cogs in the machine.

To put it succinctly, America is in search of a reform movement. It might be a third party, or it might be an internal movement. But as of today, the GOP is at least 6 years ahead of the Democrats in terms of throwing out the dead wood. Change can come suddenly, so having the advantage here isn't as important, but it does tilt the odds greatly in their favor.

It's too soon to tell if they're finished as a force in politics, but since there's another potential showdown in February and this one cost the GOP, it makes sense for Obama to push for another fight. He will win either way: if the Tea Party fights, they will lose in November. If they don't fight, their supporters will abandon them and they will lose in November.

America wants higher deficits, and it will get them.

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