I don’t know about you, but I am kind of confused right now.
I was furious that the conservatives in Congress did not stand up to remove John Boehner as Speaker of the House. Boehner had just given the lame-duck Democrats control of federal spending through September 2015 in exchange for withheld funding for DHS. Paraphrased: “Duh, okay guys, even though the Democrats lost the election, let’s give them control of the budget for 10 more months, and then they can beat us up in the press for slacking on national security.”
It was just the latest in a long list of conservative policy blunders by Speaker Boehner. I could not understand it at all. My congressman, Mick Mulvaney, justified his vote for Boehner, saying, “This coup today was bound to fail. And in fact, it failed worse than I expected, falling 11 votes short of deposing the Speaker.”
Then he said, “and I was joined today by the likes of Jim Jordan, Raul Labrador, Trey Gowdy, Mark Sanford, Trent Franks, Tom McClintock, Matt Salmon, Tom Price, Sam Johnson, and Jeb Hensarling. If I ‘sold out’ then I did so joined by some of the most tried and tested conservative voices in Washington.”
Hmmm. They were 11 votes short. And Mulvaney was joined by 10 conservatives who were also afraid to vote against Boehner. Seems to me if those ten guys and my guy had voted against Boehner, we would have a new conservative leadership.
I guess maybe these guys learned math via Common Core. But I don’t know.
Anyway, Boehner was confirmed as Speaker. And he immediately started making conservative noises. Then my guy, Mulvaney, made an impassioned speech to Congress in support of his amendment to defund Obama’s executive amnesty – a genuinely conservative act.
I don’t know.
Did Boehner cut a deal behind closed doors to rein in the conservatives? Will he do an abrupt “about face” and start acting like an adult Republican? Have the newly elected Republican congressmen caved in already, or do they have a conservative game plan that they are not telling us about?
I just don’t know.
I’m going to the South Carolina Tea Party convention this week to hear a number of leading conservative thinkers and candidates, and the top right-wing organizations – the Tea Party Patriots, Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party Leadership Fund, Freedomworks, Heritage Action, Dr. Ben Carson, Sen. Ted Cruz, Rep. Louie Gohmert, Rep. Jim Bridenstine, Rick Santorum, Donald Trump, and others – including my guy, Rep. Mick Mulvaney.
Maybe I will get a clearer sense of direction. Until then, I just don’t know!
Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side
I don’t know. I don’t know!
I don’t know where I’m a gonna go
When the volcano blows!
Okay, all you Parrot Heads! Let’s do a little early spring break with Jimmy Buffett!
Rockin' On The Right Side 