Petard? Hoisted! Business groups can't control House GOP

[wonky]

From the NYT:

WASHINGTON — As the government shutdown grinds toward a potential debt default, some of the country’s most influential business executives have come to a conclusion all but unthinkable a few years ago: Their voices are carrying little weight with the House majority that their millions of dollars in campaign contributions helped build and sustain.

…

After the 2010 elections, the Chamber and other business interests funneled millions of dollars into Republican redistricting efforts around the country, helping draw overwhelmingly safe Republican districts whose occupants — many among the most conservative House members — are now far less vulnerable to challenges from more moderate Republicans.

…

Now the group’s president, Frank Keating, a former Republican governor from Oklahoma, is among those lamenting Congress’s failure to achieve a deal to avert default. On Thursday, he will testify before the Senate banking committee that “ordinary Americans will bear the brunt of the damage if our leaders do not prevent the United States from defaulting on its debt for the first time in history,” according to an advance copy of his remarks.

Yes, you utter morons. You were so intent on getting them elected you never once paid any attention to what they really wanted. And now they are threatening to take the rest of us down. I wish I could just enjoy this as your comeuppance, and I’m sure I would if it were just you. But it’s the rest of us who are going to suffer more than you.

And you won’t actually learn anything from this, will you?

But other lobbyists cautioned that while individual Republican lawmakers may lose financial support, the business community was unlikely to turn its back on the party over all and that donations would continue to flow to campaign committees set up by Republican leaders in the House, including from Wall Street.

Yeah, I thought not.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

I thought Captain Petard was that guy from Star Trek; he’s in the government now?

[wonky]

@Snowboarder_Bo

I thought Captain Petard was that guy from Star Trek; he’s in the government now?

He’s actually suspended above Washington on a really long pole.

[Euphonious_Polemic]

@jsgoddess

He’s actually suspended above Washington on a really long pole.

And the ironic part is that the pole came from a company that he owned.

[BrainGlutton]

Tom Tomorrow nailed it in 2011.

[BrainGlutton]

@jsgoddess

He’s actually suspended above Washington on a really long pole.

Ah, yes, Stanley Longdongski. Great admirer of his cinematic oeuvre.

[John_Mace]

They are probably [del]laughing[/del] crying all their way to the bank.

[Steve_MB]

@Snowboarder_Bo

I thought Captain Petard was that guy from Star Trek; he’s in the government now?

Yes; he’s in charge of the one government agency that listens to its citizens.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Steve_MB

Yes; he’s in charge of the one government agency that listens to its citizens.

That’s kind of cool, although it doesn’t actually look anything like the Enterprise bridge.

[elucidator]

It is an interesting situation, one I had been pondering for some time. If the money Pubbies yank the chain, is there anyone left on the other end? Apparently so. It appears that the money Pubbies are still in control of the national Party.

Question still unanswered: without fatcat money, like the ubiquitous Koch Brothers, would the Tea Party even exist, effectively? How much money does each individual idiot contribute to the national movement? And, lately, where are they? Where are those massive rallies that Fox doted on so recently? Those people who identify with the Tea Party when polled, how much dues do they pay? And to whom?

Remember Dick Armey’s Tea Party Express, with its tricked out touring buses and professionally managed rallies, with sound stages and whole shebang? Remember how Dick Armey solemnly assured us that the Tea Party was in rock solidarity with Verizon/Comcast during their legal battles?

Who the hell loves the cable company?

Anyway, if you do remember them, forget them. Poof! Gone.

I am not suggesting that there are no Tea Party “members”, only that their numbers and significance is exaggerated by rich guy’s money. They thought they were building Pinnochio but got Frankenstein instead. Serves 'em right, sez me!

But if the Kock Brothers and other unindictable co-conspirators pull out their money…then what?

PS: for shits and giggles, google your local Tea Party, see when and where their rallies are scheduled. The Central Minnesota Tea Party is scheduled to screen some films about the evils of collectivism in a local library this month. And that’s it. One *room *at the local library. For the whole month.

[SteveG1]

The Tea Party and its politicians were bought, paid for, created by the Koch brothers and big money from the very beginning. Now these same people are pretending to distance themselves (or maybe not pretending?) because they suddenly realize they have a loose cannon on their hands. Funny how the very people who “had nothing to do with it” are now back peddling like motherfuckers. The rest of the GOP is now trying to not get devoured too. Well, they were fine and dandy with it too, as long as they thought they could cash in and call the shots.

They all deserve each other, but the way it works, they will never pay for it. Everyone else will.

[bup]

@NYT

But other lobbyists cautioned that while individual Republican lawmakers may lose financial support, the business community was unlikely to turn its back on the party over all (sic) and that donations would continue to flow to campaign committees set up by Republican leaders in the House, including from Wall Street.

Even the New York Times can’t English right [del]any more[/del] anymore.

[Kimstu]

@bup

@NYT

But other lobbyists cautioned that while individual Republican lawmakers may lose financial support, the business community was unlikely to turn its back on the party over all (sic) and that donations would continue to flow to campaign committees set up by Republican leaders in the House, including from Wall Street.

Even the New York Times can’t English right [del]any more[/del] anymore.

Maybe they meant that the plutes would not be turning their backs on the Party Over All, as in Partei über Alles.
(“Ve are hier zu par-tei.”)

[John_Mace]

@Kimstu

Maybe they meant that the plutes would not be turning their backs on the Party Over All, as in Partei über Alles.
(“Ve are hier zu par-tei.”)

Many Republican speeches do sound better in the original German.
Paraphrased from the late, great Molly Ivens, of course.

[Hentor_the_Barbarian]

@jsgoddess

He’s actually suspended above Washington on a really long pole.

Or more aptly blown up by his own little bomb.

[QuickSilver]

@John_Mace

Many Republican speeches do sound better in the original German.
Paraphrased from the late, great Molly Ivens, of course.

Snerk!

[Grrr]

Alright, I wouldn’t expect the lords of finance to come running to the Dems for support, but couldn’t they at least back moderate Repubs instead of the bat shit crazy Tea Party?

[BrainGlutton]

@Shakes

Alright, I wouldn’t expect the lords of finance to come running to the Dems for support, but couldn’t they at least back moderate Repubs instead of the bat shit crazy Tea Party?

Well, it’s not that simple.

[Measure_for_Measure]

@Shakes

Alright, I wouldn’t expect the lords of finance to come running to the Dems for support, but couldn’t they at least back moderate Repubs instead of the bat shit crazy Tea Party?

The professional class is trending Democratic. The uber-rich won’t have their lifestyle tweaked too much by a rise from a 28% to 35% capital gains rates. The deal the Dems can deliver them is rational reality-based policies in exchange for somewhat higher taxes. Eisenhower could offer the same, but the moderate Republican wing is extinct. We know this when we see Collins taking the economy hostage, albeit in a softer way. The debt ceiling has been used as a blackmail effort twice in American history: the first case was under Gingrich and the second is today. Collins is fully behind this, as she seeks to extend the debt ceiling for a mere 4 months.

4 months! And that’s the most centrist Republican on tap.

[PatriotX]

@elucidator

PS: for shits and giggles, google your local Tea Party, see when and where their rallies are scheduled. The Central Minnesota Tea Party is scheduled to screen some films about the evils of collectivism in a local library this month. And that’s it. One *room *at the local library. For the whole month.

The “Meetings” section of my county’s tea party says “Next Meeting: Monday, May 13, 2013”