So a question I’ve been asking myself is why did the Republicans fold on both the shutdown and the debt limit, without getting anything in return?
I think the answer, as usual, has to do with following the money. Campaign contributions to Tea Party members of the House of Representatives dropped significantly because of the shutdown. This happened mainly because corporations realized that the radical Republicans who forced the government to shut down are bad for business. Some business trade groups have even announced that they are looking at backing primary challengers to Tea Party incumbents.
Retailers are worried about the impact that repeated budget confrontations are having on consumer confidence going into the holiday retail season.
What’s truly ironic about this is that the business side of the Republican party has now turned against the Tea Party candidates that they helped elect. Amazingly enough, even the US Chamber of Commerce — which was a huge donor to Tea Party candidates — has announced that they need to “elect people who understand the free market and not silliness“. The fact that they caused this silliness seems lost on them.
Perhaps losing their source of funding will be the only thing that kills off the Tea Party cancer that is trying to destroy this nation.
UPDATE: The Chamber of Commerce CEO takes Ted Cruz to task, saying “Well I don’t know Sen. Cruz. I think of him as a tennis player. You know, if you’re going to rush the net all the time you better have a lot of motion to the left and the right. And he hasn’t proven that to me yet.” And when a reporter suggested that the business community wants Cruz to “sit down and shut up” he responded “Well that might be one thing we could work on.”
2 Comments
I have a room in my house where the birds fly loose. I try to throw the eggs out to avoid too many birds, but they hide nests. So about a month again there was a fledgling who can’t fly and has been scooting around on the floor. And is very healthy in spite of the fact it can’t get to the food. The other birds are keeping it fed.
And I see that as the difference between the Tea Party and the rest of the Nation who take care of our own.
When I hear Republicans saying they want to take back “our” country, I think that means they don’t believe that people who disagree with them are real Americans. They think they represent the majority and by their logic they ARE the majority since anyone who doesn’t agree with them doesn’t count.
EBDOUG is right that a big difference between the Tea Party and the rest of us is we take care of our own. I would like to add that another important difference is who we define as our own. The Tea Party excludes everyone who isn’t bat-shit crazy, even conservative Republicans and don’t take care of anyone. “Mainstream Republican” activists take care of their own which is themselves and their financial base. The rest of us have varying but generally more inclusive definitions of our own. In general I think the dividing line is Republicans limit “their own” to their own self-interests. The rest of us support a union which, at the very least, promotes well being and opportunity for all – including even those we disagree with.
This difference is nothing new. Back in the Nixon years it used to piss me off hearing Republicans scream “America, Love it or leave it.” They thought anyone who disagreed with them didn’t love America.