Monday, May 12, 2014

Republican Establishment Spins Good News over Tea Party Defeat



Liberal rags love to publish op-ed pieces by RINO’s.  For almost a year, the Charlotte Disturber has featured Michael Gerson, a National Journal contributor and notorious establishment apologist, in their Sunday editions.  These two peas have a pod in common, they love bashing Tea Partiers.

Gerson portrays these patriots as a bunch of petulant children stomping their feet and demanding their Constitution.  When reading his articles, you get a sense that Tea Partiers need to have their asses spanked for demanding a bunch of nonsense.  Indeed, after last week’s primaries, Mr. Gerson is outright giddy over their defeat.  Here is an excerpt from his latest:

Tea Party leaders managed to confuse petulant, childish, counterproductive legislative tactics with constitutional fidelity. And Republican leaders finally realized that some Tea Party agendas — list building, fundraising, presidential primary positioning — were inconsistent with their own.
The government shutdown may turn out to have been the high-water mark — the Cemetery Ridge — of the Tea Party movement. In the aftermath, House Speaker John Boehner declared that Tea Party groups had “lost all credibility,” and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell promised that the party would “crush” outsiders targeting incumbents.

We had a government shutdown?  I didn’t notice, except for the Park Service harassing WWII vets on the national mall.  And wasn’t it reported that only one federal employee was laid off?  Again, I ask, what shut down?

Mr. Gerson believes we children need to be governed.  I would say the more apt word is managed.  Here is his condescending parting shot:

The main problem with the Tea Party movement is not tactical or tonal but ideological. Its leaders quote the Constitution to end political discussions: Where do you find the Environmental Protection Agency or the National Institutes of Health or Social Security in the language of the document? Most of the Founding Fathers (particularly the Federalist ones) saw the Constitution as the beginning of a political discussion: How does a free nation employ this remarkable structure to confront its problems and achieve its greatness?
Some quote the Constitution as a substitute for a policy agenda. It is easier, after all, to memorize than to govern. But a majority political party will convincingly address public needs: routine educational failure, increasing higher-education costs, gaps in health coverage and the like. This is what self-government under the Constitution looks like.
Yes, the GOP needs electable candidates. It also needs for those candidates to have something useful and hopeful to say.

Mr. Gerson, here is something useful to say.   Congress has abdicated their constitutional responsibilities.  We have federal bureaucracies running the show, and our elected representatives are the dog and pony show.  I’m not blowing tea party smoke.  The Wall Street Journal published the following:
Washington set a new record in 2013 by issuing final rules consuming 26,417 pages in the Federal Register. While plenty of government employees deserve credit for this milestone, leadership matters. And by this measure President Obama has never been surpassed in the Oval Office.
The latest rule-making tally comes from the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Wayne Crews, who on April 29 will publish his annual review of federal regulation in "Ten Thousand Commandments." This is important work because politicians and the media treat regulation as a largely cost-free public good. Mr. Crews knows better.
Congress may be mired in gridlock, but the federal bureaucracy is busier than ever. In 2013 the Federal Register contained 3,659 "final" rules, which means they now must be obeyed, and 2,594 proposed rules on their way to becoming orders from political headquarters.
The Federal Register finished 2013 at 79,311 pages, the fourth highest total in history. That didn't match President Obama's 2010 all-time record of 81,405 pages. But Mr. Obama can console himself by noting that of the five highest Federal Register page counts, four have occurred on his watch. The other was 79,435 pages under President George W. Bush in 2008.


How’s that for something useful to say, Mr. Establishment Republican?  Here’s another universal truth, you insiders aren’t going to do a damn thing about it.  Try and spin some hope out of that.



No comments: