Posted on 06/15/2014 6:45:34 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
No matter what happens next week, the full slate of leaders will face another vote in November or early December after the midterms. Conservative challengers who passed on this rapid race now have more than five months to prepare anew and build up their base of support within the conference.
In his Thursday statement announcing his decision not to run, Hensarling said he had concluded that this was “not the right race at the right time” – a signal he is keeping his options open and could challenge McCarthy or Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in the fall.
Even before Cantor’s loss, the conference’s right flank was already gunning for Boehner, who reiterated to his members on Wednesday that he plans to seek a third term with the gavel after the elections.
One conservative operative, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Labrador’s move to challenge McCarthy now could set up another, more serious race in the fall, if only by denying McCarthy the coronation he was expecting.
“Labrador stepping into the void really does lay the groundwork,” the operative said. “The predicate is there for something to happen in November.”
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is expected to become the next House majority leader on Thursday, but he shouldn’t get too comfortable in his new digs.
House Republicans say the new leadership hierarchy that emerges next week after lawmakers vote won’t necessarily be the one the party keeps after the midterm elections.
“We’ll have a whole new set of circumstances in the leadership elections after the November elections,” Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) said this week. “I don’t think this settles things permanently.”
“I think there are those that are ambitious,” he added, “and once the elections are over, they’ll be looking at opportunities.”
The surprise primary defeat on Tuesday of Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and his subsequent resignation as leader set in motion a swift election to replace him.
That quick turnaround gave a leg up to McCarthy, who had been preparing for years for a leadership battle. And it caused a trio of conservatives who had been mulling a run – Reps. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.), Pete Sessions (R-Texas), and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) – to ultimately pass on the race.
McCarthy drew a late-entering challenger in second-term Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) on Friday, but the current majority whip remains the heavy favorite to win the secret ballot election.
The decision by so many top conservatives to stand down frustrated activists, who have noted that McCarthy, as judged by his voting record, is even less conservative than Cantor.
“House conservatives have made some fiery stands,” RedState’s Erick Erickson wrote on Friday. “They have undermined their leadership repeatedly doing what is right though not convenient or popular. But when it comes to suddenly standing up and being willing to lead, they pretend they are focused on the next time. Their delays routinely cost them.
“House Republicans have become their own caricature,” the conservative blogger continued in a mocking tone. “They want to sabotage, they want to obstruct, but God help them if you ask them to stand up and lead. But don’t worry. They will next time.”
No matter what happens next week, the full slate of leaders will face another vote in November or early December after the midterms. Conservative challengers who passed on this rapid race now have more than five months to prepare anew and build up their base of support within the conference.
In his Thursday statement announcing his decision not to run, Hensarling said he had concluded that this was “not the right race at the right time” – a signal he is keeping his options open and could challenge McCarthy or Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in the fall.
Even before Cantor’s loss, the conference’s right flank was already gunning for Boehner, who reiterated to his members on Wednesday that he plans to seek a third term with the gavel after the elections.
One conservative operative, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Labrador’s move to challenge McCarthy now could set up another, more serious race in the fall, if only by denying McCarthy the coronation he was expecting.
“Labrador stepping into the void really does lay the groundwork,” the operative said. “The predicate is there for something to happen in November.”
Whoever wins the race to replace McCarthy as whip could also be vulnerable. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), as McCarthy’s chief deputy, is not seen as a favorite of conservatives. Another top contender, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), now leads the conservative Republican Study Committee, but should he win, he would be going from an organization whose mission is to push the leadership into a position as the party’s chief enforcer and vote-counter.
While more conservative than McCarthy or Roskam, Scalise has never been closely aligned with the conference’s Tea Party faction, and he was viewed as the leadership’s choice to lead the RSC when he took over last year. He would face immediate pressure to deliver for conservatives, such as by using his new clout in leadership to make good on one of his top priorities as RSC chairman: bringing an ObamaCare replacement bill to a vote.
That, sadly, is the case with most Tea Party heroes. Or maybe they can just count, or maybe they know no one under any conditions is going to stop this train from wrecking.
Elections help—but we are so far gone, it will just buy us some time. The effects of 1994 didn’t last long. The system corrupts them faster than we can vote them out. Boehner was a Gingrich lieutenant—and Newt was actually a conservative. Elections are not the final answer—we need structural change. The corruption is so pervasive and profound nothing less than a return to our Constitution can cleanse it.
Article V. Ping
http://conventionofstates.com/
We went past the ballot box in Nov 2012. The corruption in govt is top to bottom and controlled by progressives. Only a total reset will save America.
Conservatives remain a minority in the Boehner House, a precious commodity that must be cautious just to maintain, until they can grow their numbers. Sending more re-enforcements into the chamber in November will surely strengthen their hand.
Boehner must declare for a third term for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which has to be pressure from some of his bed pardners and chamber of commerce machine men.
After all, together with McConnell in the trusty senate, be certain of this, a plan is abreast to obliterate the Tea Party. The target of conservative wrath has been hit, with some regularity, now shocked and deeply wounded by the Cantor loss, leaving the Establishment very last gasp dangerous.
PS. What I have seen of Jim Jordan and Jacob Chaffitz, certainly Trey Gowdy, is a vision of action over rhetoric. They are leading in the House by example.
Pete Sessions TX needs to be kept away from power at all cost.
“The system corrupts them faster than we can vote them out.”
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Profoundly true. Good post.
“a plan is abreast to obliterate the Tea Party. The target of conservative wrath has been hit, with some regularity, now shocked and deeply wounded by the Cantor loss, leaving the Establishment very last gasp dangerous.”
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Well said. The GOPe can launch a full-on assault against the Tea Party knowing that it has the liberal media and Chamber of Commerce squarely behind it.
IMHO the Tea Party is wasting its time trying operate within the Republican Party. The GOP has deeply intrenched interests with significant financial resources that are just too great to overcome. Those forces are and always will be proponents and beneficiaries of BIG GOVERNMENT. Attempting to take over or influence the party just isn’t going to happen.
it’s all politics... everyone is political... even the conservatives...
Let me ask you, did you hear Lindsay Graham on Face the Nation (FTN)?
The man is convincing especially when one sentence out of the 100 establishment mantra statements bothers to mention “secure the border first”.
I am at a loss why Graham and everyone else in the Establishment doesn’t expand on “closing the border first”, rather than beating up the airways harranguing against the Tea Party for alienating the natural partners for conservatism—the Hispanic voter.
And why they don't send those billions of $ to secure the border.
Or have the illegal kids work off their crime by digging a trench across the entire southern border since that “fence” we now have is a joke.
No, didn’t see him on FTN but then again I generally try to avoid listening to him at anytime. Graham is just another GOP doubletalker.
The GOP is full of big government types like him who are not the least bit interested in decreasing the size and scope of government. I wish the Tea Party would just quit the GOP altogether.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Thanks. Once they get to Washington, the leadership tells them what the game is really about: power and money. Not many have the strength to turn down the opportunity to become a millionaire on the public dime.
Exactly. Nothing less than an overhaul will do. “Progressivism” has to be flushed completely.
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