Whoa. The new thread about Rand Paul says that Sessions voted with all Republicans except Mitch to BACK Obama. Please explain. Thanks! Bob
Sessions is and always has been against passing of the TPP/TPA trade deal:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3289331/posts
Yesterday, led by Alabama’s principled limited constitutional conservative Senator Jeff Sessions, a small band of the Senate’s “populist conservative” Republicans joined with Democrats to, temporarily at least, derail the “fast track” Trade Promotion Authority bill (TPA) now working its way through Congress.
The TPA bill is backed by a strange alliance of Big Business, establishment Republicans and, wait for it – Barack Obama.
Only one Democrat, Sen. Tom Carper, voted for the bill.
The Wall Street Journal attacked conservatives opposing the bill as “No-Growth Republicans,” but the clear winner in the battle so far has been Senator Sessions, who has deftly managed to build a coalition of conservatives and Democrats around the sensible idea that if the government is going to manage trade it should be managed in a way that benefits American workers, which it clearly hasn’t been for the past two decades in Sessions’ analysis.
The WSJ editorial board attacked Sessions’ recent and well-reasoned “critical alert” about the interconnected TPA and TPP deals, insulting him as an “Alabama tub-thumper” and “protectionist politician” who is “indulging in the classic tactic of the anti-trade movement: scare mongering.”
The Journal, without offering any facts to support its argument, wrote too that Sessions’ conservative economic populism “is no way to rebuild a conservative majority.”
But in our friend Matt Boyle’s analysis “It wasn’t until Sessions forcibly took control of the party message heading into the 2014 midterm elections that Republicans won big time, taking back the U.S. Senate and enlarging their House majority. That only came after a year plus of GOP infighting while Ryan, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush joined forces with Democrats like Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), pushing open borders immigration policies coupled with amnesty via the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill.”
While the Senate passed the bill in a bloody process, noted Boyle, the House never took up the immigration bill—and the 113th Congress came and went without any amnesty passed into law.
Republicans won big as they railed against President Obama’s then-just-planned executive amnesty—which he went ahead and did anyway despite every inside-the-beltway political prognosticator being wrong about the necessity of Gang of Eight style “immigration reform” for the GOP’s survival as a political party Boyle concluded.
And Boyle is right – almost all of the Republican candidates for President have come out against all or part of the Big Business open borders agenda – the notable exceptions being Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush.
From Scott Walker to Bobby Jindal to Carly Fiorina and Donald Trump Republican presidential candidates have been lining up to oppose TPA too – and those who have voiced some support for the concept – like Ted Cruz – who is good on the rest of the populist conservative agenda, quickly felt the heat.
No wonder The Wall Street Journal is on a rampage against Sessions.
The “donor class” of the Republican (and Democratic) Party that the Wall Street Journal editorial board represents—who Sessions calls the “Masters of the Universe”—are losing influence in a big way over the Republican Party says Matt Boyle.
Matt Boyle is right. While the Wall Street – Washington – Silicon Valley Axis still clearly has a stranglehold over most of the congressional GOP leadership, on the campaign trail—especially the Republican presidential nomination contest—they’re losing control while Sessions’ populism is taking over. No matter what polls you look at it, it’s a similar situation. So it’s quite clear, for now, Sessions is winning his war against the “Masters of the Universe.” That’s why Wall Street, and its journal, are trembling.
To read Matt Boyle’s detailed analysis of the rise of the Jeff Sessions brand of conservative populism in “JEFF SESSIONS RISING: WALL STREET LOSING CONTROL OVER REPUBLICAN PARTY HEADING INTO 2016” click the link.