Conservative rift laid bare as Boehner rips into Tea Party over budget strategy

Angry speaker says rightwing lobby groups have 'lost all credibility' after attempts to stir up opposition to a budget deal

theguardian.com, Dan Roberts in Washington, Thursday 12 December 2013

John Boehner: "They are misleading their followers. Frankly, I just think they
have lost all credibility." Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

The schism at the heart of conservative politics in the US was laid bare on Thursday when John Boehner, the speaker of the House of Representatives, launched a stinging attack on the collection of rightwing lobby groups that hold sway over the fundamentalist wing of the Republican party.

Boehner, who was the public face of the disastrous strategy to shut down the federal government earlier this year, said the groups had “lost all credibility” in their attempts to stir up opposition to a new budget deal, announced this week.

Boehner’s comments suggest that moderate voices in the Republican party now feel emboldened to speak out against the strategy embodied by Tea Party-backed figures such as Ted Cruz, the firebrand Texas senator who advocated the shutdown in a failed attempt to hobble President Obama’s healthcare reforms.

Speaking in advance of a vote on the $1tn budget deal agreed this week, Boehner revealed the depth of the Republican dispute in unusually stark language, accusing Washington groups such as Heritage Action and Club for Growth of deliberately mischaracterising the agreement as a “sellout” even though it lowered the federal deficit.

“They are misleading their followers. They are pushing their members in places they don't want to be and, frankly, I just think they have lost all credibility,” he told reporters at a press conference.

Boehner has stepped up his attacks on the right in the past few days, accusing them of opposing the deal before they had even found out what was in it.

"They're using our members and they are using the American people for their own goals. This is ridiculous," he said outside a meeting of Republican leaders in Congress on Tuesday.

But as it became clear that he would receive sufficient support from House Democrats to pass the budget on Wednesday without the support of Tea Party Republicans, Boehner ratcheted up his rhetoric and revealed his frustration with the direction they had dragged his party this year.

“They pushed us into this fight to defund Obamacare and to shut down the government,” he added. “Most of you know that wasn't exactly the strategy I had in mind. But if you recall, the day before the government reopened one of these groups stood up and said 'Well, we never really thought it would work'. Are you kidding me?!”

He was apparently referring to Heritage Action, the activist wing of the Heritage Foundation, which first threatened to downgrade its “score” of Republican congressman if they voted to end October's shutdown, but then suggested waiting until 2017 to continue the fight against Obamacare once it appeared the strategy was alienating voters.

Heritage, led by former South Carolina senator Jim DeMint, has been similarly critical of any budget compromise this time around, calling Monday's deal struck by former conservative champion Paul Ryan “woefully inadequate”.

But Boehner's attack appears to have irked the group. “We would welcome a fact-based discussion with Speaker Boehner over what he disagrees with in our statement,” said Heritage Action's chief executive Mike Needham after the stormy press conference.

It has been no secret that Boehner felt bounced into the shutdown strategy by the right of his party, but this is the first time the schism has burst into open, and suggests moderate Republicans have been emboldened by the failure of the shutdown strategy and the sight of someone with the conservative credentials of Paul Ryan leading compromise negotiations.

Asked if he wanted conservative groups to stop lobbying altogether, Boehner snapped: “I don't care what they do”, adding: “I am conservative as anyone around this place.”

He also admitted he was feeling in a much stronger position at the end of year, having apparently seen off attempts by the right to oust him as speaker. “I think there are a lot of lessons learned over the course of this year. Lot of lessons learned over the last three years. And a I do feel in a better place.”

Nevertheless, the Republican party civil war is unlikely to subside any time soon. On Monday, Tea Party activists announced they were launching another attempt to oust a sitting Republican criticised as being too conciliatory. The primary challenge against Texas senator John Cornyn means much of the party's leadership in the Senate now faces a battle from within their own ranks before next year's midterm elections.

Related Articles:

US lower house approves budget compromise that would avoid a shutdown for next two years

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…5 - Integrity That May Surprise…

Number five: There will be those who think it impossible to have a search for integrity and fairness in all things. In other words, Human Beings will not simply go with what they are told is the status quo. They will look at it and they will say, "Well, I think it could be better. I'm going to look around for something that has more integrity and fairness." Yes, there will be those who tell you, "Look, the institutions hold all the cards and you have to do it their way. If you want health insurance or you want loans from the banks for your home, you better do it their way." I have news for you. Even this is going to change.

"What are you going to do?" the Human asks. "They hold all the power!" In the past, there was nothing you could do. Now I'll tell you what the potentials are. You're going to pull out the puzzle and look past the walls of the maze. You're going to say, "Well, then I'll start my own institution." And some will. The new institutions, based on integrity, will sweep right past an old energy. In other words, there will be those who are young today who are going to start a new way of banking, a new way of health care, and a new way of insurance. And when you see these plans, you'll say, "Why didn't we think of that?"

Have you seen innovation and invention in the past decade that required thinking out of the box of an old reality? Indeed, you have. I can't tell you what's coming, because you haven't thought of it yet! But the potentials of it are looming large. Let me give you an example, Let us say that 20 years ago, you predicted that there would be something called the Internet on a device you don't really have yet using technology that you can't imagine. You will have full libraries, buildings filled with books, in your hand - a worldwide encyclopedia of everything knowable, with the ability to look it up instantly! Not only that, but that look-up service isn't going to cost a penny! You can call friends and see them on a video screen, and it won't cost a penny! No matter how long you use this service and to what depth you use it, the service itself will be free.

Now, anyone listening to you back then would perhaps have said, "Even if we can believe the technological part, which we think is impossible, everything costs something. There has to be a charge for it! Otherwise, how would they stay in business?" The answer is this: With new invention comes new paradigms of business. You don't know what you don't know, so don't decide in advance what you think is coming based on an old energy world.

The Unthinkable… Politics, A Review

Humans will begin to search for integrity and fairness and it's going to happen in the places you never expect. I said this last week, so this is a review. There'll come a time when you will demand this of your politics - fairness and integrity. So when the candidates start calling each other names, you will turn your back on them and they won't get any votes. They're going to get the point real fast, don't you think? How about that?

Let me give you another potential. This country that I sit in right now [USA] will set the mold for that particular attribute. I have no clock. Watch for the youngsters to set this in motion, and they will, for they are the voters of tomorrow and they do not want the energy of today. To some of them, it's so abominable they won't even register to vote in this energy. You're going to see this soon. That was number five.. ..."