The decision on the part of House Republicans -- the tea party Republicans -- to end the payroll tax relief reflects just how much they have become a part of the Washington, DC, culture they were elected to destroy.
House Republicans were gearing up to ditch a bipartisan Senate bill on Tuesday that would extend a federal payroll tax holiday for two months, charging that the deal represented the old ways of doing business that they were elected to change.
For the first time in a month of partisan sparring over the tax break, neither party appeared confident that the issue would be resolved, averting a January tax increase for 160 million American workers.
“We were elected for a reason,” freshman Rep. Renee L. Ellmers (R-N.C.) said after a Republican huddle in a Capitol basement meeting room Monday night. “That was because the American people were tired of business as usual.” ...WaPo
But wait a minute. "Business as usual" describes a Congress entrenched in a culture of self-regard, negativism, and blindness to the needs of the nation in favor of its own desires. Haven't the tea party Republicans become, in a very short time, the epitome of of "business as usual?"
We watched as the original tea party movement was coopted by Washington -- Dick Armey and Freedom Works -- and by corporate dollars. Now we watch as tea party offspring do the bidding of Washington's political cliques and money behind them.
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Sophmoric? That's how Dana Milbank sees the "freshmen" Republicans. And as Boehner destroyers.
The House Republican freshmen have become a bit tipsy with power, and freshman Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) on Tuesday boasted at a news conference that his class is “performing more like sophomores now than freshmen.” Actually, their performance is more sophomoric than anything, but they’ve been able to deliver a string of insults to Boehner, most notably the July revolt that forced the speaker to pull his debt-limit plan from the floor. If Boehner needs any more evidence he’s out of style in his party, he can ponder the rise in the presidential race of Newt Gingrich, the man Boehner tried to depose from the speakership 15 years ago, losing his leadership position in the process. ...WaPo
And they are quite successful with their destroy-Boehner routine.
What did he make of the fact that 90 percent of the Senate supported the compromise? Boehner, in reply, demanded to know why “we always have to go to the lowest common denominator” — which is exactly what he had done in letting his backbenchers lead him.
The speaker denied the obvious truth that he had encouraged the compromise before opposing it. He licked his lips, gave a “thanks, everybody” and disappeared. ...WaPo
Lately the Speaker hasn't looked tanned as much as he looks tea-stained.
