Brat victory sure to pull Roskam further right
There was good news and bad for career right wing politician Peter Roskam in Dave Brat's stunning Tea Party victory over House GOP Majority Leader Eric Cantor (VA-7) yesterday. As House GOP Chief Deputy Whip, Roskam is likely to move up at least one position from his current No.4 spot. That's the good news.
The bad news is that Roskam, as well as every GOP leader, must pause to see the danger in Tea Party extremist Brat knocking off a fellow GOP powerhouse like Cantor. Brat's extremism in reflected in his single issue fanaticism demonizing the undocumented, and by extension all Latinos, in hammering away at Cantor's efforts to bring the GOP into the mainstream on immigration reform. Like crazed ideological Communists, there is no compromise, no moderation and no statesmanship in Brat's twisted nation view. Brat, a Virginia economics professor, disgraced his profession by opposing extending the debt ceiling and re-opening the government shut down last year with Roskam's help. Folks like Cantor and Roskam support Tea Party policies but are reserved in their public comments to mask their extremism. Roskam votes against every sensible job creation measure, opposes women's reproductive freedom, ignores LGBT issues like the plague they are to the right, opposes unemployment insurance benefits for the long term unemployed and loves the current poverty level minimum wage which keeps wealth rolling into his wealthy base. Roskam on climate change? It's the XL Pipeline and 'Drlll, Baby, Drill'. Roskam feigns moderation on immigration reform, claiming the issue is too big to legislate in one oversized chunk. His solution? Take a baby chunk by constructing a gigantic fence across our southern border. Brat loves that stuff but is too craven and vocal in his extremism for the likes of Roskam, Boehner and McCarthy, the three GOP House leaders still standing. And Roskam is no fool when it comes to pandering to the Tea Party fanatics. He saw what happened to Sandy Pihos, the relatively moderate six term Illinois legislator in Roskam's Sixth, smacked out of office in the March Primary by Tea Party Patriot and anti government champion Peter Breen. As Roskam moves up in the House GOP leadership he's sure to tilt further rightward, if that's possible, to fend off a Dave Brat clone emerging in the Illinois Sixth to paint Roskam as a traitorous moderate.
Get your popcorn and soda pop, pull up a chair, and enjoy the emerging civil war in the House GOP, initiated by Dave Brat's Fort Sumter. Just don't expect to see any critical problem solving in the 114th House sessions. That is something for statesmen, a concept that has been banned from the Tea Party Manifesto.
The bad news is that Roskam, as well as every GOP leader, must pause to see the danger in Tea Party extremist Brat knocking off a fellow GOP powerhouse like Cantor. Brat's extremism in reflected in his single issue fanaticism demonizing the undocumented, and by extension all Latinos, in hammering away at Cantor's efforts to bring the GOP into the mainstream on immigration reform. Like crazed ideological Communists, there is no compromise, no moderation and no statesmanship in Brat's twisted nation view. Brat, a Virginia economics professor, disgraced his profession by opposing extending the debt ceiling and re-opening the government shut down last year with Roskam's help. Folks like Cantor and Roskam support Tea Party policies but are reserved in their public comments to mask their extremism. Roskam votes against every sensible job creation measure, opposes women's reproductive freedom, ignores LGBT issues like the plague they are to the right, opposes unemployment insurance benefits for the long term unemployed and loves the current poverty level minimum wage which keeps wealth rolling into his wealthy base. Roskam on climate change? It's the XL Pipeline and 'Drlll, Baby, Drill'. Roskam feigns moderation on immigration reform, claiming the issue is too big to legislate in one oversized chunk. His solution? Take a baby chunk by constructing a gigantic fence across our southern border. Brat loves that stuff but is too craven and vocal in his extremism for the likes of Roskam, Boehner and McCarthy, the three GOP House leaders still standing. And Roskam is no fool when it comes to pandering to the Tea Party fanatics. He saw what happened to Sandy Pihos, the relatively moderate six term Illinois legislator in Roskam's Sixth, smacked out of office in the March Primary by Tea Party Patriot and anti government champion Peter Breen. As Roskam moves up in the House GOP leadership he's sure to tilt further rightward, if that's possible, to fend off a Dave Brat clone emerging in the Illinois Sixth to paint Roskam as a traitorous moderate.
Get your popcorn and soda pop, pull up a chair, and enjoy the emerging civil war in the House GOP, initiated by Dave Brat's Fort Sumter. Just don't expect to see any critical problem solving in the 114th House sessions. That is something for statesmen, a concept that has been banned from the Tea Party Manifesto.
posted by Walt Zlotow at 6:45 AM
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