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It happened again! Republican Party leaders told conservatives to “go to hell” in the latest indication that the GOP is controlled by establishment moderates. It is the only explanation for the infuriating vote to re-elect John Boehner as Speaker of the House.
Boehner has been a disaster as Speaker. During his tenure, conservatives have been punished and denied leadership positions, while more moderate members have selected for key roles. Under Boehner, spending has accelerated and real reform has been minimal. In fact, Boehner has been the Speaker for four of Obama’s six years in which the national debt has increased an astronomical $7.5 trillion.
The final straw was the lame duck session of Congress that occurred after the sweeping GOP victory in the November mid-term elections. Instead of listening to millions of Americans and voting to de-fund Obamacare and stop the President's unconstitutional executive order granting amnesty for millions of illegal aliens, Boehner forced Congress to placate Obama and fund both Obamacare and executive amnesty for the next year.
Boehner is the President's golfing buddy, not the type of leader who will oppose him. While the American people want the Republicans to stop the President's dangerously liberal agenda, the House Republicans under Boehner are his de-facto allies.
This betrayal enraged conservatives who bombarded Congress with demands that Republicans select a new Speaker. Phone calls overwhelmed the congressional switchboard, while millions of emails were sent to Republican members of Congress telling them to listen to the people and not the Beltway power brokers.
The conservative website, World Net Daily, organized a “Dump Boehner” campaign, resulting in almost 600,000 letters being sent to Congress. This anger was not limited to only party activists as a recent national survey of Republicans and Independent voters who lean toward the GOP by pollster Pat Caddell showed weak support for Boehner with 60% supporting “someone new” as Speaker.
Despite the legitimate outcry from the millions of conservatives who are the grassroots engine that drives the Republican Party, the members of the GOP congressional delegation ignored their demands and re-elected Boehner to a third term. While there were a historic number of votes against Boehner in his bid for a third term as Speaker, it was not enough to stop his re-election.
This means that once again conservatives have been taken for granted. Boehner was re-elected despite the news uncovered by Dr. Jerome Corsi that the Speaker has a stock portfolio that includes millions of dollars invested in insurance and healthcare companies that are increasing in value due to Obamacare. Thus, he has a financial incentive to disregard the party's base and continue to implement the President's plans for socialized medicine.
After this latest betrayal, conservatives should reexamine their allegiance to the Republican Party. It has been many years since the party acted in accordance with conservative principles. While the grassroots keep electing Republicans to Congress and gave the GOP big victories in 2010 and 2014, the party leadership never acts in accordance with these mandates.
Republicans campaign as conservatives, but govern like liberals.
With Boehner elected to another term as Speaker, nothing will change on Capitol Hill. It will be more of the same in the next two years, so Americans can expect deficit spending to continue, Obamacare and executive amnesty to be fully funded and no real change in Washington D.C.
If conservatives are demoralized with this inaction, the Republicans have no prayer of winning the White House in 2016. At this point, especially if the GOP nominates a big government RINO like Jeb Bush for President, it certainly looks like Hillary Clinton can start measuring the curtains for another stay in the White House.
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Jeff Crouere is a native of New Orleans, LA and he is the host of a Louisiana based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 10:00 p.m. Sunday on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7 till 11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore.
For more information, visit his web site at www.ringsidepolitics.com or email him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com.
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