Put simply: Conservatives are only making Republicans do what they said they were going to do. That these Republicans and their allies off the Hill now cry foul and claim conservatives are only pushing this issue to make money in fundraises raises a particularly cruel question.
The fact is, Ted Cruz is winning. And in the process of winning, he is showing Republicans just how pathetic their representatives in Washington can be.
Earlier today, Jonathan Strong at National Review revealed House staffers were leaking a hit against Congressman Phil Gingrey for daring to tell staff and his colleagues to suck it up and get rid of their Obamacare exemptions.
The staffers cast Gingrey in the worst possible light, but his point was sound. Yes staffers make little money on Capitol Hill, but a good many will go on to bigger and better things with the experience. It is not right for them to get an exemption that middle class workers back in their home states won’t get.
A House Republican Conference staffer replied to my tweet defending Gingrey before thinking better of it and deleting it. His deleted tweet to me was:
@EWErickson I don’t think you understand how attacking seriously poor hill staffers make you unpopular w those on the front lines
So Gingrey, telling Congressional aides and other congressmen to suck it up and follow the law, was “attacking seriously poor hill staffers”, thus the leak to Jonathan Strong was warranted.
Another House Republican staffer told Dana Bash, well . . .
https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/380470697979437056
They are so upset they now have to do what their voters want them to do.
And when Ted Cruz pointed out that the House will have to stay strong because Harry Reid may be able to gut the defunding portion (and will probably do so with the help of some Republicans who hate conservatives more than Obamacare), Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin threw a hissy fit on twitter. All Cruz pointed out is that the GOP will have to stand strong and keep up the fight.
Do Sean Duffy and House aides not understand how the process works? They’ve been telling us all along that the continuing resolution has to pass both Houses of Congress. Well, duh. If it passes the Senate it’ll be without the defunding provision, which means it must go back to the House, which must not hands its testicular fortitude back to the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page.
Suddenly, pointing out the obvious has become surrender. I think Sean Duffy and these House aides need to recognize that but for Ted Cruz and Mike Lee leading on this issue, they’d have sold out long ago.
As an aside, maybe we need to term limit staffers.
House Republicans are crying foul over finally having to do what they’ve campaigned on doing. Their supporters outside Congress are accusing conservatives of only fighting this fight to enrich themselves. Inside the House, Republican staffers are attacking Republican congressmen who are daring to hold the GOP accountable to the voters.
I’m sorry, but you give up the right be taken seriously on the subject of Obamacare repeal if you’re going to now, when it matters, wimp out and go into hysterics on twitter.
Suck it up, Lumberjack.
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