Republican Party in Chaos -- Who is in Charge?

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “There isn’t a Republican Party. I wish there were, I wish there was a Republican Party. I wish there was one person we could sit across the table from, make a deal, make a compromise and know when you got up from that table it was done.” -Vice President Joe Biden, weighing in on the fractured GOP

Vice President Biden has nailed -- there is no Republican Party -- it is fractured beyond my comprehension.

Am currently reading former Florida Governor Charlie Crist's new book, The Party's Over,  on "How the Extreme right Hijacked the GOP and I Became a Democrat."  I am about halfway through and extremely impressed while I keep nodding in agreement and saying to myself "exactly." He has nailed my sentiments in what I have read so far.

There is one thing about the Florida Governor's race I find amusing -- that his Democrat opponent calling Charlie Crist a conservative.  He lost to Rubio because he was not a conservative.  I cannot remember ever considering Crist a conservative starting with his race for AG.  Charlie is someone who works with both sides of the aisle for the good of the people of Florida unlike the current Governor Scott who I would have a hard time finding anyone who likes him. Still haven't recovered from his Lt Governor Jennifer Carroll having to resign as Lt Governor due to ethical problems.  Guess you could say Rick Scott and ethics are probably not friends and you would be correct.  Scott is one of the many problem Governors in the GOP.

MSNBC take on the Republican Party chaos today:

MAINSTREAM VS. MAD HATTERS: The gloves have come off and now the contenders are ready to throw their punches. According to a new report, House Republicans are blaming Sen. Ted Cruz for killing the GOP’s immigration reform efforts. 

It may have once seemed promising that Boehner and House Republicans would work with Democrats to reach a compromise on immigration reform, but now any realistic hopes of progress have been dashed after Cruz blasted the party’s plan as “amnesty” and led to some constituents voicing anger at their representatives. “After that it was ‘We’ll get back to you on immigration reform,’” an anonymous Republican congressman said. 

Meanwhile, Cruz introduced a bill earlier this week that would “amend chapter 1 of title 1, United States Code, with regard to the definition of ‘marriage’ and ‘spouse’ for Federal purposes.” Sound familiar? That’s because it looks a lot like the Defense of Marriage Act–which was struck down last year by the Supreme Court. 

So now the question everyone should be asking: who’s really in charge here? Is Speaker Boehner really leading his caucus? Or have individuals like Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee taken over? We’ve said this before, but it begs repeating during a discussion like this: if the party can’t unite on one road this year, they’re looking at another rough primary season ahead of the 2016 presidential election–and if 2012 was any indication of how that might end for the GOP, it’s not looking too positive.

Add in the GOP State Governors along with GOP dominated state legislatures and you are asking yourself where did these people come from.  Have never seen anything like it as I have been writing on here for a long time.  I still think my choice for the #1 idiotic bill introduced anywhere is a bill to End Marriage in Oklahoma to keep Gay Marriage out -- went viral around the Country and provided all kinds of humor.  It is so outlandish I thought it was a joke but it is an actual bill that was submitted. This is how loony the right has gotten over time. These hard right social conservatives never should have been elected to office because all they care about are social issues and making sure the wealthy donors get their fair share.  The more I read about the OK Legislature, the more I shake my head that common sense has totally left them and the Republican Party as a whole.

Jason Easley, Politicus, had this to say at the end of January:

The Republican Party is in shambles because they are accurately viewed by most Americans as the uncaring party of the rich. Republicans can pay lip service to the middle class and claim they care about poverty, but they aren’t fooling anyone. 

The GOP has been branded as the party of the wealthy few. President Obama’s efforts to reach across the aisle, and fight for the American people are paying off. Obama and the Democrats don’t get credit in the media for what they are doing, but voters understand who is really on their side. 

President Obama has turned the Democratic Party into the party of middle class populism. There is only one party of the people in this country right now, and it isn’t the Koch fueled GOP. President Obama isn’t just setting the Democrats up for victory today. He has successfully exploited the desire of the Republicans to represent only the wealthy few to lay the groundwork for Democratic victories for years to come.

Republicans today rely on a narrative with no basis in fact yet most of the media goes right along with the narrative and are only now beginning to think instead of just take the GOP narrative at face value and run with it like it was fact.  It is like the reporter who gets a press release from a company and that's what they use for the article instead of making sure the press release is factual.  Many of the media have covered for the Republican Party because they are frankly lazy and refuse to do the research to see if something is true or they are stupid.  I think most are just lazy.  If you see Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, pushing a narrative, you are going to run away from that narrative.  She is so blindly partisan that how anyone can pay attention to her except for a laugh is beyond me.  Republican narratives as many already know describes Fox News reporting.  That said, it is not just Fox News but some reporters in other news organizations that are also pushing the narrative -- at times CNN has sounded like Fox light recently.

If you are a Republican who is not hard right, you are in for some tough times ahead because the party is falling apart right before our eyes now as the fights are going public like the one on the clean debt ceiling where Speaker Boehner finally did the right thing and the hard right is clobbering him.  If I was Boehner, I would tell the House to shove it and go register as a Democrat but deep down he does care about the Country even when he doesn't show it or he would walk away and allow the hard right in the House to take control.  He is catching all kinds of grief from the Tea Party and all the hard right Koch organizations.  Same with McConnell in the Senate who had to round up five votes to end the Cruz filibuster.  Must admit that I would love to see that Kentucky Senate seat of McConnell's flip to Blue with Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes defeating Mitch McConnell.  Think she can do it from what I heard from friends in Kentucky.  That would make my evening on election night on 4 November 2014.

Enjoy Valentine's Day and the weekend -- expected to reach almost 70 degrees here in Norman on Sunday after 8 degrees last week -- can take hot weather much better than cold.  Let the celebration begin that spring is just around the corner as one good friend put it -- Major League Baseball Camps are opening = spring has arrived.

Happy Valentine's Day