GOP leaders should rein in Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, but who leads the GOP?

[BirminghamExaminer]

http://www.examiner.com/x-1172-Birmingham-Progressive-Politics-Examiner~y2009m3d29-Its-time-for-the-GOP-to-rein-in-Congresswoman-Michelle-Bachmann">Excerpt:

The Republican party is feeling a lot of pressure these days. They lost during the November elections and they lost big. In the resultant fallout, a few Republicans have tried to throw their proverbial hats into the ring to vie for leader of the crippled GOP. But so far, none of them has been successful. Because there is no real leader of the Republican Party, the outspoken among them are starting to resemble an amateur circus. Someone needs to step in and take charge. People like Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann need to be reined in. But she's not the only one.

Before the election was over, Sarah Palin called President Obama a socialist while giving $700 million to her constituents in the state of Alaska as an "energy rebate." Members of her own party in Alaska called Sarah Palin a socialist and short sighted for giving the $700 million in "energy rebates" when it could have been used for future projects. Now Governor Palin's fellow Republicans in Alaska are upset that she has announced plans to turn down $170 million for special needs children and education. They asked for a special meeting with her to talk about it and she didn't show up.
(snip video)

The GOP has garnered the unfortunate nickname, 'Party of No' and with good reason. Since the new Democratic leadership took control of the White House and the Senate, the minority party has shown that their only talking point is "no." They don't have any alternatives to the proposals they are saying no to but they continue to just say no anyway.

In a pathetic attempt to counter the President's budget plan, John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan made fools of themselves by holding a live press conference to unveil their alternative to President Obama's budget. The problem was that there wasn't an alternate budget plan. It was more like a sketchy outline without any numbers. The one clear part of the alternative plan was an increase in tax cuts to the wealthiest individuals and corporations.

(snip)

Then there's Michael Steele, the new leader of the Republican National Committee. He doesn't seem to understand what the party wants and he certainly doesn't understand what the party needs to grow. He made a negative comment about radio entertainer Rush Limbaugh and then rushed to apologize. Now he is saying everything he has said and done during his leadership of the RNC has been part of a strategy and that there were no unintentional gaffes.

Some have hailed Rush Limbaugh as the de facto leader of the Republican party but that's not really true because he's not an elected official. That he may have some influence over a small margin of people that make up the GOP base doesn't really qualify him for anything other than cheerleader extraordinaire at ultra conservative right wing functions like CPAC.

(snip)

When Jim D Adkisson walked into a church and started firing into a crowd of church goers, he did so because he believed he was fighting back against the Democrats who were ruining the country. He got the idea after reading books by Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Michael Savage.

It's bad enough when someone who purports to report news encourages Americans to revolt. And while I believe in free speech I also believe in responsibility. Those who report news should not encourage their audience to break the law by advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government. When they do, they should be held accountable. We saw what happened in Tennessee when Jim Adkisson took the words of Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Michael Savage to heart. He killed for them. Seven people were shot, and two were killed while attending a church play for children, all in an effort to kill liberals and Democrats because the folks at Fox news told him Democrats were ruining the country.

When an elected official, one who is sworn to uphold the Constitution suggests the overthrow of the government, it is no longer merely insidious and irresponsible, it is nefarious. Congresswoman Bachmann needs to be reined in by her party and if they can't exercise some control over her, they should be prepared to lose even more seats in Congress in 2010.
http://www.examiner.com/x-1172-Birmingham-Progressive-Politics-Examiner~y2009m3d29-Its-time-for-the-GOP-to-rein-in-Congresswoman-Michelle-Bachmann">To see the rest of this article, please go here.

[marmar]

1. They're a circus with no ringmaster......

n/t

[tanyev]

4. And nobody cleaning up after the elephants

[BirminghamExaminer]

5. And they would have us live on peanuts n/t

[mwb970]

9. It's a circus with a *lot* of clowns, though.... /nt

:)

[saltpoint]

2. The leadership vacuum is huge over there in Republicanville.

They're having leadership difficulties.

It looks as if the soul-of-a-lizard Newt Gingrich is angling for a leading role, and we know that Romney is slobbering for the nomination.

Huckabee likely thinks he could get off to a stronger start this time, after almost placing behind Sam Brownback in Iowa last cycle. He's folksy and a bit more people-skilled than his likely opponents, but on the other hand, he couldn't beat McCain for the nomination, and McCain was a doddering old crank.

Palin is a joke. She thinks she has an inside track to the nomination but I think when the Iowa caucus votes are counted in January of 2012, she is going to fade into history's murk, the farther back the better.

Jindal? No chance.

Pawlenty? Steele? Barbour? None of them is a national candidate.

They got trouble.

[Demeter]

3. I Honestly Prefer That The GOP Lacks Leadership

This lack of a strong leader forces the sheep to think for themselves, and disenfranchises to some extent (the extent to which the DLC covers the lack) the corporations and obscenely wealthy.

[Traveling_Home]

6. Tell it to her consituents - If they support her or don't care ......... nt

[corruptmewithpower]

7. Who can properly shepherd the sheeple?

[BobTheSubgenius]

8. I couldn't possibly disagree more with this proposition than I do.

Michelle Batshit, and many others like her need to be ENCOURAGED. Every psychedelic flight of fancy that rattles around in their mushy, yet vacant skulls, every lunatic position they are somehow able to cobble together and spew, every time they are unable to control the midden pits in the middle of their faces and spit out yet another diatribe that leaves me gaping, slack-jawed in amazement, is another couple of thousand votes.

Rave on, minions of Hell!

[firefox28]

10. American Conservatism is not Conservatism

If you like to see true refined conservatism, head over the Atlantic to the country the US has a "special relationship" with. Still, the more the Repulbicans blow up nonsense, the better.