Last week things in our reality-based centrist country seemed to reach a tipping point as John Boehner and the House of Representatives nearly let the government of the United States go over a cliff because the conservative Tea Party refused to negotiate over the repeal of Obamacare. Never mind that it was impossible to repeal Obamacare, which has nothing to do with the budget anyway. Reality means nothing to orange technicolor cartoon characters like Boehner. If the Koch Brothers or the Tea Party say "Beep Beep" he will jump right over a cliff, no problem.
This time Boehner didn't even have the Acme Tunnel Art Set to paint a get-away for himself on the rocks. In fact, he acted the part of Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius, so convincingly he nearly killed his own Party in a puff of dust at the bottom of the canyon. The "box canyon" that is - the dead end where he and the Tea Party found themselves when Obama refused to negotiate with cartoonish terrorists who don't live in the real world.
People have been predicting the end of the Tea Party since it began. It all started back in 2008 when Sarah Palin appeared on the scene as a Vice Presidential candidate, giving speeches peppered with bizarre metaphors about Musk Oxen and talking about about "Real Americans" (herself and dog-sledding hunter-husband Todd) versus the rest of the country. Her followers, who also considered themselves "Reel 'Mericans" were a mixture of tax-hating Libertarians waving serpentine "Don't Tread on Me" flags, white racists carrying Curious George dolls named "Little Hussein," the Birthers, the Joe the Plumbers, the "Muslin" haters, the Evangelical Holy Rollers. Everyone poked fun at it, from Saturday Night Live to Jon Stewart, but unfortunately the Tea Party was able to win important House seats during the 2010 election giving Republicans the edge. Through red gerrymandered districts, the country is stuck with some of these rodeo clowns. Luckily, the GOP realizes they are stuck with them as well.
This past week, it was no accident that Palin, who now holds no elected office and may never again, suddenly re-appeared on stage with GOP gadfly and "Green Eggs and Ham" lover Senator Ted Cruz on the Washington Mall. They were protesting the very Shutdown that the Teapublicans dreamed of and finally caused by holding the government budget hostage.
Palin is Tea Party royalty, much like the insane Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland who screams "off with their heads" - meaning the government - on every occasion. Ted Cruz, whether he was born in Canada or not, is now the Tea Party King just for "standing up to the establishment," meaning any GOP member who isn't a stark-raving maniac. Together, Cruz and Palin were the Tea Party Dream Team, storming the barricades of Federal Monuments in an act of defiance that they see as a Patriot's gesture, and the rest of the country sees as an illogical embarrassment.
Waving Confederate Flags in front of the White House - never a good idea! Too Bad Foghorn Leghorn wasn't there to explain it to you, son! Many southern GOP Congress people were missing in action that day - there is a line you can cross, even in the Tea Party.
But at least Palin and Cruz admitted they were mostly trying to raise money for the 2016 Presidential race, proving once again that the GOP believes it deserves government money and benefits, not to mention power. They just don't want anyone else to share it.
None of the Cruz/Palin grandstanding even mattered. In the end, the clueless Tea Party couldn't repeal Obamacare, which is the Law of the Land. The Tea Party Representatives began to sound like that Looney Tune of Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny screaming "Duck Season!" and "Rabbit Season!" until Daffy is so confused he begs Bugs to shoot him in the head. And that's kinda what happened - with Boehner in neutral, the grown-ups in the Senate had to step in and save his bacon. Then Nancy Pelosi got nearly 200 Democratic Reps to vote with Republicans to stop the shutdown.
The GOP has become a Party without a head. All they have is Droopy Dog RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, who was appointed, not elected. Paul Ryan could have stepped up sooner, but he is trying to save his own career. Tea Party voters only had one thing to say on forums, blogs and on the news - they "like" it that Cruz was being obstructionist. "That's what we sent him there for," they said, ignoring the fact that the shutdown was hurting innocent Americans all across the country. It was all about "showing Obama" who was boss. Putting the uppity Negro back in his place, at the expense of closing down our own government.
Is it any wonder Harry Reid chose to call them a "bunch of anarchists?" People like Palin and Cruz want to run the government by destroying the government. Forget Daffy Duck - they sound more like Marvin the Martian. If they had a Space Modulator, they'd probably be pointing at Washington before demanding the reinstitution of slavery in Virginia, like some antebellum Dr. Evil.
Republicans focused on blowing up the Earth, that is, their own heads - that is, their leadership - fought against John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and old-timers like John McCain, once Palin's running mate, now considered too-far-left to be a "real conservative."
But what did Cruz and Company gain, except for some impromptu fundraising? Nothing, as Rachel Maddow pointed out in the graphic below. The only thing the House Tea Party received from the Obama Administration was income verification for people signing up for ACA Obamacare - because, guess what? That was written into the law already! So in effect, they got nothing. Zippo. Yet they kept thinking of new demands, which made them sound even more deranged.
But how bad is the damage, really? Haven't we heard the prediction that the GOP is over, done with, finished too many times to count? Don't the Right Wingers always take a moment to say a few Apocalyptic prayers and come roaring back with a new scheme?
Michele Bachmann, who is the Minnesota version of Sarah Palin, has crashed and burned due to campaign finance problems, and isn't running again. But her conservative district will probably try to find some other gal with a grating midwestern accent and a religious fervor for conspiracy theories. But even Bachmann has to realize that no matter how hard she prayed, Obamacare was never repealed. Isn't that also an answer from God? Could it be that God wants the poor to be cared for, as it says in the Bible by, you know, Jesus Christ?
It could just be that this time the Tea Party Jihadists took their holy war just one Tasmanian Devil hissy fit too far.
Ultra-Conservative Pundit Michelle Malkin on Fox News
via Daily Kos
At least now we don't have to wonder what the Tea Party will do when cornered - when the going got weird, the weird turned pro! They snarled and starting spinning and lying and whatever they had to do. And now the general public has had a glimpse of the real Tea Party that cannot be forgotten so easily. Not only was their idealogical last stand about denying health coverage to sick and possibly dying people, they openly stated that Obamacare was just the first thing they wanted to repeal or destroy. They wanted President Obama to cut "entitlements" (dreadful word) such as Social Security and Medicare for the elderly. Meanwhile, they also wanted to protect Koch Brothers interests like Big Oil and the Tar Sands Pipeline. All this comes after a session in which the GOP cut Food Stamp money for the poorest Americans from the farm bill, and cut WIC benefits for mothers and babies. Yet they wasted $24 Billion on this useless Shutdown based on ideological nonsense.
To quote ditzy GOP pundit Peggy Noonan in her last post before Romney lost the election last year, you can feel the change in the air. Or see it in the polls. Well, Peggy Noonan never believed the polls about Mitt Romney, and she probably won't believe the polls now. But the truth wins, as we saw in 2012, and it's winning again. The GOP lost and it's time to say "That's All Folks!"
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