Another Tea Party favorite looks likely to be denied a leadership post in the House that Boehner is building.
First Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) dropped her bid for GOP conference chair when it became clear that the party leadership did not want her. Now it looks like Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) will be denied the Appropriations Committee chairmanship. It's almost as if the GOP leadership is cynically casting aside the Tea Party candidates now that they have served their purpose. But that can't be true, can it?
This could shape up into a serious internecine struggle. It seems unlikely that the Tea Party will just meekly step aside and yield to the will of entrenched party leaders. On the contrary, they have made it very clear that if they believe their agenda is being ignored they are prepared to turn on the Republican party. No less a figure than the movement's spiritual godfather, Dick Armey, told GOP leaders:
"The issue of public policy that governs the future of my children is more important than your politics, and if you can't see that, we'll replace you."
The Republican party might have lit a fire it can't control. And is the beginning. What happens when the interests and goals of the evangelical Christian-dominated social conservatives clash with those of the more business-oriented fiscal conservatives? Who wins, God or Mammon? Turd Sandwich or Giant Douche?