As Jim Ross used to say, "Business is about to pick up!" It seems that outgoing Sen. Jim DeMint has already set his sights on his first target (Hint: He looks like an Oompa Loompa in a bad suit), and the race to replace Boehner might be the most "special" special election ever! More on the other side of the Socialist tangerine beignet:
It seems Speaker John Boehner's recent purge of "movement conservatives" simply will not do:
“I have to say, Boehner isn’t forcing either of you out, right?” Rush Limbaugh asked DeMint and the man he’s set to replace as head of the Heritage Foundation, Ed Feulner, during a joint interview on his show.
“It might work a little bit the other way, Rush,” DeMint replied to laughter from all.
DeMint is, of course, best known for taking on the establishment GOP in Washington and across the country. The joke to Limbaugh made it clear he’s not hanging up that hat now that he’s soon to no longer be a senator. What Limbaugh and DeMint were joking about was the so-called conservative purge, a move by Boehner to strip committee assignments from four members in the 113th Congress after they bucked Republican leadership in the 112th.
Boehner’s defended the demotions as having “nothing to do with ideology,” claiming he made the changes to punish disloyalty. But that hasn’t stopped some tea party conservatives from spooling up the full grassroots right wing machinery against him, including claims of conspiracy and attempts to depose him.
The article goes on to include a delicious conspiracy theory about "secret lists", as well as a revenge plan you just
have to love:
“The House rules demand that a Speaker receive a majority — 218 votes — to be elected speaker. If no nominee for speaker receives 218, the House remains speakerless — as it did during parts of the Civil War,” Ned Ryun, American Majority Action president and son of former Rep. Jim Ryun (R-KS), wrote on the group’s website. “If 16 House Republicans were to abstain from voting for Speaker, Boehner would only receive 217 votes.”
This is a longshot proposition, to say the least. But the purge story has been enough to kick up some traffic on a #FireBoehner hashtag. American Majority Action says it plans to leverage its members to pressure more than 100 conservative House members to join the effort.
Okay, first, what is with GOPhers' current obsession with the Civil War -- and rooting for the side that lost, to boot? What's more, what is it with GOPhers about "abstaining"? That's the path they're supposed to to take on their Doomsday Budget Plan, too! ("We'll just stand here and hold our breath until we turn blue... uhh, RED!
That'll show ya!")
And to add to the internecine warfare, we have Nikki Haley's problem with replacing DeMint. It seems she's got that all figured out, at least for the short term:
A Republican source in South Carolina tells TPM Gov. Nikki Haley (R) is considering filling Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-SC) Senate seat with Chad Walldorf, owner of the Sticky Fingers regional chain of barbecue restaurants. Walldorf is the chair of the South Carolina Board of Economic Advisors and a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Mark Sanford (R). The source says Walldorf is being considered as a "placeholder" choice.
And that's all good, Nikki. But SC conservatives have a message for Walldorf: Don't get too comfortable
just yet:
If South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) appoints Rep. Tim Scott (R) to replace outgoing Sen. Jim DeMint (R) — as DeMint wants her to, according to a source — she won’t face much opposition from inside the state, according to several conservative activists TPM spoke with Thursday.
Scott, who represents Charleston in Congress and was just elected to his second term, is as good a pick as any, tea party activists told TPM. Activists said that if DeMint wants him as his replacement, there will be a lot of pressure on Haley to put Scott in office until 2014’s special election.
(Snip)
National conservatives love him, too. Red State founder Erick Erickson called on Haley Thursday to appoint Scott to DeMint’s seat. “About the only thing that could make this more awesome is if Governor Nikki Haley ensures the Senate’s only black Senator is a conservative Republican who presently represents the congressional district in which Ft. Sumter sits,” he wrote.
Well, if Erick Son of Erick loves him some Tim Scott, that about seals the deal, doesn't it? Oh, and if things in the Palmetto State weren't going to be
comical enough:
Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) isn't necessarly dismissing a future run to replace outgoing Sen. Jim DeMint, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday:
“It’s not a ‘no,’ but it’s not a ‘yes,’ ” Mr. Sanford said.
I repeat: POPCORN! POPCORN! MY
KINGDOM FOR SOME POPCORN!
Discuss. :)