I know, I know, obviously, you're all saying, YES, but I can't in good faith leave the diary so short.
But the point is, as bad as the House of Representatives has been these past few years, is it possible that they could get even worse?
Based on Cantor's primary defeat, and Kevin McCarthy's move to replace him as the leader of the House Republicans, it makes me wonder, why would any Republican want to be in that position?
McCarthy comes from a Red district. A really Red district. He's just asking for a credible Tea Party challenger. Maybe credible isn't the right word. But you know what I mean. Someone that challenges him from the Right.
Sure, they didn't come for him this cycle. But now he's the Majority Leader. He's now got a huge bullseye on his back. No, not from those of us on the Left. That bullseye is courtesy of his own base.
And this is with California's top two electoral system. Which means the Tea Party will likely get two chances at him.
That is, unless McCarthy gets ahead of the challenge and stakes a claim to an extremely partisan House agenda. More than we've already seen. Which is also probably likely.
He'll pretty much have to. The Tea Party now has Cantor under their belt. We know how much such a victory will embolden them. Sure, their actions may not be well grounded in actual evidence, but when has that ever stopped them from doing anything, ever? Sure, the majority of the analyses say that it wasn't at all Tea Party anger that ousted Cantor, but I'm sure that's not gonna stop them from claiming as much.
I mean, Cantor was no RINO. He was about as conservative as they get. A fitting representative to represent the majority of the Republican Party. And that still wasn't conservative enough for the far Right.
Even Boehner has to deal with these challenges. Again, not exactly a hardcore liberal there. It's hard to measure who the Tea Party targets more, Democrats or their own Party's leaders.
Of course, I'm not portraying this as a good thing. The more of a stranglehold the Tea Party has on the overall Republican Party, the harder it is to get any actual governing done.
Still, one has to wonder how long they will continue to entertain this internal schism. How long can they? They just forced one of their leading icons into an early lobbying gig. Another, Thad Cochran, is currently on the ropes. It's about to get really Tea up in this 'Pub Party.
And I don't buy into any notion that the GOP Establishment is ready to quash this anytime soon. Just follow the money. They made similar claims when Akin refused to quit his race, but in the end they forked it over. Brat and McDaniels will also likely be getting the 80's movie montage makeovers real soon.
What's my point? That the House is probably going to be even more dysfunctional? That the GOP is going to lurch even further to the Right now? And threatens to take the rest of us with it?
How about this: Democrats need to capitalize on every single one of these opportunities.
Does it make sense that a Democratic candidate can come into a really red district where two Conservative candidates are dividing up the LC denominator votes and actually snatch up enough votes to win?
Well, it's probably not easy by any measure. But where there's a will, there's a way.
Even in the Reddest Presidential district in 2012, Obama won 18% of the popular vote.
Imagine if the other 80% are split by two, maybe three GOP candidates. If the moderate conservative makes it to the General election, hey Democratic candidate, just convince 32% of that 80% that a Dem is better than a chickenshit flip flopping RINO. If the Tea Partier wins, then Democratic candidate, just point out to the moderate conservatives, hey, you're about to elect a loon.
And that's not even considering Cali's top-two system that McCarthy has to face. In a Presidential-year, with a Tea Partier gumming up the works, who's to say a Democrat couldn't find themselves on top in this red district.
The Democratic establishment needs to try. They need to field viable candidates for these races. Because considering the alternative - more GOP obstructionsim - these are districts that we can't afford to leave to their own devices.
So, this has been one of my less coherent posts. But I hope you get the gist.