At a time when the "saner" (can I really use that word when describing them?) Republicans are calling on Boehner, Cantor, and Company to back off "at least until there's solid evidence", and at a time when fully a THIRD of the Republican Congress is busy "investigating" the President, along comes our old reliable friends at the Heritage Foundation.
This time, they have actually printed something that's TRUE in a letter to Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor.
They have given the Republicans their marching orders:
Screw legislating and governing, it's time for batshit theater!
Heritage's reason is that by staying focused on investigations and scandal-mongering, that takes the attention of the media away from the fact that the semi-sane caucus wants to govern and the batshit caucus wants to blow up the government. And that will come to a head several times this year with the Farm Bill, Immigration, the Internet Sales Tax, and the like.
Not to mention the debt ceiling.
As the letter states:
“it is incumbent upon the House of Representatives to conduct oversight hearings on those actions, but it would be imprudent to do anything that shifts the focus from the Obama administration to the ideological differences within the House Republican Conference.”
“To that end, we urge you to avoid bringing any legislation to the House Floor that could expose or highlight major schisms within the conference. Legislation such as the Internet sales tax or the FARRM Act which contains nearly $800 billion in food stamp spending, would give the press a reason to shift their attention away from the failures of the Obama administration to write another ‘circular firing squad’ article.”
Here is the full text of the letter:
May 16, 2013
The Honorable John Boehner
Speaker of the House
H-232, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Eric Cantor
House Majority Leader
H-329, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Speaker Boehner and Leader Cantor:
For the first time, the activities of the Obama administration are receiving a sustained public vetting. Americans’ outrage over Benghazi is amplified by the Internal Revenue Service’s intimidation of conservative grassroots organizations and a cascade of negative headlines. There is the real sense the Obama administration has been less than forthright with the American people, the press and lawmakers.
Recent events have rightly focused the nation’s attention squarely on the actions of the Obama administration. It is incumbent upon the House of Representatives to conduct oversight hearings on those actions, but it would be imprudent to do anything that shifts the focus from the Obama administration to the ideological differences within the House Republican Conference.
To that end, we urge you to avoid bringing any legislation to the House Floor that could expose or highlight major schisms within the conference. Legislation such as the Internet sales tax or the FARRM Act which contains nearly $800 billion in food stamp spending, would give the press a reason to shift their attention away from the failures of the Obama administration to write another “circular firing squad” article.
Make no mistake, principled conservatives will still oppose bad policy if it comes to the floor. Rather than scheduling such legislation for consideration, we urge you to keep the attention focused squarely on the Obama administration. As the public’s trust in their government continues to erode, it is incumbent upon those of us who support a smaller, less intrusive government to lead.
Sincerely,
Michael A. Needham
Chief Executive Officer
Heritage Action for America
Now that's some SERIOUS scorched-earth thinking right there. To go 100% scandal-mongering and no governing at all. Of course, in order to do this, they need one important aspect: A willing and compliant press who will go along with it.
And they have it.
For now.
But as we all know, the Villagers are like small children--very short attention spans. If there's nothing "new" in the scandal world, they may do some real journalism and investigate the investigations. Case in point--Jake Tapper pwning Jonathan Karl about Benghazi!!!!®
So if Republicans want to keep this going through the 2014 elections, they'll have to either make something up--something they're VERY good at--or start drawing up the Articles of Impeachment about one year from now.
Which makes me sad. Because Republicans are destroying this country by destroying its ability to govern itself. As surely as if bombs were raining down, they are destroying us.