Politico:
The simmering feud between House Republicans and movement conservatives is finally an all-out war.
The tension exploded on Wednesday morning when Speaker John Boehner and outside conservative groups traded sharp barbs over the budget deal Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) crafted with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). It only escalated later in the day when the leader of the right-wing Republican Study Committee forced out its longtime executive director for leaking private conversations about strategy to those organizations.
Okay, if this is a war, let's ask a simple question: Why should anyone who isn't a conservative give a damn?
After all, it doesn't appear as though the fallout from the "war" will have any impact on whether or not the Murray-Ryan budget deal passes when it comes up for a vote later today, because between Democrats and Republicans (House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says her caucus should "embrace the suck"), it appears to be a sure bet to pass. Moreover, while it's better than the status quo, in the bigger picture it represents a pretty big conservative victory, because it sets spending levels even lower than the budget House Republicans passed in 2012 and it does so without even dealing with extending unemployment insurance.
The answer to the question seems to be this: It's amusing watching the right fight amongst themselves, and hopefully weaken themselves ahead of the 2014 election, but the fact that they are at war just highlights how completely off the rails the conservative movement has become. For example, responding to the fired Republican Study Committee staffer, right-wing groups declared themselves under siege:
Conservative activists are hitting back.
More than 50 high-profile conservatives signed onto a statement Wednesday responding to both House Speaker John Boehner’s harsh words for conservative groups earlier in the day and to the firing of the Republican Study Committee’s longtime executive director, Paul Teller.
“It is clear that the conservative movement has come under attack on Capitol Hill today,” the statement reads.
Okay, but the only thing that Boehner said is that it was ridiculous for right-wingers to complain about the budget because the budget was already right-wing—which is absolutely correct. And the guy who got fired was fired because he leaked the contents of conversations that he had with members of Congress to outside groups. Given that he worked for the members that he was trying to undermine, it sure seems like any rational person would understand why he got fired.
But these groups don't get that, because they aren't rational. And even though from a substantive perspective they continue to rule the GOP with an iron fist, they believe that they are at war—and are losing it. Insane.
