By Ulysses S. Arn -
What do Tim Huelskamp, David Schweikert, and Justin Amash have in common with Don Manzullo, Sandy Adams, Scott Keadle, and Michele Bachmann? The answer, they are all Tea Party backed conservatives who have been punished or forced out of the House of Representatives(or in the case of Bachmann nearly) by Speaker John Boehner and majority leader Eric Cantor.
Yesterday, after having previously stacked the steering committee with loyalist, Boehner and Cantor took important committee assignments away from Huelskamp, Schweikert, and Amash.
These moves come on the heels of the 2012 GOP primaries which saw Boehner and Cantor use their leadership positions to make sure people loyal to them(yes men) defeated fellow Republicans who were by far and away more conservative.
On the other hand, Kinzinger, a freshman member of the House, promptly turned his back on the Tea Party which helped get him elected in the first place in 2010 and proceeded to have an extremely moderate voting record. In Florida the GOP leaders worked to make sure that one of their own Rep. Mica defeated a genuine Tea Party conservative in Sandy Adams. In North Carolina again the GOP leadership(by way of the Eric Cantor Young Guns PAC) knocked out conservative Scott Keadle in favor of Richard Hudson who was subsequently placed on the steering committee that just took committee assignments way from Huelskamp, Schweikert, and Amash.
Then there is the case of Michele Bachmann, former presidential candidate and Tea Party darling.
Just after the Tea Party helped to give the GOP control of the House of Representatives in 2010 Bachmann challenged John Boehner for the Speakership (man how things would be different if she had won that). Boehner, being a vindictive SOB, in this past election cycle tried to take Michele Bachmann out by withholding any support for her from Party campaign coffers, especially from the RNC.
With the help of Reince Priebus, Boehner nearly accomplished his goal of eliminating one more conservative from the House who would dare to buck him. On the nationally syndicated Mark Levin show, Reince Priebus lied to Mark's listeners and to his fellow Republicans because on that show when asked Priebus said that he would make sure the RNC sent money to Michele Bachmann if her race was close. It was indeed a very close race right from the start, Bachmann would only end up winning up less than 2,000 votes, and yet the RNC failed to spend one penny her way to help her fight off the multimillionaire Nancy Pelosi had recruited to try and take her out.
The behavior of Speaker Boehner and Eric Cantor from the primaries through yesterday is appalling and it is despicable.
You can read more at usofarn.com
