President Obama mentioned the name of Rep. John Boehner no less than eleven times in a speech in Ohio yesterday, demonstrating that he's looking over his shoulder at the House Minority Leader as a threat to his leftist agenda. But Boehner, who is looking ahead at the prospect of being the next Speaker of the House, dare not look over his own shoulder. Nor should Senator Mitch McConnell.
The GOP's current leaders once had control of both houses of Congress. Prior to the 2006 elections, Boehner was House Speaker and McConnell was Senate Majority Leader. Their failure to reign in excessive federal spending and secure the nation's borders helped persuade voters to put the Democrats in power, with Nancy Pelosi becoming House Speaker and Harry Reid Senate Majority Leader. Boehner and McConnell are deeply entrenched members of the establishment of the Republican Party, and they represent much of what is wrong with the GOP. They are part of the problem, but conservatives hope that the "young guns," who are gaining on Boehner, McConnell and the rest of the GOP's "old boy" establishment, will be the solution. More from Jedidiah Bila:
What do Marco Rubio, Sarah Palin, and Joe Miller have in common?Read the rest of this Jedidiah Bila op-ed here.
One: They’re principled conservatives.
Two: They aren’t part of Washington’s business-as-usual machine.
And three: They – and many like them – have caused quite a few in the GOP establishment to shake in their boots.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has backed RINOs Lisa Murkowski and Charlie Crist over conservatives Joe Miller and Marco Rubio. I’ve repeatedly heard establishment media voices speak kindly of Sarah Palin while including a disclaimer that they wouldn’t support her for president or any role of that stature.
Rubio, Palin, Miller, and others from outside the Beltway are the independent conservative voices this country needs. Their allegiance thus far has been to their principles, not to some establishment big shot who did a favor for them last year. They are likely to call it like they see it, and if that means challenging members of their own party right along with big-government Democrats, they’re up for the job.
To the establishment Republicans who have prioritized political games, phony promises, and power-grabs over constitutional integrity, American founding principles, and honest leadership, the Millers and Rubios of the world are sometimes scarier than the Reids and Pelosis.
Pelosi and Reid won’t snatch their jobs away. But Miller and Rubio just might...
Related: The Tea Partiers are coming to the staid Senate
- JP
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