Ronald Reagan had a dim view of pedestrian politicians.[read_more]
In private he was dismissive of the majority of politicians in both parties, whose primary interest was self-advancement and self-promotion, at the cost of their profound responsibility to promote policies that benefited and protected ordinary American citizens, the principles of human liberty and the defense of the Republic.
He would say that the role of real leadership was to provide the strong hand supporting the weak backbones of the soft and timid; to give them the strength to do the right thing when they wanted to preen while doing the wrong thing.
I thought about that today as 54 genuine, real conservatives stood against the weak-kneed, passive Republican majority and its bizarre leadership, who are clearly beholding to someone – but it ain’t us.
The House of Representatives defeated – at least for now – the disastrous Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) “express” by rejecting one part of the Senate passed bill that would lead to the TPP’s full consideration. The TPP is a pseudo trade bill that is actually a vehicle for massive wealth and job transfers from the United States to other nations and international corporatists; not to mention a legal crowbar that would allow unelected international bureaucrats to bend American laws on immigration, the environment, health and food standards, and who knows what else to their pleasure.
First the good news: The actual vote that stopped Obamatrade from going forward was technically the Trade Adjustment Agreement (TAA). The TAA is one piece of the Senate passed bill granting the President so-called fast track authority to ram through TPP without debate or amendments – and not as a treaty – thus needing a simple majority vote in the Senate.
The TAA portion would have renewed aid for U.S. workers who would lose their jobs due to imports. (Of course, the Republican leadership keeps telling us that the TPP would create jobs, so why would this be necessary is unclear.)
Now the bad news: The Republican leadership went ahead with the vote on fast track authority after the defeat of TAA, and it passed – although a meaningless vote because the bill couldn’t advance without TAA – by 219 to 211 votes, with only 54 Republicans voting against it.
These 54 are American heroes. The 191 Republicans who voted for it…not so much.
In Virginia, three Republicans, Barbara Comstock Robert Hurt and Scott Rigell, all of whom call themselves “conservatives” at the drop of a hat – and they’ll drop the hat – voted to give the President fast track authority.
This vote defines them.
45 comments
While I opposed TPA, I think it’s a little farfetched to say that the folks who voted in favor aren’t conservative. If you go that route, you’re disowning Trey Gowdy, Marsha Blackburn, Steve Scalise, Jeb Hensarling, Steve King, and Randy Forbes, among others. I doubt those guys would be considered anything but conservative by anybody in the party.
We can have legitimate disagreements about policy without it being an ideological litmus test.
I see our economy as being the heart of America. The blood that flows thru it’s veins is our jobs, which includes our manufacturing base.
Without jobs, the government does not have enough revenue, so they print money for bailouts, unemployment, food stamps, etc..
I see NAFTA as having been the start of the decline of the middle-class lifestyle, due to the loss of manufacturing jobs, and other types of jobs.
This bill is another NAFTA. but worse. The fuel that propels these bad for America trade bills is Corporate cash to campaigns and PAC’s.
The only reason the Republican’s would now, after 6.5 years, jump into bed with Obama, is money, and one hell of a lot of it. So you say now, trust Obama?????
Is telling us now to trust Obama, a Conservative “ideological litmus test”?
If not, then what is?
Obama will be gone in a year. This isn’t about Obama. It’s about not taking away Congress’s most potent tools to stopping a bad trade deal. Mike’s article talks about this in terms of conservative vs. everybody else. And I think it’s a stretch to say that folks who voted for or against TPA are somehow better ideologues than others. This vote had weird breakdowns on both sides.
You just don’t understand, Brian. Elizabeth Warren is more conservative than Steve King. Everyone knows that.
Steve King is whatever Speaker Boehner tells him to be.
When you praise Elizabeth Warren and turn on Steve King as being insufficiently conservative, you know you’ve gone too far.
Maybe, just maybe, what you think you know about the bill isn’t actually true.
And maybe you should stop doing the bidding of unions and leftists.
And, maybe, just maybe what YOU think that you know about the bill isn’t actually true.
And maybe you should stop doing the bidding of American corporations, and Wall St..
This is what I do know, the establishment Republican’s who are financed by big business, are not about to do anything for the American worker/middle-class. That, my friend is chiseled in concrete.
And that is exactly who are behing this bill, the establishment.
I suspect this may be a trade deal of it’s own. If Obamacare falters in the Supreme Court in a few days, the establishment Republican’s may have agreed to a fix for Obamacare in exchange for the establishment getting a bad for America trade deal.
There is more to this than the media is reporting, always is. This may be a political trade of some kind.
What would the middle class be without corporate America? When did Republicans decide the Democrats were right and business is the enemy?
Well, I just went back and watched Mitt Romney again. He was on MTP yesterday morning. He mentioned small business, but not big business. Same as most others running for President since 2008.
Any entity who exports our jobs, and imports cheap labor, is the enemy.
If what big business does is so good for America, why then do they have to pay politicians millions of dollars to pass legislation so that they can do what they do?
Does that answer your question?
Not really. Everybody lobbies the folks who regulate them.
When you say lobby, do you mean writes a check to get the regulations or legislation they want?
Nobody gets that. The corporations get to plead their case, like anybody else.
Nobody gets what? I don’t mind lobbyist’s without a checkbook. But, is there even such a thing on the big business level?
Do you expect me to believe that Dominion Power, Duke Power, just to name two, pump all that money into politicians and the political party’s, inaugral balls etc., yet expect nothing in return?
Give me a break Brian. Without lobbyist’s toting checkbooks, this country becomes a better place to live. A lot of our problems are either solved or disappear completely.
Why should any big business have to pay for something that is good for America? That is why they pay, to get regulations and legislation passed that are bad for America passed.
Of course there is. Most lobbyists don’t have big checkbooks. Checkbooks matter far less nowadays than they ever have before. Voters matter. I would rather have sizable numbers of constituents in a members’ district than anything else. That’s what folks pay attention to. Money only gets you access, voters gets you influence.
Of course they expect something in return – they expect that somebody will take their call. What they expect in return is access, a chance to be a part of the process, and a chance to plead their case. Only the crooks expect a donation means a vote, and those guys don’t last very long.
Without lobbyists, you’ve got even bigger government than you have now. You have a government that regulates things it doesn’t understand and no input from the people being regulated.
Why should any big business have to pay for something that is good for America? Because we all do – taxes. Businesses have lobbyists because they want to have a say in how their industries are regulated.
Ok, then please explain to me why SB 1349 (2015) is good for the consumer in Virginia?
Keep in mind that my Conservative Del. voted NO to that bill.
It was sold as a rate freeze bill.
And without the millions that they have pumped into Virginia politics they still could have sold it?
My Del., did not bite. Why not?
Not knowing who your Delegate is, I can’t explain why they voted no. But hey, they’re a huge entity and they provide power to most of Virginia. They have lots of voters.
Del. Chris Peace
Can you give use some examples of Congress stopping a bad trade deal, in say the last 40 years? This IS about trusting Obama to fast track a trade deal.
There is still a very good chance this fast track thing gets passed in Congress. And if it does, the TPP will also get done.
Boehner wants it for the Corporate handout to Republican’s, the Republican Party wants the Corporate handout. Obama wants the corporate handout for the Democrats.
This is just like SB1349 in Virginia past session. McAullife sold us out to the power company, along with Howell and Norment.
This is all about cheap labor and profits for the American Corporation, and the further eroding of the American middle-class. Nothing else.
The American Corporation with it’s checkbook carrying lobbyist’s is the biggest threat we have to our national security.
My money says it gets done. But, I hope it goes down.
Obama may be gone but his legacy regarding the erosion of the separation of powers embedded at the heart of the Constitution, the increasing anatomy of powerful executive directed, nonvoter represented, administrative agencies he has enabled, a politicized Department of Justice and a damaged healthcare system will remain behind with us. I do agree though that this is NOT about political party labels or philosophy, it’s directly about the governing articles of the nation encoded in the Constitution. That is why so many of the blogging comments made on this issue are simply missing the point and reverting to the same old, worn rants of party politics. My belief is that most conservatives are opposed to this specific “agreement” for these simple Constitutional reasons, if we are temporarily allied with the Democrats on this issue, who wish to protect their union interests and party votes and cash infusions, so be it, if it helps preserve the Constitution. For those that can’t step outside their own philosophical ruts you call this “politics”. For the people’s elected representatives who voted for this Obama initiated “process” Constitutional illiteracy is no excuse as this understanding is at the core of your job description.
Sincere over at BD has seen that Hurt is in trouble for voting like a RINO on this, and being a BD contributor, he’s rushed to defend Hurt.
Since when does supporting free trade make one a RINO? It’s always been an integral part of our party’s platform. Ronald Reagan was a leader on freeing markets.
Siding with Bernie Sanders and Nancy Pelosi doesn’t make you conservative.
“Since when does supporting free trade make one a RINO?”
Since NAFTA.
Free trade is just that.
Why is a “top secret” telephone sized book, hundreds or thousands of pages thick, needed for “supposed” free trade? Kept in a guarded room, and if one reads it, they cannot talk about what they read.
Free trade? That could not be further from the truth. This is actually extremely corporate regulated trade. Regulated for a profit, a profit made possible by cheap overseas slave labor.
What people need to realize is that for America to compete with overseas labor, the lifestyle of the American worker has to be regulated down, way down.
So you oppose NAFTA as well? What else do you agree with Bernie Sanders on? What other conservative policies do you stand opposed to? I suppose you favor nationalizing industries, too.
No, I despise NAFTA.
We need to keep a tally of how many times the phrase “in bed with Obama” is used on this blog.
Make it a drinking game, and soon you’ll be posting like Jeanine.
What’s that supposed to mean? And why are you so obsessed with me? It’s rather strange.
It was a joke. Lighten up, Francis.
PLEASE everyone remember the House actually PASSED the TPA by a 219-211 vote at the same time they rejected the TAA component. Boehner and the Obama people will bring a cash sweetened TAA bill back to the floor for another vote next week without doubt. If that bill is passed its over and goes to Obama’s desk, IF it is again rejected the entire deal is DEAD including the previously passed TPA portion. The pressure needs to be doubled down as the key vote is really next week and this prelude was a typical congressional misdirection to the American voters to not pay attention to the REAL events forthcoming. Don’t be FOOLED this isn’t over the real vote hasn’t happened yet!
With respect, Mike, they’re not conservatives and they’re certainly not “heroes” just for voting against this bill. As is mentioned upthread, they trade votes and choose votes to fool the home folks. Don’t go pinning medals on them until they show some real guts and principles; doing otherwise just gives them cover.
My Reagan story — I know a man who lobbied Reagan to help the oil industry when it was in one of its cyclical free-falls. The man and several others from the oil industry met the Gipper in the White House. They showed him photos of the multitude of drilling rigs sitting idle in storage yards and waterways. They asked for government help.
The Gipper shuffled through the photos as they made their plea. When they were finished, the Gipper looked around at his aides and around the table and, to paraphrase, said, “You know, back when I was campaigning in Texas I went to an event with oil tycoons. It was held in an enormous mansion, and everybody arrived in a Mercedes, and everyone wore a Rolex watch and everyone there had enough money to buy each other out.”
Then the Gipper chuckled, and got up and left the meeting without another word.
In other words, “You guys didn’t save for a rainy day and now you’re here asking the taxpayers to bail you out? Go eff yourselves.”
Fantastic story. Love it.
Hurt needs to be Cantored!
You got that right!!
Didn’t Shak Hill win the 5th district at the 2014 Roanoke convention?
Yes, but Hill lives outside of the 5th district, he’s a Fairfax resident.
No I understand that … I was more pointing out that Hurt could be more vulnerable to a challenge than any other Virginia congressman.
He is, he’s newer than the others and he’s making mistakes, he’s also not owning up to them.
My impression is that this monster can be resurrected next week. That today’s kubucki theatre is smoke and mirrors and these bunch of crooks have every intention of passing this with a sweetened up TAA next Tuesday.
You are exactly right. Boehner will not let it go. They, the politicians and party’s, want the cash from the corporations.
This is a sell out of America.
PS- Do not be fooled, Goodlatte is trying to play both sides of the fence. He is in bed with President Obama.
And Goodlatte.
Goodlatte voted aye to one bill, he is in bed with Obama. Voting aye to either bill tells the story. Trying to play both sides just doesn’t cut it.
Again, the only Republican’s in the U.S. House from Virginia who did not sell out America yesterday, Congressman’s Wittman, Brat, and Griffith.
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/114-2015/h362
1st District Congressman Rob Wittman has proven his Conservative credentials many times in Congress, as he did today. He is as good as it gets.
Today should be proof that there are only 3 Conservative Republican Congressmen from Virginia in the U.S. House. Wittman, Brat, and Griffith.
The rest sold out for a few pieces of silver, and jumped into bed with President Obama.
Let the record show that unlike many discussions, we agree upon this point.