If you think that the 2010 elections cleared out all of the dead wood from the House, you need to think again. If you think that our only intra-party problems emanate from blue-district Republicans, you need a reality check.
Here is a state with a totally dysfunctional congressional delegation.
He was elected to the House in 2002 during a good Republican year, and has held his seat for five terms.
While conservatives cheered on the effort to keep the GOP pledge by cutting $100 billion from the 2011 budget, this member deemed it “misguided.”
This member is one of those who used his membership with the Republican Study Committee as a means of concealing his affinity for big-government from his conservative constituents. After years of voting against every single RSC proposal, and after realizing that the group would not roll over and genuflect before leadership, he summarily terminated his membership.
Throughout his career, he has been a reliable vote for CAFE standards, ethanol, and all sorts of subsidies.
No – he doesn’t represent a Democrat-leaning district in the northeast, even though he scored a dismal 54% on the Heritage Action Scorecard. He represents an R+14 district in this staunch conservative state. In fact, it is such a conservative district that he faced no Democrat opponent in 2010. His nearest competition was from the Constitution Party.
The state’s 2nd district – an R+16 district – is represented by a “Tea Party freshman.” Just kidding. She actually scored a mediocre 62% from Heritage Action. She joined her 1st district colleague in dropping out of the RSC.
It’s not like we didn’t have a choice. We could have elected someone who wouldn’t have been a water carrier for leadership. We could have elected someone who would have opposed the Obama-Reid supercommitee debt deal. We need a do-over.
Correction: She did indeed vote against the debt ceiling deal, but she voted for the minibus and megabus – bills that will add to the debt for years to come. She also voted for the initial debt ceiling deal that jettisoned Cut, Cap, Balance. That vote paved the way for members to ultimately raise the debt ceiling in exchange for peanuts. Any opposition to the final vote was just window dressing because its passage was inevitable – thanks to those who voted down Cut, Cap, and Balance the first time.
The state’s 3rd district is represented by the most liberal member of the delegation. Not only did he vote against every conservative spending reduction proposal this year, he even went out of his way to vote for an expansion of an Obamacare provision to veterinarians.
In 2008, he voted for every bailout under the sun, every big government intervention, and every green energy handout. He became such a big-government statist that he somehow had the skill to rack up a 50% from the American Conservative Union. He loves himself some pork, SCHIP, green energy, and the minimum wage. In fact, I can’t find much of anything to which he aligns himself with conservatives.
Hey, maybe we can let him off the hook. After all, he only represents an R+9 district.
The state’s 4th district is represented by a 14-year liberal veteran. It is also represented by a man with a 59% Heritage Action score. And it is also an R+26 district, making it one of the most conservative in the country. This member faced no Democrat opponent in 2010. Yet, he is a big-porking appropriator with an affinity for industry unions, tariffs, and government subsidies for farms and housing.
This member supported cash for clunkers and unconstitutional regulations on credit cards, yet he is a member of the Tea Party Caucus, in addition to the RSC. He is clearly not comfortable in his skin.
The state’s 6th district is represented by the senior member of the state’s delegation, and as such, he is the most destructive. He chairs the Financial Services Committee, and has supported all the financial bailouts. He has also opposed efforts to rein in government intervention in public housing, at least until this year. He has been a reliable vote for wage controls during the past two decades. Oh, he is an RSC member, but he has voted against almost every RSC budget.
In 2010, he was one of only 17 Republicans to vote for a massive 5-year expansion of child nutrition programs. He has supported unconstitutional limits on campaign donation for his entire career. What about market-distorting farm subsidies? He’s the biggest supporter within the Republican Party. He loves all subsidies, including those for Viagra. He also has massive ethics problems.
As the representative of the state’s 6th district, he represents the most conservative district in the country (R+29). Do we need another 18 years before we wake up and depose him?
The five members we are referring to are Jo Bonner, Martha Roby, Mike Rogers, Robert Aderholt, and Spencer Bachus – in that order. The state we are referring to is not New York; it is Alabama, the third most conservative state!
Memo to Alabama Tea Parties: Your entire House delegation sucks (except for Mo Brooks). Conservatives have enjoyed the least success from your delegation over any other state’s representatives, considering the staunch conservative bent of your state. Your state’s delegation is the embodiment of everything that the Tea Party has railed against. The Tea Party was born out of the conviction that gov’t shouldn’t pick winners and losers, yet that is all these losers have done in Congress. You need to clean house – completely. You have one of the earliest primaries; March 13.
If we can’t elect limited government representatives from a state like Alabama, we as may as well call it quits.
Oh, and your neighbor to the west is just as bad in both the House and the Senate, even though the state is just as conservative. They also have a March 13 primary. Just say no to all the incumbents!
Cross-posted from The Madison Project
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