CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TO TARGET TEA PARTY CONSERVATIVES:
Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace said that big-business groups are ready to target House Freedom Caucus members if they don’t “play ball” with the GOP establishment and support Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)’s (R-WI) potential candidacy for House Speaker.
Wallace said that he has been told that “there’s a lot of pressure being put on by the establishment and business groups, saying that some of those Freedom Caucus members, if you’re not going to play ball and you’re not going to get involved, you’re going to get a primary opponent.”
The Chamber of Commerce has reportedly budgeted $100 million to destroy the Tea Party this election cycle and news of the chamber’s plans came not-so-coincidentally days after House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) announced that he would be resigning from Congress.As Roll Call noted, the chamber’s “top targets in 2016 will be right-wing, tea party candidates” and its ultimate goal is to reportedly win back “the soul of the Republican Party” for the GOP establishment establishment by helping elect more moderate candidates “in contested primaries to strengthen their hand during policy debates on the Hill.”
So apparently the Chamber and GOP establishment have come to the conclusion that continued conflict, not cooperation, with constitutional conservatives is the best path forward. And they wonder why the tea party is distrustful and angry?
RELATED: Freedom Caucus signals it could support Ryan for Speaker.
“Paul Ryan is a good man. He’s a great communicator, the kind of messenger I think our party needs,” Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said on “Fox News Sunday.” ”And certainly, if he gets in the race, I think our group would look favorably on him.” . . .
One Republican close to Ryan said that the only scenario in which Ryan might end up as speaker is if he were to be selected by unanimous acclamation, not subject to bargaining with the Freedom Caucus. This Republican demanded anonymity to discuss private considerations.
Somehow I think an attitude of “I will accept the Speakership, but only if you unanimously support me and accept that I will not bargain with you” isn’t exactly the right attitude to “unite” the House GOP.
UPDATE: Fixed broken link (at intro).