Show Down Between GOP Realists and the GOP Insane

Like many Americans, the stunts and insanity of the GOP over the course of the week so far has cost me thousands of dollars in declines in my investments - something I take very personally and will be sharing with Scott Rigell and Eric Cantor - along with my mantra of vote for anyone other than a Republican. One can only hope that there are a few realists in the GOP who can grasp the potential horrific financial consequences of a U.S. default on its debt. Obviously, that description excludes Michele Bachmann and the Kool-Aid drinking GOP freshmen put into office by the ignorance embracing, fact denying Tea Party. Why the know nothing crowd in the Tea Party cannot grasp that those of them with 401(k)'s and investments will be paying a huge price in lost equity, not to mention paying more as interest rates jump upwards is beyond disconcerting. The Washington Post looks at this battle between the near insane in the GOP and the very few grown ups left within the party. Here are highlights:
*
The run-up to the vote expected Thursday on House Speaker John A. Boehner’s proposal to provide a short-term increase in the national debt limit is quickly turning into a time of clarity for the chamber’s Republicans. If GOP leaders are unable to muster enough support to get the plan out of the House, the only measure left would be a Democratic proposal by Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), and voting with Reid is not a concession many House Republicans are willing to make.
*
“There’s only three choices,” said Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio), a close Boehner ally. “One is to vote for Senator Reid’s plan. One is to default. And one choice is the Boehner bill. It should be pretty self-evident what the best choice is to someone who’s a Republican.”
*
Increasingly, the vote on Boehner’s proposal is shaping up not as a test of wills between moderates and conservatives, but as a faceoff between political purists who scorn the bill and realists who prefer it to the alternative.
*
But it is not an easy sale for a party that won back control of the House last year on promises to vote without regard to political consequences.
*
House leaders expressed cautious optimism Wednesday that they were convincing members that the plan advanced by Boehner (R-Ohio) is the best that Republicans can hope to get. It would avert a government default, take a bite out of the deficit and require Congress to adopt $1.8 trillion in additional cuts before the debt ceiling could be raised again next year.
*
Freshman Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), whose district in Staten Island and Brooklyn is home to many Wall Street professionals, said he decided Wednesday that he will vote for the bill after he was convinced that its failure would hand Democrats control of the debate.
*
The House proposal was panned at a small rally held at the Capitol by the Tea Party Express and the American Grassroots Coalition. The GOP that rode tea party energy and activism is hoping that some of it members can look past that relationship. “Some people are new here and this is part of the learning curve,” LaTourette said. “At times you have to say ‘no’ to people you represent who are yelling at you, if you’ve reached the conclusion that it’s in the best interests of the country.”
*
Let's hope that the GOP for once puts the good of the country ahead of prostituting itself to extremists who are untethered from objective reality (which sadly, is most of the GOP base).