The infighting in the Republican Party will not be limited to the national level. Here in Virginia the lunatic Christofascist/Tea Party base has been emboldened by the defeat of Eric Cantor by a Tea Party extremists and all indications are that an effort will be made to drag the Virginia GOP even further into looney bin territory. While the national debate on immigration should hopefully make it clear to minorities of every stripe that they are not welcomed in the GOP, the fight in Virginia will also likely have insane far right religious overtones as the theocrats at The Family Foundation pressure the Republican members of the Virginia General Assembly to enact "turn away the gays" bills to grant special rights to Christofascists to discriminate at will under the smoke screen of "religious liberty." An article in the Washington Post looks at the coming fray. Here are highlights:
Virginia’s fractured GOP will be drawn into yet another skirmish between the conservative grass roots and party establishment next year, when its top Republican will face a primary challenge from the right.
Just five months after the stunning defeat of former House majority leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Virginia House Speaker William J. Howell finds himself fending off a similar threat.
Virginia has gained national attention as a swing state where, after a string of losses, Republicans are working furiously to position themselves to compete in the 2016 presidential election. One of their challenges is to unite a state GOP deeply divided between moderates and a coalition of activists and tea party faithful who want the party to stand stronger on such rallying issues as reducing government spending and opposing abortion and immigration reform.
[T]he right wing continues to control many of the state GOP’s leadership posts and retains the power to guide candidate nominations. The lesson many Republicans are taking from Cantor’s defeat, and from Howell’s impending primary fight, is that anything goes in the topsy-turvy world of Virginia politics — and no one should assume he or she is safe.
Not everyone thinks Howell is any more at risk this election cycle than in the past — and Stimpson has her own set of detractors, some of them Howell loyalists who resent her for turning against her patron.
“Howell will beat Stimpson like a rented mule,” said Ray Allen, a Republican consultant and Cantor loyalist who has tangled with the conservative coalition.
Stimpson is part a chorus of conservatives who believe that Howell orchestrated a compromise that ensured passage of a sweeping transportation bill last year — and secretly cleared the path for the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
Howell led Republican opposition to Medicaid expansion and denied any secret effort to let it pass. But Stimpson and others objected to the creation of a 10-member commission that they feared would bolster the case for expansion.
[Howell] called the transportation bill vital for residents’ safety as well as economic development. “That’s important, particularly in the part of the commonwealth where I live and where Susan lives,” he said. “People are desperate for transportation improvements. Conservatives don’t like to raise taxes, but they also don’t like to borrow money or not fund things.”
For those not living in Virginia, the state's Interstates were crumbling in many areas and but for the money raised in the transportation bill would now be down right dangerous. The lunatics of the GOP base care nothing about safety or sustaining the economy. They are motivated solely by greed and hatred of others.
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