Will Speaker Boehner purge of Tea Party membership on key House Committees backfire

By Kevin Fobbs

While Washington D.C. political leaders battle on Capitol Hill and in the White House over the approaching ominous fiscal cliff, it appears House Speaker John Boehner has shoved conservative House Tea Party members over another type of cliff. In the military it is called "relieved of duty," and that is exactly what Boehner has done in the 2012 post-election "House" cleaning.

The same conservative Tea Party House member that brought the GOP the largest surge of new members since the 1930's, has resulted in several key leaders being quietly shown the committee exit door by Boehner. What is truly mystifying to many conservatives across the nation is why now?

With the House republicans retaining the majority and therefore holding onto the speaker's gavel for Boehner, why not reinforce conservative leadership at a time when an overzealous president is making every attempt to neuter the GOP brand. Obama wants to force Boehner and House Republican eat their "No-tax hike" pledge in the fiscal cliff negotiations!

Deep within the bowels of the White House political office, there has to be plenty back slapping being shared, as they along with Obama watch the House Republicans take their unwanted political cheese bait. While the nation did reelect the president with bait and switch political tactics and epic character assassination methods, the House Republicans were still elected with a majority as well.

This conservative majority of Americans who came to the polls in November, could not imagine that Boehner would weaken his conservative hand, by shedding noted House Tea Party leaders like, Kansas' Rep. Tim Huelskamp ( R-Kansas), who gained a well-respected reputation for standing up against Planned Parenthood, banning gay marriage and other conservative causes while a state senator. As it turned out, Boehner demonstrated his gratitude by booted him off the Budget and Agriculture Committees.

This may be backroom and insider Capitol Hill politics, but was not changing the status quo of congressional GOP moderation the reason that the over whelming conservative swell of new congressmen and women were to be about after 2010 elections?

Apparently not the case according to congressman, Huelskamp, who stressed to his fellow conservative house caucus members, Tuesday, December 4th, "It confirms, in my mind, Americans' deepest suspicions about Washington. It's petty, it's vindictive, and if you have any conservative principles, you will be punished for it."

Yes, the punishment was swift and it cut deep into the heart of Tea Party conservative congressional members. Michigan's own, Tea Party favorite Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), was dispossessed of his Budget committee seat. The purge continued with Arizona Rep. David Schweikert, being relieved of his seat on the powerful on Financial Services Committee. There were many others.

According to Slate, congressman Amash asserted this was this was a plain and simple congressional backroom "purge!"

Now it appears to many Washington pundits, that the president has the upper hand, due to rumblings in the nation's capitol that some GOP house and senate republicans may cave on the no-tax increase pledge to prevent a fiscal cliff disaster.

The true reality of the fiscal cliff is that conservatives in the house must continue to hold their leadership to the pledge to not give into White House thuggish tactics. Otherwise, the country's fiscal cliff compromise will unleash an unrestrained 20 plus trillion dollar debt no future generation can bear or afford.

If Boehner goes down this slippery slope with a socialist-minded president determined to gut the GOP for a generation, there will be a reckoning. By 2014, the nation will have a double-dip recession, six years without a budget, and a weakened military. More importantly, in 2014 it will be conservatives fighting back both against a rudderless presidency and moderate House leaders that sold out America's fiscal future.

Naked weakness displayed by leadership which sacrifices conservative principles is never admired by liberals; it is simply used as a hammer on them. Boehner, wake up and smell the coffee, the aroma that you may smell next is the scent of an open conservative revolt. It may make the 2010 Tea Party surge look like a spring breeze.

The 2014 Tea Party election Tsunami will be steadily gaining strength in the heartland, and this time the Speakership may be stripped from Boehner, due to being "Unfit for Duty."

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© Kevin Fobbs