Republicans Want To Get Rid Of Their Corrupt Beltway Leaders… How About Democrats?

I met with a friendly congressman this week to talk about the prospects for improving House Democratic leadership in a post-Pelosi world. Aside from assuring me that enough members of the caucus detest Steve Israel so that he's not going up any ladders, it was a depressing conversation. Acknowledging that Steny Hoyer as Speaker or Minority Leader will mean the caucus would, in effect, be run entirely by K Street, one phrase stuck in my head: "Hoyer is very likable and no one is interested in patricide." I'm glad they are get along in their cushy club there but, the people's business is more important than their comity and chumminess and Hoyer and his K Street lobbyist brigade are the exact opposite of what the Democratic Party needs.

Republicans are being forced by a motivated grassroots-- albeit led by money-grubbing hucksters like Brent Bozell-- to get rid of their own corrupt Beltway leadership. The galoots in the photo above are the 3 top GOP House leaders, Boehner, Cantor and McCarthy, and the 3 top GOP Senate leaders, McConnell, Cornyn and Thune. This morning, CNN reported on a right-wing group pushing to oust all 6 of them from leadership.

ForAmerica told CNN that it's putting six figures behind its "Dump the Leadership" campaign between now and November's leadership elections.

…"Time and again, year after year, the Republican leadership in the House and Senate has come to grassroots conservatives, and Tea Party supporters pleading for our money, our volunteers, our time, our energy and our votes," said ForAmerica Chairman Brent Bozell in a statement to CNN. "In return they have repeatedly promised not just to stop the liberal assault on our freedoms and our national treasury, but to advance our conservative agenda. It's been years. There is not a single conservative accomplishment this so-called 'leadership' can point to."

ForAmerica, which describes itself as "an online army of over 4.5 million people," is a conservative non-profit group which has often criticized congressional GOP leaders.

Democrats brag they're the "big tent" party and that everyone is welcome, including refuse from the GOP. In fact, the DCCC goes out of its way to recruit "former" Republicans and very conservative Republican-like Democrats to run, including dedicated homophobes and anti-Choice fanatics. I bet Steve Israel would never recruit an anti-Semite. Why is he recruiting anti-gay candidates like Jennifer Garrison? Earlier today, we saw that Parker Griffith, a scummy Blue Dog from the Republican-wing of the Democratic Party, who sucked millions from the DCCC before switching to the GOP-- where they smartly defeated him for reelection-- is back claiming he's a Democrat again, as he runs for governor of Alabama. The state Democratic Party has already welcomed him back into the fold and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Steve Israel, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Joe Crowley and Steny Hoyer show up at his launch party.

Multipe sources tell WHNT News 19 that former Congressman Parker Griffith is on the verge of announcing his candidacy for governor of Alabama, and as a member of the party he famously abandoned just four years ago. WHNT News 19 has confirmed that the Alabama Democratic Party recently voted to reinstate Griffith, clearing the way for a gubernatorial run that we’re told will likely be announced before Friday’s qualifying deadline.

…Madison County Democratic Party Chair Clete Wetli said Griffith has been welcomed back.

“If he’s going to support the party platform then he’s a Democrat as far as I’m concerned,” said Wetli. “He’s got some damage control to do. He’s going to have to reach out and talk to people and explain why he’s the best candidate for the job.”

Damage control with grassroots Democrats perhaps… but not with the party bosses.