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Fourty four out of the 52 Republican members the official 'Tea Party Caucus' voted to renew expiring provisions of the Patriot Act on February 8th.
Seven out of the 26 Republican Congressmen who voted NO on the Patriot Act yeterday are listed on Michelle Bachmann's official 'Tea Party Caucus' list.
The seven were Roscoe Bartlett [MD],Rob Bishop [UT], Paul Broun [GA], Tom Graves [GA], Kenny Marchant [TX], Tom McClintock [CA], and Denny Rehberg [MT].
Doug Lamborn of Colorado, another Tea Party Caucus member, is one of five Republicans who did not vote on the bill.
The official published list posted on Bachmann's website includes 52 members. The list has not been updated since July 21, 2010. Some reps may consider themselves aligned with Tea party type values, but for one reason or another, refrain from joining the list.
Congress approved the formation of the Caucus in July 2010. Caucuses are regarded as 'semi-official' Congressional organizations. There was originally some contention about who was a member and who was not, after Bachmann initially made the announcement last year. Apparently some Republicans assumed to be members did not want to appear on the list Others were uncertain if they wanted to be on it. John Boehner, who later became House Majority Speaker, did not want to be on the list. Boehner, from Ohio, was first sworn into Congress Jan 3, 1985.
Ron Paul, considered by many to be the ideological founder of the modern day tea party movement, is not a member of the caucus. Out of the 87 new Republican Congressman and 13 new GOP Senators who were sworn into their first terms last month, it is not known how many consider themselves tea partiers, since there is no updated list.
Justin Amash, a tea party canddiate from Michigan who just began his first term, was one of the 26 GOP mavericks who voted no on the bill, which is considered by many to be unecessary and tyrannical.
What's this? The constitution/small govt party voting against the constitution and small govt? You don't say.
Forgive the source, I'm merely using it for the article. You can see the actual vote data here.
What's more interesting than the (utterly predictable) Tea Party fraud, is that only 26 Repubs, as opposed to 122 Dems, voted to oppose the extension, while 67 Dems and 210 Repubs voted to extend.|||Roughly 2 in favor for every 1 against, independent of party. And democrats vote more often.
I'd think the Patriot Act would be less popular now (it wasn't very popular back then).|||Quote:
What's this? The constitution/small govt party voting against the constitution and small govt? You don't say.
Yeah, I figured you'd be on this like white on rice, screaming about hypocrisy.
I'm not surprised that I have a slightly different takeaway:Surprise: Vote to extend three Patriot Act provisions fails in House
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The three provisions, incidentally, were for surveillance of non-citizens, roving wiretaps of multiple phones owned by a suspect, and the �library records� provision giving the FBI access to, among other things, medical and business records, which apparently was the sticking point for many Republicans voting no.
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What's more interesting than the (utterly predictable) Tea Party fraud, is that only 26 Repubs, as opposed to 122 Dems, voted to oppose the extension, while 67 Dems and 210 Repubs voted to extend.
I've got to admit that I'm not impressed either, and I think P.J. O'Rourke summed it up fairly well in this essay.
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I think we lost the election on November 2. Every race was won by a politician. True, we elected some angry nuts. These are preferable to common politicians. Their anger provokes honesty, and their mental illness prevents honesty from being obscured by charm.
However, the somewhat nebulous Tea Party objectives are primarily about small Gov't so I'm not <shocked> that they didn't object to this bill, couched as it is in National Security terms. It still would have been nice to see more agitation for an overhaul of the poorly-written PATRIOT, even if I don't believe it to be as offensive as you do.|||So the party of "the democrats are evil and are trying to kill you" mostly voted the opposite of what the democrats voted. I'm... surprised. No, that's not the right word. Unsurprised. Yea, that's it. Completely the opposite of surprised.
Seriously, anyone who thinks the tea party is the party of small government needs to seriously rethink how they get their news. There are a few people like Ron Paul (who while bat**** insane (gold standard? really?) at least seems to be sticking to his principles) but most of them were just riding the faux (*cough*) popularity of the movement to power.
In related "wow, how can anyone not see through this, seriously" news, I would like to remind everyone that the republicans' bill to repeal health care reform was called the "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act". And every single republican in the house voted for it. Every single one.|||Drec, it's easier to do what's cool, than what's right.
It's more fun to just "try to beat Obama!" than it is to "govern the country".
"Prudently govern" doesn't sell as many fundraiser plates as "Reload" does.|||Unfortunately, Americans seem more interested in the lol-worth of a politician than in his/her actual merits as a leader.
The only way the Democrats managed to get someone competent in leadership is by making sure he's black (or failing that, female).|||Quote:
Unfortunately, Americans seem more interested in the lol-worth of a politician than in his/her actual merits as a leader.
You mean like this?
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The only way the Democrats managed to get someone competent in leadership is by making sure he's black (or failing that, female).
Oh, right, and in particular the number of black, female Democrat representatives which inspire confident leadership is staggering. Sheila Jackson Lee and Maxine Waters spring immediately to mind.|||Well, I think your list of democrat representatives who inspire confident leadership is probably short... very short... to begin with. Closer to minus infinity.
lol @ pic|||Quote:
Well, I think your list of democrat representatives who inspire confident leadership is probably short... very short... to begin with. Closer to minus infinity.
I'll put it this way. A Republican who doesn't "cross the aisle" regularly is labeled a zealot, fascist, &c., while the shuttering of the only remnant of reasonable Democrat thinking has passed un-mourned and un-sung.
Then when people who I <do> respect, despite my political opposition to their allegiances or dislike of their beliefs follow suit...
yeah, I really don't find much faith in the so-called "loyal opposition". Particularly when the President's "new tone" translates to, "we call you Nazis and you shut up".
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