Will Teabaggers Wind Up Supporting A Mark Foley Political Comeback?

GOP radio host and unprosecuted child molester Mark Foley (R-FL) told Florida's Conservative Republican Alliance at a fundraiser for Marco Rubio (also attended by Limbaugh) that he would like to "use my experience and my voice to help others, to rally for economic sanity, to bring about real reforms on a local, state and even national level" and he doesn't rule out running for office again. Foley, who was always close with Charlie Crist-- a gay Mafia thing-- has also had a crush on Marco Rubio and is tilting in that direction even though Rubio is virulently homophobic, far more so than Crist, who is, after all, only as anti-gay as his party absolutely forces him to be.

But with the Glenn Beck/teabagger wing of the GOP surging right now, it isn't likely that the new radio host-- Inside the Mind of Mark Foley started broadcasting today-- will make a bid for office any time soon. In fact, far less objectionable Republicans are being excoriated by the far right teabaggers for not being extremist enough. This morning CQPolitics had a rundown of four of the races pitting mainstream conservative House incumbents against radical right teabaggers. The 4 conservative Republicans facing primary challenges from the lunatic fringe are Mark Souder (IN), Todd Akin (MO), Lee Terry (NE), who nearly lost his seat last year in a district won by Obama, and Bob Inglis (SC). Are they conservative enough? Here are their ProgressivePunch voting scores for the current session of Congress (out of a possible 100)

Lee Terry- 4.88
Bob Inglis- 2.44
Mark Souder- 2.44
Todd Akin- 0.00

A score of 0.00 would indicate a reflexive dedication to voting "no" on everything. There was not one single substantive bill on which Akin-- along with extremist loons like Ken Calvert (R-CA), Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Mike Pence (R-IN) or Joe Wilson (R-SC)-- thought a role other than obstructionist would be an appropriate way to represent the district that sent him to Congress. This puts Akin and his cohorts to the right of national caracatures like Michele Bachmann (2.44), Eric Cantor (2.44), Darrell Issa (4.88) and Mean Jean Schmidt (2.44)! But apparently, not good enough for the KKK kooks and Greed and Selfishness worshippers in the suburbs north of St. Louis. Akin is being challenged by a p.r. agent who used to work for Dick Armey (one of the prime teabagger event organizers), Liz Lauber, currently a FreedomWorks employee, in the primary.

Souder complained to CQPolitics that the threat from the far right is keeping Republicans like himself from working constructively at governance. Although he's normally considered a right-winger within the GOP House Caucus, some movement conservatives are pissed off because he's asked for earmarks for his district-- not an issue likely to hurt him back home with mainstream voters-- and because he voted for Bush's Wall Street bailout.

Rachel Grubb, a self-described “blue-collar mom,” is challenging Souder in the May primary, running on promises that she would strictly adhere to the Constitution and pay attention to those in the electorate “who say those in power have been there far too long.”

The eight-term lawmaker said he expects other conservative candidates to join the field, as well.

Souder said the prospect of several possible primary rivals makes it difficult for incumbents like him to embrace bipartisan deals on high-profile issues.

“On the big issues, I don’t think you’re going to see much bipartisanship because our right wing has dug in so hard,” Souder said. “And there’s, quite frankly, panic among Democrats.”

As a result, Republican lawmakers are increasingly reluctant to work with Democrats on health care (HR 3200, S 1685), climate change (HR 2454) and financial services regulations-- even if their natural inclination is to work to perfect those bills rather than line up to thwart them.

Do we really need more morons running America?

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