How To Change Congress-- Dumping Obstacles To Progress Like John Mica

Republicans savvy about self-preservation in swing districts-- districts like the ones in Central Florida-- are starting to back away from the GOP/Ted Cruz strategy of holding the government and the economy hostage for narrow, unpopular Republican agenda items. But not John Mica, the lockstep conservative from Winter Park. Yesterday's very conservative Orlando Sentinel was worrying aloud that "thousands of federal workers in Central Florida-- ranging from Internal Revenue Service employees in Maitland to engineers at Kennedy Space Center and immigration-court employees in Orlando-- remain furloughed. And federal courts locally are about to run out of money to pay their 300 employees. But to U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, the temporary pain is worth it."

He is one of three GOP House members from Central Florida-- along with Daniel Webster of Winter Garden and Bill Posey of Rockledge-- who Obama says are part of a conservative bloc that has taken the government "hostage" to demands that are amorphous and changeable.

Mica said the hardball tactics are necessary to win concessions from the Democrat-controlled Senate and White House on issues ranging from defunding the Affordable Care Act-- a demand the Republicans have largely abandoned-- to unspecified cuts in Social Security, Medicare and other spending.

"What [other] leverage do you have?" Mica asked. Though he said Republicans likely overreached in

trying to defund "Obamacare"-- "maybe that was unrealistic," he says-- the 11-term lawmaker dismissed Obama's suggestion that the two sides negotiate only after reopening federal offices and increasing the nation's debt limit, which is set to hit its cap next week.

"Ronald Reagan said, 'Trust but verify,'" Mica said. "Republicans would not have a chance [of getting what they wanted] once you get past next Wednesday or Thursday"-- the debt-ceiling deadline.

But when asked what he wanted, Mica was unspecific-- other than some measure "to bring spending under control."

Although an enfeebled DCCC, led by incompetent Long Island congressman Steve Israel, is running around like a chicken without a head trying to get anti-Choice, antigay right-winger Jennifer Garrison elected in a prohibitively red Ohio district with a PVI of R+8, they claim that districts like Mica's FL-07 (R+4)-- where McCain edged Obama by a mere 2,500 votes in 2008 (50-49%)-- are too big a reach for them. Time for Nancy Pelosi to fire Israel and clean out that nest of incompetent losers and get a crew that knows what its doing.

Yesterday I asked Nick Ruiz, the independent-minded grassroots Democrat running without any assistance or encouragement from the DCCC, how Mica's crazy backing for shutting down the government and throwing the U.S. into default is viewed by folks in Deltona, Oviedo, Maitland, Lockhart, Altamonte Springs, Geneva and Longwood. "It's a real travesty that Rep. John Mica feels that the people of central Florida and America are simply 'leverage' to be used and discarded for any agenda he chooses," he told me. "His worldview is cynical, narrow and self-focused, which is unbecoming of a legislator. He acts as if he is a lobbyist. Lobbyists are one issue advocates. That's what they get paid to do. Fine. But federal legislators are beholden to the balance of hundreds of thousands of people, the environment they live within, and to the nation as a whole - effectively, hundreds of millions of people. We need representatives that understand and honor that relationship. I will do that; he will not, which is why I'm running against Rep. John Mica."

Blue America is trying to help Nick make up for the funds Steve Israel jus wasting on Jennifer Garrison that should be going into taking back FL-07. If you can, please lend a hand at this link.

Across the state, Republicans are looking for a replacement for the retiring GOP dean of the Florida congressional delegation, Bill Young. Yesterday, several of their top contenders dropped out, including state Senator Jack Latvala, their best shot at holding onto the blue-leaning district. Latvala told Florida political pundit Peter Schorsch to count him out. “I appreciate the many people who have called and texted me urging me to run for Congress but I do not plan to do that. I love the Florida Senate. I make an impact here and want to stay here. And besides who wants to be in a job that is rated less favorably than a cockroach?!” It's 10-term Members like John Mica who have brought Congress into this kind of disrepute… and some crazy freshmen. Take Ted Cruz, for example, de facto Speaker of the House. Maybe Cruz has been smoking some of John Boehner's son-in-law's ganja but he hosted a closed door lunch with GOP colleagues trying to persuade them that there's another way of looking at being held in lower esteem than a cockroach.

Republicans who attended the weekly lunch hosted by Senate conservatives confirmed that Cruz presented a poll that the Texan paid for. Cruz’ pollster, Chris Perkins, was there for a portion of the discussion to help walk members through the poll and discuss the party's messaging strategy. Perkins is a partner with Wilson Perkins Allen, a GOP polling firm with dozens of Republican clients.

The survey’s findings mirrored other national polls: More voters blame the Republicans for the government shutdown than blame President Obama or the Democrats. But Cruz argued, based on the poll, that Republicans are in a much better position than they were during the 1995 shutdown because this impasse is defined by a disagreement over funding for the Affordable Care Act as opposed to a general disagreement over government spending.

Obviously, a fool like John Mica is easy to convince but at least one Republican House member will be a harder sell for Cruz, at least in theory if not in practice. Peter King hates Cruz's guts and has called him "a fraud" and a "con man." But even King won't stand up against the Cruz strategy that Boehner is trying to unify his fractured caucus around. “I’d lose a lot of credibility," King whimpered to journalist Lee Fang this week.

Is there a solution? Of course… elect progressives, not Democrats and not Republicans… just progressives-- like these guys.