Establishment Republicans Move To Take Out Principled Libertarian Justin Amash

The Republican base is restive. They're also dumber than a pile of dog poop. In a recent poll, half the participants were asked if they support Obamacare and the other half if they support the Affordable Care Act. The findings could only surprise someone who considers Tea Party-type Republicans "normal" people: 46% oppose Obamacare while just 37% oppose the ACA." That 9% difference are the hardest core teabaggers. Have you ever gotten into a political discussion with one? Calling them "morons" does a disservice to morons. Every argument comes straight from Hate Talk Radio hosts like Limbaugh, Beck, Savage or Levin-- but filtered through the mind of a parakeet. And most Americans are fed up with them.

As Washington braces for another budget showdown, this time with the threat of defunding the new healthcare law in the mix, the key political force pushing for conservative policies sees diminished popular support. Fewer Americans now describe themselves as supporters of the Tea Party movement than did at the height of the movement in 2010, or even at the start of 2012. Today's 22% support nearly matches the record low found two years ago.

In November 2010, days after the Republicans recaptured the majority in the House of Representatives, 32% of Americans pledged support for the Tea Party, or 10 percentage points higher than in the latest survey, conducted Sept. 5-8. Opponents of the Tea Party now outnumber supporters 27% to 22%.

...The poll suggests that the partnership between the Tea Party and the Republican Party may be waning. Although some of the Tea Party's most visible representatives in politics today are associated with the Republican Party, and while rank-and-file Republicans are more likely to call themselves supporters than opponents of the Tea Party movement-- a far greater number identify as neither... Similarly, just as Republicans are mixed in their views of the Tea Party, Tea Party supporters themselves have mixed views about the Republican Party: 55% hold a favorable view of it and 43% an unfavorable view.

...[W]hile Tea Party supporters and activists may not be fully satisfied with the GOP, they feel just as negatively as Republicans do about the Democratic Party, indicating they have little alternative in national elections. However, their frustration with the GOP could result in more Tea Party-backed conservative challenges to Republican incumbents who don't embrace Tea Party principles.

Last month we saw how the Republican Party Establishment in Michigan had decided to try to oust deranged teabagger Kerry Bentivolio with rich foreclosure and eviction specialist David Trott. Bentivolio is a fool and a clown and, other than a few Hate Talk Radio zombies, no one will care about the intra-party coup against him. West of his district, however, the GOP Establishment is trying a similar move against Justin Amash, more a libertarian than a teabagger-- and a smart, principled guy, not a brain-dead freak like Bentivolio. And people will care-- a lot.

[R]ising libertarian star Amash faces a likely challenge from another businessman, Brian Ellis. Like Bentivolio, Amash is short on funds, with just $164,000 in his account.

Ellis, meanwhile, has been promised all the money he’ll need from “a group of people who can give at robust levels,” according to one prominent west Michigan executive. Translation: The leading business and political names in Grand Rapids are backing Ellis’ bid, which he’s expected to announce formally next month.

What these two races have in common is Republican incumbents who are out of sync with their districts; they’re both more radical than their traditionally conservative constituents.

“It’s an early symbol of things to come, as party regulars worry about the effectivenss of these tea party incumbents and their ability to defend their seats from Democrats,” says Saul Anuzis, former Michigan state GOP chair.

Amash is a Ron Paul devotee, an isolationist and an ideological purist. He voted no on the Keystone Pipeline and refused to support a resolution condemning Iran. After he voted against House Speaker John Boehner last winter, he was hauled to the woodshed by some of the most influential Republicans in his district. It didn’t do much good.

Grand Rapids is the very symbol of button-down Republicanism. Amash’s anti-government “vote no” fervor doesn’t play as well there as it does in national libertarian circles, where the congressman is hailed as the heir apparent to the retired Rep. Paul.

Just over a year ago, we looked at Amash and looked at the conservative corporate shill the Democratic Party has put up against him, Steve Pestka, and decided Amash was the better alternative. Amash is still consumed with Republican greed and selfishness and votes wrong on most roll calls, but he's excellent on issues of national security and privacy protection and this year he's voted better-- on crucial roll calls-- than 10 conservative Democrats: Kyrsten Sinema (New Dem-AZ), Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN), Pete Gallego (New Dem/Blue Dog-TX), Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX), Sean Patrick Maloney (New Dem-NY), Mike McIntyre (New Dem/Blue Dog-NC), Bill Owens (New Dem-NY), Ron Barber (New Dem-AZ), Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT) and John Barrow (New Dem/Blue Dog-GA). This year, Barrow's ProgressivePunch score is 21.70 and Amash's is 40.57-- almost TWICE as good.

It should go without saying the the stumbling, bumbling head of the DCCC, Steve Israel, has failed to recruit a Democrat to run in either district, despite the fact that Obama beat McCain in both districts in 2008.