A North-South split surfaces among Republicans in Congress
To understand the depth of the Republican dilemma that continues to brew in Washington, you only needed to listen to two voices last week.
One belonged to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. The primal scream he aimed at his fellow Republicans in the 112th Congress, who on their final day refused to take up a $60 billion relief bill for Hurricane Sandy victims, rumbled across the right-left spectrum of cable TV news.
Most outlets focused on Christie’s criticism of John Boehner. The House speaker was to face re-election by his GOP caucus the next day. But the New Jersey governor dropped large hints that his real target was the dominating right wing of the House GOP caucus, peopled primarily by Southern conservatives.
“New Jersey and New Yorkers are tired of being treated as second-class citizens,” Christie said. “New Jersey deserves better than the duplicity we saw displayed last night.”
“[The bill] just could not overcome the toxic internal politics of the House majority,” the governor said. Christie was asked to identify the culprits. “They know who they are,” he said.
On that same Wednesday, only a few hours earlier, U.S. Rep. Tom Price, the Republican from Roswell, had dialed into a radio talk show in Washington. The topic was the House vote on the “fiscal cliff” agreement, and Price did more than hint at the regional split in his caucus.
“If you look at the votes that were ‘yes’ on the Republican side – there were 85 of them. Seventy of them come from blue states,” Price said. Nearly 90 percent of House Republicans from the South and border states voted against the Senate measure that was produced by negotiations between Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Vice President Joe Biden.
A similar percentage of Northeastern Republicans (far fewer in raw numbers) voted yes.
“I think this is a red-state, blue-state issue,” Price said. “It’s a different conversation that we need to have within our own conference as we move forward.”
When the time came, Price would endorse Boehner’s re-election. But he was clearly dangling himself as rallying point for his caucus’ most conservative members.
Price ended the interview with this thought: “I think we need red-state representation in both our leadership as well as the organizing committees that we have.” Boehner, of course, is from Ohio. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor represents Virginia, which has slipped into swing-state status.
Disregard the fact that Price, despite his years in the Georgia General Assembly, is a Michigan import. The Roswell congressman was declaring the need for House Republican leaders who are not just more conservative, but more Southern as well.
This is an important point, because Republicans have nearly maxed out in the South. Future gains will come from elsewhere, in states with districts less solidly Republican. So Price’s argument could be interpreted as one of consolidation of the House GOP majority, not expansion.
Larry Sabato, the University of Virginia political scientist, was among the first to spot last week’s regional split. Price is far from alone, he said.
“To get a bunch of Republicans from the Northeast or even some of the urban-suburban Midwestern states is to guarantee that the moderates have more weight. They don’t want that,” Sabato said. “They would prefer to have a smaller majority. I think some would prefer to be in the minority.”
Remember that former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who just left to head the Heritage Foundation, famously declared that he’d rather have a group of committed conservatives in the Senate than a majority.
It is a peculiarly Southern trait, as many of our ancestors can attest, to prefer principle – whether right or wrong – over what might be considered natural self-interest. “There’s nothing in the law or Constitution that says a party has to win,” Sabato said.
On Friday, a chastened but re-elected Boehner put the first of three Hurricane Sandy aid bills up for a vote before the newly seated 113th Congress. It passed easily, 354 to 67. All votes in opposition were cast by Republicans. Thirty-one came from the Deep South, including five from Georgia. Price’s vote was among them.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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192 comments Add your comment
natrone
January 5th, 2013
12:28 pm
there are too many white racists in the government in DC—trying to keep people of color down. I’m tired of this. I may move back to new jersey next year if I can find a job.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 5th, 2013
12:31 pm
Nothing defines “infantile rants” better than 12:13.
td
January 5th, 2013
12:36 pm
yuzeyurbrane
January 5th, 2013
12:16 pm
Go to the link below to CNN and do the comparisons of any cities or states you want to. It is actually pretty good for CNN. It says if you make $30,000 in Atlanta the you would have to make $56,330 in NYC.
http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/
td
January 5th, 2013
12:39 pm
Corey
January 5th, 2013
12:20 pm
And prior to the civil war the south was the wealthiest, best educated part of the nation. In 1860, Mississippi was the wealthiest state in the nation
TD, could that have something to do with not having to pay labor costs?
Labor cost VS housing, food and Medical cost for the entire family. Tell me what is less expensive?
DannyX
January 5th, 2013
12:42 pm
” It says if you make $30,000 in Atlanta the you would have to make $56,330 in NYC. ”
You sure are dense sometimes td. In NYC you are probably getting paid $58,000 for the same job.
MH Brown
January 5th, 2013
12:43 pm
“…to prefer principle – whether right or wrong – over what might be considered natural self-interest” is an interesting way to describe bone-headed, purposeful ignorance. Southern Republicans are not only ignorant, they are anti-intellectual and consider education almost criminal. This “pride in ignorance” is the biggest block for this pitiful, pitiful region. As Randy Newman wrote over 40 years ago in his song “Rednecks” they are “…too dumb to make it in no Northern town…” The GOP in the south wants to keep it that way.
td
January 5th, 2013
12:46 pm
DannyX
January 5th, 2013
12:42 pm
” It says if you make $30,000 in Atlanta the you would have to make $56,330 in NYC. ”
You sure are dense sometimes td. In NYC you are probably getting paid $58,000 for the same job.
You just missed the whole point of the discussion. The discussion is about comparing Apples to Apples when you talk about people doing better in some parts of the country as in other parts. You can not make that assessment on salary only. Come on now and get with the discussion.
Kris
January 5th, 2013
12:51 pm
Its official the United states will hang on the brink of financial doom for another two years as the GOP idiots fight the inbreeding amongst them selves….Flip Flop its a tax hike no it is not a tax hike……Flip Flop its a tax hike no it is not a tax hike…… its a tax hike no it is not a tax hike..Flip Flop its a tax hike……Flip Flop its a tax hike no it is not a tax hike…..
God bless President Obama.
The GOP should take Boneheads advice…”"”"”Boehner pointed his finger at Reid and without any other fanfare said, “Go f*** yourself.” When Reid asked him what he was talking about, Boehner simply repeated his curse and moved on.
http://news.yahoo.com/john-boehner-told-harry-reid-f-yourself-outside-103332376.html
“”"”"
DannyX
January 5th, 2013
12:52 pm
“You can not make that assessment on salary only.”
No kidding???? Like you tried to do when you didn’t account for the wage differences of the 2 regions @ 12:36! Like I said, dense.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 5th, 2013
12:58 pm
Psssst, libbies – Lib Galloway is from the south. Or does living in Atlanta exclude him from being ignorant, an anti intellectual and against education in your whackjob world of hate?
Newt is nuts
January 5th, 2013
1:00 pm
Before some of you lose sight of what this blog was all about, keep in mind that Tom Price does not care about Southern values or even whether conservatives can control the house. Tom Price cares only about Tom Price. If he cannot attract enough support to seriously challenge Saxby in 2014, he will then do whatever it takes to rise up the leadership ladder in the House.
Remember, folks, this is not about policy or what is best for the country. It’s all about Tom Price.
jess
January 5th, 2013
1:01 pm
The main stream press seems to have completely overlooked Mayor Blumberg’s comments which put the blame on those who wrote the bill for filling it full of pork. This is the press, including you Mr. Galloway, which would love nothing better than to create and nurish such a split.
Living With Open Eyes
January 5th, 2013
1:06 pm
The difference between Sandy and Katrina is that Katrina personally affected Congress’ and the President’s pockets-they all have large investments on the Gulf Coast in the oil industry. There isn’t any oil industry on the Atlantic coast, so why bail them out? It’s all about money and greed, not North-South feuding.
newkid
January 5th, 2013
1:10 pm
Pundits from near and far pontificate on the rapidly declining prominence and influence of the US in the 21st century. Many of said pundits put this declining prominence and influence down to such factors as the rise of the BRICS, Islamic fundamentalism, continually rising national debt, etc. Really? Have another look at this blog will ya. Isn’t it painfully obvious that our decline will be mostly as a result on internal bleeding?
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 5th, 2013
1:16 pm
The difference between Katrina and Sandy is that we had a real president during Katrina.
Decatur on Fire
January 5th, 2013
1:19 pm
If the south ships all the minorities to the North then let’s talk about education levels. The south cannot help that their ancestors imported slaves to fulfill their business model at that point in history.
Living With Open Eyes
January 5th, 2013
1:24 pm
Newkid- our main problem in the USA is we let too many people in to easily, we never forgive any body that screws up, and we pay people more money to sit on their butts and push buttons than we do people who actually work, sweat, and produce actual products and services.
Georgia , The "New Mississippi"
January 5th, 2013
1:25 pm
These GOP Johnny Rebs have had several YEARS to write and pass a deficit reduction bill that the Senate could support and the President could sign into law. The Bill will have to contain more than cut taxes for job creators and abolish social welfare programs. These GOP Johnny Rebs are like modern day kamikazes ——-they have no moral problem with murdering people while committing suicide.
Curious
January 5th, 2013
1:28 pm
td is right.
Mississippi is obviously living “high on the hog” since they’re the state with the highest rate of obesity and lowest education level.
If we could just stop counting blacks in Mississippi as people notelling where the state would rank.
Living With Open Eyes
January 5th, 2013
1:38 pm
Aesop-You mean Big Oil had a President during Katrina. The reason they responded so much more to Katrina was the only way they could disguise their aid to the oil companies was to hide it underneath aid to the citizens. All Congress-those from the North AND the South- and the President had heavy investments that lost money daily after Hurricane Katrina so it was a nobrainer to send help fast. But with the Hurricane Sandy disaster only the Congressmen from the North have any investments adversely affected, so the Good Old Boys from down South (Tom Price and his gang) said hey wait a minute boys there’s nothing in this for us yet, we got to rework this thing to benefit our campaign donors down heyah too.
captguitarman
January 5th, 2013
1:44 pm
Well said, Moderate. As fellow Pub/Con moderate, I must say that the things you see on these pages from the “specially enlightened” Dem/Libs are often breathtaking in their bigotry, vitriolic nastiness, and their smug, arrogant, self-aggrandizing, self-congratulatory, preening and posturing. And of course, the ever present, always ready at their finger tips race card, that always gets played no matter what the discussion is about and when intellectual reason fails them, as it often does.
As I do, I am sure you get tired of hearing about how you hate blacks, oppose civil rights, are engaged in a war on women, want to destroy the environment, protect the rich, eliminate medicare and social security, destroy the middle class, etc. etc. ad nauseum. But, just grow a thick skin and remember that if you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
The fact of the matter is that for all of their innate and inborn noblesse oblige and liberal “compassion,” these are some of the nastiest, meanest, most hateful, and bigoted people in Georgia/America, and any attempt to contest the creation of a huge and ever-growing centralized government, or how it spends money it does not have to spend, or its control of a ever more dumbed down, just redistribute the wealth and take care of us and just tell us what to do populace. No doubt, the fringe right Pubs/Tea Party can be an embarrassment at times, but no more than the loony Left, which seems to be growing and somehow always gets a free pass.
Rather than reiterate your reasonable and well-stated counterpoints, I just want to close with a reminder to be patient and to maintain hope. This cultural shift is real, but not necessarily permanent. And things change fast these days in American politics (see 2010 vs. 2012). What never gets mentioned by the noble, compassionate, and generous (with other people’s money) class is the big gorilla sitting in the corner — the threat of total economic collapse. You can read page after page of how the government should do this and spend money here and there, and more aid here, and why aren’t we helping these people, and helping America’s families, and who cares what it costs, and protecting all of the entitlements, and creating more and more entitlements, and now Obama’s new code word for more and more governement spending, “investments.” But it is always left to the Pub/Cons (i.e. the adults) to ask, as the Dem/Libs look upon you with disbelieving shock and horror — how can you even ask such a thing when “hard working American families” are hurting? — where is the money coming from?
One day that question will demand an answer, and the answer will not be pretty. This whole big house of cards created out of printed and borrowed money will not stand forever. The Big Lie, which sells very well now is, we’ll just get what we need out of the hides of the “rich.” The debt will soon be $17 trillion – almost incomperensibble. All that needs to happen for a seismic shift now is for interest rates to go up just a little. And oh yeah, the rich don’t have $17 trillion, even if you confiscate all of their wealth.
A Baby Boomer
January 5th, 2013
1:48 pm
To all you younger bloggers….. A simpe history lesson……
The southern Replublicans of today (2013) or the same southern Democrats of the 1950’s – 1970’s who voted against civil rights. Just a change on the voter registation card. I have lived in the south (Louisiana and Georgia) for 60 years and know the constituents. Same people, just a change in voter registration.
Job
January 5th, 2013
1:49 pm
Right on target Newt Nuts! Anyone ever seriously talk to Tom Price? He spews the same old GOP talking points over and over; he’s never had a cognitive original thought in his entire life. It’s all about filling Tom Price’s pockets with our money. If he lived in Jersey or NY, he’d be having a meltdown by now due to the lack of financial attention from the Feds on this hurricane deal.
Voter
January 5th, 2013
1:54 pm
Come on people. Congress should vote themselves a raise. They are doing such great work.
June Isaac
January 5th, 2013
2:03 pm
It’s a shame the Republicans voted yes. There was so much PORK that New Jersey’s Chris Christy got short changed. It should have been read and understood before the vote. That is what Boehner was trying to do but unfortunately he caved. Very disappointed in him he is not a leader.The people in N.J. & N.Y. got screwed.
Kris
January 5th, 2013
2:18 pm
Voter “”come on people. Congress should vote themselves a raise. They are doing such great work.”"
I agree (minus) -99.999% of what they make..then lie and call it a tax break from themselves
Wuz Once
January 5th, 2013
2:19 pm
We should all remember that Dr. Price is a yankee by birth and likely in his heart – if he still has one. Price was born in Lansing, Michigan. He grew up in Dearborn, attending Adams Jr. High and Dearborn High School. He graduated with an M.D. from the University of Michigan. He completed his residency at Emory University in Atlanta, and decided to settle in the suburb of Roswell, where he still lives.
Voter
January 5th, 2013
3:10 pm
@Kris – lol…good point.
newkid
January 5th, 2013
3:30 pm
…and I’m sure the Titanic was littered with individuals (like many of us) who knew exactly what was wrong with the craft, why the icebergs were situated where they were, what was faulty about each and every decision the ship’s captain made during the calamity, and just the right answers for why the sun rose in the east. Didn’t help avoid the calamity, did it? We’re broken folks, and all the mud slinging we so rejoice in doing here and elsewhere won’t fix it.
Corey
January 5th, 2013
3:46 pm
@td
January 5th, 2013
12:39 pm
People were property, my friend, and the more people one owned the greater the wealth of that individual. “South Carolina had a clear black majority from about 1708 through most of the eighteenth century. By 1720 there were about 18,000 people living in South Carolina and 65% of these were enslaved African-Americans. In St. James Goose Creek, a parish just north of Charles Towne, there were only 535 whites and 2,027 black slaves.”
You are aware Thomas Jefferson, as well as other wealthy planters, had to sell some of the people they owned to pay debts?
“Whether we speak of food, or housing, or health, callousness toward the slaves’ welfare was the hallmark of the system. Archaeological research shows us that slavery in the early eighteenth century was very different from the view we have of antebellum slavery. For example, the neat rows of wood frame slave cabins which seem so typical on plantations in the 1850s were a late reform, developed by Southern planters in an effort to deflect abolitionist outrage.”
Sandy
January 5th, 2013
4:06 pm
The “Price is Wrong”!: Mr. Price please grow back that funky white moustache and go back to practicing something important that you’ve rejected i.e., medicine. That goes for Ayn Rand Paul too!
jd
January 5th, 2013
4:14 pm
10 years ago, before the Repubs took over GA — GA was one of the top 5 states people moved to… now that is no longer the case …
CEOs of major corps that located here in the 90s are looking to leave —
Yeah — we are so much better off…
Rabbit
January 5th, 2013
4:15 pm
A product of a Georgia family with at least two hundred years of history, I look at the pathetic wretches we have in the house of representatives and doubt even the seven or eight civil war veterans I count among my ancestors would support the delegation’s total disregard for the disadvantaged, underpaid hard working Georgian.
How long will the words of our politicians continue to defraud the gullible public? How many ways can their covert message boil down to the politics of division and hatred. Is is about religious freedom? We hear about how government has taken religion out of the public realm. If we allowed government establish religion in schools or legislate religious principles, how would we choose? How much more would we be divided. It’s easy to say, “we ought to put prayer back in schools or your opinion about contraception is the right one. But even if, in the south, we say Christianity will be the primary religion that legislation should be based upon, will we accept the Unitarian view, the Eastern Orthodox view, the Southern Baptist view, the Holiness view, the Jahovah’s Witness view, the Morman view, the Methodist view, Episcopal, Lutheran, Church of God, Anglican…which?
td
January 5th, 2013
4:33 pm
Corey
January 5th, 2013
3:46 pm
Slavery as a economic force was on its way out due to technology advances. It was a great deal cheaper to pay a worker 25 cents a day or even an hour then to have to pay for their house, medical, food, their families and to take care of them when they are to old to maximize the productivity. Since there were no labor laws at the time then you could treat the workers worse and put them in more dangerous situations then you could place your own property.
td
January 5th, 2013
4:34 pm
jd
January 5th, 2013
4:14 pm
10 years ago, before the Repubs took over GA — GA was one of the top 5 states people moved to… now that is no longer the case …
CEOs of major corps that located here in the 90s are looking to leave —
Yeah — we are so much better off…
Prove your statement.
Kris
January 5th, 2013
4:54 pm
jd….10 years ago, before the Repubs took over GA — GA was one of the top 5 states people moved to… now that is no longer the case “”"
Your so right, look at Dalton, know known as the town that was the carpet capitol of little Mexico…
Now Ga 48th to 50th in everything. jobs,education and political corruption…Its enough to make Shady Deal happy…
John Ellison
January 5th, 2013
4:57 pm
“Lets see the lowest education rates are dominated by southern states. How else do you get people to vote against their own interests.”
Southern states have the lowest education rates because a higher percentage of blacks live here than in other states. Black students bring down the average education rates because their culture does not value education as much as other races. Black people didn’t know they were voting against their own interests when 97% of them voted for Obama.
See it, Believe it
January 5th, 2013
4:59 pm
Slavery as a economic force was on its way out due to technology advances. It was a great deal cheaper to pay a worker 25 cents a day or even an hour then to have to pay for their house, medical, food, their families and to take care of them when they are to old to maximize the productivity. Since there were no labor laws at the time then you could treat the workers worse and put them in more dangerous situations then you could place your own property.
To the person who said that shipping all the minorities out of the South would raise the education level…the above statement from “td” proves just how wrong you are! Thankfully many of the slavery-was-good-for-em types are dying out.
The Republicans are only in charge of the House of Representatives because of gerrymandering. I think by 2020 voters will understand that exchanging a few deep blue districts from a majority of deep red districts is bad for both parties, the state, and the nation. We cannot be a superpower and have representatives who do not quickly and completely respond to internal natural disasters.
Buzzy
January 5th, 2013
5:06 pm
Sometimes you have to study science so hard to become a doctor you don’t get a well rounded education.
If Dr. Price thinks the Republican Party needs more people like him, then good. We might just get lucky and these extremists will cause the whole Party to collapse.
Hiram
January 5th, 2013
5:34 pm
Georgia was the last of the 13 colonies to legalize slavery, by the way, and did so under pressure from the clergy in Savannah. Slavery only lasted for a little over a century in Georgia, and the vast, vast majority of Georgia’s residents never owned slaves, and they certainly were’t wealthy. By the beginning of the Civil War, slave owners were also weary of the system of having to continuely pack up and move, after a few years of growing cotton, rendered their land worthless. Almost all of the slaves’ ancestors are where they were when the Civil War ended – near plantations in the cotton belt – and as anyone from the South knows, they haven’t been treated very fairly . What they have received in government assistance doesn’t even come close to evening the score. The uninformed here, by-products of the deprivation of the South, following the war, who have the ability and attention span to read more than the blips they Google, should read recent writings on Richard B. Russell – a chapter is devoted to him in LBJ’s latest biography – if you want to comprehend the history of Southern politics, and get some insight into why we are where we are today. Price is just a member of the parade of carpet baggers, who relocated here to take advantage of unsophisticated Southerners. These days, the carpet baggers are global – for example, the Volkswagon factory in Germany pays about twice the wages, and provides twice the benefits of the one in Chattanooga.
Buymadeinusjobs
January 5th, 2013
5:38 pm
Independents, democrats, move to Roswell. price district/hometown and run against him and all other Georgia Republicans, local school board, senate , governor etc. Register every voter and educate all voters on what Price does in Washington/ Check c-span for his video speeches and bills and votes.
td
January 5th, 2013
5:59 pm
There were more then 1000 people waiting in line this morning to get into the annual gun show at the Cobb county civic center.
Tom
January 5th, 2013
6:08 pm
Why do they call them blue states and red states? Shouldn’t it be Blue states and Gray states?
This is Mrs. Norman Maine
January 5th, 2013
6:08 pm
It is a peculiarly Southern trait, as many of our ancestors can attest, to prefer principle – whether right or wrong
Mostly wrong!
Dave
January 5th, 2013
6:10 pm
I live at the top end of DeKalb County and in the most recent gerrymander I got dumped into Rep. Price’s district. I’ve got a dollar says he never physically or otherwise comes anywhere near where I live unless he’s on his way to the airport to get to DC to vote against my interests.
Dee
January 5th, 2013
6:16 pm
The Republicans act like the election on November 6 was a dream…I’m sorry to tell you but it really happened and the “majority” of the American people have spoken. By the way, those American people are white, black, gay, latino, asian, etc. President Obama earned 51% of the vote because the 47% (no pun intended…that’s factual) that voted for Romney was so sure he would win in an effort to completely divide this country. The middle class is a rainbow of hard working Americans who love and respect either other. It’s time for the Republicans to get to work and start reaching across the idles addressing the concerns the American people elected them to work on with urgency. We the people do not want one party to be in the majority…we simply want compromise. We are not expecting the rich to pay down the debt but just to pay back what they were not entitled to in the first place which was funded off the backs of the middle class. Why do Republicans have such a problem with fair share? Why do people in general have difficulty wanting to help others in need? There “will” be poor people in the world but being poor does not necessarily mean being homeless or jobless. Although I am a Democrat, there are conservative values I truly believe and would support. Unfortunately, some of the people who represent these values are absolutely too extreme and ignorant for me to even consider voting for. P.S. To the Republicans: The following things will NEVER get you to the White House (1) hate – aka, The Tea Party, (2) the south, (3) super pacs, (4) ignorance, and (5) the rich.
td
January 5th, 2013
6:19 pm
Dave
January 5th, 2013
6:10 pm
It looks like time for you to suffer what I had to for the about 10 years when I lived in South Cobb and lived in First John Lewis and then David Scott district. When I was old enough to vote the district was Newt’s.
td
January 5th, 2013
6:21 pm
Dee
January 5th, 2013
6:16 pm
I elected my Republican Representative to cut spending and cut taxes.
Hiram
January 5th, 2013
6:28 pm
Weren’t you one of them, td? The boogie man is going to come and get your guns, you know. It’s called flocking behavior – it’s what birds and schools of fish do – mindlessly following, in unison.
Dave
January 5th, 2013
6:33 pm
td, what comes around… I guess. I’ve always lived in the schizophenric 4th or for a minute in the 5th with John Lewis. In the fourth, I’ve had Elliot Levitas, Pat Swindell, Ben Jones, John Linder, the crazy lady twice, the republican lady, Hank Johnson and now the crazy GOP guy Price, but now for gerrymandering reasons, I live in the sixth.