Almost half of the incoming GOP House members have never held elected office.

[Clio the Leo]

Anyone else scared besides me?

Noting nearly half of GOP freshman never held office, Boehner said class "truly govt of the people,by the people,for the people"
http://twitter.com/#!/stevebruskCNN/status/4005944367251456

[struggle4progress]

1. I wonder how many have never been to a city council meeting, don't read newspapers, and can't

name the three branches of government

[Clio the Leo]

6. exactly ...

.... well, at least Michelle Bachmann is there to conduct their Constitution class. :)

[struggle4progress]

8. Lobbyists will have a field day with this Silly Putty: stretching them

and getting them to take up cartoon images and such

[butterfly77]

56. They had a rally at the capitol yesterday...

and she told the crowd that they are the kings and queens of this nation., She said Obama lost millions and millions of jobs and they will create them with Americans for prosperity..

[zbdent]

19. Nina, Pinta, and Santa Barbara ...

[Cosmocat]

25. We are going to be stuck with most of these idiots for a LONG time ...

They are now going to be incumbants, and that accounts for A LOT in terms of them keeping the position moving foward ...

As other posts in this string indicate, not having held office raises doubts, but the collective lack of understanding about what they have gotten into and even further, their complete and total adherance to the perverse extremes of "conservatism" is frightening ... There NEVER has been a power shift in our history which has seen so many people in over their heads AND collectively assimilated to a paradigm so intent on destroying what this country is about ...

This last election was TRULY frightening for this country ... We just had about 60 Joe Wilsons and Michele Bachmans made among the 500 most powerful people in this country ...

[struggle4progress]

34. we won't necessarily have them long

it wasn't too hard to bump some of the R-wackos in the class of 94

[Cosmocat]

35. All due respect ...

We were stuck with MOST of them for a long time, and some still ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Revolution

The class of 94 was like a whose who list of the biggest republican idiots in DC up until the Ds managed to wrestle control from the freakshow four years ago ... Frist, Kyle, Santorum, Inhofe, Hayworth, Chambliss, Brownback, Ensign, Ney, Coburn ... A lot of these clowns are still in congress, and even if you cut this group in half (which would be best case scenario by far) in the next two or three elections, you would have 30 people even more deranged than the class of 94 added ON TOP of what already exists ...

[struggle4progress]

37. I went through the House list: fifteen years later, most are no longer is Congress

for various reasons: death, retirement, eventual defeat ... It is true some have been long-termers but it is also true many only served a single term

In NC, one from the House R-freshman from 94 election is still in the House, one has moved to the Senate,m and two were one termers. Our local analysis was that we got clobbered in 94 by our own complacency: in 96, we easily rid ourselves of R-idiots David Funderburk and Fred Heineman from 94

Frankly, I don't see any advantage to your "Resistance is futile!" attitude

Matt Salmon - gone
J. D. Hayworth - gone
Frank Riggs - gone
Joe Scarborough - gone
Dave Weldon - gone
Bob Barr - gone
Charlie Norwood - gone
Helen Chenoweth-Hage - gone
Michael Patrick Flanagan - gone
Jerry Weller - gone
David M. McIntosh - gone
Mark Souder - gone
John Hostettler - gone
Greg Ganske - gone
Sam Brownback - gone (now governor-elect)
James B. Longley, Jr. - gone
Dick Chrysler - gone
Gil Gutknecht - gone
Jon Lynn Christensen - gone
William J. Martini - gone (now federal judge)
Michael Forbes - gone
David Funderburk - gone
Fred Heineman - gone
Frank Cremeans - gone
Bob Ney - gone
J. C. Watts - gone
Jim Bunn - gone
Jon D. Fox - gone
Van Hilleary - gone
Steve Stockman - gone
Enid Greene - gone
Thomas M. Davis - gone
Rick White - gone
Jack Metcalf - gone
Linda Smith - gone
George Nethercutt - gone
Randy Tate - gone
Mark Neumann - gone

George Radanovich - still there
Brian Bilbray - still there
Saxby Chambliss - now in Senate
Todd Tiahrt - still there
Ed Whitfield - still there
Roger Wicker - now in Senate
John Ensign - now in Senate
Charles Bass - out and back
Frank LoBiondo - still there
Walter B. Jones - still there
Richard Burr - now in Senate
Steve Chabot - still there
Steve LaTourette - still there
Tom Coburn - now in Senate
Lindsey Graham - now in Senate
Zach Wamp - still there
Mac Thornberry - still there
Doc Hastings - still there

[Cosmocat]

38. Look ...

I was stuck with Santorum here in Pa in some form or another until 06 ...

Again, even if half wash out in a cycle or two, we have seen a doubling down on stupid ... And, as some have noted on the board, having also swept into the governorships and state houses in most of the states, these jagoffs get the keys to redistricting in many states ...

Santorum was a deranged partisan hard right lunatic - but even at that, he was competent enough to do the job and despite having lost the knowledge of history to bought and sold republicanism, he had it to begin with ... This crew, the likes of Rand Paul, make Michele Bachman look like constitutional scholars ...

Look, SOME are going to wash out in a term or two, but we are going to be stuck with more of these areshats than not for most of the next decade at least ...

I would also note this ...

94 came after the Ds had the house for eons, AND the 94 crew at least had SOME legislative goals they had coming in ...

This crew has been elected less than four years after a completely R controlled congress and two years after Bush had run the country into the friggen ground AND they LITERALLY have NO legislative goal - they ran openly on simply killing government and one terming Obama ...

My point with this is this ... They got put back into power before we even started to clean up their mess AND they are just flat out openly hostile to government and our president ... The dynamics of the electorate are differernt - if they returned this crew and their deranged platform to power less than four years after the screwed up royal, and in mass display absolutely no respect for our government, I have NO faith that they are going to get put out by the same people who put them in in the first place ...

I also don't know where you are getting this "resistance is futile" BS ...

You don't know me or what I do ...

I do my part and then some ...

Fact is, as I noted, we are going to be stuck with A LOT of these people for FAR too long ... This glib talk about them being easy to get rid of is the kind of talk we had after the last two big elections when people here wanted to say the GOP was dead ...

These MFers do not die, they just meaner and meaner ...

[struggle4progress]

40. Look ... my point is that it's pointless to pretend to predict the future

I didn't make any claims about what you do or don't do

Jabbering along the line "the situation is hopeless" is useless. I'll completely agree with you that the current House is bad news -- but we don't know what we can do until after we try to do things:

I've been in a more-or-less perpetual dark funk about American politics since the Nixon era. I doubt I'll ever beat that funk, but I'm certainly not going to indulge it any more: I don't mind sharpening my wits with a bit of paranoid pessimism, but I think it's important to keep an iron grip on it. Facts matter; analysis matters; mere unhappy predictions about the future lead inevitably to mere despair

I strongly suggest taking the point of view that we CAN bring these mofos down, if we're smart about what we do. They won't all topple easily, but some will; others can be removed after more effort. Pretending to see the future is a kind of charlatanry that doesn't aid us

[Cosmocat]

42. Reality ...

I am dealing in the reality ...

Again, 94 brought in A LOT of arsehats that gave me heartburn for most of a decade and a half ... I am most likely going to want to throttle Rand Paul for the next two decades as I wanted to throttle Santorum for most of the last two decades ...

The "analysis" does not drive the future ... Again, people here were dancing on the republican's grave in 06 and 08 ... Happy thoughs precluded a butt whipping two weeks ago ...

I am DEEPLY disturbed by the trends ...

There was an opening for the 94 wave ... Long standing institutinoal malaise with the dems opened the way for an insurent R party to maintain control for a long period of time ...

They did ...

They crashed and burned in every possible way - Wars, deficit, economic collapse, just general scumbaggery ... This should have set up the Ds to maintain control for a long period of time as long as they didn't screw up ...

They didn't ...

They have run a fairly clean operation, they have passed good and meaningful legislation ... There are signs of economic recovery ... No major or widespread scandals ...

NO REASON, no REAL reason at all to have THIS big of a turnaround two years removed from gains ...

The Rs control ALL messaging now with a media that has given up even making the pretense of reporting news as opposed to just advancing whatever noodle the Rs want to throw against the wall, it has the opening and the wherewithal to pour endless money into elections at a broad level through secondary groups ...

Hopeless ... I would not say that things are hopeless ...

Can we bring SOME of these people down ...

Sure ...

But ... it took us 12 years to get the house back after it took them 12 years to burn it down ... We had it 4 years and did good work, and we had it VERY uncerimoneously thrown back into their hands when all they had to offer was the promise to take down the president ...

Game is rigged in their favor by a wide margin ...

[ButterflyBlood]

52. Radanovich will be gone too next year

He didn't seek re-election.

[struggle4progress]

53. thanks!

[DJ13]

2. I get more worried when they've been there a decade or two

Conservatives get more dangerous as they gain influence through longevity in office.

[Clio the Leo]

5. They have never even been on the town council .... or the school board!

.... these folks may not even know what a gavel is! May think it's some kind of weapon! Eeek!

[LiberalFighter]

13. There are a few long termers but there are many short termers.

[ProSense]

3. Not particularly, but on a related note

this does: A Power Again in Congress, Years After He Left It

<...>

Of course, Representative John A. Boehner, an actual congressman, is expected to lead the Republican majority that will take office in January. But having helped build the wave that created that majority, Mr. Armey has been operating like something of a shadow majority leader — eight years after he left Congress.

He invited incoming lawmakers who had been backed by the Tea Party to a two-day retreat in Baltimore last week, where he presented them with policy books and urged them not to submit to the ways of Washington. (He and wife, Susan, also spoke on how to avoid letting Congress ruin a marriage.)

After election day, Mr. Armey sent a memo to every Republican in Congress, outlining a strategy for repealing the health care legislation, and guidelines for legislation Republicans could offer in its place. He weighed in on leadership elections. He has even rehired his policy adviser from his Congressional days to help shape a legislative agenda. (“Putting the band back together,” one of his aides put it.)

As new lawmakers, many of them with no political experience, come to Washington, many groups and would-be leaders of the Tea Party are vying to influence them. Several held competing freshman orientations over the weekend, in advance of the official party orientation this week.

<...>

The teabaggers elected to Congress are tools. They'll be controlled by Armey and the Koch brothers.

[Clio the Leo]

4. Tools....

.... in the disparaging sense ... not the literal.

Boehner also urged them to .... above ALL else .... maintain their humility. GOP leadership has their hands full with this crew.

[krispos42]

7. Which is probably close to what the Founders intended...

...except for the fact that they're selectively educated and mostly clueless.

[struggle4progress]

9. The so-called Founders had significant political experience

[krispos42]

12. Oh, just because they were lawyers who managed to throw off the British Empire...

establish 2 national governments, and finagle foreign recognition and military assistance during the Revolution, doesn't make them politically experienced.

:D


The Founders set up the system, and presumebly knew the dangers of aristocracy-style government, with entrenched lawmakers and bureaucrats that develop their own fiefdoms within government.

What takes a genius to create can be run and repaired by any decently bright person with some training and experience.

[emilyg]

10. Maybe it will take

them longer to become corrupt.

[jberryhill]

30. IMHO, they are more likely to do something illegal without realizing it

Not really understanding the rules, my bet is that a good many of them are going to break them without knowing there were rules.

[napi21]

11. I think the Boner is going to really have his hands full!

Trying to herd this crowd will be interesting to watch!

[Clio the Leo]

27. In his speech last night, he said the ONE word he wanted them to take with them...

... was "humility." John and Mitch know they have their hands full with this bunch.

[opihimoimoi]

14. Tis a mystery as why we allow rookies in such important positions.,

[Hippo_Tron]

15. It's not the lack of experience that concerns me

Everybody will have to learn the ropes no matter how much political experience they have. What does concern me is that some of these people have no substantive understanding of the issues that congress takes up and will be puppets for the GOP leadership.

[Clio the Leo]

28. I'd have MUCH rather they learned the ropes in their state legislatures.

I'm not keen on being someone's experiment. (at least not when that person is a Republican)

[Hippo_Tron]

48. The US Congress and state legislatures are two entirely different animals

Somebody could serve two decades in the legislature and still have to learn the ropes in DC. And if they simply tried to apply their tactics from the legislature they would likely get trampled in congress.

[golfguru]

16. 535 names randomly picked out of telephone directories

would do a better job than the crew operating in DC.
The longer they stay in DC the more corrupt they become.
President has term limits, Most governors are term limited.
Congress would also operate better with term limits.

[cherokeeprogressive]

39. +1000

[Tx4obama]

17. I wonder how many of the newbies at least have some legal education/background?

Considering that the legislative branch reads and writes bills/laws - some knowledge of our laws/legal system really does come in handy for someone if they're a member of Congress ;)

[enuegii]

18. Why would they have to be able to write legislation?

There are plenty of lobbyists to do that for them.
Hell, they don't even have to be able to read the proposed bills. All they have to do is show up and vote the way they're told.

[Clio the Leo]

31. Well ONE guy in the Senate is an opthamologist....

... so, in theory, he should be able to READ .... whether or not he can understand is another matter.

[golfguru]

44. They need more people in congress

who have signed on front of paychecks and run a real business.

[tabbycat31]

49. he's not a licensed opthamologist

He wrote his own rules there and made up his own licensing board. Yet the assclown was still elected.....

[geckosfeet]

20. Can you say gridlock?

[JoePhilly]

21. And at least half of them are totally insane.

[lunatica]

22. Let's see how much they can destroy in 2 years

And every one of them with an agenda to destroy government. At least with that many they might actually get it done faster than they would normally do it. I don't know if I'm scared or just kinda glad it will be over soon. This decades long coup is exhausting.

[no_hypocrisy]

23. That's a lot of amateurs. Wonder how many can name the three branches of government

or spell Constitution. They'll be relying on "Leadership" and lobbyists to teach them the issues to vote on.

[Clio the Leo]

29. Well DUH....

... It's the House, the Senate and the President. :)

(I actually had a GOP friend tell me that, that he hopes the GOP wins back two of the three branches of gvmt to limit the President's power.) Egads.

[GoCubsGo]

55. I can see how he'd think that way.

Eight years of Dumbya's shit-on-the-Constitution banana republic dictatorship have clearly distorted people's perception of how the Presidency is supposed to function.

[GoCubsGo]

54. That's the scary part

It's not that they have no electoral experience, but that they have no fucking clue about the position into which they were just elected. They all think they're going to be a bunch of little dictators. I can't wait until they figure out that there are rules to be followed. It will be fun watching that orange-skinned clown try to control this bunch of freaks.

[karynnj]

24. Yes - especilly as most have the same "I know better than anyone who is already there"

attitude - some likely adding that they ha after all listened to all the experts - Rush, Sean, Glenn etc.

I still wonder how long it will take Senator Paul to learn that you can't pass legislation all by yourself. He really seems likely to have been a kid who scored poorly in kindergarten on "plays well with others".

[rbixby]

26. The new teabag caucus is going to be a joke

They're going to unintentionally make a mockery of congress, and in 2 years the majority of them will be gone.

[Clio the Leo]

32. ... yep a FUN joke! nt

[bigwillq]

33. Not because of that reason.

Their views "scare" me more than lack of experience.

[marshall]

36. Which one will run for POTUS in two years?

Experience ain't what it used to be.

[Igel]

45. I'm surprised it took 36 posts for this.

It is the point that immediately springs to mind: No rookie without experience as an elected official should serve in Congress, it takes years of experience before you should run for office before you're competent. The arrogance of these people.

Well, then.

I guess the take-away message is that critically thinking about your own posts might not be just a sucky idea.

It's rather a post that says, "You should watch you're spelling and knot make stupid mistakes!"

[GSLevel9]

41. I have no love for "career pol's"

A House Representative doesn't need to be a pol. They have an office full of people that know HOW to support a House Representative. The Rep just plays the game and moves the chess pieces. If the Rep isn't sure about the Constitutionality of something or has a technical question... they have access to the smartest people on the planet.

Their morality and their devotion is more important. If someone goes to DC with the desire to HELP PEOPLE they don't need to be skilled pol's.

[zulchzulu]

43. More reason to assume they will make asses out of themselves

I look forward to these jackasses stepping into the quicksand.

[hack89]

46. Because we know more lifetime politicians are what is needed to fix America. nt

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

47. The Republicans/Teabaggers think that's good. They believe that it's good to be a

"Washington Outsider." That's what they ran on.

[jpgray]

50. Neither had Wellstone

I'm getting tired of this sort of attack on superficial crap that doesn't get to any of the deeper issues. Being a neophyte is not a problem in and of itself. The GOP freshman are a horrible lot, but it's not as though a long career in politics vastly improved the rest of their caucus.

[ClaireF]

51. It doesn't scare me.

My blue dog democratic congressman was replaced by one of these Republicans with no elective experience. He's pro-choice and recently announced he'll break with his party and support overturning DADT.

[Mass]

57. Neither had Hillary Clinton, I think. and my senior senator had only been Lt Gov for two years when

he was elected to the Senate . Scott Brown, however had been elected to office, this does not make him a better senator, I assure you.

So, I dont see why this should scare me.

(BTW, Hillary Clinton had an experience that was worth a lot more than being elected selectman in a small town, or even congressman),