On Real Time with Bill Maher, Rep. Grayson laid into the Republican Party and described them as ‘corporate shills, religious fanatics, and freedom fiends.’
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Transcript:
ALAN GRAYSON: I see it a little differently. I think there’s really three Republican Parties. There’s the corporate shills. There are the religious fanatics, and then there’s the freedom fiends. The ones who want to make sure you have the right to sleep under a bridge.
Bill Maher: So, Jesus freaks, gun nuts, generic obese suburbanites, and let me add the super rich. That’s the Republican Party, isn’t it?
ALAN GRAYSON: Yeah, and right now at this particular moment the corporate shills are in the minority. They can’t force their will on the others anymore, because when you get down to it, they have the money, but the other two have the votes
Grayson is right the original coalition of conservatives that Ronald Reagan brought together in 1980 has completely shattered. The religious right, corporate interests, and the libertarians all have their own agenda, and those agendas are fighting for control of the party.
The corporate interests have immense power. They are extremely influential in Republican primaries, local, state, and federal congressional elections. The corporate interests and the conservative billionaires provide the money and threats, but it’s the religious right and the libertarians who bring the votes. The reason why House Republicans keep fighting Obamacare is that opposition to the ACA is the only thing that unites all three sides.
The only way that the Republican Party can stay somewhat unified on the government shutdown and the debt ceiling if they make their opposition all about the ACA. This dynamic of three sided intraparty warfare is why it is absolutely pointless to negotiate with the Republicans about anything.
Even if Democrats wanted to negotiate on any issue, which they don’t, who would they talk to? John Boehner has demonstrated that he has no power. Mitch McConnell is so worried about his own reelection campaign that he is only interested in whatever will pander for the most voters back home in Kentucky. The reason that the government is at a standstill is because Republicans are busy fighting among themselves.
Rep. Grayson was correct. There is no place in the Republican Party for non-extremists. This is why Democrats have dug in, and decided that the only way to defeat the extremists is to stand up to them.
Democrats have to fight. They are sanity’s last line of defense. In confrontations between political parties, the more unified party wins. Democrats are vastly more unified, and they are ready to send the extremist Republicans packing once and for all.
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Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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