Confessions of a Tea Party Casualty

[Modbert]

Confessions of a Tea Party Casualty | Mother Jones

It was the middle of a tough primary contest, and Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) had convened a small meeting with donors who had contributed thousands of dollars to his previous campaigns. But this year, as Inglis faced a challenge from tea party-backed Republican candidates claiming Inglis wasn't sufficiently conservative, these donors hadn't ponied up. Inglis' task: Get them back on the team. "They were upset with me," Inglis recalls. "They are all Glenn Beck watchers." About 90 minutes into the meeting, as he remembers it, "They say, 'Bob, what don't you get? Barack Obama is a socialist, communist Marxist who wants to destroy the American economy so he can take over as dictator. Health care is part of that. And he wants to open up the Mexican border and turn [the US] into a Muslim nation.'" Inglis didn't know how to respond.

As he tells this story, the veteran lawmaker is sitting in his congressional office, which he will have to vacate in a few months. On June 22, he was defeated in the primary runoff by Spartanburg County 7th Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy, who had assailed Inglis for supposedly straying from his conservative roots, pointing to his vote for the bank bailout and against George W. Bush's surge in Iraq. Inglis, who served six years in Congress during the 1990s as a conservative firebrand before being reelected to the House in 2004, had also ticked off right-wingers in the state's 4th Congressional District by urging tea-party activists to "turn Glenn Beck off" and by calling on Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) to apologize for shouting "You lie!" at Obama during the president's State of the Union address. For this, Inglis, who boasts (literally) a 93 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, received the wrath of the tea party, losing to Gowdy 71 to 29 percent. In the weeks since, Inglis has criticized Republican House leaders for acquiescing to a poisonous, tea party-driven "demagoguery" that he believes will undermine the GOP's long-term credibility. And he's freely recounting his frustrating interactions with tea party types, while noting that Republican leaders are pushing rhetoric tainted with racism, that conservative activists are dabbling in anti-Semitic conspiracy theory nonsense, and that Sarah Palin celebrates ignorance.

Shortly before the runoff primary election, Inglis met with about a dozen tea party activists at the modest ranch-style home of one of them. Here's what took place:

I sat down, and they said on the back of your Social Security card, there's a number. That number indicates the bank that bought you when you were born based on a projection of your life's earnings, and you are collateral. We are all collateral for the banks. I have this look like, "What the heck are you talking about?" I'm trying to hide that look and look clueless. I figured clueless was better than argumentative. So they said, "You don't know this?! You are a member of Congress, and you don't know this?!" And I said, "Please forgive me. I'm just ignorant of these things." And then of course, it turned into something about the Federal Reserve and the Bilderbergers and all that stuff. And now you have the feeling of anti-Semitism here coming in, mixing in. Wow.

I refused to use the word because I have this view that the Ninth Commandment must mean something. I remember one year Bill Clinton—the guy I was out to get [when serving on the House judiciary committee in the 1990s]—at the National Prayer Breakfast said something that was one of the most profound things I've ever heard from anybody at a gathering like that. He said, "The most violated commandment in Washington, DC"—everybody leaned in; do tell, Mr. President—"is, 'Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.'" I thought, "He's right. That is the most violated commandment in Washington." For me to go around saying that Barack Obama is a socialist is a violation of the Ninth Commandment. He is a liberal fellow. I'm conservative. We disagree...But I don't need to call him a socialist

"There's a short story by Shirley Jackson, 'The Lottery.'" The tale describes a town where the residents stone a neighbor who is chosen randomly. "That's what the crowd looked like. I got home that night and said to my wife, 'You can't believe how they looked back at me.' It was really frightening." The next speaker, he recalls, said, "'On Bob's ideological spectrum up there, I'm a 10,' and the crowd went wild. That was what I was dealing with."

Inglis acknowledges he's intimately familiar with extreme politics. He was part of the GOP gang that went after Clinton and impeached him for the Lewinsky affair:

I hated Bill Clinton. I wanted to destroy him. Then I had six years out [after leaving Congress in 1999] to look back on that, and now I would confess it as a sin. It is just wrong to want to destroy another human being and to spend so much time and effort trying to destroy Bill Clinton—some of it with really suspect information.

Instead, he remarks, his party turned toward demagoguery. Inglis lists the examples: falsely claiming Obama's health care overhaul included "death panels," raising questions about Obama's birthplace, calling the president a socialist, and maintaining that the Community Reinvestment Act was a major factor of the financial meltdown. "CRA," Inglis says, "has been around for decades. How could it suddenly create this problem? You see how that has other things worked into it?" Racism? "Yes," Inglis says.

Here was a conservative market-based plan. Did it receive any interest from House GOP leaders? Inglis shakes his head: "It's the t-word." Tax. He adds, "It's so contrary to the rhetoric we've got out there, to what Beck, Limbaugh, and others are saying."

See folks, a 93% rating from the American Conservative Union is not Conservative enough for the Tea Party. This is quite a telling article to say the least, a insider who's had a first-hand look at not only the people who's support he had to try and garner but the GOP in the House.

 

[Oddball]

Anyone can get a 93% rating on the easy issues...Like Bob Bennett, it looks to me like Inglis is getting called to account for supporting bailout nation and amnesty for illegals.

To bad so sad for him.

 

[Modbert]

Anyone can get a 93% rating on the easy issues...Like Bob Bennett, it looks to me like Inglis is getting called to account for supporting bailout nation and amnesty for illegals.

To bad so sad for him.

Uh, when did he support amnesty for illegals? The only time the border issue is even mentioned in the article is the following line:

And he wants to open up the Mexican border and turn [the US] into a Muslim nation.'" Inglis didn't know how to respond.

Maybe I missed the line where he supported amnesty, but please do point it out.

 

[Oddball]

Representative Bob Inglis has voted in favor of amnesty for illegal aliens.

Representative Bob Inglis' Record On Immigration Reform And Illegal Aliens

 

[Modbert]

Representative Bob Inglis has voted in favor of amnesty for illegal aliens.

Representative Bob Inglis' Record On Immigration Reform And Illegal Aliens

Let's look at the whole picture, shall we? Instead of just taking one line out of the entire article.

Representative Bob Inglis has had an outstanding record when it comes to border security. There are currently at least 12 million (with estimates reaching as high as 30 million) illegal aliens in this country. The first line of defense is controlling our porous borders. Representative Bob Inglis clearly wants to secure our borders and the votes show that.

Representative Bob Inglis has worked hard to allow state and local law enforcement to help in reducing illegal immigration and to put in place workplace verification systems allowing employers to quickly verify the legal working status of their employees.

Representative Bob Inglis has voted against giving illegal aliens further rewards and other incentives to come such as in-state tuition, educational benefits, welfare and health care services.

Representative Bob Inglis has not yet had a chance to vote on anchor babies and the increased illegal population that they support through taxpayer dollars.

This is called chain migration and Representative Bob Inglis is opposed to it. Chain migration has exponential growth and is the primary cause of the 4-fold increase in immigration to this country since 1960.

Representative Bob Inglis has voted against increases in permanent and temporary foreign work visas such as the H1-B

Overall, Representative Bob Inglis has a very good record when it comes to immigration reform.

We dub Representative Bob Inglis an immigration reformer receiving our third highest ranking and our seal of approval.

 

[Oddball]

We're not talking about you or me. We're talking about Inglis' constituents.

Two of the big issues that have pissed off the GOP base, more than anything else, have been republicans who've supported the bailouts and amnesty.

 

[Modbert]

In fact, Bob Inglis also had the support of the NRA and

National Rifle Association | Political Victory Fund

Anti-Washington Trend Threatens South Carolina’s Inglis in Vote - BusinessWeek

He’s been endorsed by Bob Jones III, chancellor of Bob Jones University, a Christian school in the district where students can’t drink, smoke, dance or wear jeans to class. His voting record is rated 100 percent by National Right to Life, an anti-abortion group. And he has a 93 percent favorable rating from the American Conservative Union, which describes itself as the largest grassroots conservative group.

100% by the National Right to Life.

Inglis, 50, drew boos at a town hall meeting last year when he told attendees to stop watching Fox News television commentator Glenn Beck, who he said was “trading on fear.”

The district he's running in is Very Conservative.

 

[Oddball]

Looks to me like people don't have NRA or NRL issues ranked as highly as the bailouts and amnesty.

That's just the way it is.

 

[Modbert]

We're not talking about you or me. We're talking about Inglis' constituents.

Two of the big issues that have pissed off the GOP base, more than anything else, have been republicans who've supported the bailouts and amnesty.

Oh I understand that. What I'm talking about is that same base seemingly refused to look at his complete record on the issue when it comes to Immigration. The Tea Party and his district was representative of the GOP Base. The guy is a Conservative. He's racked up Conservative endorsements and has a consistently high lifetime Conservative rating.

However, that wasn't good enough for the base and Tea Party in his area. That sort of goes against the whole "Tea Party is open to ideas of all ideologies."

Least how I look at it.

 

[asterism]

This is quite a telling article to say the least, a insider who's had a first-hand look at not only the people who's support he had to try and garner but the GOP in the House.

Who is the insider?

 

[Modbert]

Who is the insider?

Bob Inglis. He knows information we the public would probably not be privy to otherwise. Not sure if the word insider fits, but it does fit the definition here.

 

[asterism]

In fact, Bob Inglis also had the support of the NRA and

National Rifle Association | Political Victory Fund

Anti-Washington Trend Threatens South Carolina’s Inglis in Vote - BusinessWeek

He’s been endorsed by Bob Jones III, chancellor of Bob Jones University, a Christian school in the district where students can’t drink, smoke, dance or wear jeans to class. His voting record is rated 100 percent by National Right to Life, an anti-abortion group. And he has a 93 percent favorable rating from the American Conservative Union, which describes itself as the largest grassroots conservative group.

100% by the National Right to Life.

Inglis, 50, drew boos at a town hall meeting last year when he told attendees to stop watching Fox News television commentator Glenn Beck, who he said was “trading on fear.”

The district he's running in is Very Conservative.

Conservative or "Religious Right?" Bob Jones isn't particularly conservative. He wants just as much government intrusion as any lefty, just a different spin. He's got quite a commune over there at the college his grandfather founded.

 

[asterism]

Who is the insider?

Bob Inglis.

An insider to what? The tea party or the republican party?

He knows information we the public would probably not be privy to otherwise. Not sure if the word insider fits, but it does fit the definition here.

What information is this? Looks to me like he's part of the problem that got conservatives all bent out of shape in the first place. He's disgruntled and he clearly doesn't agree nor understand his constituents.

Then in a bitter huff he sells a hatchet job to Mother Jones? Come on, take a critical view of this instead of exercising confirmation bias.

 

[Modbert]

What information is this? Looks to me like he's part of the problem that got conservatives all bent out of shape in the first place. He's disgruntled and he clearly doesn't agree nor understand his constituents.

Then in a bitter huff he sells a hatchet job to Mother Jones? Come on, take a critical view of this instead of exercising confirmation bias.

I don't think he's bitter at all. This isn't the first time he's lost a election mind you.

Information that he told regarding the GOP House and his personal experiences with people in his district.

 

[asterism]

We're not talking about you or me. We're talking about Inglis' constituents.

Two of the big issues that have pissed off the GOP base, more than anything else, have been republicans who've supported the bailouts and amnesty.

Oh I understand that. What I'm talking about is that same base seemingly refused to look at his complete record on the issue when it comes to Immigration. The Tea Party and his district was representative of the GOP Base. The guy is a Conservative. He's racked up Conservative endorsements and has a consistently high lifetime Conservative rating.

However, that wasn't good enough for the base and Tea Party in his area. That sort of goes against the whole "Tea Party is open to ideas of all ideologies."

Least how I look at it.

Perhaps that "conservative rating" system is part of the problem.

He's a fiscal Keynesian who advocated in favor of a carbon dioxide tax. He argued for a payroll tax cut without any corresponding cut in future entitlements. He was in favor of increased government in the healthcare sector. It's part of his "collaboration" approach. Looks like it didn't work.

You've got to get better sources of information than a progressive magazine.

 

[asterism]

What information is this? Looks to me like he's part of the problem that got conservatives all bent out of shape in the first place. He's disgruntled and he clearly doesn't agree nor understand his constituents.

Then in a bitter huff he sells a hatchet job to Mother Jones? Come on, take a critical view of this instead of exercising confirmation bias.

I don't think he's bitter at all. This isn't the first time he's lost a election mind you.

Information that he told regarding the GOP House and his personal experiences with people in his district.

The lack of leadership and views favoring fiscal liberalism like his is what caused the Republican party to lose their way. That's why he lost, not the gossip revision he's only able to sell to left wing journalists.

 

[asterism]

Don't believe the loser's spin, listen to his actual words:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXL6JoWE_gY]YouTube - Inglis talks health care on Hardball with Chris Matthews[/ame]


"Individual mandate is good."
"What's left [Obamacare without abortion funding and the public option] is actually something we can work with."

Chris Matthews endorsed him. You honestly think he's a conservative?

 

[Modbert]

Don't believe the loser's spin, listen to his actual words:

YouTube - Inglis talks health care on Hardball with Chris Matthews


"Individual mandate is good."
"What's left [Obamacare without abortion funding and the public option] is actually something we can work with."

Chris Matthews endorsed him. You honestly think he's a conservative?

New Health Care Law a Republican Plan That Should Make Insurance Companies Proud | FDL Action

The new health care law championed by Obama is strikingly similar to the Republican alternative to Clinton’s health care plan put forward by Sen. John Chafee (R-RI), and has basically the same structure as the Heritage Foundation plan from the same time. Does this description of it in Reason sound familiar?

In a nutshell, Heritage proposes that consumers be able to choose from among a host of health-care options ranging from traditional insurers to health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Using refundable tax credits that decrease as income grows, Heritage would empower families to choose plans on the basis of coverage, service, and price. As part of the “healthcare social contract” thus formed, Butler says, heads of households would be required by law to buy basic health-care coverage “to protect society from citizens who would try to exploit the good nature of ordinary Americans” by free-riding on the system.

The tax deduction for employer-provided health insurance would be phased out, in favor of the family-based tax credit. Families could still choose to join group plans. But by helping people buy insurance directly, rather than relying on employers to provide it, Heritage would solve the “portability” problem, in which employees are trapped in undesirable jobs because they’re afraid of losing health coverage.

Butler and health-care analyst Edmund Haislmaier introduced the key elements of the Heritage plan in a 1989 book, A National Health System for America. In 1992, Heritage began to tout the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) as a model for how a national consumer-choice system in health insurance might function. Robert Moffit, deputy director of domestic policy studies at Heritage and a former manager of FEHBP, became one of the foundation’s key spokesmen on the issue.

Heritage’s embrace of FEHBP–a regulated and flawed government program, according to some critics–nevertheless provided a great “hook” that may well have enhanced the foundation’s overall sales pitch on health-care reform. As voter disaffection with elected leaders soared, Heritage could say, “What is available for Congress and its employees should be made available to every American family.” This message resonated with the public.

Heritage Foundation is no Liberal think tank.

 

[Modbert]

The lack of leadership and views favoring fiscal liberalism like his is what caused the Republican party to lose their way. That's why he lost, not the gossip revision he's only able to sell to left wing journalists.

Actually, it was out of control Republican spending and rampant corruption along with bad leadership that caused the GOP to lose it's way. Or did you forget the 2006 election?

 

[asterism]

Don't believe the loser's spin, listen to his actual words:

YouTube - Inglis talks health care on Hardball with Chris Matthews


"Individual mandate is good."
"What's left [Obamacare without abortion funding and the public option] is actually something we can work with."

Chris Matthews endorsed him. You honestly think he's a conservative?

New Health Care Law a Republican Plan That Should Make Insurance Companies Proud | FDL Action

The new health care law championed by Obama is strikingly similar to the Republican alternative to Clinton’s health care plan put forward by Sen. John Chafee (R-RI), and has basically the same structure as the Heritage Foundation plan from the same time. Does this description of it in Reason sound familiar?

In a nutshell, Heritage proposes that consumers be able to choose from among a host of health-care options ranging from traditional insurers to health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Using refundable tax credits that decrease as income grows, Heritage would empower families to choose plans on the basis of coverage, service, and price. As part of the “healthcare social contract” thus formed, Butler says, heads of households would be required by law to buy basic health-care coverage “to protect society from citizens who would try to exploit the good nature of ordinary Americans” by free-riding on the system.

The tax deduction for employer-provided health insurance would be phased out, in favor of the family-based tax credit. Families could still choose to join group plans. But by helping people buy insurance directly, rather than relying on employers to provide it, Heritage would solve the “portability” problem, in which employees are trapped in undesirable jobs because they’re afraid of losing health coverage.

Butler and health-care analyst Edmund Haislmaier introduced the key elements of the Heritage plan in a 1989 book, A National Health System for America. In 1992, Heritage began to tout the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) as a model for how a national consumer-choice system in health insurance might function. Robert Moffit, deputy director of domestic policy studies at Heritage and a former manager of FEHBP, became one of the foundation’s key spokesmen on the issue.

Heritage’s embrace of FEHBP–a regulated and flawed government program, according to some critics–nevertheless provided a great “hook” that may well have enhanced the foundation’s overall sales pitch on health-care reform. As voter disaffection with elected leaders soared, Heritage could say, “What is available for Congress and its employees should be made available to every American family.” This message resonated with the public.

Heritage Foundation is no Liberal think tank.

True.

That's the problem with that crop of Republicans, they are fiscal liberal big government politicians too. I'm glad Inglis will be gone. Maybe he can have better luck pulling an Arlen Specter.