ThinkProgress » Congressman-Elect Tim Walberg Calls For Government Shut Down If Obama Doesn’t Follow His Mandate

While Walberg’s [Tim Walberg (R-MI), a proud birther] threat is extreme, he is not the only Republican politician proposing a government shutdown. Newt Gingrich, architect of the government shutdown in the ’90s, has pledged that the new Republican Congress will close the government as a political tactic to force through their right-wing policies. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) told a Republican audience recently that a government shut down — including a closure of the Veterans Administration — would be one of the goals of the new GOP caucus. As Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and other leading Republicans have made clear, they will force a “show down” with Obama by holding general government funding bills hostage until health reform is repealed.

ThinkProgress » Congressman-Elect Tim Walberg Calls For Government Shut Down If Obama Doesn’t Follow His Mandate

ThinkProgress » Conservatives In Their Own Words: ‘The Republican Party Is Not The Beneficiary Of A Mandate’

The idea that Republicans did not receive a mandate isn’t just held by the president — it was a theme echoed throughout the night by Republican politicians and conservative pundits:

– Senator-elect Marco Rubio (R-FL): “We make a grave mistake if we believe that tonight these results are somehow an embrace of the Republican Party.”

– Fox News pundit Brit Hume: “The Republican Party is not the beneficiary of some mandate this time around.”

– Former chief economic policy adviser to John McCain’s presidential campaign Douglas Holtz-Eakin: “This isn’t a pro-Republican vote. This is a repudiation of what we’ve seen the past two years, it’s not an endorsement of Republican agendas.”

– RNC head Michael Steele: “There’s still the people who say, ‘well we’re not sure. We’re not sure about Republican leadership, we’re not sure about the direction.’”

– Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI): “This is not necessarily ‘we love Republicans.’ This is, ‘change course, the country’s on the wrong track.’”

ThinkProgress » Conservatives In Their Own Words: ‘The Republican Party Is Not The Beneficiary Of A Mandate’

ThinkProgress » ThinkFast: November 4, 2010

After securing historic state level victories on Nov. 2, Republicans will have control of about 190 congressional districts and “will dominate the redrawing of congressional districts that begins next year.” Because of this “commanding advantage in the redistricting process,” 15 to 25 seats in the House are more likely to remain or switch to Republican.

ThinkProgress » ThinkFast: November 4, 2010

Are you going to let this happen? Vote!

ThinkProgress » Mitch McConnell: I Want To Be Senate Majority Leader In Order To Make Obama A One-Term President

From the moment Obama entered office, right-wing conservatives embraced the posture of hell-bent opposition. Recall, in Jan. 2009, hate radio host Rush Limbaugh expressed his hope that Obama fails. One month later, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell proudly embraced Limbaugh at a conservative conference. The fringe rhetoric of far right activists had quickly become the de facto governing strategy of the Republican leadership, as they adopted a posture of obstructionism.

Believing that the Republican strategy of opposition has played to his political benefit, McConnell is pledging to do more of the same if Republicans win back the Senate. In an interview with the National Journal’s Major Garrett, McConnell candidly acknowledged that he feels his “single most important” job is to defeat President Obama in 2012:

MCCONNELL: We need to be honest with the public. This election is about them, not us. And we need to treat this election as the first step in retaking the government. We need to say to everyone on Election Day, “Those of you who helped make this a good day, you need to go out and help us finish the job.”

NATIONAL JOURNAL: What’s the job?

MCCONNELL: The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.

ThinkProgress » Mitch McConnell: I Want To Be Senate Majority Leader In Order To Make Obama A One-Term President

Voters deserve better than Christine O’Donnell, the Delaware dolt — or do they? – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com

That [O’Donnell] is a major party candidate for national office, that she is among the brightest stars of a constellation of like-minded cranks — some of them already in office — tells you all you need to know about this moment in our political life. Welcome to the United States of Amnesia.

Somehow we have forgotten the lesson we spent most of the last decade learning at ruinous cost, that faith-based governance, foreign policy by gut instinct, choosing leaders on the basis of which one we’d most like to watch television with, simply does not work.

Some say this is a conservative revolution, but this is no conservatism Ronald Reagan or Barry Goldwater would have recognized. At least their ideology adhered to an interior logic. This ideology adheres to a perverse illogic which posits that the less you know, the more authentic you are. So what triumphs here is not conservatism but rather, mediocrity. The Know Nothings and Flat Earthers are ascendant. …

Some of us are reminded how candidate Bush kept calling Greeks "Grecians." Some of us remember how the electorate shrugged off that evidence of looming gaps in his basic knowledge because he had a folksy way. Some of us remember how that came out.

Others apparently don’t. Others are ready to travel that road again. It brings to mind an old saying: We get the leaders we deserve.

Voters deserve better than Christine O’Donnell, the Delaware dolt — or do they? – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com

Dana Milbank – A Tea Party of populist posers

[…] a radio appeal from the de facto leader of the Tea Party movement, Glenn Beck, who told them: "Put your money where your mouth is. If you have a dollar, please go to . . . the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and donate today." Chamber members, he said, "are our parents. They’re our grandparents. They are us."

They are? Listed as members of the chamber’s board are representatives from Pfizer, ConocoPhillips, Lockheed Martin, JPMorgan Chase, Dow Chemical, Ken Starr’s old law and lobbying firm, and Rolls-Royce North America. Nothing says grass-roots insurgency quite like Rolls-Royce — and nothing says populist revolt quite like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In describing the big-business group as "us," Beck (annual revenue: $32 million) provided an unintended moment of clarity into the power behind the Tea Party movement. These aren’t peasants with pitchforks; these are plutocrats with payrolls.

There is genuine populist anger out there. But the angry have been deceived and exploited by posers who belong to the same class of "elites" and "insiders" that the Tea Party movement supposedly deplores. Americans who want to stick it to the man are instead sending money to the man.

Dana Milbank – A Tea Party of populist posers

ThinkProgress » Rove In 2004: Influence Of ‘Billionaires Who Write The Checks Give Me Some Concern’

“I am a firm believer in strong (political) parties, and things that weaken the parties and place the outcome of elections in the hands of billionaires who can write checks and political consultants who can get themselves hired by billionaires who write the checks, give me some concern,” [Karl] Rove said [in 2004].

Of course, these days Rove isn’t as big a believer in strong political parties, as he works to build a “shadow RNC.” He also isn’t as concerned about the subversion of democracy at the hands of a few wealthy donors. Instead, when President Obama makes the argument that Rove did in 2004, the Rove of 2010 slams him for having an “enemies list” and engaging in a “desperate political ploy.”

ThinkProgress » Rove In 2004: Influence Of ‘Billionaires Who Write The Checks Give Me Some Concern’