Conservatives Expect Immigration Pressure At GOP's "Congress Of Tomorrow" Retreat - Granite Grok

Conservatives Expect Immigration Pressure At GOP’s “Congress Of Tomorrow” Retreat

Hyatt Regency Chesapeake BayJust a look at the resort will tell you that our ‘elected representatives’ consider themselves to be our elite rulers, entitled to be pampered. Politico reports:

The “Congress of Tomorrow” House Republican Conference retreat will take place Jan. 29 through Jan. 31 at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort, Spa and Marina in Cambridge, Md.

House Democrats have had their retreat at this compound several times, drawing high-profile visits from President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

The Congressional Institute plans and partially pays for the conference. That group is funded by lobbyists, who pay for membership to the group and attend part of the conference.

Business as usual, where representation means that the people who pay get a sympathetic ear – We The People, not so much!

boehner-steve-king-afpOn several issues, most notably immigration/amnesty, the conference is setting up to be a brawl between the RINO establishment, who would rather enjoy the trappings of power while it lasts, and principled TEA party types, such as Grok favorite, Steve King of Iowa.    

In fact, Congressional TEA partyers are so convinced that the presentations at the retreat will be one-sided in favor of amnesty that they have been collecting signatures on a letter to conference chairman Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, requesting full and open debate rather than playing into the Democrats’ hands.

January 15, 2014

To: Cathy McMorris Rodgers
cc: Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor

Dear Chairwoman McMorris Rodgers:

Our Conference retreat in Cambridge should be a time when we openly discuss and hopefully come to a consensus on our 2014 legislative agenda. It cannot be a retreat for rank-and-file Members to be presented with a predetermined, one-sided agenda. This is particularly true of immigration.

There is significant disagreement within our Conference on immigration. As you develop an agenda for the retreat, we ask you to consult with us and provide the balance necessary for a full and legitimate debate that specifically gives equal time and respect for those who oppose House action on immigration as well as those who support action.

It may be healthy to debate immigration behind closed doors and within the House Republican family. However, we believe it would be unhealthy for Republicans to allow Democrats to divide us over immigration by creating another national debate on the subject.

For many reasons, we believe now is not the time for immigration reform. At the heart of our concern is the President’s reckless disregard for the laws enacted by Congress. Our request is for an equal scheduled opportunity to present our case before our Conference at the retreat.

Sincerely,
(Conservative House Member)

Meanwhile, over at Townhall.com, Hugh Hewitt exhorted the leadership to bring in non-Beltway speakers, and asked for activists to pressure their congresscritters because:

D.C. elites have their own set of solutions in mind, never mind that they aren’t what the grassroots want and that those solutions will in fact enrage the grassroots, even as the slam on career military has angered the friends and families of the career military. The GOP seems intent on reducing the number of their core supporters with each passing week.
….
Why, in a phrase, are [the House GOP Leadership] so stone-cold deaf to what 90% of their core constituents and activists want?

…[F]ind and communicate with your GOP representative. Tell them what you think should be on their agenda for their retreat, and that it had better not be pollsters and consultants…

Dennis Prager and I once shared a stage at this event. We were on after the pollsters……. I used my time then to tell the GOP caucus what well-intentioned but terrible communicators they were…… etc. I did so in the hope they would change and flourish.

I haven’t been invited back. Those really, really sharp pollsters no doubt have been. They no doubt advised that it is ok to screw the career military, ignore the border fence issue, and target homeowners and charities for big tax hikes while pretending to cut taxes.

Yeah, that’s the ticket. My suggestion to Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers: Invite Mark Steyn and Mark Levin to address the gathering and get a big gulp of what really drives conservatives right now. Light up the room. Risky but well worth it. Have the courage to confront critics of the mess the caucus has become.

Invite Charles Krauthammer… Invite Guy P. Benson and Mary Katharine Ham to get a glimpse of what the 30 and under conservatives think of their antics…..

Don’t count on it. Closed system. Closed minds. Different planet. Planet Beltway.

This is just a sampling – read his whole article!

Don’t think the leadership would dare? Read this article by Micky Kaus on the coming sellout, over at The Daily Caller – some samples:

Lobbyists, on the march! The coming weeks will see the formal start of the GOP House leadership’s attempt to sneak an immigration amnesty through the Republican caucus and into law…..

There will be an attempt to describe Speaker Boehner’s “piecemeal” collection of immigration bills as an “enforcement first” arrangement that will prevent another, future illegal wave despite the incentive created by what will be two successive amnesties.

It takes some chutzpah for Boehner to make his amnesty push now, given the sour jobs news, falling measured support for amnesty, and the need for party unity in the coming midterm elections. You’d think the employment news alone–almost 3 unemployed Americans for every available job–would cause savvy lobbyists to postpone any attempt to push for a massive addition to the unskilled and skilled workforce.

It’s a sellout. That’s a term I don’t use lightly. Certainly there are plenty of idealistic, principled advocates of “comprehensive immigration reform” — including true believers in open borders, advocates of immigrants’ rights, and ethnic champions……

But why are the politicians abandoning the economic interests of the country’s basic laborers, and the strong anti-amnesty convictions of their own constituents (in the case of most Republicans), and doing it at such an objectively inauspicious time? It’s hard to deny that cash is doing much of the swaying here…….. [including] future consulting contracts and lobbying positions for those who echo the line that Republicans just have to do this to remain viable. In any case, that latter argument–’We’re not doing it for the money. We’re doing it to save our political hides!’–isn’t exactly an appeal to principle either, is it?

The only thing stopping them, at this point, is fervent opposition from the Republican base in a majority of House districts.

Yes, the grassroots isn’t on board, and the GOP leadership doesn’t care – you see, they are our rulers, just like their partners, the Democrats, and how dare we be disagreeable!

Ted Cruz isn’t impressed by this display of (ahem) ‘leadership’, either

“Refuse to stand for principle” exactly describes what this is all about. As well as lacking in brains, Republicans all too often are found to be lacking in guts.”

Skip has the full quote and lots more, here

Pander vs Principle Guess who we're with?!
Pander vs Principle
Guess who we’re with?!
The ‘Ruling Class’ hasn’t quite grasped the extent to which it has alienated “We The People”, even as its clothing becomes increasingly transparent and their empire crumbles away from beneath them. They do not understand that principled conservatives have support in their districts precisely because they are principled conservatives, and that some of them are strong enough to join a new Conservative party and take their constituents with them.

Time to introduce a theme which just might strike terror into the hearts of Lincoln’s Lost Tribe, the junior partners in Socialist Tyranny which the GOP have become. (Way beyond ‘Tax Collectors for the Welfare State’.)

RIP+ReplaceWe have tried persuasion, we have attempted reform, but the hardened hides of the entrenched RINOs don’t feel the prods of our pitchforks. We have promoted the principled leaders where we find them, but the Establishment works to sideline them, or even defeat them. (What kind of ‘leaders’ would rather be in the minority than be forced to stand on principle?)

When the usual methods fail, we have the right, we have the duty, to alter OR ABOLISH that party! Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe it is time to R.I.P and Replace the GOP!

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