According to the Portland Press Herald:
One of Maine’s three voting members of the Republican National Committee and six other members of the Maine State Republican Committee have resigned and left the party, lambasting Gov. Paul LePage, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and other Republicans for abandoning what they said are key principles for libertarians and conservatives.Their main gripe is that the Republican Party, John Boehner, and the state party are all too liberal. At this point it is important to point out that these seven Republicans are dissatisfied with a party that has in the last few months alone tried to abolish overtime pay, gut the food stamp program, and disqualify people from food stamps if they own a car. This is also a political party that is actively encouraging the uninsured not to sign up for health insurance.
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They criticized Republican state lawmakers for supporting a budget containing tax increases, charged Boehner with “cowardly leadership” and said recent decisions by the LePage administration show that “the Republican Party has lost its way.”
“(We) can no longer allow ourselves to be called nor enrolled as Republicans; we can no longer associate ourselves with a political party that goes out of its way to continually restrict our freedoms and liberties as well as reaching deeper and deeper into our wallets,” reads the letter, signed by Maine Republican National Committeeman Mark Willis and 11 others. “We instead choose the path that focuses on ways to help our fellow Mainers outside of party politics.”
Apparently, trying to starve the poor and voting to deny 30 million Americans healthcare 40 times is too liberal for these seven former Republicans who are so fed up that they had to walk away. It is ironic that Boehner would be accused of cowardly leadership, when it has been his constant caving to the tea party that has made the House completely irrelevant. The issue isn’t Boehner’s cowardly leadership, but that he is letting the tea party run the House of Representatives.
The seven extremists who quit the Maine Republican Party today are an example of why nothing can get done. The Republican fringe doesn’t realize that they have marginalized themselves right out of political relevancy. The Senate and the White House have been working around these fringe far righties for years now, but where they can exert any influence in state and federal government, the Republican mission is to block progress.
Anti-government libertarians aren’t saving the Republican Party. They’re destroying it, and setting the stage for years of Democratic victories to come.
Don’t tread me indeed!!!
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