Establishment GOP Doesn't Exist

Where is this 'establishment' GOP we hear about anyway? Pundits and those who make a practice of blathering on about the boogie man - the 'establishment' Republican in Washington - to boost blog traffic and appeal to some in the Tea Party movement have beat that dead horse for over two years now. Isn't it clear by now that obstacle to political progress is non-existent?

Every time the grassroots have risen up and demanded changes, the Republican party leadership in power has accommodated. Maybe it wasn't an overnight change but change has been made. Two examples are in the news, both Senate Minority Leader McConnell and House Minority Leader Boehner. Just this week, Senator McConnell announced he would support a ban on earmarks for the next two years. This is a change from his previous position.

“There is simply no doubt that the abuse of this practice has caused Americans to view it as a symbol of the waste and out-of-control spending that every Republican in Washington is determined to fight,” McConnell said Monday in a speech on the Senate floor.

“And unless people like me show the American people that we’re willing to follow through on small or even symbolic things, we risk losing them on our broader efforts to cut spending and rein in government,” he said.

With soon-to-be Speaker of the House Boehner, who has represented his district in Ohio in Washington since his election in 1990, he is a strong opponent of earmarks and always has been. He would be a part of the establishment to the complainers and yet he, too, has had no trouble embracing the Tea Party movement.Thomas Edsall, a professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, said Boehner hasn’t stumbled out of the gate: “So far, so good.”

Edsall said the debate over whether Pelosi should run for minority leader has caused a lot of dissension in the Democratic Caucus.

“There hasn’t been that sort of dissension in the Republican Party, in part because Boehner has worked with the Tea Party,” he added.

The guy even announced that he would be continuing his habit of flying commercial airlines back and forth to his Ohio district. That's a change from Speaker Pelosi who not only demanded and received the largest military jet ever used by a Speaker of the House, but enjoyed schlepping her family and friends along with her.

Those railing about establishment GOP may be the same as those who use the other irrelevant term, RINO. Silly at best. Divisive at worst.