"Republicans Are Not Capable of Governing"

A sampling of conservative reaction to the radical Rethuglicans now holding sway in Congress, their "fiscal cliff" nihilism, and their out-of-the-mainstream positions in general:

Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH):

It's the same 40 chuckleheads that screwed this place up. (Boehner's) done everything to make nice to them. [snip]

It weakens the entire Republican Party, the Republican majority. It’s the continuing dumbing-down of the Republican Party and we are going to be seen more and more as a bunch of extremists that can’t even get a majority of our own people to support policies that we’re putting forward.

Jennifer Rubin:

This sort of display suggests Republicans are not capable of governing. What was an argument by Democrats (They are unreasonable! They only care for the rich!) is now a political reality.

When I posed the question “What next?” to several senior Republicans, the answer came back, ” I really don’t know” or “Good question.” What we do know is that House Republicans may have confirmed the good judgment of the American people in keeping divided government. Goodness knows none of these people can be trusted.

Andrew Sullivan:

Between the humiliating and chaotic collapse of Speaker Boehner's already ludicrously extreme Plan B and Wayne La Pierre's deranged proposal to put government agents in schools with guns, the Republican slide into total epistemic closure and political marginalization has now become a free-fall. This party, not to mince words, is unfit for government. There is no conservative party in the West - except for minor anti-immigrant neo-fascist ones in Europe - anywhere close to this level of far right extremism. And now the damage these fanatics can do is not just to their own country - was the debt ceiling debacle of 2011 not enough for them? - but to the entire world.

Now, Sullivan has been supporting Obama since 2008, but when you've lost a sitting Congressman and a card-carrying member of the wingnut blogosphere, you're in deep kimchi.

Rethugs Sink Their Own Plan

It's now clear that Speaker of the House John "Orange Boner" Boehner can't control his own caucus. He proposed a gimmick he called "Plan B," which would have given radical right wing Rethugs in the House a way out of the "fiscal cliff" dilemma. It would have raised taxes only on people earning $1 million and up. The plan was an attempt to show the Rethugs were willing to raise taxes on "millionaires and billionaires" despite what the President has said.

But after meeting with his caucus and not receiving their support, Boehner threw in the towel, sending them home for the holidays. In effect, the radical tea bagger majority in the House Rethug caucus took an issue that could have put the President on the defensive and flushed it. Now, as the "fiscal cliff" approaches, the President and Dems can point to the radical, uncompromising House Rethuglicans as the defenders of the super rich at the expense of the middle class, whose taxes will go up on January 1. Retiring Rethug Rep. Steve LaTourette (OH), who has been bitterly critical of the Tea Party loons' takeover of his party, commented after the meeting,

"It's unbelievable, this is horrible. I'm angry, I'm sad for my friend the Speaker, and I'm sorry for the country. We deserve better."