July 20, 2011 09:10 PM UTC

From Washington to El Paso County, GOP Civil War Looms

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Associated Press reports, all this bipartisan happy talk about “Grand Bargains” and “backup plans” is meeting a stone wall called the “Tea Party”–and freshmen members of Congress elected in the 2010 Republican wave are trapped between their unrealistic promises to an unreasonable fringe, and the inevitable failure to fulfill them:

Solid backing of tea partyers helped propel several freshmen to Washington, boosting the candidacy of citizen-lawmakers such as car dealers, pizza shop owners, farmers and businessmen. The Tea Party Express on Tuesday made it clear they better stay in line, threatening GOP primary challenges to Republicans who support Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s alternative plan to give President Barack Obama the power to order an increase in the debt limit of up to $2.5 trillion over the coming year.

Another tea party group warned about the “disease of Republican compromise” infecting Washington and ceding to Obama’s demands.

On the other side, freshmen Republicans face pressure from McConnell’s sober assessment that failure to raise the debt ceiling could be blamed on Republicans and ensure another term for Obama in 2012. Separately, House Republicans are hearing from business owners who echo the dire warnings from economists and financial analysts about the ramifications of a government default.

The votes in the coming days could have widespread implications for GOP freshmen next year, determining whether they get a challenge from within the party in a primary or have to answer for their decisions in the general election… [Pols emphasis]

At least as dangerous to freshman Republicans like Reps. Cory Gardner and Scott Tipton of Colorado is the demotivating effect a successful compromise might have on the conservative base–if 2010’s ardent conservative voters don’t show up to support Tipton next year, for example, that’s just one of several scenarios in which his defeat would be virtually assured. As we noted a couple of days ago, Republican strategy in the debt-ceiling debate appears to have shifted to base appeasement, because it’s really the only achievable goal left. But the effect of bottom-line defeat, demoralization or rebellion, even if Gardner and Tipton are given a pass by vote-counters to vote against a compromise, will be consequential.

Meanwhile, reports the Colorado Springs Independent, a red-on-red rebellion continues to grow in our state’s largest conservative stronghold of El Paso County. The county Republican Party secretary Sarah Anderson is at the center of a bitter controversy stemming from Rep. Amy Stephens’ support for this year’s health insurance exchange legislation–a bill that started with bipartisan support, but turned into a circus after people like Ms. Anderson discovered that President Obama supports it too. As we and regular poster Jason Salzman have noted, the clash between the hard and moderate right over “AmyCare” has riven the El Paso County GOP, and led to attempts by state party chairman Ryan Call to force Anderson’s resignation.

Though in Anderson’s defense, Some of this stuff is downright freaky:

According to Calef, multiple resolutions were passed in the executive session.

One stated that Anderson must abide by the bylaws of the party “to the satisfaction of the chairman,” said Calef. “And there is this understanding that she won’t be allowed to the talk with the media.”

Part of that is that she is on probation until the next executive committee meeting.

Another: Anderson must write a public statement by Monday that includes a pledge to uphold the bylaws of the party, and to encourage all of her supporters to unite behind the Republican party. She also has the option to include an apology to all of those people that she has offended by her outspokenness.

So Monday, the El Paso GOP executive committee got a statement alright…

The real travesty of 7 July, 2011 at the El Paso County Republican Party Headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado was not the sham “trial” conducted in a secret closed-door meeting. That portion of the meeting was a witch hunt with a predetermined outcome…

It doesn’t sound like that loyalty oath Rep. Stephens “suggested” for party officers is having the intended effect, does it? Remember, this all goes back to SB-200, and intra-party threats of retaliation for “caving to Obama”. To Anderson, this is a fight for the Republican Party’s “core principles.” And the party brass heavy-handedness hasn’t worked–we’ve heard that Stephens’ primary challenger will be announced soon after reapportionment.

“The libertarians are trying to take over the Republican Party, and I think that some people have to pay attention to that,” says Stephens. “It’s not just libertarian, it’s anarchy … and it’s happening fast.” [Pols emphasis]

Now, some of you have asked, and not just rhetorically, why so many in Congress who know better have dug themselves into such a rhetorical hole, clinging to dogma so far past the point of reasonableness–to the point where the public has solidly turned against them.

We think you’re seeing the reason play out in El Paso County.