As the government shutdown grinds toward a potential debt default, some of the country’s most influential business executives have come to a conclusion all but unthinkable a few years ago: Their voices are carrying little weight with the House majority that their millions of dollars in campaign contributions helped build and sustain.

Their frustration has grown so intense in recent days that several trade association officials warned in interviews on Wednesday that they were considering helping wage primary campaigns against Republican lawmakers who had worked to engineer the political standoff in Washington.

Such an effort would thrust Washington’s traditionally cautious and pragmatic business lobby into open warfare with the Tea Party faction, which has grown in influence since the 2010 election and won a series of skirmishes with the Republican establishment in the last two years.

“We are looking at ways to counter the rise of an ideological brand of conservatism that, for lack of a better word, is more anti-establishment than it has been in the past,” said David French, the top lobbyist at the National Retail Federation. “We have come to the conclusion that sitting on the sidelines is not good enough.”

...

While both parties have extreme elements, he suggested, only in the G.O.P. did the extreme element exercise real power. “The extreme right has 90 seats in the House,” Mr. Echevarria said. “Occupy Wall Street has no seats.”

Moreover, business leaders and trade groups said, the tools that have served them in the past — campaign contributions, large memberships across the country, a multibillion-dollar lobbying apparatus — do not seem to be working.

“There clearly are people in the Republican Party at the moment for whom the business community and the interests of the business community — the jobs and members they represent — don’t seem to be their top priority,” said Dan Danner, the head of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, which spearheaded opposition to President Obama’s health care law among small businesses. “They don’t really care what the N.F.I.B. thinks, and don’t care what the Chamber thinks, and probably don’t care what the Business Roundtable thinks.”

While both parties have extreme elements, he suggested, only in the G.O.P. did the extreme element exercise real power. “The extreme right has 90 seats in the House,” Mr. Echevarria said. “Occupy Wall Street has no seats.”

TenuredVulture wrote:Also, that NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll--remember what Nate tells us about taking the results of a single poll too seriously. Could be an outlier.

TenuredVulture wrote:Speaking of 538--Nate's hiring. I think JH would be a good candidate for job there.

phdave wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:Also, that NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll--remember what Nate tells us about taking the results of a single poll too seriously. Could be an outlier.

Unless it confirms your beliefs.

A top aide to Republican New Jersey Senate hopeful Steve Lonegan went into decidedly not-safe-for-work territory when TPM asked why he thinks his candidate has been gaining on Democratic opponent Cory Booker in recent polls.

In a profanity-filled assessment of the race delivered via phone Thursday, Rick Shaftan, a senior staffer and key strategist on Lonegan's campaign, suggested voters would be turned off by Booker's "odd" behavior including Twitter messages the Democrat sent to a stripper, that Shaftan described as "strange" and "like what a gay guy would say."

"It was just weird. I mean, to me, you know, hey, if he said, 'Hey, you got really hot breasts man, I'd love to suck on them.' Then like, yeah, cool. But like, he didn't say that," Shaftan explained. "It was like kind of like, I don't know, it was like what a gay guy would say to a stripper. It's the way he was talking to her. It's just like like there was no sexual interest at all. I don't know. To me, if I was single and you know like some stripper was tweeting me, I might take advantage of the perks of the office, you know?"

...

"This is strange. It's just weird. ... It's like, 'I don't know who she is. I don't know anything about her.' Get the fuck out of here dude. You can't follow her Twitter page and not know she's got those great breasts. How do you fucking not know?" Shaftan said. "It's just too odd and people they just wonder, like, who does this guy really want to work for? Who's he representing?"

...

"He's a great candidate, man. You know when the candidate like says to you, 'Rick, grow a pair of balls.' I always like to hear that, because Steve, he wants to win," said Shaftan. "He doesn't personally attack Booker. It's all based on fact and, you know, I mean the pedicures ... it's things (Booker) said. He's the one who went to Hollywood and had the fundraiser, you know. It's just like, you know, he talked about being gay or whatever. ... It's like, dude, you're bringing all this shit up yourself."

...

"It's like Gary Hart -- follow me," Shaftan said, comparing Booker's comments about the speculation he's gay to the time that Hart infamously responded to questions about his womanizing by challenging the press to tail him.

"Gary Hart was like on his way to the nomination and then you see this picture on the front of the National Enquirer. It's like, holy shit what a fucking idiot. ... Like what are you thinking? ... I've worked with people who like to have friends, girlfriends and shit, but they'll never get photographed with them, you know? It's like, they're very discreet and professional, you know? You kind of know, but it's not like sit on my lap, let me eat your pussy while you're sitting here," Shaftan said.

"It's like, what the fuck man?" he continued. "I don't know what this guy was thinking. I mean, you see these guys -- it's like, you know, what's his name? Larry Craig is in the bathroom. It's like, what, you don't think like people will say, 'Oh, I know who you are.' ... You're like soliciting sex in a mens room. You're a fucking U.S. senator man. ... Holy shit like, I was just tapping to some music in my head. It wasn't the big head, man."

jerseyhoya wrote:In the annals of completely moronic headlines, this one oughta go down with the best - Paul Ryan gets schooled: History made as GOP offers non-insane budget compromise

House GOP offers a compromise based on an op-ed Ryan wrote a few days ago. Article talks about the deal, but doesn't actually mention Paul Ryan's name. Paul Ryan makes the headline and the picture though. Because he got schooled. For proposing a compromise centered on items he wanted to achieve. And now it might get accepted! Booyah! He won't show his face around here for weeks!

phdave wrote:

While both parties have extreme elements, he suggested, only in the G.O.P. did the extreme element exercise real power. “The extreme right has 90 seats in the House,” Mr. Echevarria said. “Occupy Wall Street has no seats.”

This needs to be repeated whenever there is a false equivalency made between the political impact of the ideological extremes.