If there's one thing that Republican politics in the 21st century should have taught us all, it's that RINOs never die.
For instance, you might be forgiven for thinking that the October tumult that sent former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy into very early retirement might have quieted a certain element of the professional conservative Beltway circle.
And it did, for a while, lest these operatives end up suffering the same fate that befell the former California congressman.
But, just like any trite horror movie, they're ba~ack -- and they're coming to settle some scores.
According to the Washington Examiner, their latest target is Rep. Bob Good, the Virginia Republican who was elected to head the conservative House Freedom Caucus this year.
Normally, a high-profile Republican with a consistently right-wing voting record wouldn't have to worry about getting primaried. However, Good is the prize target of numerous GOP establishment figures, who have backed challenger John McGuire in the June 18 primary.
Now, as the conservative Examiner noted, Good has often bucked his party in more ways than just being one of the representatives McCarthy dubbed the "crazy eight" who helped wrest the gavel from him.
"Good crossed former President Donald Trump by backing Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for president and turned on former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. He was one of eight Republicans to vote last October to oust the speaker, careening the House into a leaderless three-week period filled with infighting," the Examiner noted.
"The Virginia Republican has developed a reputation on Capitol Hill for routinely voting against legislation -- even bills introduced by his own party," it said. "He has also routinely vowed to vote against must-pass spending legislation if certain demands related to border security are not met, going so far as to threaten government shutdowns to make a point."
While DeSantis' campaign for president was rather a dud, that doesn't mean the impulse to back him was a liberal or contrarian move.
Nor is bucking his own party when border security funding is shelved for the eleventy-billionth time to make a last-minute deal with Democrats to avert a shutdown, albeit with Republican leaders always assuring the rank-and-file that they'll get that border security funding next time. Lucy is always going to pull the football away, conservatives have learned -- the only question is whether they want to make a go at trying to kick it.
Earlier this week, Good dared his GOP colleagues to put their money where their mouths are and come down to his district to support McGuire.
“Good luck,” he told reporters. “Most of them should come and campaign for my opponent in my district. That would be what really helps me.”
Well, we're going to find out on that count -- since several of them appeared at a fundraiser with McGuire on Wednesday.
The RINOs who hosted a DC fundraiser for my opponent last night are going to vote for the massive uniparty spending bill on the House floor without having time to read it.
Shows how he would vote if he were in Congress with them. pic.twitter.com/kaLhdYusOu
— Bob Good for Congress (@GoodForCongress) March 21, 2024
The D.C. fundraiser included House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers of Alabama, Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia and Rep. Jen Kiggans of Good's home state of Virginia, as well as three former Navy SEALs also serving in the GOP House caucus: Reps. Ryan Zinke of Montana, Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin and Morgan Luttrell of Texas, according to Politico.
“John’s awesome,” Van Orden told the Examiner. “Being a member of the SEAL teams, [he] understands what it means to be on a team. If you’re wearing the jersey, you’re on the team. If you’re wearing the jersey and you’re not on the team, I don’t want you on the team. It’s that simple.”
“If we don’t maintain this majority and grow it, it’s gonna be Bob Good and the Freedom Caucus’s fault,” he added. “Flat out. Period. It’s their fault. They’re more destructive to Congress than anybody, and they’re going to wear that as a badge of pride, when in fact, it’s a badge of stupidity and the inability to do strategic thinking.”
The problem is that Van Orden is one of those types who thinks "strategic thinking" involves being a Democrat-lite -- the kind who grumbles a bit as he signs onto "bipartisan" legislation that chips away at our liberties and engorges the national debt.
Compare his legislative scorecard from conservative think-tank the Heritage Foundation -- 66 percent this Congress -- vs. Bob Good's, which is 99 percent this term.
Good is a reliable conservative who managed to knock über-RINO former GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman out during the 2020 primary process (Riggleman would later go on to serve as an adviser to the Democrats' Jan. 6, 2021, House kangaroo committee, which should earn Good several terms based on the goodwill of that alone.)
If the establishment Republicans can't win over members like Good, that's their problem, not his, and getting him replaced with a more pliable candidate to spite the Freedom Caucus will only deepen the rift between GOP careerists who did nothing for conservative voters for decades and the conservative voters who are fed up with Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy and John Boehner clones.
Here's a novel concept: Instead of spending time and energy trying to get rid of a genuine conservative by throwing the weight of the Beltway insiders at him, how about trying to increase the GOP's slimmajority in the House?
That would make more sense, one would think -- unless the point is the hold onto control of the party, not of the lower chamber of Congress.
