Old guard GOP establishment to declare war on Tea Party radicals?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Yet another fascinating headline in the Washington Post today, from Karen Tumulty. GOP sees chance to regain control from tea party:

The GOP establishment has embarked, once again, on a round of soul-searching. But this time, the question is: What will it take to save the Republicans from the self-destructive impulses of the tea party movement?

That the government shutdown was a political disaster for the party that engineered it is widely acknowledged, except by the most ardent tea partyers.

And that near-unanimity presents an opportunity for the establishment to strike back — and maybe regain some control from the insurgent wing.

“You roll them,” advised former Senate majority leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.). “I do think we need stronger leadership, and there’s got to be some pushback on these guys who think they came here with all the solutions.”

Only then, he said, can the party begin to push an agenda and “get things done,” rather than obstruct.

Wow. So the old guard GOP establishment wants to declare war on the Tea Party radicals. Is this a private fight, or can anyone join?

The shutdown strategy — to use must-pass bills to fund the government and lift the federal debt ceiling as leverage to gut the new health-care law — never had a chance of succeeding.

And it has left the Republicans with their lowest approval ratings in the history of polling on that topic.

Yet there is no guarantee that the Republicans won’t be back in a similar position as soon as January, when another funding bill will be needed.

“We’ll be looking for any opportunity,” said Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.), one of the sponsors of the failed strategy. “We took a shot at it and we fell short, and I think we are waiting around for another battle over Obamacare.”

To avoid a replay of the past few weeks, Republicans must figure out how to deal with several dozen of their most bellicose junior members in the House, and unapologetic figures such as Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) who have built a national following and fundraising base on the strength of their obstructionism.

* * *

[T]ea-party-fueled primary challenges have backfired in recent election cycles by knocking out Republican candidates who might have won a general election in favor of fringe figures who had no chance.

This time, the establishment has vowed not to let that happen. Crossroads GPS, an independent group co-founded by Gillespie and GOP strategist Karl Rove, has quietly focused more of its resources on what one official described as “thorough candidate vetting.”

* * *

Some Republicans lament that it has been difficult to get business leaders and other influential establishment figures to weigh in during primary season.

“The problem is, these guys want someone else to do it,” said lobbyist Vin Weber, a former congressman from Minnesota. “They don’t want to get involved in primaries.”

As I have said several times, "It is time for a Grand Alliance between Democrats, establishment Republicans, and centrist moderates in a united front" against the far-right radical extremist elements of the Tea Party. As Greg Sargent notes today, How the GOP can save itself from the Tea Party:

One starting point might be to accept this as a given: There is probably nothing that Tea Party conservatives in the House will ever accept that could also prove acceptable to Obama and Senate Democrats, and therefore has a chance at becoming law. Therefore, if Republicans do want to enter into the normal give and take of governing — a big “if,” to be sure – it will require a willingness to rely on an alliance of non-Tea Party Republicans and Democrats to get things done.