“Republicans love people who have money”: GOP ex-congressman sounds off to Salon

[DonViejo]

“Republicans love people who have money”: GOP ex-congressman sounds off to Salon

Longtime GOP congressman Chris Shays explains Tea Party's compromise allergy, and gets inside John Boehner's head

JOSH EIDELSON

Chris Shays was the most prominent in a long-serving cadre of comparatively moderate Connecticut Republicans in Congress, and the last of them to lose his seat – ousted in the Obama wave of 2008. His attempted comeback fell far short last year, when former wrestling CEO Linda McMahon beat him by 50 points in a GOP primary for Joe Lieberman’s Senate seat. In an interview last week, Shays told Salon the Tea Party misunderstands the Constitution, suggested it would be more painful to have a child die in Afghanistan than Iraq, and defended his claim that “Abu Ghraib was not torture.” A condensed version of our conversation follows.

What’s your view of the impact the Tea Party has had?

It’s mixed … There’s a reason why you have a Tea Party, and that is the government is just spending blindly and it’s alarming …

You have a lot of inexperienced people who say they value the Constitution and almost worship it … and that we shouldn’t compromise — and they don’t realize the Constitution was the best example of compromise, and the most extensive use of compromise in the history of our country. And so there is some tremendous irony …

Do you think it was the right move to try to tie policy concessions to raising the debt ceiling?

To tie Obamacare to it was a huge mistake … Tying it to entitlements in general, and reforming entitlements, I think makes sense.

full column
http://www.salon.com/2013/11/11/republicans_love_people_who_have_money_gop_ex_congressman_tells_salon/

[beachbum bob]

1. so whats the surprise in this???

money = power

with the supreme court allowing elections to bought, more so than ever before

[Scuba]

2. Sorry, Chris, I do NOT want you in the Democratic Party with those views. Try pulling ....

... your own party away from the edge. Ours is way too far right already.