Hypocritical, selfish and tone-deaf: the politics of GOP opposition to Sandy Relief.

From within the GOP, I think the regret is palpable and rapidly growing, that they had embraced the Tea Party, and for good reason: TP Republicans are digging the party into a hole that it won't escape from.

Since the start of the new Congress, and despite the furor over the lack of a vote for money to aid states and Americans affected by Hurricane Sandy, House Republicans have tried to put politics ahead of helping the community; worse, some have been downright hypocritical.

Before the House could vote on providing FEMA (which became H.R. 41) with additional monies in its work on recovery from Hurricane Sandy (aside from the larger funding at the request by states affected), the House decided to take up a series of bills and resolutions that have nothing to do with Hurricane Sandy but everything to do with politics.  40 House Resolutions before they took up the business of helping out Sandy victims.  I give you an abridged version of their tone-deafness:

• H.R.23 - To provide that human life shall be deemed to begin with fertilization.
• H.R.24 - To require a full audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks by the Comptroller General of the United States, and for other purposes.
• H.R.25 - To promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national sales tax to be administered primarily by the States.
• H.R.27 - To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to repeal the Medicare competitive acquisition program for durable medical equipment and prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS), and for other purposes.
• H.R.33 - To amend title 31, United States Code, to reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported, and for other purposes.
• H.R.37 - To repeal portions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, to reduce Federal Government spending and to reduce the salaries of Members of Congress, and for other purposes.

Really, Republicans couldn't put the funding of Hurricane Sandy victims, as close as practical to first?

So one by one, Republicans are now starting to express their disgust with the House and Tea Party House Republicans, who have decided that federal funding to help victims of natural disasters, can be used as leverage against Democrats.

Note that not a single Democrat voted against additional funding for FEMA, to help victims of Hurricane Sandy; the 67 House members who voted against it, were all Republicans.  As former Republican Senator Alfonse D'Amato said, "They’re a bunch of jackasses."

In some cases, Republicans who had previously begged their fellow members to vote for additional funding for their states that had suffered from a natural disaster, chose to vote against helping out the victims of Hurricane Sandy.  That's both hypocritical and selfish, but politics come first, to many Republicans.

I sense a third party coming, and it'll become the party of the center.