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Buehler, a longtime Republican, announced he's leaving the party after the Jan. 6 insurrection and a statement from the Oregon GOP calling the attack a "false flag."

PORTLAND, Ore. Knute Buehler, one of Oregon's most well-known Republicans, has announced he's leaving the party to become a non-affiliated voter. Buehler tried to gain statewide appeal as a moderate Republican nominee for governor in 2018 before he was ultimately defeated by Gov. Kate Brown by about 120,000 votes.

In 2020, he returned to politics with a more conservative lean. He ran as a Republican to represent Oregon's 2nd Congressional District, even embracing Pres. Donald Trump and his rhetoric. Buehler lost in the primary to Cliff Bentz, who went on to win that seat in the general election.

In January 2021, Rep. Bentz voted against certifying the presidential election results coming out of Pennsylvania, within just five days of being elected to office. This came on the same day pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Several days later, the Oregon Republican party passed a resolution describing the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection as a false flag operation.

Buehler told KGW both of those events influenced his decision to leave the party.

"I don't know what the Republican Party stands for," he said. "It's almost become a cult of personality. Is it possible to re-correct? Absolutely. There's lots of potential both nationally and in Oregon if they do it right."

He's one of 6,145 Oregonians who switched their registration to leave the Republican Party in January, a decline of 0.8% from December 2020.

Likely referencing the "false flag" claim and the GOP selecting a QAnon believer to represent their party in the Senate race against Democrat Jeff Merkley, Buehler said, "Conspiracy theorists have been tolerated in the Oregon Republican Party and have not been dealt with effectively."

Continued here:
Knute Buehler on leaving GOP: 'I don't even know what the Republican Party stands for' - KGW.com

What, then, are the most plausible theories?

First, its worth rejecting a few unlikely possibilities. Congressional control is not the answer. The pattern holds regardless of which party is running Congress. Deficit spending also doesnt explain the gap: It is not the case that Democrats juice the economy by spending money and then leave Republicans to clean up the mess. Over the last four decades, in fact, Republican presidents have run up larger deficits than Democrats.

That leaves one broad possibility with a good amount of supporting evidence: Democrats have been more willing to heed economic and historical lessons about what policies actually strengthen the economy, while Republicans have often clung to theories that they want to believe like the supposedly magical power of tax cuts and deregulation. Democrats, in short, have been more pragmatic.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt first ran for president, in 1932, he did not have a fully coherent economic plan. He sometimes argued that reducing the deficit was the key to ending the Depression. Above all, though, he called for bold, persistent experimentation. As he explained: Take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.

Over time, he and his advisers came to champion the ideas of John Maynard Keynes. In an economic downturn, when companies and households are caught in a vicious cycle of spending reductions, the government needs to step in. The Keynesian approach has shaped Democratic economic policy ever since.

It has made Democratic presidents much more aggressive in responding to crises than Republicans. Not only was Mr. Hoover passive in the face of the Depression, but the first George Bush was slow to fight the 1990-91 recession, and the second George Bush was slow to begin fighting the 2007-9 financial crisis. Mr. Obama and now President Biden, when faced with an economic crisis, have been much bolder.

Michael Strain, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, told me that he believed the overall partisan pattern was mostly coincidence. But, he said, It is certainly a defensible posture that in periods of economic distress Democrats are more concerned about jobs than Republicans.

The past year has offered another case study. Mr. Trump repeatedly downplayed the coronavirus pandemic, and the country suffered. The economy would have experienced a downturn no matter who was president, but his scattered response aggravated the pandemic and the recession. In some other countries, life is much closer to normal. In the United States, Mr. Trump became the first president since Mr. Hoover to preside over a decline in employment.

The rest is here:
Opinion | Why Are Republican Presidents So Bad for the Economy? - The New York Times

WASHINGTON Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind. joined House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Congressman Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) and 83 House Republicans to introduce the Keystone XL Pipeline Construction and Jobs Preservation Act. This legislation authorizes the construction and operation of the Keystone XL Pipeline following President Joe Bidens decision to rescind the border crossing permit.

The Biden Administrations decision to rescind this permit negatively impacts hardworking American families in our district and beyond. Pipelines like the Keystone XL Pipeline remain the safest and most environmentally friendly way to move fuel to heat our homes, float our ships, and power our cars. Canceling this pipeline has already cost thousands of working Americans their jobs. First, the liberal agenda goes after the Keystone XL Pipeline, but next theyll attack the over 44,000 miles of pipelines Hoosiers rely on in the Crossroads of America, Pence said in a statement.

Pence also joined Scalise and more than 30 members of the House Energy Action Team to strongly condemn the Biden administrations 60-day moratorium on issuing oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters.

For more on this story, see Thursdays Republic.

See more here:
Pence joins House Republicans in seeking to restore Keystone XL Pipeline project - The Republic

Warning: Disturbing stuff ahead.

Theres a conspiracy theory called Frazzledrip. Even for QAnon types, its pretty fringe, which is saying something. Recall that the central belief in Q-world is that theres a secret cabal of Satan-worshiping, sex-trafficking pedophiles running the government.

Frazzledrip is worse. It is the name of an imagined video of a young girl on Huma Abedins laptop in a folder labeled life insurance. Abedin, the ex-wife of former Rep. Anthony Weiner, was an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

According to Vice, the nonexistent video shows Clinton filleting off the young girls face. The two women take turns wearing the girls face as a mask to terrify the child so blood is suffused with adrenochrome. They drink her blood as part of a satanic ritual.

Oh, Frazzledrip also believes Clinton murdered New York City police officers who saw the video and covered up their deaths as suicides.

Now, you dont have to be a Clinton fan Im certainly not to recognize this garbage as evil and insane. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the QAnon-friendly Republican representative from Georgia, disagrees. She endorsed the theory on her Facebook page in 2018.

Greene has spread other wicked stuff: Mass school shootings were false flag operations, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should be shot for treason. Etc.

And yet, to listen to some Republicans, it would be too divisive to excommunicate Greene or other QAnon-aligned Republicans because the party must unify.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy plans to have a conversation with Greene. Hes under pressure to at least take her off the Education Committee, but some Republicans fear he wont even go that far because, Politico reports, Greene represents an energetic wing of the party and hell feel he cant afford to risk punishing one of Trumps favored office-holders.

The Hawaii GOP recently tweeted out support for QAnon, saying it was largely motivated by a sincere and deep love for America. When newly elected Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) appeared on a QAnon streaming site, the National Republican Congressional Committee responded to criticism by noting his opponent appeared on Russia conspiracy network MSNBC.

Meanwhile, these same people think real heretics in need of canceling are Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and nine other Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, who reportedly said that QAnon just believes in good government. Various state parties have moved to censure Cheney and others for supporting impeachment.

So, in the name of fighting cancel culture, Republicans who condemned a president who tried to topple the Constitution to hold power must now be canceled yet Republicans who think Clinton drinks the blood of children must not be canceled or even criticized in the name of conscience.

Indeed, QAnon is being recast into a kind of oppressed religious minority with an inalienable right to its beliefs and any attempt to curtail it would put America on a slippery slope to tyranny.

Tucker Carlson, a prime-time host at Fox News (where I am a contributor), recently ran a long montage of pundits not politicians fretting over QAnons influence. After mocking them for making such a fuss, Carlson declared, Theres a clear line between democracy and tyranny, between self-government and dictatorship. And heres what that line is. That line is your conscience. They cannot cross that.

Government has every right to tell you what to do, Carlson said, citing things like laws against rape, murder and jaywalking. But, he insisted, No democratic government can ever tell you what to think. Your mind belongs to you. It is yours and yours alone.

Once politicians attempt to control what you believe, he continued, they are no longer politicians. They are by definition dictators. And if they succeed in controlling what you believe you are no longer a citizen, you are not a free man, you are a slave.

This is all nonsense.

Sure, the government can police behavior like rape and murder. But it doesnt have every right to tell you what to do. See the Bill of Rights or, for that matter, conservative objections to the individual healthcare mandate.

Sure, government cant make you violate your conscience (if your conscience says you should rape or murder, youre out of luck, though). But government can and should try to make you believe some things. It should try to convince you that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and necessary. It can tell you the correct date of election day.

This isnt dictatorial by any definition. Its telling the truth, and truth-telling is supposed to be the first obligation of both politicians and pundits, because democracy doesnt work without the truth. And neither will the GOP.

@JonahDispatch

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Column: Where QAnon goes, so goes the Republican Party - Los Angeles Times

Biden wants $1.9 trillion. Republicans want a lot less. POLITICOs Victoria Guida breaks down what would really save the Covid economy and why we shouldnt care too much about the price tag for now.

In the spirit of bipartisanship and unity, we have developed a COVID-19 relief framework that builds on prior COVID assistance laws, all of which passed with bipartisan support, the senators wrote to Biden. We request the opportunity to meet with you to discuss our proposal in greater detail and how we can work together to meet the needs of the American people during this persistent pandemic.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a member of the group, estimated the legislation would cost roughly $600 billion. Senate Republicans contend there are hundreds of billions of dollars left over from previous bills, undercutting the need for the amount proposed by Biden.

"If you want unity, you want bipartisanship, you ought to start with the group that's willing to work together," Cassidy said on "Fox News Sunday." "They did not."

The letter is a clear attempt to head off Democratic efforts to pursue budget reconciliation as the pathway to the next round of coronavirus aid. This week, Democrats in both chambers are planning to pass budget resolutions allowing the party to approve Bidens $1.9 trillion coronavirus plan without GOP votes. That tactic, called budget reconciliation, would allow Democrats and Biden to move more quickly than trying to cut a deal with Republicans that can get 60 votes.

Noting the failings of the government response to the last economic crisis in 2009 and the GOP reluctance to spend money, White House officials and Democratic senators contend that the biggest risk at the moment is not going big enough.

Biden "is absolutely willing to negotiate," said Jared Bernstein, a top Biden economic adviser, on "Fox News Sunday." But, he added: "The cost of inaction is extremely high."

Still, that path has little room for error: All 50 Senate Democrats would need to be on board, and House leaders could afford few defections. And Republicans in a bipartisan negotiating group have urged Biden to squash the effort to move forward without them, though Democrats are skeptical they will ever come on board with the large spending plan they say is needed to revive the economy.

Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, spoke to the Senate Democratic Caucus last week and has been engaged directly with members of both parties. He said on NBC's "Meet the Press" he would continue doing that and that the president's open to compromise: "What he's uncompromising about is the need to move with speed on a comprehensive approach here."

The Republican senators will release more details of their plan Monday, according to a Republican aide. Sundays letter indicated the proposal will also extend unemployment benefits that expire in March, match Bidens request for nutrition assistance and send a new round of payments to those families who need assistance the most, including their dependent children and adults. It will also address child care, small business aid and school funding.

Republicans and some Democrats have complained that high-earning people would be eligible for the next round of $1,400 payments under Biden's plan. And no Republicans have indicated even tepid support for Bidens $1.9 trillion top-line spending number. Thats led Pelosi and Schumer to say they will move forward if Republicans are an obstacle to their plan.

In addition to Collins and Cassidy, the letter was signed by GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Rob Portman of Ohio, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Todd Young of Indiana, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Mike Rounds of South Dakota. They say that if Biden is willing to hear them out, Congress doesnt have to pass a partisan coronavirus bill.

In 2020, members of the House and Senate and the previous administration came together on a bipartisan basis five times, they wrote on Sunday. With your support, we believe Congress can once again craft a relief package that will provide meaningful, effective assistance to the American people and set us on a path to recovery.

See the rest here:
Biden agrees to meeting with GOP senators on Covid relief - POLITICO