Poor Dave McKeon

I know we've been doing quite a bit of it this week, but we really must take one more stroll down Memory Lane. Remember Dave McKeon? He's now the Chair of the Clark County Republican Party. And he was supposed to make everything better for Southern Nevada's G-O-TEA faithful.

Needless to say, that still hasn't happened. Instead, McKeon's family woes continue to make news in Nevada and California...

Wait, what??!! Remember that Dave McKeon is the son of Rep. Buck McKeon (R-California), the Santa Clarita Republican who likes to question whether hardworking immigrant families are somehow aiding and abetting terrorists. He's also made a habit of mastering the art of pay-to-play politics (of pure corruption).

And now, Rep. Buck McKeon is finally calling it quits. No, he's not quitting his pay-to-play racket. Rather, he's quitting Congress. He just can't stand the fact that the G-O-TEA Culture Warriors keep getting in the way of his military-industrial complex gravy train.

McKeon, at a press conference formally announcing his reported retirement on Thursday, said that about 80 members of the House GOP caucus identifying as tea partiers contributed to his decision to retire.

"That was just one issue," McKeon said according to Defense News. "I can't say it was not part of it because it has been a frustrating year. Not so much for us but for our leadership."

The outgoing congressman said that too often in the last few years House Republican leadership came to their caucus with a certain plan on legislation that was eventually "rejected" by tea partiers because "it wasn't good enough."

"I think every member of our conference needs to look at themselves and re-evaluate what they were sent here to do," McKeon added.

Well, cry me a river. Buck McKeon is now complaining about the Crazy Caucus nearly derailing America? Where was he when the Crazy Caucus was about to throw America into Armageddon? (Crickets.)

We find it quite ironic that Rep. McKeon is shedding (crocodile) tears now. Could it be due to his weakened political position in his own district? (A heavy TEA drinker was already preparing to run before McKeon announced his retirement, and national Democrats were already preparing to contest his seat this year.) We can't help but laugh as Buck McKeon only comes around to criticizing the TEA powered political Frankenstein monster when the monster turns around to come for him.

We can only wonder what poor little Dave McKeon must be thinking right now. He's about to lose his juice on Capitol Hill, and that can't possibly come at a worse time. Does he have enough juice left to stop members of his own party from sabotaging Cresent Hardy's already long-shot challenge to Rep. Steven Horsford (D-North Las Vegas) in NV-04? Is the Nevada G-O-TEA Civil War about to enter another round of gruesome battles this year?

Whatever comes next, we're just glad we're not in Dave McKeon's position.

Mixed Messages

Occasionally, we hear about the ongoing woes of the Nevada Republican Party. Just weeks ago, the Clark County Republican Party elected a new Chair. And already, Dave McKeon is causing quite a stir (just not as top Nevada Republican operatives were hoping for).

And in case that's not enough drama, McKeon's father, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-California), is causing even more.

The audio is admittedly very tough to hear, but as Kaczynski noted, McKeon argued that "Arab persons" might leave the Middle East, move to Mexico, disguise themselves as Latinos, then enter the United States.

"There are people that can't tell the difference between a Hispanic person and an Arab person," the congressman argued, adding, "They can mingle in, and they can get in here, and then they can do damage."

So, let's consider the Republican message to Latinos in a nutshell: when the GOP isn't accusing you of being lazy and/or drug mules, the party's elected lawmakers are also questioning whether you might inadvertently help terrorists by looking like al Qaeda.

Yet again, the G-O-TEA id is bearing its ugly head. And it's doing so at the most inopportune time for Nevada Republicans.

Today, Rep. Joe Heck (R-??!!) held a(nother) pay-per-view "town hall". And when asked about immigration reform, he actually expressed support for a path to citizenship and some sort of reasonable overall approach. This is an interesting turnaround for Rep. Heck. While he also expressed support for comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) in February, his recent voting record has told a very different story.

Actually, this has been an ongoing problem for the Republican Party here and elsewhere. They say something, yet they do the opposite. They throw out one message, then embrace something completely different. They convey a desire for "outreach", then they do everything possible to fence in.

So how are we to make sense of all these Republican mixed messages on CIR? If Rep. Heck is sincere in his desire to pass CIR, he can show it by doing his part to allow a floor vote on it. Otherwise, we just have a bunch of mixed messages that add up to a whole lot of nothing.