Sen. Lamar Alexander Distances Himself From Tea Party

He’s still conservative. He’s still against insurance for millions of kids letting insurers deny coverage to people with preexisting conditions the Affordable Care Act. But he’s looking to position himself on the opposite end of the GOP spectrum from the Tea Party:

Less than two weeks removed from 2013’s government shutdown, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) was clear about where he stands within the Republican Party on that strategy.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Washington Post published Friday, Alexander offered an inside look into how he worked to help broker a deal to reopen the government, distancing himself from the tea party in the process.

“If all we do is stand around handing each other score cards, we won’t get anything done,” Alexander said. “That’s why, in the current health-care debate, I’m not in the shut-down-the-government crowd. I’m in the take-charge-of-the-government crowd, and get something done.”

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.