Buchanan: GOP Leadership Has Same Agenda as Chamber of Commerce

Columnist Pat Buchanan declared “find out what the agenda is of the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable and you will find out what the agenda is of the leadership of the Republican Party on Capitol Hill” on Wednesday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.

“There are parts of the Republican Party, the corporate conservatives or the corporate Republicans, they want an amnesty…and basically they’re throwing the Tea Party folks under the bus” he stated. And “I think that the leadership of the Republican Party in its heart would like to fulminate against this, to keep the folks, say ‘we fought the good fight, we tried to stop it.’ But in the end, I think the Republican leadership will go into the tank on this one.” He later added “find out what the agenda is of the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable and you will find out what the agenda is of the leadership of the Republican Party on Capitol Hill”

Buchanan was more optimistic on Obamacare, stating “I think there’s things they can do on Obamacare that they will try to do because that is an enormous thing, and that frankly you get a lot of corporate conservatives and others want the battle fought there,” but that the GOP would not go for full repeal and replace.

He also said of the GOP leadership “what they’re afraid of is the media, Sean. They don’t believe they can fight and make the case that they are not shutting down the government. They are defunding part of one program or something like that and Defense and Justice and all the rest are being funded. They are afraid of going back, sitting on that hot stove a second time because they feel they were burned good the first time. Look, these fellas think they got it all coming to them in 2016 as long as they don’t pick on these issues that move the base.” 

Buchanan concluded by arguing that such fear was unfounded in light of similar dire predictions that Republicans would face electoral doom for shutting down the government over Obamacare and opposing gun control that failed to come true.

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett