California Rep. Devin Nunes bucks GOP strategy

by Naph on March 28, 2014

WASHINGTON — Rep. Devin Nunes was a low-profile Republican from California’s Central Valley, perhaps best known for his battles with environmentalists over water, including once bringing a bowl of fish to a Capitol Hill hearing to argue that their interests were being elevated over those of farmers.

And then he uttered four words, describing colleagues who were willing to let the federal government shut down over Obamacare as “lemmings with suicide vests.”

That put the six-term legislator in the very small circle of Republicans willing to speak out against his party’s strategy.

He said the “lemming caucus” that sought to defund the 2010 healthcare law as a condition for keeping the government open has misled his constituents into believing — falsely, he says — that their strategy could succeed. He said that he, too, hates Obamacare but sees no prospect of its repeal with its biggest fan in the White House and Democrats in control of the Senate.