GERRYMANDERING COMPASSION

I think the second of these stories explains the first one.

First:

New York Republican Rep. Peter King went to war with his Republican colleagues on Wednesday after leaders spiked a Hurricane Sandy relief bill....

He's is not the only Republican upset about the issue: New Jersey Gov. Christie "is not a happy guy right now," King said....

"All we're saying is treat us the same everybody else has been treated," King said. "And why the Republican party has this bias against New York, bias against New Jersey, bias against the northeast? They wonder why they're becoming a minority party? ..."

Second:

As of this writing, every single state except Hawai'i has finalized its vote totals for the 2012 House elections, and Democrats currently lead Republicans by 1,362,351 votes in the overall popular vote total.... Nevertheless, thanks largely to partisan gerrymandering, Republicans have a solid House majority in the incoming 113th Congress.

... In order to take control of the House, Democrats would have needed to win the 2012 election by 7.25 percentage points.... That's how powerful the GOP's gerrymandered maps are; Democrats can win a Congressional election by nearly 8 points and still barely capture the House.

The GOP isn't a national party anymore, and it isn't even a potential majority party -- and the GOP doesn't care. It derives maximum value from its areas of regional power, and that's good enough. If the Northeast isn't fertile ground for the GOP's brand of provincialism and mean-spiritedness, well, screw the Northeast. Much easier to squeeze every last seat out of the South and the mountain West and the Appalachians and the Rust Belt.

Peter King and Chris Christie have mostly been loyal GOP apparatchiks throughout their careers -- but the party doesn't really need them, given where they live, and especially given the fact that they occasionally deviate from right-wing Correct Thinking. The party also knows that they don't have the cojones to quit. So congratulations, guys -- you've been used. Too bad for you.

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UPDATE: Apparently John Boehner has placated King by offering a vote Friday on $9 billion in aid and another vote in two weeks on $51 billion. (Wonder what budget cuts Republicans in the House are going to demand in return for a favorable vote on the latter....)