Is Our Tim Huelskamps Learning?

by evanmcmurry

Consider these two developments next to each other:

Republican donors were horrified in November after pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaigns for president and Congress with nothing to show for it. A year later they’re appalled by how little has changed, angered by the behavior of Republican lawmakers during a string of legislative battles this year capped by the shutdown, and searching for answers.

In conversation after conversation, donors express growing frustration with the party and the constellation of outside groups they’ve been bankrolling. After getting squeezed last year by an array of campaign committees, party committees and disparate super PACs, many of them are still sitting on their checkbooks — a worrisome sign for the party with the 2014 midterm elections fast approaching.

And then this one, on the prospects for immigration reform:

That means Boehner, who struggled to unify his members throughout the shutdown, would have to “divide the conference” to pass an immigration bill, said Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan.

“That would really melt down the conference,” said Huelskamp, a Tea Party conservative.

Does anybody, including and especially GOP donors and supporters, care what Huelskamp thinks of caucus unity at this point? What’s GOP House unity gotten the GOP or anybody else? At what point will the “only the most conservative, intransigent policy will keep House GOP happy” response no longer matter? Can it be now?