Triangulation Now, Triangulation Forever? GOPers Hang Together
The advertising campaign against them didn't matter. Entreaties from Republican governors didn't matter. House Republicans stayed united against President Obama's stimulus bill, and they looked plenty pleased about it today as the gavel came down and the measure passed despite their objections.
But don't tell Republicans that it's Obama's stimulus plan they're rejecting. GOPers are subtly aiming to capitalize on two very different numbers: the Democratic Congress' sub-30% approval rating and Obama's impressive 64% approval.
"The problem lies squarely with congressional Democrats," House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) told reporters after the vote. "My conversation with the president was clear; he said, 'it's the Speaker [Pelosi] and the Leader [Reid] running these chambers, they have the ability to control this process.'"
As the Church Lady might say, How conveeeenient.
Depicting the stimulus' failings as solely the fault of congressional Dems, Cantor and his party get to pick on their already unpopular enemy and avoid opposing a popular president.
When President Clinton first perfected this strategy in the late '90s (followed by Hillary during her runup to the 2008 campaign), it was dubbed triangulation. And it's giving the GOP some newfound swagger.
When I talked to Rep. Aaron Schrock, the 27-year-old Illinois Republican who was called out by name by the president on national TV yesterday, he was unabashedly psyched about the opportunity to ride back to his district on Air Force One for an appearance with Obama. But the star-struck glimmer faded quickly, and Schrock was unflinching in his triangulating response to the stimulus:
At the end of the day, I want the president to succeed. I don't want to make him look bad or the country look bad ... but we have a responsibility to our constituents that doesn't include rolling over and playing dead because we want to be bipartisan. ... I don't get excited about voting against President Obama. [Democrats] have every right to pass a bill with no Republican votes ... just don't go out there and demonize us.
In a narrow fashion, Republicans have a point about the stimulus-- Obama used a high-profile outreach campaign to help put the bill over the top, but congressional Democrats controlled the drafting process for the recovery plan. Yet one wonders whether their mass opposition is a strategy that can be replicated for future legislation on energy, climate change, and financial regulation.
A Hill staffer we heard from yesterday put it best: the GOP is putting all its chips on "FAIL" and doubling down.
Josh
Matt
Eric
This, apparently, is what constitutes a "winning strategy" in the alternative reality that house Republicans live in. In that reality, they will have to interpret "losing" as "winning" when they get their asses handed to them, AGAIN, in the 2010 mid-terms. Every Democratic candidate, in every district, regardless of who the incumbent is, is going to have an exact dollar figure of how much money is being delivered to their district as a result of the stimulus package, and Republican incumbents are going to be figuratively bludgeoned to a pulp with those numbers. Let the beat down begin!
February 13, 2009 4:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I LOVE this GOP Strategy.
Are Harry & Nancy not so popular?
Yes.
How about Mitchy & Crying John?
http://www.dailykos.com/weeklytrends
HOLY CRAP!!!
I don't think that Mitchy & Crying John grasp that they are the new Bush: the symbols of the Scewed Up GOP trying to screw us over some more.
I can only hope they keep trying this nonsense, especially with Eric "Idiot" Cantor moving into one of the lead mouth piece roles for it.
February 13, 2009 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is there a bigger dweeb than Cantor in the GOP?
February 13, 2009 5:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's almost like the GOP is really becoming the party of Palin.
It's like Plouffe explaining to people how motivating Palin was to the Dems (and more importantly independents) ; however, the GOP refuse to believe it.
Joke the Dumber -- same thing, Party of No. The base loves it, great feed back from the base -- however, it isn't going to play well ANYWHERE else.
It's like they run a focus group on themselves, they all agree their tactics are great, and then they run with it.
February 13, 2009 8:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
The GOP has been dispatched with their 20th century talking points. Same nonsense. Higher decibels.
February 13, 2009 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look, the ReFoolAgins don't have a public constituency. They have Corporate Masters. If they have to lose elections and find new Corporate Puppets to run false campaigns and ReFool their voters, they will. There is NOTHING in their DNA which is ever going to vote for what this country needs....so why should they start to "have a heart" or get with the program? They are NEVER going to.
Their Corporate Masters are all-controlling with them. They really have no choice how they are going to vote.
They can try to cloak what they are doing as GOOD FOR THE TAXPAYER, they can try hard to wed their stances (falsely) with man-on-the-street and Joe SixPack....but at the end of the day they are never going to go against the Corporate Entities, and they are NEVER going to be FOR anything that is PRO PEOPLE. The best they can do is vote against people and try to fool the redneck idiots in their district that they are looking out for them. And, over the last 40 years, we find that redneck idiots are overwhelmingly against their own interest, and willing to spout it to anyone with ears.
February 13, 2009 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think the Tom Toles cartoon in the Washington Post nails it. It is prestty good.
February 13, 2009 5:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Link?
What was that quote again?
Oh yeah, it was "we will campaign in their districts".
February 13, 2009 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
You do not double down in this instance. You double down from a position of strength, when you have a 60 percent or better chance of beating the dealer. What the republicans are doing is much more aptly described as double or nothing, where you risk everything just to get even. Generally double or nothing is 50/50 although in this case I would say it's mote like 10/90. They simply have almost no chance of making this work.
February 13, 2009 7:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Repos are generally way below the Demos in favorability per weekly trends... check out the Trendline charts http://dailykos.com/weeklytrends
The bottom of the barrel calling the middle of the barrel "low" is ludicrous.
PELOSI: 42 39 19
REID: 32 42 26
McCON: 22 50 28
BOEHN: 18 55 27
CONGRESSIONAL DEMS: 39 53 8
CONGRESSIONAL GOPS: 19 69 12
February 13, 2009 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Right. But here's the thing, I don't think they really care. Their strategy is to retrench in the low 30's or 20's, and wait.
Once the economy improves, regardless of where political credit belongs or economic realities, it's inevitable that prosperity leads to complacency, xenophobia, gluttony, etc. Then the GOP message will again resonate with laissez faire, libertarian, intellectually hollow but immediately appealing nonsense.
We'll likely be right back in another economic crisis like this one in 50 years, or less.
Maybe things will improve marginally, but overall the cycle is doomed to repeat I think.
February 13, 2009 10:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
"complacency, xenophobia, gluttony"
That will likely be long after 2010 election cycle!
February 13, 2009 11:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Republicans have become the "I Hate Government, But Love The Military" party. AKA the "Hate What You Don't Understand" party. The most ignorant and backwards 20% in America is the GOP base, suckered by the wealthiest Americans who loath the Evangelicals and Southerns and such far worse that any working class Northern Urban Democrat does or ever has. What chumps.
February 13, 2009 7:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Delusion is as delusion does.
February 13, 2009 7:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Congressional Dems are still more popular than Rs.
February 13, 2009 8:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
And trending up as R's trend down!!
Curious thing is, the R's actually have a legit argument if they'd only make it instead of posturing stupidly.
February 14, 2009 2:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Except I watched with my own eyes, hour after hour of GOP amendments being put before the desk, debated, voted on in the House Appropriations Committee during mark-up. They even approved some of the GOP amendments. They also got the chance to introduce amendments on the floor, they were debated and voted on.
They were not shut out of the process, but rather many of their ideas were considered, and rejected by the people's duly elected representatives.
Elections have consequences.
February 13, 2009 11:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
The saying "Give them enough rope and they will hang themselves" is becoming pretty evident.
They are all in denial and cannot deal with the fact they have no power. They are spending their time trying to prove they are still running the show and looking most childish. Grow up people...
February 14, 2009 9:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
I strongly suspect that Republican congressional leaders are badly misjudging the source of congressional disapproval ratings. My take is that both the Democrats' low approval and the Republicans' lower one stem from Republican obstructionism (and Democrats' relative failure thus far to really hang it around their necks) than from any other factor. But let's keep that to ourselves for now.
February 14, 2009 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink