Posted on 01/06/2006 11:23:35 AM PST by slowhand520
NEITHER BOEHNER NOR BLUNT [Rich Lowry]
Just talked to a top Republican strategist in Washington. This is what he says, “I hear next week there is going to be a call for an election [to select DeLay's replacement as majority leader]. I don't know all the details, but a number of members have called the speaker to say we've got to have it. You need 50 signatures on a letter to trigger an election. The feeling has been that there aren't 50 members with the courage to sign such a letter. That changed considerably since the Abramoff plea. Everybody believes there should be an election. DeLay has been focused on getting cleared in Texas. Members aren't worried about Texas, they're worried about Washington and Abramoff and the '06 elections.”
A leadership election could be held in late January, but it will probably be early February.
The two likely candidates at the moment are acting Majority Leader Roy Blunt and Rep. John Boehner. This strategist says he likes them both, but made this tart observation: “It's Boehner, who is Mr. K St., versus Blunt, who left his wife of 30 years to marry a Queen of K St., a tobacco lobbyist--both trying to be leader of a party facing a K. St. scandal.”
“That,” he continues, “opens up a pathway for a third party candidate. It will be someone who has to be drafted.”
This strategist has a favorite: Rep. Eric Cantor (Virginia). “He's clean; he presents himself well; he's from the South; he projects well.”
He says the job of majority leader, in the current environment, has to be projecting “something wholesome, clean”: “That job's going to be projecting," getting a fresh face for the party. He adds: “Hastert has been asked, but refuses to play a more dominant role in the press. He just doesn't feel comfortable in front of the camera.”
The leadership change, he says, “is about winning back the trust of the public.” He points to a USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll from December 16-18 that found that 49% of Americans say most members of Congress are corrupt. That's just one point lower than in 1994, and this poll was taken before the Abramoff plea, or as this strategist calls it, “the black fedora and trenchcoat incident.” Posted at 02:04 PM
Well, most members of Congress are corupt, no matter the party.
Politics isn't about doing what right. Politics is about winning.
Interesting
Jewishness aside, Cantor is a pretty sharp guy. I've heard him speak and he was pretty much at home in the West as well as being able to work NYC fundraisers.
I was thinking the same thing.
If they are looking for someone with balls they are hurting.
Tom had the only set in the House.
I disagree that most members of congress are corrupt. If course, that depends on how you define corruption. If you define it as taking money from interests groups that support your philosophy, then the threshold is very low and nearly everyone corrupt. I don't think a congressman should be faulted from talking campaign donations from interest groups that are in sync with his philosophy. However, corruption stems from allowing these donations to CHANGE your philosophy or position on an issue, contrary to your principles, THAT is corruption.
Example, is it corruption for Barbara Boxer to take money from NARAL? Or for Bush to accept money from the NRA? I say no.
Mike Pence.
That's not even vaguely what this scandal is about.
Pence or Cantor sound just fine to me. Blunt and Boehner aren't the best faces to put forward. But I'm still looking forward to DeLay's full exoneration.
If the Democrats are so concerned about "corruption" they can do something concrete about it and start decreasing the rate of pages added to the Federal Register.
There is very little reason for lobbyists to exist in an environment where government is as minimally intrusive as humanly possible.
That's a bit harsh about Boehner. My big fear with him is that he is from Ohio and between Bob Ney and Bob Taft, Ohio Republicans are sinking fast. And we should have someone from the South in leadership. I'm not sure Cantor is the guy, he isn't very experienced. Another great candidate would be Tom Reynolds, he is an ankle-breaker like DeLay but with a less sinister record and countenance.
"Corruption stems from obtrusive, overbearing government."
I agree. If the Federal Government was the size it should be, we would not have problems of this magnitude.
Problem is once power is vested, it is hard to take back.
EXACTLY! I wish some Republicans would wake up and realize that this is how they can get in front of this whole scandal. Jack Abramoff is simply a symptom of a deeper disease, the metastatization of the federal government. It is so big and intrusive and powerful that you HAVE to have a lobbyist nowadays or you are simply being stupid as a businessperson. If Democrats regain power they will grow the government even more, guaranteeing more Jack Abramoffs in the future. They cannot argue this point, it is fact.
He is clean, quiet, and was persistent enough to chase the Gingrich cell phone controversy through for years to its conclusion.
That tenacity may be what is needed.
Mike Pence
Thus speaks the in the closet Democrat mad cause HIS guys are not in charge.
Mike Pence for Majority Leader
Mike Pence for Majority Leader
Mike Pence got balls. Took on his OWN leadership AND the Dems over Operation Offset. Got pounded hard by both sides but stuck to his guns.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.