Posted on 01/08/2006 4:50:39 AM PST by musicman
Here is my VERY humble opinion of how to possibly solve and save the GOP and President Bush from some of the seemingly insurmountable political trouble that now engulfs them.
Someone needs to “ride in on a white horse and save the day” for the GOP and President Bush. I have come up with a possible scenario. . It came to mind after hearing that Tom Delay relinquished his House Majority leadership position. My scenario would take two very difficult steps to complete, but if all the players were “on board” with the idea, it could be completed in a matter of weeks.
The two moves to accomplish my idea are as follows after everyone involved is in place and ready to go.
Dennis Hastert resigns as Speaker of the House, and immediately announces his candidacy for the vacated position of Rep House Majority Leader.
The White House then immediately starts the push to replace Hastert with a possible candidate before the House can get any real footing or politicing to fill Hastert’s position. The candidate the White House suggests should be someone who could set a new “bi-partisan” tone instead of the “politics of mutual destruction “ that the Congress and even the USA now seems to finds itself in.
The White House has already contacted their choice for Hastert’s replacement before Hastert resigns, is on board, ( otherwise Hastert stays, and the messy GOP fight for Delay’s job begins) and has agreed to run for Speaker of The House.
Whoever takes Delay’s place has to be pretty “scandal” ( Abramoff ) proof. Hastert can fill that position, and is qualified.
The Speaker of the House position , however, is pretty tricky. The person has to be “sqeaky clean”, be able to be quickly accepted and elected to the position by both parties, pass the MSM scrutiny, and be someone who could step in as POTUS if that ever became necessary. I believe have a candidate who qualifies for the Speaker of the House position, and if he was willing to do it, could step into it without much problem.
The candidate’s name is former Sen Bob Dole, and my reasoning behind it is listed below.
http://speaker.house.gov/features/selection.asp
To be elected Speaker a candidate must receive an absolute majority of the votes cast, which may be less than a majority of the full membership of the House because of vacancies, absentees, or Members voting "present."3 Although the major parties nominate candidates for the position of Speaker, there is no limitation on whom Members may vote for.4 In fact, there is no requirement that the Speaker be a Member of the House.5 None of the other officers of the House is a Member.
If a Speaker dies or resigns during a Congress, the House immediately elects a new Speaker. Although it was an earlier practice of the House to elect a new Speaker under these conditions by adopting a resolution to that effect, the modern practice is to use the same practice as employed at the beginning of Congress. The most recent example of this occurred during 101st Congress when Thomas Foley of Washington was elected Speaker following the resignation of Jim Wright of Texas.
Bob Dole would therefore qualify to run for the position because, as listed above….”there is no requirement that the Speaker be a Member of the House.”
These are Bob Dole’s other qualifications.
http://www.bobdole.org/
This is Bob Dole’s Web site home page.
http://www.bobdole.org/bio/gopleader.php
This is the link to to “The Bob Dole Story”. It tells about his rise in the ranks of the GOP.
http://www.bobdole.org/politics/
This is his political history. Notice how active he has been in helping President Bush in his 2000 and 2004 campaigns, along with traveling the country to help other Rep. candidates get elected.
http://www.bobdole.org/business/
This is what Bob Dole is currently doing.
My Five Reasons for Proposing This Idea ( and not in any “special” order ).
#1 The Dems are going to make these next two election cycles ALL about the Republicans being “drunk with power – law breaking , totally corrupt , not doing the will of the American people , out of the mainstream.” IMHO, if Bob Dole was made Speaker of the House, it would effect and change for the better, so many “problems” that the GOP has, and potentially WILL have.
#2 Now that Delay is no longer House Majority Leader, the “sharks” ( ON BOTH SIDES of the aisle) that smell the blood in the water are going to be a REAL problem for the GOP.
On the Dem side, check out Nancy Pelosi’s comments on Delay giving up his position.
On the Rep side, they are ALREADY “choosing up sides” to fight each other for the position. The Dems must be in TOTAL GLEE over this as the MSM will be non-stop covering the “in- fighting” that has a chance of tearing whatever unity the House Reps have or had left. This is NOT what the GOP needs for the 2006 election cycle. The GOP DESPERATELY needs an “adult” to step in a key position and stop the hemoraging NOW, before it’s too late to save the next two election cycles, but ESECIALLY 2006 !!
The position has to be filled, and no matter WHO finally gets Delay’s job after the dust has settled, that person will have an almost ZERO chance of making it passed the microscope of the MSM and the rabid Dems who will do anything and everything to dig up ANY kind of dirt to discredit the “new” Rep House Majority Leader to keep up the Dem’s 2006 election cycle mantra of “ see…no change…they’re replacing one Rep “criminal” with another. We need a CHANGE OF DIRECTION, and we’re (the Dems) here to save our nation from the eeeevvillle Bush “regime”.”
#3 By making Dennis Hastert take the Rep House Majority Job, it would guarantee a QUICK and CERTAIN end to the vacancy, and STOP the in-house Rep bloodbath to fill the position. Hastert should be able to pass the Dem’s “smell test”. If they had any dirt on him, it surely would have surfaced by now. After all, they did elect him as Speaker of the House, so he should be somewhat “bulletproof”. Hastert can handle the press OK, and having him get more “down in the trenches” might help out now with stabilizing the current GOP House storm when it is badly needed.
Hastert SHOULD be able to help Dole “get up to speed” for the Speaker’s position, and could tell him about any “problems” on BOTH sides of the aisle. Hastert would, in all probability, still be running things as usual, and then Delay could then go “stealth” and help Hastert.
It has been rumored that Hastert might retire in 2008. Let him step down and take Delay’s job until at least after the 2006 election. If things go well for the GOP 2006 elections, let him have his Speaker job back until he retires.
#4 Bob Dole should be able to be elected Speaker of the House with NO problem if he would be willing to take the job to help out the GOP. He is VERY respected, he is a GENUINE war hero, loves his country, is trustworthy, knows the inner workings and how to play the “inside the Beltway” game, and REALLY DOES support the troops and the CIC, unlike the “usual suspects” Kerry, McCain, and Murta, etc.
Bob Dole would be an excellent choice as Speaker, and would really make the GOP look like they are “shaking things up”. Bob Dole can go on ANY MSM media, and hold his own against them, and the Dem talking points. He’s poised, polished, passonate, honest, caring, is calm and IN CONTROL.
It is too bad that in 1996, Dole was painted with the “Bill Buckner Brush”. Durring his 1996 GOP run for POTUS, after he fell off the stage in San Diego, the election was over. The MSM was just as brutal with their constant replay of Dole’s “pratfall”, as it STILL is today with poor Bill Buckner’s 1986 World Series little “ ground ball incident”, and enabled Clinton ( with the help of the MSM,)to treat Dole as a "nice old man but past his prime", while Clinton did his best to appear to be "new school".
IMHO, if Bob Dole would have been as relaxed, articulate and humorous as I have seen him on the MSM’s since he “retired”, he probably would have made that election a lot closer. Making him House Speaker now would maybe give him one more very deserving encore in the national and GOP political spotlight.
#5 What I believe is the best reason for having Dole back as Speaker of the House, is to be able to DO BILL FRIST’S JOB !!! Dole would be able to talk some sense into all the Repub Senate members who have already began their 2008 run for POTUS before the 2006 election results are in. Dole has worked with most of the GOP “auditioners” who seem to forget that they have not been elected POTUS or CIC yet.
Dole also is at least on equal footing or better with most of the “problem” Senate Dems, as he has had to work with and handle them before. His input would be invaluable in this area to both Frist, and most importantly President Bush. Dole might even be able to help with the total gridlock that now is the US Senate, and even be a powerful influence in any SCOTUS nominations that he would be a part of.
IMHO, Dole would be a very valuable, but forgotten , tool to pull out of the GOP “tool box” ASAP to help fix the many problems that it finds itself in.
Sorry if my “rant” is a little long, but I would welcome any, and all of my fellow Freeper’s thoughts or comments on it. Thanks !!
Umm. Just a silly thought but don't you have to be a member of the house to be elected to a leadership position?
Nancy, is that you?
2. The House will never elect a non-member as Speaker, regardless of the legalities.
3. Dole is very old news. His day is past. Plus, even if point #2 is ignored, proposing Dole for the position would likely lead to a revolt among some of the more conservative members of the GOP caucus.
4. Open White House meddling in the selection of the House majority leader/Speaker would cause great unhappiness in the House.
Details, details.
Oh. I read that as Daley (as in Hizzoner Richard) not Delay.
Dang.
If the pubbies keep eating their own I'll tell you who the new majority leader will be...it will be Nancy Pelosi because the demonRATs will take back the house sooner than later!
I want to thank you all for taking the time to reply to my second ever posted thread here on FR. Being it was a vanity ( and I didn't try to post it in breaking and claim innocence ) , I expected maybe 10 replies tops like some of the following:
Two of the 10 replies I expected to be somebody telling me I had not used the search feature correctly and posted a duplicate thread....
at least two replies for misspelling....
at least one reply from the admin mod telling me not to change the origional title of the posted thread....
at least two replies telling me to either #1 : Don't smoke crack ( or drink beer etc.) , or fail to have yet contributed to this quarter's FR freepathon before posting a thread....
and replies say #3,6, and 8 out of the 10 would have been removed by the admin mod before he or she pulled the thread and any of the other posters past that would be replying to a trace odor of Norwegian kittens mixed with a heavy dose of ozone, with all of them complaining that they missed the IBFZ.
When I saw Pelosi and the crew yesterday, it just made me snap. Her (AND the Dem's) unveiling the ("successful so far so let's run with it") new 2006 DEM election mantra of "party of corruption" in refering to the Republican's and our CIC made my blood boil. The only thing that was missing was the Dem's 800#, and where to get the t-shirts, bumper stickers, and yard signs, but it's only less than 24 hours into the "campaign"...they'll be available on the Internet by say 9:00am Monday.
But that wasn't the topper.....
This was:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1553679/posts
Wanna get a taste of what is going to happen in the House with the Repubs fighting over who get's Delay's job????
READ THAT THREAD !!! I haven't seen that much "Instant Venom" on an FR thread in a while, and I ain't no newbie. By post #50 of the 530 so replies it was already reading like a Pee-Wee Herman script with all the " I know YOU are but what am I?" banter and totally went downhill from there.
It's in my top 10 of flamethrowing FR threads, and it's topic will be remembered as much if not more than some of the lovely recent civil discussions on the many
"Harriet Miers" threads.
This Delay thing is JUST getting started here on FR, in the House, and on the MSM, and in my mind, I don't know what I can put in front any TV to protect it's certain destruction from me , when I happen to be watching when I see or hear : "House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi", and all the HELL that will come with it in 2006,...let alone 2008 - 2012 and maybe beyond.
And IMHO, it's gonna be July 4th before Delay's replacement rises from the ashes of the fight, with a Repub split and distraction that's gonna turn maybe BOTH the House and Senate over to the Dems...( with also giving full due credit to the Senate RINO'S already voting against everything GWB wants to get done in his last term in office)....
Because around the middle of Nov 2006, the new Democratic Majority in the house (and ALL the winning majority DEM committee chair changes that go with it), will be orgasmically staring their 24/7 MSM covered impeachment proceedings of President Bush.
Oh well, maybe if I ever do post a third thread on FR and ask for fellow freeper's thoughts, it might contain an actual counter proposal or two.
Something needs to be done about this whole, and so far, total victorious Dem smear campaign on their way to winning the next two national and local elections.
And especially thanks Brandon and harpu for your replies. At least your two posts contributed actual civil, non-combative replies with a chance of maybe a few more ideas to fix the GOP mess. Thanks again !!
(...The "You may now return to regular FR programming" thingee goes in this spot....)
Besides, he's got a great gig, pushing Viagra, and thus doesn't need the work anyway.
Since Dole can't introduce any legislation, those things you mentioned would not come into play in his stint as Speaker, and would only be until after the 2006 elections.
Using my senario, is there anyone you would be willing to use , or could think of, to put in Dole's place to achieve the same results of trying to take away the the Dem's "Repubs are ALL corrupt, and it's time for a change" mantra ??
And thank you for your reply to my post.
BUMP for LATER
You can't take it away, if you could find an acceptable and squeaky clean candidate, the MSM would jump in with innuendo and outright lies to case doubt on her too.
You can't placate them, you just have to put out the facts as best you can, and kick their ass every chance you get.
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