HOUSE GOPERS STOMPING MAD OVER PROSPECTS (GOP in self-destruct mode)

MSNBC ^ | 5/14/2008 | Mike Viqueira

[tobyhill]

Lot's of very glum faces among House GOP members this morning as they emerged from their weekly closed-door session. The political situation is not good, and they aren't even trying to deny it.

Rep. Tom Davis stomped on the concrete floor of the Capitol basement when asked by reporters about Republican fortunes at the moment.

"This is the floor," he said, by way of explanation. "We're below the floor."

Inside the meeting, Davis had just presented his colleagues with what he said was a 20-page memo outlining his prescription for a way out of this mess. He did not offer details to the press, yet did not spare the party and the president scathing criticism in his public comments.

"The president swallows the microphone every time he opens his mouth," Davis said.

He believes Bush's staunch opposition to the Democratic housing bill and the SCHIP bill, for example, is hurting rank and file. Look at yesterday's vote on the SPRO, where Republicans defied the president in droves. Lo and behold, the White House says today that it will not veto the bill.

Today is also the day when the House takes up the farm bill, which the president has promised to veto. It’s expected that this will become the second veto of Bush's administration to be overridden -- though the farm bill has more of a parochial dynamic than the national political one.

[sionnsar]

Maybe if they showed some backbone and a little adherence to conservative principles - less government, strong defense, sound fiscal policy - they might show themselves as other than Democrat-Lite and improve their prospects.

The folks in charge there now... aren't conservatives.