Posted on 09/28/2015 7:04:19 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Last week, House Speaker John Boehner decided to retire rather than chance being ousted by his own colleagues. Despite this lucky break, the congressional GOP has little chance of winning back disenchanted Republican voters unless it also shows Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell the door. Continued Republican control of the Senate is on the line.
A brand-new poll reveals that 72 percent of Republican primary voters are dissatisfied with McConnell and Boehner. Only 2 percent of those polled were very satisfied with the partys two congressional leaders, who the majority believe have accomplished essentially nothing.
The situation is actually worse than the poll would indicate: Republican rank-and-file members across the country arent just disappointed, theyre incensed. This malaise will only deepen if as is likely congressional Republicans lose the debate with Obama over government funding for Planned Parenthood.
The fight should have been an easy one to win. While slightly more Americans typically self-identify as pro-choice than as pro-life, Planned Parenthoods recently revealed conduct is beyond the pale for most. Some 64 percent of Americans favor banning abortion after the first trimester of pregnancy, and 80 percent support a ban after the second trimester. Allegedly, not only have Planned Parenthood clinics performed illegal late-term abortions, but they have been paid for fetus parts. Simply insisting that government funds should not be given to an organization engaged in this activity was a ready-made issue for Republicans to win with broad support.
Yet McConnell and Boehner lost the battle before it even began. By entering the argument over whether or not to shut down the government, they were accepting a misleading narrative that favors their opponents. Republican leaders should have emphasized that Congress was inevitably going to fund the 99.9 percent of government that didnt involve giving taxpayer funds to an organization involved in a repugnant practice, and that it would be President Obama who would shut down the government were he to veto the appropriations bill. This alternative narrative could be politically persuasive and has the added benefit of being true. It would put the onus on Democrats to defend a veto that disrupted the government to fund something unpopular.
However, getting this point across would require two steps at which McConnell and Boehner have repeatedly failed: wielding communications deftly and getting bills to Obamas desk to force vetoes or, better yet, acquiescence.
Democrats themselves set the standard for this approach. When the political lineup in Washington was reversed from 1989 to 1992, and Democrats controlled Congress under a Republican president, Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell sent bill after bill to President George H. W. Bush to force vetoes that cast Republicans in an unflattering light. Obama has had to veto only four bills over two terms; the elder Bush was forced to veto 44 bills during his single term, including popular legislation on maternity leave, the minimum wage, civil rights, and curbs on trade with China.
George Mitchell achieved this without ever having a filibuster-proof majority. Republicans probably knew then that if they tried to filibuster everything, majority Democrats would have curbed their power. However, minority Senate Democrats today face no such threat. They are repeatedly assured that McConnells support for the filibuster is absolute. His aides say this reflects McConnells support for the institution of the Senate, but this is disingenuous. From 1920 to 1970 there was an average of just one filibuster per year; the practices subsequent explosion has hurt the institution, including in the eyes of voters. Furthermore, if the Framers had wanted the Senate to require a supermajority to do anything at all, they would have said so in the Constitution. They didnt.
These developments arent just inside baseball. Rank-and-file Republicans and plenty of independents think that the GOP-led Congress has accomplished nothing. A likely defeat over Planned Parenthood funding and rumored McConnell machinations to revive the Export-Import Bank will pour salt on the wound.
#share#The result of this disenchantment will be a lack of enthusiasm for the GOPs congressional races at the worst possible time. In 2016, Republicans must defend 24 Senate seats to the Democrats 10. It will be nearly the reverse of 2014, when Republicans had a numeric advantage from the outset. While the GOP can hope that a likely takeover of the White House will save some Republican senators, presidential coattails are largely a thing of the past: Bill Clinton and both Bushes won the White House for their parties while losing Senate seats. Obama fared better, but the 2008 election took place under circumstances unlikely to recur in 2016.
Put simply, the base needs a reason to get excited about helping Republicans win congressional seats, and this will be impossible if McConnell remains at the helm. The problem isnt that McConnell is insufficiently conservative by tea-party standards. The problem is that he is unwilling or unable to fight effectively.
The next Republican president undoubtedly will want a Senate that possesses a GOP majority and is capable of passing legislation. Unless Republicans dump Mitch McConnell soon, neither seems likely.
Christian Whiton was a State Department senior adviser during the George W. Bush administration. He is the author of Smart Power: Between Diplomacy and War.
I don't believe it! They have many of us using that stupid, corrupt phase... for the good of what??
If it's not for the "good of the COUNTRY," I don't want to hear about it!!
These guys never fought for anything except against conservatives in their own party. That is the only thing they zealously went after.
Fumm. Fujb. And Fujb.
Miotch will be leaving the Sin-ate in a coffin. He’s a lifer ...
The new rat Senator would vote the wrong way 90% to 100% of the time. You can pretend McConnell is even remotely close to that bad if you like but he's not.
And you’d be one seat closer to have Chuck E. Shoemer in charge which sounds friggin awful to me.
Who runs the senate now? You and your fellow Republicans claim McWeasal? Yet who’s agenda is being enacted? Harry Reid’s. How many battles have the Republican senate won for conservatives since taking over? ZERO.
Blah blah blah blah, you people are a broken record.
I’d like to send you to an alternate universe where the democrats have 90% of Congress, one day and you’d beg to come back here.
Spoken like a true Republican Party slave, ignore reality and demand blind obedience to your masters.
You totally ignored the questions, who’s agenda is being implemented? Hint it ain’t conservatives.
How many battles has McWeasal and your Republican saviors engaged in against the democrats since taking over? Zero.
Sen. Cruz: The Real Story of What Is Happening in Washington (Sep 28, 2015 59:47)
OR... Mr Cruz Goes To WashingtonTed Cruz couldnt get anyone in the Senate to back him tonight as he tried to get a ban on Planned Parenthood funding and a linkage of the Iran Nuclear deal in a government funding bill. He stood alone on the Senate floor:
Cruzs amendment would place a one-year ban on federal funding for Planned Parenthood. It would also ban the Obama administration from using funds from the short-term bill to implement the Iran nuclear deal or any assessed contributions to the United Nations until lawmakers receive the side deals between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).The side deals have been a key point of contention among opponents of the deal. Cruz and House Republicans have suggested that the 60-day congressional review period for the Iran nuclear deal hasnt started because the administration hasnt given lawmakers the agreements.
After the procedural back-and-forth, Cruz slammed Republican leadership, suggesting they repeatedly surrender to President Obama.
You know, President Obama has negotiated a catastrophic nuclear deal with Iran. Republican leadership goes on television all the time and rightly says this is a catastrophic deal, he added. I would suggest that if we actually believed the words that are coming out of their mouths, then we should be willing to use any and all constitutional authorities.
After this Cruz launched into an hour speech, one that Mark Levin just tweeted out saying its a MUST LISTEN.
I reject the relevance of your questions.
Go ahead, elect Bernie, and Chuck E., and Nancy P. The last time we has dem ascendancy they passed Obamacare.
I wonder what the next time will bring, give them more than 2 years control and you could pretty much give America a big wet sloppy kiss goodbye.
That is your best response, take the slop offered by liberal Republicans or the slop offered by the out of the closet leftist?
You reject the premise because if you answer honestly you might have to confront the lies and deceit you are blindly and willfully accepting from your Party.
You seem to think two years of the democrats would finish us off, but they are finishing us off now with Republican majorities who refuse to engage on any issue.
You are mistaken if you think that. We may be in the pan good Sarge but the fire blackens instantly.
This is what I object to sir, your hyperbole. I don't defend GOP weakness but to assert it would make no difference to just put the dems in charge is self-evidently false. Bob Dole didn't pass Clinton's largest tax hike ever in 1993. Mitch McConnell didn't pass Obamacare in 2009. The largest growth in government occurred in the '30s when GOP numbers where at their nadir for an extended period of time.
You are mistaken if you think that. We may be in the pan good Sarge but the fire blackens instantly.
Again tell me how the Republican Congress has slowed anything obama and the democrats have wanted down?
This is what I object to sir, your hyperbole. I don’t defend GOP weakness but to assert it would make no difference to just put the dems in charge is self-evidently false. Bob Dole didn’t pass Clinton’s largest tax hike ever in 1993. Mitch McConnell didn’t pass Obamacare in 2009. The largest growth in government occurred in the ‘30s when GOP numbers where at their nadir for an extended period of time.
But these characters have went along withe tax increases and in McWeasals case actively said he would repeal obamacare only to fully fund it. We had control of the legislative and executive branch under GWB and what did we do with it? Nothing but execute and fund every liberal program and in many cases add more liberal programs.
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.