Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)
Well, frumps, the Republican Party is starting to show a disturbing tendency toward cannibalism so can it be far off before they start devouring their young? I’m not sure who the “brains” behind the 2010 GOP will be and, apparently, neither does the GOP. So far, the word that’s leaking out of the Republican clubhouse strategy sessions doesn’t bode well for the GOP’s resurrection and if the increasingly maverick-y sitting members of Congress don’t start behaving better these lemmings are liable to find themselves in a free-fall.
This was a recent message that Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) delivered from his seat at the GOP grown-ups table:
“The Republican leadership in the House right now is constantly trying to play a political game every day to try and get a headline, and I don’t think that’s going to take us anywhere.”
He added:
“The American people rightfully think the Republicans are just complaining, because we had power — we had both houses of Congress and we had the presidency. What did we do with it? All of these changes that we could make to have improved our healthcare system we didn’t do during the Bush years when we had both houses in Congress.”
“There is a rift between some very powerful forces within the Republican Party, who are very wealthy interests and powerful in the economic arena and business community and what’s going on with regular Americans. And either we side with regular Americans — the patriots — or we won’t win.”
Almost as important as what Rohrabacher said was where he said it – in an interview with conservative bloggers at this past weekend’s Western Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). And, lest you surmise that Rohrabacher is some freshman upstart renegade trying to make his bones, let me disabuse you of that notion. Rep Rohrabacher was elected to the House in 1988 and sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He is a Reagan Era republican with a populist streak, a rare bird that may very well be just what the GOP needs to survive.
One of Rohrabacher’s criticisms of the current Republican party is that:
“The Republican leadership in the House right now is constantly trying to play a political game every day to try and get a headline, and I don’t think that’s going to take us anywhere.”
That’s a debatable point because it could very well take them right down the toilet. Republicans are so disturbed that they are pretty well incoherent, all of the time. They’re never on message, these days, because there’s no “message” to be on. Clearly, no one in the 2004-2008 party leadership ever contemplated the remotest chance that the GOP could be brought so low or saw any need to do any contingency planning around an electoral loss. That’s what happens when you superimpose religio-magical thinking on a political machine. Even worse, in their cranky and bad-mannered disorientation they seem absolutely hell bent to systematically alienate any block of voters that are not white, ultra-conservative Christians or deep-pocketed corporatistas.
No Press is Bad Press
In their “headline grabbing” mania they have, within the span of a month, managed to alienate blacks, Muslims, Jews and the entire LGBT community. Latinos were lost months ago over anti-immigration reform venom and the Sotomayor confirmation. I fully expect a GOP expose of some sort of Asian conspiracy for world domination any minute just to round things out. It could be that the political ascendancy of successful Indian-Americans, who are largely left-leaning by nature (despite Bobby Jindal evidence to the contrary) will push that hot-button in the very near future.
It is a very sane, brave and smart thing that Rep. Rohrabacher has done and in the recent past I’ve cited several instances of “stand-up” GOP behavior like Lindsey Graham’s dismissal of some of the nuttier GOP conspiracy theories.
It’ll be interesting to see if this new breed of Republican will be able to transfuse enough sanity into the GOP soon enough to save the patient. Meanwhile, it doesn’t seem that they are making any inroads among the ardent ancestor worshipping wing of the party. Newt Gingrich still seems to be the go-to guru of “how we did it, back in the day.” Of course, I’m not complaining if the GOP wants to follow Newt back down the path to the Reagan Rose Garden, it is a losing proposition so gloriously naïve and butt-headed that college seniors, soccer moms and frumpy bloggers without a lick of political experience can spot the big neon “LOSER” stamped all over it. But then, the current GOP is not coming off looking like a bastion of brainiacs.
Here’s a sampling of Republicans’ most recent all-out efforts to reclaim some headlines and credibility (if not dignity):
Of course, Rep Susan Myrick and colleagues have earned a place at the top of the list for their bizarro presser touting a well-known bigot’s book “Muslim Mafia” published by planet WorldNet Daily. Myrick took to the podium to remind us several times that she wrote the foreword for the book (a trick of which she appears to be inordinately proud) and to warn that she and her henchmen were calling for an investigation of an insidious plot perpetrated by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to promote placement of Islamic youth as Congressional interns (which, as we all should know, is code for planting spies in Congress).
Needless to say, despite a fair amount of public ridicule and even some back-pedaling on the part of Myrick & Co. in the days immediately afterward, an indelible impression has been left that will probably damage CAIR in the long run.
And then there was the circling of the GOP wagons to fight fire with a little anti-semitism:
“After a Democratic state senator wrote in The State that DeMint didn’t bring enough money back home, Bamberg County GOP Chairman Edwin Merwin and Orangeburg County GOP Chairman James Ulmer responded that he was just looking after the nation’s pennies — like a Jew would.”
“There is a saying that the Jews who are wealthy got that way not by watching dollars, but instead by taking care of the pennies and the dollars taking care of themselves,” Ulmer and Merwin wrote in a joint letter published by The Times and Democrat.
Those guys, Merwin and Ulmer need to get out of the provinces once in a while. Or maybe not, it might be better to keep them under wraps.
On Meet the Press Sunday, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) was asked by host David Gregory if it is “a necessity to tackle the fact that there are more and more Americans who die because they don’t have access to health insurance?”
Kyl responded with incredulity:
“I’m not sure that it’s a fact that more and more people die because they don’t have health insurance. But because they don’t have health insurance, the care is not delivered in the best and most efficient way.”
And here’s an absolute beaut from Media Matters:
“The latest edition of Politico’s “Get To Know A Congressman” series features Rep. Gregg Harper (R-MS). In the interview, Harper was asked about the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, which advocates for hunters and fisherman in Congress:
POLITICO: What in the world does the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus do?
HARPER: We hunt liberal, tree-hugging Democrats, although it does seem like a waste of good ammunition. (Emphasis from Media Matters)
Ironically, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), a co-chair of the caucus, has praised the group for being bipartisan. “Unlike some of the other activities in Washington, Republicans and Democrats reach across the aisle and join hands to work together, not as Republican or Democrat, but as sportsmen and women,” he wrote.”
Somebody ought to lean “across the aisle” and give Rep. Harper a wake-up slap . . .
The madness is scheduled to continue on Wednesday with this piece of political theater:
“ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) brought a lawsuit against O’Keefe, Giles, and conservative journalist Andrew Breitbart for unlawful surveillance for filming then publishing footage of inside the community group’s Baltimore office.”
“The group also issued a statement denying any wrongdoing during the couple’s visit to its Philadelphia office, saying ACORN workers declined to help O’Keefe and Giles after which they became belligerent.”
“’James and Hannah will be joining me to set the record straight,” said Breitbart — who is hosting the conference — in a release.”
Now it’s not all that notable that Breitbart would seize any conspicuous opportunity to flog this dead horse; what is notable is that two Republicans will be appearing along with the Breitbart crew to lend a little Congressional gravitas to the sideshow.
“Reps. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Thad McCotter (R-Mich.) are scheduled to offer brief remarks at a Washington, D.C. press conference featuring James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles — two conservative activists who posed as a pimp and prostitute — to whom ACORN officials offered financial advice.”
It’s worth repeating that these are not cherry-picked outrageous items from years of otherwise sensible and responsible Republican activity. These were from LAST WEEK alone.
Give us a sign, Lord
As reported by Huffington Post, here are the most recent results of Republicans’ attempts to resurrect and re-brand:
“Reporting on the new ABC/Washington Post poll has mostly focused on support for a public health care option. But the poll also shows that, while Republicans have succeeded in stonewalling Democratic initiatives in Congress, they have not managed to rebuild their party.
Only 20 percent of respondents identified themselves as Republicans — the lowest number since the paper starting asking the question in 1983.”“These numbers, coming roughly one year before the 2010 midterm elections, show that any celebration on the GOP’s behalf is premature as the party has yet to convince most voters that it can be a viable alternative to Democratic control in Washington today.”
So, I sincerely wish Rep. Rohrabacher the very best and Godspeed. I would very much like to see our government restored to a healthy (at least) two-party system. Personally, I think it’s going to take a thorough house-cleaning and some tougher campaign finance laws before we’re “all better.” But for now, hearing sane and sensible words coming out of a Republican mouth is encouraging enough.
Technorati Tags: Conservative Political Action Conference, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, Republican Party, GOP, Rep. Susan Myrick, Rep. Gregg Harper, Rep. Jim DeMint, Newt Gingrich, Rep. Steve King, Rep. Thad McCotter, ACORN, CAIR, Meet the Press, Sen. John Kyl, Andrew Breitbart, Huffington Post, Media Matters, GOP Chairman Edwin Merwin, GOP Chairman James Ulmer
