Past 100 days have been rough for GOP as it seeks message

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: USA Today

They have searched for direction and hunted for leadership, but what Republicans ultimately hope to find is the strategy that can counter a popular Democratic president.
As President Obama rounds his first 100 days in office this week, many Republicans acknowledge they have endured a rocky transition to life without control of the White House. But upcoming debates in Congress on health care and climate change could provide the GOP with an opportunity to reinvent itself as a taxpayer advocate. And that, some in the party say, could be the strategy Republicans are seeking.

"The party still has major challenges, obviously," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has emerged as a leading Obama critic since losing the election to him last year. "I think we're starting to come out of the defeat that we suffered in 2008. ... We are making some small inroads."

Republican leaders have used Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan and proposed $3.6 trillion budget to portray the president as a tax-and-spend liberal whose policies will saddle future generations with debt. "We can't continue to spend and borrow at the rate that we're going," House Minority Leader John Boehner said last week.

Republican lawmakers are directing similar pocketbook criticism at proposals to overhaul the nation's health care system and revamp energy policy to reduce carbon emissions. Republicans caution both plans could cost families money during the economic downturn.



Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-04-27-gop_N.htm

---

So Republicans don't think change is possible during the economic downturn
no surprise there

[magellan]

1. Tweety was banging on tonite about how those identifying as R is down to 21%

Wandering in the wilderness indeed -- they're freakin LOST! (And if there's a God in heaven they'll stay that way.)

[SkyDaddy7]

18. I'm confused...

The last time I checked the G-O-P is the Party of the G-O-D.

[Solly Mack]

2. The GOP "message" wouldn't have to constantly reinvent itself if it actually stood for something

And as there is nothing new about the "tax-and-spend liberal" talking point, the reality is that even their so-called search for a new message is bullshit.

The GOP sided with a criminal executive and relished whatever gains came their way for the doing - and now they want to pretend they just "got off message". Political opportunists never get off message: their message is - and forever remains - whatever serves their ambitions. The good of "the people" is never a factor.

[bluestateguy]

3. I remember the Republicans at this exact stage in 1993

and compared to the GOP now, the tables could not be more turned.

In 1993, Republicans were on the offensive and Bill Clinton's bumbling, stumbling White House seemed to be in constant gaffe mode, always teetering from faux crisis to faux crisis. Republicans were confident, optimistic and unified. You very much got the feeling that the Clinton team was always playing defense (though sometimes their defense was a successful defense), while Republicans were on offense.

That is clearly not the case today.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. They invented the whole appeal to the fundies based on

a fake belief of Jesus & pro-life as a platform, with the idea of running bush jr as president later on. The weird thing is that it worked.

[bluestateguy]

6. Perhaps

but they were doing that back in the 80's too, when Bush, Jr. was still boozing it up in Texas.

[No Elephants]

7. They started that back in Nixon's day, as a reaction to the

1960's--drug culture, anti-war protests, etc. It started as the Silent Majority and morphed into the Moral Majority. After Roe v. Wade, they solidified it in the mid to late 70's with talks between Republican leaders and evangelists like Falwell and Kennedy.

[NYC Liberal]

11. Also, Democrats had been in power for 40 years in Congress

Not to mention that we didn't just get through the most disastrous 8 years in our history, caused pretty much by a Republican president and Congress.

[No Elephants]

5. They have 3.5 messages. One is "NO!" The other is, "Obama and the other Democrats are taking

this country straight into Socialism, to be followed by Hell, in a handbasket."

The third is the message they've been trying to peddle for as long as I can remember: "We are the party of small governmentm low taxes and a strong defense," only now it's also become "and God, patriotism and morals."

Trouble is, Harding, Hoover and Dummya peddled the same message. (So did Cunningham and Fogel.) No one who listened in school and has the capacity to think is buying it anymore. They know that some of it is nothing but lies and hypocrisy and the rest of it takes the nation, if not the globe, into economic disaster.

[radfringe]

14. ...small government, low taxes and a strong defense

the conundrum: how do you pay for a strong defense when you don't have the money?

strong defense isn't just military might - it also needs to include infrastructure, a strong economy, education, and the health/welfare of it's citizens.

If it being a great country is just based on military might, then the banana-republics being run by military forces would be the global powers - not the countries which take a broad socio-economic view and enact policies that supports ALL the citizens.

the NOPers still have a "gummint bad" view. Frankly a weak/small government with a strong/large military is a scary thing.

[zipplewrath]

22. Everything is

A "strong defense" means a strong country. And that means an educated population, a robust heavy manufacturing capacity, and strong international alliances. It was one of the excuse for building the interstate system. It was in WW I that Pershing discovered he had to run "schools" for the draftees so they could learn to read, use a watch, read a map, use a compass, etc. WW II was won as much by our ability to do heavy manufacturing as anything else. Jefferson built West Point because he wanted a national university. It gave us the "civil engineers" (officers back then had to know how to build bridges, forts, roads, etc.) that ultimately built the bridges, dams, and canals that developed our country. The "smarter" our weapons get, the smarter our soldiers have to be. The smarter we all are, the better we are as a country. There is constant overlap between our military research and our industrial research. That's because a strong military needs a strong country. Their needs tend to be very similar.

[Downwinder]

8. I'll take tax-and-spend over borrow-and-spend any day.

Borrowing is why we are in the position we are in. I was always taught that there were no perpetual motion machines and I have seen no reason to believe different.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

10. tax-and-spend=debit card; borrow-and-spend=credit card

Bush and the Repugs have been using a credit card to fund their schemes, especially Bush's Illegal War in Iraq and his generous goodbye gift to his friends on Wall Street. That debt+interest will have to be paid by future generations, which essentially is deferred taxation.

[Puzzler]

24. Tax and spend? Taxes are supposed to be spent...

... that's the whole point of taxes. This old GOP catch-phrase is really inane.

[GoEasyJoe]

9. Give Me A Sign

That we are anywhere close to not having a Pandemic.

[Trajan]

13. Hows does this fit the topic ?

Medical Forum THAT AWAY ----->

[Skittles]

12. hey repukes - YOU STARTED A SENSELESS WAR THAT'S STILL COSTING BILLIONS

SO FUCK OFF, PLEASE

[go west young man]

20. So right.

The article neglects to mention that Republicans are the reason we are in the financial mess we are in. They pissed a trillion down a hole in the Iraqi desert. 9 billion of which just fell off a truck and disappeared. They expanded the federal government. They gave favors to friends through no bid contracts. They neglected to regulated the economy. Their Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Departments neglected to prosecute corporate crimes. They gave tax breaks to super wealthy mega churches that pushed their warped agenda. The let New Orleans drown. They cost us billions by letting us get struck by terrorists on September 11th, 2001. Their inability to govern is so obvious to the people at this point. Hopefully Obama will sink em once and for all.

[Skittles]

29. DAMN STRAIGHT

I love it when people who ran us off an economic cliff now want to give us driving lessons :puke:

[ozymandius]

15. "whose policies will saddle future generations with debt"

How odd that this matters so much to Republicans today.

[SpiralHawk]

16. The republicons should try supporting America for a change

They might also try a little honesty, integrity and honor.

Americans like those qualities.

[underpants]

17. "rough"? their entire economic "philosophy" has come crashing down and they are exposed

as being the party of NO and completely unable to govern. Add to that the fact that their one great trump card (they had convinced themselves) is now useless because their complete inability to conduct a WAR has been exposed too. Hell we thought after the war and Katrina they couldn't find any new ways to screw up and then their seeds of deregulation blew up in everyone's face.

[dropkickpa]

19. I seriously thought that said "massage"

I need more sleep. :crazy:

[InfiniteThoughts]

21. Republican Report Card

1. Openness to Membership - F (membership only for under-educated, middle aged White Male)
2. Leadership Skills - F (Rush Limbaugh is the spokesman for the party. Do i need to say more?)
3. Legislative Skills - F (ZERO votes in a economic crisis; criticism for "Volcano monitoring")
4. Leader Charisma - F (Appendix A: Sarah Palin; Appendix B: Dick Cheney; Appendix C: Karl Rove)
5. Thought Leadership - F (Party of "NO")

Summary Grade: "T" (as in TROLL from Harry Potter Series!)

[Arugula Latte]

23. I got yer message right here, GOP ... Ready? ... Here it is:... "We're Screwn." nt

[sofa king]

25. It seeks a NEW message; the current one is crystal clear.

The current message is, "don't mess with all this money we just stole from you, and don't try to fix everything we f---ed up."

[damntexdem]

26. And that;'s just for starters.

Bad times are just warming up for the GOP.

[Turbineguy]

27. How about

"We'd like to be not as crazy as 80% of you think!"

[superconnected]

28. Awe.. poor pukes.... poor poor repukes.

"the president as a tax-and-spend liberal whose policies will saddle future generations with debt."

However they didn't mind the bush debt that got us into this, or keeping that war going. Again, I ask, when will Iraq invade us?