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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRepublicans worry about attacking Obama too aggressively
By Greg Sargent
Ever since Beltway scandal-mania broke out, Republicans have struggled over how openly to acknowledge that pursuing the various scandals is all about weakening President Obama. This has created some comically contradictory messaging...Darrell Issa recently insisted that the scandals are not about President Obama, claiming Republicans are not accusing the president of anything yet. At the same time, though, Mitch McConnell has released a web video tying Obama himself directly to Nixon, and multiple Republicans keep blaming the scandals on an alleged culture of intimidation that flows directly from the top.
The contradiction highlights what appears to be genuine worry among Republicans about overreaching in their efforts to use these scandals to attack the President, risking a voter backlash similar to the one Republican suffered in the 1998 midterms.
But dont take my word for it. In a must-read in the New York Times today, Republican officials confirm this to be the case. They warn the GOP against attacking Obama too directly, given his high favorability ratings, and openly worry about a rerun of the 1990s:
I dont think Id personalize it, said John Linder, the former congressman from Georgia who ran the National Republican Congressional Committee during the late 1990s while Newt Gingrich and House Republicans were preparing an impeachment case against President Bill Clinton. Mr. Linder said he fought and lost a battle with Mr. Gingrich over their strategy in the 1998 midterm elections, which Mr. Gingrich thought should be focused on assailing Mr. Clintons character.
I didnt want to talk about Clinton at all, Mr. Linder recalled, saying the same logic should apply today. Obama was not in the Justice Department. Obama was not working in the I.R.S. His advice? Dont overreach, he said.
In the fall of 1998, Republicans poured tens of millions of dollars into a television ad campaign with slogans like Honesty does matter, a thinly veiled reference to Mr. Clintons duplicity about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. They lost big that year, and it marked the first time since 1822 that the party that held the White House gained seats in the House of Representatives during a second term.
And look at what former Senator Olympia Snowe has to say:
They have to have the ability to understand that the American people want more than just negativity about President Obama, said Olympia J. Snowe, the Republican former senator from Maine, who has just written a book on bridging the countrys partisan divide. If you cant make that important pivot to what Republicans stand for and how theyve gotten the message, I think there will be even more damage to the Republican Party.
The problem, of course, is that Republicans are also committed to pursuing these scandals and attacking Obama directly over them as part of a deliberate strategy to whip up the base for 2014. They are tethered to a midterm strategy centered on attacking Obamacare implementation problems and hyping Beltway scandals in order to create a sinister narrative of Obama/Dem Big Government Overreach. Yet as Snowe notes, focusing only on negativity about President Obama is getting in the way of the GOPs need to develop an affirmative agenda of its own.
- more -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/05/31/the-morning-plum-republicans-worry-about-attacking-obama-too-aggressively/
Poll: Huge Majority Says Economy Should Trump Congressional Investigations
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022921185
Obamas poll numbers hold up despite the storm of scandal
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022921349
Howard Dean: Republicans "doing everything they can to make sure Congress goes Democratic in 2014"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022790812
BenzoDia
(1,010 posts)The only people who are receptive to the personal attacks is their already rabid fan base.
mnmoderatedem
(3,821 posts)that's a little like Tammy Faye Bakker wondering if she maybe goes a little too heavy on the makeup...
liberal N proud
(60,803 posts)Jennicut
(25,415 posts)Just this morning Boehner said Obama was picking a fight over student loans because he wanted to take attention away from "his scandals". As if student loans rising mean nothing to the economy.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"Just this morning Boehner said Obama was picking a fight over student loans because he wanted to take attention away from 'his scandals'. As if student loans rising mean nothing to the economy."
Here's a piece on the student loan issue and Boehner's whining:
Student loans reclaim center stage
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022926688
Jennicut
(25,415 posts)important to regular people. He should ask Scott Rasmussen why he has his daily tracking poll at 52% approval for President Obama. People care more about their everyday issues like trying to make a living. Not about so called hyped up scandals that really didn't involve the President. I remember paying off my student loans from the 90's. My kids are still very young but I know this will eventually effect them when they go to college.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)kysrsoze
(6,099 posts)This is only the start. The opinoins of people like Snowe, who bailed out of the Senate, are irrelevant. Rancid Penis is positively giddy every time he talks about it.