Thursday, April 25, 2013

Republican Rebranding Failing!

“If you’re a freshman — the guys who’ve been up here the last year, we can go home and say listen, we voted 36 different times to repeal or replace Obamacare. Tell me what the new guys are supposed to say,” he said. “We haven’t had a repeal or replace vote this year.” (Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC)

Have you been in a store when a child wants something that their Mother says they cannot have and they throw a fit?  That is what Freshman Republican Representatives are doing as they have never been able to vote on repeal of Obamacare.  Poor babies!  What a bunch of whiners make up the GOP Conference in the House.  How many times do they have to vote to end Obamacare when they know full well it will never pass the Senate.  They spend time and our tax dollars (almost $50M) to repeal Obamacare 36 times but don't have the time in their 3-day work week to pass jobs bills including one for veterans or the farm bill for small farmers not the conglomerate farms owned by Republican big donors.

The reason for all the votes is so they can tell Republicans in their districts that they voted against Obamacare:
"this is the issue that so many people around the country who love the Republican Party are frustrated with.” (Rep Mick Mulvaney (R-SC)
Are they too dumb to realize that all these votes have actually turned long time 'common sense' Republicans against the GOP in the House?  I find this demeaning to the oath they took because it is all about politics with the hard right conservative Tea Party crowd.  Their whole aim seems to be to make Obama look bad and screw up the Government by allow the sequester to take place,  Bet Republicans are the first ones to complain about flight delays as they leave DC to return home after a three-day work week where they spent their time deciding whether to debate Obamacare again or to send Representatives to the Joint Resolution Committee on the Budget.

Sal Kupur from Talking Points Memo as this to say this morning:

Part of the reason House Republicans may not be able to put their futile efforts to repeal Obamacare behind them is that party freshmen won’t let them. 
Now, four months in to Obama’s second term, as House GOP leaders promote modest measures and a gentler tone to rebrand the party, freshmen and their conservative allies are kicking it old school, demanding a frontal assault on the Affordable Care Act they know will fail. 
At a Wednesday panel organized by the Heritage Foundation, conservative Republicans lamented that it’s been too long since they had the opportunity to vote to wipe out the Affordable Care Act in its entirety — and that the newest members haven’t had the chance yet.
“We need to get a vote on full repeal, and I’ve asked leadership for this. I’m a cosponsor of Michele Bachmann’s bill … that just goes straight at it for full repeal,” said Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), the chairman of the influential and deeply conservative Republican Study Committee. 
“We need to continue fighting for repeal. We need a clean vote on repeal.” 
Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) urged leadership to hold a repeal vote so freshman members can serve up the same anti-Obamacare talking points for their conservative constituents that more senior Republicans enjoy. 
“If you’re a freshman — the guys who’ve been up here the last year, we can go home and say listen, we voted 36 different times to repeal or replace Obamacare. Tell me what the new guys are supposed to say,” he said. “We haven’t had a repeal or replace vote this year.” 
“We have not had a chance as freshmen to do that,” said first-term Rep. Trey Radel (R-FL). 
“Even if it’s just symbolic — and even if we understand that process-wise we are not going to be able to say, okay we want repeal, it’s done, and it’s over. But this is the issue that so many people around the country who love the Republican Party are frustrated with.”
Excerpt:  Full article at Talking Points Memo 
If Obamacare wasn't enough, for four years we have had the Republicans in the House complaining the Senate never passes a budget.  The Senate has now passed a budget and the House Republican leadership refuses to appoint anyone because of some rule -- excuses, excuses:

Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and his team are preparing to turn up the pressure on Republicans over a budget conference committee aimed at reaching a broad debt deal.
Senior aides said the top Democrat was expected to seek a deal with the GOP this week to formally appoint Senate budget conference negotiators. They said the move was a response to the statement by Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio last week that he will not name House conference negotiators unless both chambers can first work out a framework for agreement.  
Boehner cited concerns about a House rule that would allow rank-and-file members on both sides to force votes, or what Boehner called “politically motivated bombs,” on motions to instruct conferees if no agreement has been reached within 20 days once a conference committee is named.
(snip)
It remains unclear, for now, whether Republicans would block the appointment of conferees, either to provide political cover for Boehner or to force a second budget debate with amendments. “It would seem they are not sincere about wanting a budget resolution if they block the appointment of conferees,” said Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois.
Excerpt:  Full article at Roll Call 
Speaker Boehner seems to be afraid of his own shadow these days seeing everyone out to get him on both sides.  There may be some truth to that because from the day he allowed the hard right Tea Party to dictate to leadership, it has been downhill ever since.  When he does stand up to them, he usually backs down and gives into their demands.

If the House Republicans are a reflection of the makeover of the Republican Party, it has failed completely.  All you have to do is look at some of the dumb statements still coming out of Republican elected office holders and candidates.  There are so many examples that it is hard to pick a favorite, but mine is the South Carolina House race with former Appalachian hiker Mark Sanford broke into his ex-wife's home for camping gear and boots and then is photographed debating a cardboard cut-out of Nancy Pelosi.  Truth is stranger then fiction when it comes to Mark Sanford.  He is so bad that even though he won the run-off, the NRCC has stopped all funding!  Would you fund a candidate who debates a cardboard cutout?


This latest poll shows the Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch pulling away from Sanford.  What I find extremely interest was this comment from PPP:

Although Sanford's unpopularity is clearly the main reason Democrats have a chance to win in this district, it's interesting to note that there is some backlash against Republicans over last week's vote on background checks. 86% of voters in the district say they support them to only 12% opposed, and 45% of voters say the GOP's opposition to them makes it less likely they'll support the party in the next election compared to only 21% who consider it a positive. That anger over the gun vote comes despite Barack Obama having only a 41% approval rating in the district with 51% of voters disapproving of him.
Been saying for sometime as readers of this blog and those on Twitter know that the disgruntled Republicans like myself and others are going to tip the balance to the Democrats in 2014 because we refuse to support or vote for Republican candidates in 2014 when they are truly the Party of "NO" with their refusal to pass simple legislation on firearms or vote for the Violence Against Women Act.  They are so bought and paid for by the NRA and wealthy donors, they have blinders on to the rest of the American people.

This race in a very red Congressional District is a microcosm of Republican voters across the Country who are totally fed up with the GOP today.  No amount of rebranding and rhetoric is going to work.  When you have trouble winning a race in SC as former Governor, the GOP may be in for a bad night in November 2014.  They may discover they cannot take GOP voters fore granted while treating us like we are to dumb to notice their rhetoric has no basis in fact.  With being a former member of the House and Governor, Sanford should be having high favorable numbers among Republicans but it is not working out that way with some Republicans refusing to even go vote.  Be interesting to watch this play out because the big loser in all of this could be the NRA and their puppets in the Congress.
Colbert Busch expands lead22 April 
PPP's newest poll on the special election in South Carolina finds Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch expanding her lead to 9 points over Mark Sanford at 50/41. Green Party candidate Eugene Platt polls at 3%. 
Colbert Busch's lead is on the rise for several reasons. She has a 51/35 advantage with independents. She's winning over 19% of Republicans, while losing just 7% of Democrats. And it also seems that after last week's revelations about Sanford that a lot of GOP voters are planning to just stay at home- while the district supported Mitt Romney by 18 points last fall, those planning to turn out for the special election voted for him by only a 5 point spread. 
Sanford continues to be unpopular in the district with 38% of voters rating him favorably to 56% with a negative opinion. 51% say the revelations about his trespassing last week give them doubts about his fitness for public office. Interestingly the events of the last week haven't hurt Sanford too much with Republicans though- 65% say the trespassing charges don't give them any doubts about him, and his favorable with GOP voters has actually improved from 55/39 a month ago to now 61/32. 
Although Sanford's unpopularity is clearly the main reason Democrats have a chance to win in this district, it's interesting to note that there is some backlash against Republicans over last week's vote on background checks. 86% of voters in the district say they support them to only 12% opposed, and 45% of voters say the GOP's opposition to them makes it less likely they'll support the party in the next election compared to only 21% who consider it a positive. That anger over the gun vote comes despite Barack Obama having only a 41% approval rating in the district with 51% of voters disapproving of him.

Continue reading "Colbert Busch expands lead" »

Should be an interesting night to watch the results come in on the Busch/Sanford race.  Stay tuned to see what the hard right loon Sanford pulls next in his quest to return to the House and create even more havoc!



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