Republicans plot fall offensive to win back the House

[DeepModem Mom]

The Politico: Republicans plot fall offensive
By: Mike Allen and Patrick O'Connor
Oct 17, 2007

Confronting a dire outlook for next year’s elections, House Republicans have begun to fight back with a new three-pronged strategy: painting the new Democratic majority as part of an unpopular Washington status quo, forcing Democrats to make unpopular votes on tough issues and locking arms around a new GOP issues agenda.

House Republicans might well be expected to be watching their better-funded, in some cases cocky, Democratic competitors from the fetal position. Public opinion remains sour about the White House and the war in Iraq, and some House Republicans in tough districts have exacerbated the party’s weaknesses by deciding to retire, giving Democrats a better chance of picking up some choice swing seats. Indeed, many strategists in both parties see a likelihood that the GOP minority will lose even more ground in both the House and the Senate come Nov. 4, 2008. The current lineup in the House is 233 Democrats and 200 Republicans, with two GOP seats vacant because of members’ deaths.

But House Republicans came out punching this week after a slow start to the election cycle, filing a respectable quarterly financial report and vowing to make Democrats’ lives as miserable as possible....

***

Brian Kennedy, communications director for House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), said the GOP plans to portray its opponents as “the same old tax-and-spend Democratic Party people remember from the 1970s.” At the same time, Kennedy said, his party is working to “re-establish the Republican brand” by using parliamentary maneuvers that require Democrats to take tough votes on problematic provisions that have been added to popular legislation.

Kennedy said Democrats, especially those from conservative districts, have been backed into a corner on immigration and whether to provide government benefits to undocumented aliens, national security, intelligence and taxation — all “red-meat Republican issues,” he said....

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1007/6420.html

[MorningGlow]

1. Yeahhhh...

Good luck with that.
:rofl:

[ck4829]

2. K&R - Discover and Defend

[AndyA]

3. What's wrong with this picture?

At the same time, Kennedy said, his party is working to “re-establish the Republican brand” by using parliamentary maneuvers that require Democrats to take tough votes on problematic provisions that have been added to popular legislation.

It would seem the Dem leaders should be smart enough to prevent this type of crap from happening. If the GOP (the minority party) can use parliamentary maneuvers, so can the Dems.

The Dems need to reframe this, and send a fresher message to the people. While it might be hard for most to remember the 1970s, they can certainly remember the "spend, spend, spend" Bush II Administration, which is responsible for the biggest debt in our nation's history. And all for a war based on lies that didn't need to be fought.

How can the GOP defend themselves against that? The Dems need to get better people at getting the correct, truthful message out there.

Are higher gas prices not the equivalent of higher taxes to most Americans?

Is the loss of SCHIP coverage not the same as a tax hike to needy families?

How about higher credit card fees?

The bottom line is, we all have less money to spend now thanks to the Bush Administration and the Republicans (unless you're in that top income bracket). So what's the difference if it goes to taxes, or higher fees, medical expenses, gas, or whatever? If it ain't in the bank, and it ain't in the wallet, it ain't there.

[tinymontgomery]

4. Gee, how come the Dems didn't do this for all those years

to the repubs!

"forcing Democrats to make unpopular votes on tough issues and locking arms around a new GOP issues agenda".

[Mrs. Overall]

5. Seems like they are doing an awful lot of retiring and resigning from their house seats--perhaps

that's part of their "plot."

[Arugula Latte]

6. Oh my gawd. I first read that line of

"his party is working to 're-establish the Republican brand' by using parliamentary maneuvers" as "paramilitary manuevers."

Can't you just imagine the bratty Repukes using Blackwater to stay in the House?

It's a sad commentary on how low this nation has sunk that that popped into my head as a possibility.

[rodeodance]

7. lets not get cocky-Songas only won by a few % in a BLUE state of MASS!!

[DeepModem Mom]

8. From the article, on the Tsongas election --

The new spirit of resistance was on display Tuesday night when the National Republican Congressional Committee, the GOP’s House campaign arm, seized on a weaker-than-expected showing by Niki Tsongas (D), who won a special election for the Fifth District of Massachusetts, garnering 51 percent to her opponent’s 45 percent.

The heavily Democratic House seat was once held by her late husband. She will succeed former Rep. Marty Meehan, who resigned to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.

In an overstatement that Democrats regarded as laughable, the NRCC blared in a Tuesday night e-mail to supporters: “THE DEMOCRATIC WAVE BREAKS.”

The e-mail went on to argue that “Democrats Won’t Get Two ‘2006’s in a Row,” and contended: “In what is clearly shaping up to be a change election, Democrats have reason to worry, as they are no longer seen as the solution to the problem in Washington — Democrats have become part of the problem in Washington.”

[OHdem10]

9. Two Reporters, WAPO--not the usual oes we see on Television

Anyway, their names escape me but last week --"We fear the Dems
are blowing it." The one guy said"I have never seen such a timid
party in my life." futher adding--they might just be blowing it.

[wtmusic]

10. If we were smart we would preempt this

with "When Republicans attempt to paint us with the tired old 'tax-and-spend' label, here's what they're REALLY doing..."

The GOP has it all over us with PR smarts. Hands down.

[SergeyDovlatov]

11. So what if those "political legislation" will never make from the commitee?

We still have dem majority in congress, don't we?