The GOP Goes South

[DainBramaged]

As a rule, a new president's choice of a secretary of transportation makes few headlines, even when the appointee is a member of the opposition. In 2001, George W. Bush decided to name as transportation secretary Norman Mineta, a former representative from California, to be the token Democrat in his Cabinet, and no one noticed. And no one except for Mark Shields, who lavishly praised the appointment, paid much attention last week when Barack Obama made Ray LaHood, the retiring representative from Peoria, Ill., the second Republican in his Cabinet.

This one, however, is loaded with meaning because LaHood is no ordinary member of Congress. He has been, as Shields pointed out, one of the most widely respected members of the House; a leader in the uphill struggle for comity between the parties; and a throwback to the days of his old boss Bob Michel, the minority leader who resisted the scorched-earth tactics of Newt Gingrich. Such was LaHood's reputation for fairness that he was the natural choice to preside over the House during the explosive impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton.

The significance of his accepting Obama's offer goes beyond the signal it sends of the new president's seriousness about outreach to moderate Republicans. As transportation secretary, LaHood will be at the center of the road and bridge construction projects Obama plans to make the highlight of his almost trillion-dollar stimulus program.

All the signs are that the stimulus spending will be opposed by congressional Republicans, whose shrunken ranks are increasingly dominated by right-wing Southerners who care not what their stance does to harm the party's national image.

The spectacle of LaHood facing off in congressional testimony against those naysayers will dramatize a split that is crippling the GOP.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601129.html

[ColbertWatcher]

1. To answer Broder's closing question ...

...

Will congressional Republicans again sacrifice their political interest to satisfy their Southern-baked ideological imperatives?

Yes, yes, they will.

[DainBramaged]

2. I am so enjoying them eat each other for lunch

NOM NOM NOM the end of the Rethuglican Party.

[ColbertWatcher]

4. Of course, they will blame it on someone else.

And it will be quite fun watching them going down in flames, completely oblivious to what's going on and why--desperately grasping at scapegoats all the way down.

[dysfunctional press]

3. states that oppose a stimulus should have their federal monies cut to match their tax contributions.

and the other states should get their federal monies RAISED to match theirs.

[ColbertWatcher]

5. I like the way you think! n/t

[pnorman]

6. Obama, in my opinion, is making GREAT "think 3 moves ahead" decisions.

And NOT for narrow "confound the enemy" partisan reasons, but to bring together as much of this country as can be accomplished by a single administration.

I URGE all others here who've been whipping themselves into a frenzy over a 2 minute invocation, to consider this. Not everything need be considered on "Zero-Sum" lines.

pnorman

[greenman3610]

8. thanks for that. My thought too....

[K Gardner]

9. Exactly. Like a master chess player.

[calimary]

7. Any sentence in any mainstream media piece that includes the phrase

"...will dramatize a split that is crippling the GOP" is MORE than okay by me!

The more crippled those bastards are, the longer we'll have to impede their movement's advancement, and reverse what they've done. Hopefully, to help render them set back so far that they will NEVER completely recover. I'd love to see them relegated to minority status for DECADES to come.

I've said it before here and mean it with all my heart - I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE the smell of republi-CONS self-immolating in the morning!

[DainBramaged]

10. Let them become clowns screaming on the street corners for all I care.

[Orsino]

11. A platform based entirely on fantasy is going to lose adherents...

...as the cold realities become tougher to ignore. The Very Best Pretenders will be left in charge of whatever the hell is left.

[spanone]

12. when implemented, we should allow the southern senators to refuse money for their states

i think then the people would be heard