Campaign 2010: GOP Strategy Should Be, Silence is Golden

[SecularMotion]

Don't stop me if you've heard this before--for it's my theme of 2010: the Republicans ought to stop talking.

I've made this point several times in the past few months. But the GOP keeps serving up reminders--and ammo--that they're not listening. With the economy still anemic--and perhaps even teetering on the edge of a second dip--the Republicans are poised to take full advantage of a political tradition: the party that doesn't control the White House almost always picks up seats in Congress during the first mid-term election. This year, polls show that there are lots of disaffected voters and that independent voters are increasingly disenchanted with President Barack Obama. When there's disaffection and folks are frustrated with the president, voters want to vote against the party in power. Moreover, due to the Democrats' impressive congressional victories in 2008 and 2006 (when House Democrats picked up over 50 seats total), the Ds are defending dozens of seats in districts that are strong prospects for Republicans. That means they have to protect seats in weak districts in the face of strong historical and current winds.

The Republicans can best exploit these forces by...well, by doing nothing. They can score big by simply appearing on ballots as not-the-people-in-charge. After all, Republicans and their let-the-corporations-run-wild policies are not popular. (Polls do not show any widespread yearning for the bygone days of George W. Bush.) Nevertheless, GOPers keep opening their mouths and telling voters what they think. It's often not pretty. Remember Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) apologizing to BP?

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08/05/campaign-2010-gop-strategy-should-be-silence-is-golden/

[damntexdem]

1. A shower of silence.

;-)