During a brief drive in the car yesterday, I learned from listening to NPR that Michael Gerson does most of his writing in coffee houses, particularly Starbucks. Apparently, he even did this back when his office was in the White House compound. He says that he prefers to write in public because he doesn’t like to be interrupted, but I suspect that part of the problem was that his co-workers couldn’t stand him.
Matthew Scully once said, “For all of our chief speechwriter’s finer qualities, the firm adherence to factual narrative is not a strong point.” Yet, I give him credit. In his column today he recognizes the problem that the Republicans have with their base. He may state the obvious, but more people need to say it: “…on the national level, the GOP needs to appeal to many Americans who haven’t voted Republican in a while and who find the party itself a bit scary.”
When a political party starts to seem “a bit scary,” that’s a big concern. When they start to dehumanize their political opponents while waving their guns around, a well-adjusted person begins to worry. Mr. Gerson understands this.
But he still can’t help himself. A firm adherence to factual narrative has never been his strong point (see: axis of evil, mushroom cloud).
So, we get this:
Post-Obamacare liberalism is in a state of disrepair, having alienated growing numbers of political independents.
ObamaCare was enacted four years ago. The president easily won reelection two years ago. The Democrats picked up Senate and House seats, and won the midterm popular vote handily. If Mr. Gerson meant to refer to the post-healthcare.gov period, he should have said so.
In any case, as badly as Mr. Gerson wishes it were otherwise, the Tea Party folks are not going away and they will not stop talking about social issues or making braindead proclamations.
Even so, the Tea Partiers are more open to immigration reform than the Republicans in Congress. So, killing the GOP’s own chances is a joint effort here.
Which party is in disrepair?
Hope springs eternal?: Montana Senate candidate declares coal dead
Has anyone polled that race? Don’t forget that Boo’s former drinking buddy is helping run the campaign of another challenger to Walsh, Schweitzer’s Lt. Gov.
I thought he dropped out.
Cruz has started appealing to the herd mentality with a meme that the Democrats are worried and dissatisfied hoping that if he repeats it enough the TParty will see it as a nearing victory in November. Because, ya know, if you’re a TParty’er it’s so much easier to believe Ted Cruz than to put your glasses on and read something.
So why are Republican House members opposing immigration? Is it because there are higher concentrations of anti-immigration sentiment in their states? I scanned the poll and don’t see any regional breakdowns.
They don’t have any rational argument to stand on. Schumer, on NPR this AM, says that some of them tell him that they don’t trust Obama to implement the law. This is completely bogus of course because of Obama’s alarming zealousness for deportations but also another reason…
Schumer called their bluff. He told them that they can write the law so it takes effect in 2017, after Obama leaves. Guess what? No takers.
http://www.npr.org/2014/02/28/283773372/schumer-broken-immigration-system-should-be-tackled-in-2014
The only answer that fits is that it is still the move by House GOP Reps to avoid making any progress for the nation during Obama’s term. They don’t dare have a Democrat, especially a black Democrat acquire an appearance of successful leadership.
Comparing which party is in greater intellectual disrepair circa 2014 is not really debatable. Equating a party that Team Conservative Coach Gerson admits to be “scary to voters” with having a bad healthcare subsidy program roll out is intellectually dishonest, but that’s this conserva-clown’s stock-in-trade.
In any case, these musings from the DC Starbucks fit the emerging pattern—the Repubs have decided that a nationwide campaign of lies about Obamacare will be the focus of the next election, and the orders have gone out from hive-central. The oceans of Citizens United pollution money are spreading these low-info lies nationwide, just like they spread the “Obammy cut Medicare!” low-info lie which was so effective the past two elections. (And note that Dems did not remotely approach retaking the House in the past prez election, despite Repub paralysis at historic levels—lies work!)
One has to say that at least Team Conservative formulates and carries out a nationwide strategy for midterm elections, in contrast to Dems. Thus we see the spectacle of the two fossil fuel billionaire bros funding hundreds of millions in coordinated ads attacking—a health insurance reform program. Um, why exactly does Koch Industries care so much about this issue? Don’t independents have to wonder why an oil company’s owners supposedly care about Obamacare to such an extent?
Perhaps, just perhaps, Repub control of Congress has some massive benefits for the plutocrat Koch Boyz? Jeesus…
OTOH – it’s worked better than the GOP think tank constructed faux scandals of Obama’s birth certificate, Benghazi, and IRS employees doing their jobs. Other than that all they have left are abortion and same-sex marriage, neither of which has been going well for them of late.
If not for discovering a new-found love of war and the survival of the USSR after WWII, the GOP would have withered and died decades ago. Except for Taft-Hartley (which Truman did veto), they refrained from a frontal assault on the New Deal legislation long enough for those that “got theirs” to kick those behind them to the ground. Those doing the kicking included almost all of the New Democrats. Thus, we have Democrats embracing and fighting for a rightwing designed, privatized health insurance “reform” policy and the once upon a time eugenicists (and still racist) rightwing appalled at the rate of abortions among the NYC black population. (It will take a while for the cognitive dissonance of that position to abate — but it may cut into the Democratic black vote.)