The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Shiny New GOP Legislative Agenda Due This Thursday

Posted on | September 21, 2010 | 11 Comments

by Smitty

Bearing Drift relays what could be a fairly big deal:

ABC news was told today that the GOP’s official agenda will be unveiled on Thursday at a small hardware [store] in Sterling, Virginia. Congressman Boehner is expected to be accompanied by a few other members of leadership and local business owners. The GOP’s new agenda, which has been compared to the 1994 “Contract with America,” will include legislation related to jobs, spending, health care, national security, and reforming Washington.

A few thoughts:

  • Whatever Boehner unveils will immediately become ammunition for the Democrats. One hopes the man has the wit to tie the agenda directly to Constitutional clauses, bullet for bullet. That way, when the Dems attempt to send it downrange, the ammunition will strike the Dems in the foot.
  • Clearly the agenda is going to fall short of whatever the harder-core Tea Party attendees (that’s me) would have sought. Patience. The current situation has been a century in the brewing, and shall be un-baked neither quickly nor simply nor painlessly. Let’s keep the feedback positive and concise. Or, as I learned a couple of decades ago, railing at length earns nothing but contempt from a weary audience.
  • Even though the Tea Partiers are a pack of johnny-come-almost-too-lately amateurs, the GOP has to take them seriously. A repeat of the Gingrich Congress, where both sides of the aisle remembered that they are Ruling Class members first, Americans second, and continued the Progressive deconstruction of all we hold dear Will Not Do. Understood, the Tea Partiers need to maintain the interest level through 2012 and beyond, but the GOP has to accept the fact that the Internet has changed politics as much as everything else.  Small amounts of people making large decisions in centralized, isolated places is not the future.  Boehner will be presiding over the deconstruction of the Progressive era, and ushering in a post-Progressive era, or become acquainted with the underside of the bus.

Rep. Boehner, you have our support, so long as your principles remain pure.

Update:

Via Volokh, Nate Silver is well worth your time. RTWT, but note the conclusion:

But there is one fundamental Republican problem that the Tea Party has not resolved: the brand remains extremely unpopular among large segments of the public. In fact, the Tea Party is in some ways a reaction to this: particularly after Delaware, we should probably take the Tea Party at its word that stands in opposition to the Republican and Democratic establishments alike.

How loyal will voters who were inspired by the Tea Party remain to the Republican Party -– and how loyal will Republicans remain to the Tea Party? The relationship is to some extent one of convenience. The Tea Party has candidates full of energy and chutzpah and some fresh-seeming ideas, but it lacks, on its own, the infrastructure to get these candidates elected. The Republican Party, meanwhile -– while short on popular ideas and popular leaders -– has access to money, voter lists, and experienced strategic hands. To some extent, the Tea Party is renting the Republicans’ electoral infrastructure.

But once some Tea Party candidates are in power, what need will they have for the skeleton of the Republican establishment? And how much will the Republican establishment, sensing this, default into self-preservation?

Update II: Moe ‘Lanche!

Category: Republicans

Comments

11 Responses to “Shiny New GOP Legislative Agenda Due This Thursday”

  1. The Blast
    September 21st, 2010 @ 9:35 am

    […] The Other McCain: Shiny new GOP legislative agenda coming this Thursday […]

  2. Wacht Am GOP « The Camp Of The Saints
    September 21st, 2010 @ 10:10 am

    […] at The Other McCain, Smitty offers a few thoughts that are right on the money.  Here’s one: Clearly the agenda is going to fall short of whatever the harder-core Tea […]

  3. Jon
    September 21st, 2010 @ 10:37 am

    I bet there’s nothing in it about border security, same as last contract.

  4. DaveP.
    September 21st, 2010 @ 11:26 am

    And if you’re right, Jon, we should all stay home on Election Day because the Dems have so much better a track record… right?

    Concern troll.

  5. Moe Lane » #rsrh The choice, summarized.
    September 21st, 2010 @ 12:01 pm

    […] (H/T: Bearing Drift, The Other McCain): ABC News has learned that the House Republican Leadership plans to unveil its legislative agenda […]

  6. Estragon
    September 21st, 2010 @ 3:34 pm

    Ah, the joys of historical revisionism . . .

    “A repeat of the Gingrich Congress, where both sides of the aisle remembered that they are Ruling Class members first, Americans second, and continued the Progressive deconstruction of all we hold dear Will Not Do.”

    Hmmm . . . they passed 8 of 10 Contract With America items within 30 days, forced Clinton to sign Welfare Reform (although they had to send it up three times before he did), pushed for a balanced budget over Clintonian objections, forced a capital gains tax cut which spurred the markets, and even allowed the government to shut down over the budget spending dispute with Clinton (for which they were blamed by the media).

    And they did it all without regard to the political consequences. In addition to being blamed for the shutdown, they were the victims of Dick Morris’ famous “triangulation” strategy which won a second term for Clinton and weakened the House GOP to the point they became the first out party in a century to lose seats to a President’s second midterm in 1998.

    The only way to satisfy Libertarians would have been to burn the place to the ground.

  7. Charles Oakwood
    September 21st, 2010 @ 8:18 pm

    Shiny new Tea Service quietly replaces tarnished old service.

    “Ain’t that right, Trent?”