Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
Welcome back to the Sunday news shows post, which went on hiatus for a couple of weeks as I was moving first, then going coastal for work.
The main theme of the Sunday shows this week was Republicans dodging the political cow-pies the media wants them to stumble into: the longed-for conflict between those unhinged Tea Partiers and the entrenched Republican establishment.
But first a quick digression. Steny Hoyer appeared on Fox News Sunday this morning where he rendered his “judgment” on Class-clown, Stephen Colbert, and his expert testimony before the immigration subcommittee on the Hill. “I think his testimony was not appropriate … it was an embarrassment for Stephen Colbert”—what about for the House Democrats, who called him to the Hill? Hoyer deflected. “It was inappropriate…that's just a personal opinion.”
Digression over. Back to the GOP and the tea party. On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace asked John Boehner—the potential speaker of the House next year—whether his plan as the speaker-in-waiting would be to block the Obama agenda (in News-speak: The Party of No!) or to compromise with the Democrats (News-speak: desert the Tea Party).
Here’s Boehner: “I think the American people want us to work together to address the concerns facing us every day….I think with this document [the Pledge to America], we make pretty clear where we’re going.”
Boehner was trying to avoid the conflict the media would foist upon him between the Tea Party—which wants him to give the big-foot to the Obama agenda--and the Republican party—which when last in power might better be recalled as a big spending party.
Boehner: “I get it, I understand what’s going on in America.” Does he? Boehner recently took some heat for suggesting that he’d sign on to the Obama tax cut plan—that is, extending tax cuts for the middle class, but not those making above $250,000: the “wealthy.”
Christiane Amanpour hosted Mitch McConnell on This Week, where she finally seemed to be more at ease in her role as host—perhaps because she seemed to be feeling her partisan mojo as she went after McConnell. Much like Chris Wallace, she was beating the drum over Republicans compromising on tax cuts.
McConnell held his ground. “Raising taxes in the middle of a recession …. Is a particularly bad idea.”
Amanpour: “Will the middle class be held hostage [on tax cuts] …. Would you compromise on that?”
McConnell: “What might happen down the road is not the subject today … the subject today is do we raise taxes in the middle of the recession.” The answer, of course, being no.
Amanpour then turned to the tea party. Will the tea party, in the form of Republican candidates like Delaware’s eccentric Senate hopeful, Christine O’Donnell, and Nevada’s sharp-edged, Sharron Angel, ruin the GOP's chance to take power in November?
McConnell, displaying his inimitable flair for the obvious, calculated: “The Delaware candidate was interesting. New candidate, fresh face, I think she’s got a chance of winning.”
When Amanpour questioned McConnell on what she and her colleagues refer to as the extreme views and rhetoric of Angel and O’Donnell, McConnell shot back, “What most Americans think is extreme is …. what’s been happening here [in Washington] for the last year and a half….I don’t think the people of Nevada should be attacked for the choice they made in the primary.”
The Pledge to America, which was unrolled last week by Republicans, was of course a major news item on the shows. Republicans right now are afraid of being cast as the monosyllabic party of “no” heading into the home-stretch of the campaign season—which is in part why they felt compelled to produce something to show that they are worth being taken seriously, something substantial and more than the negative advantage of not being a Democrat.
Thus, the Pledge to America, a positive policy platform, which certain tea partiers think doesn’t go far enough, and some conservatives have even called milquetoast. Bill Kristol, speaking on the Fox News panel, said that the pledge was a “step toward boldness….they’re being bold in a reasonable way,” when asked if the Pledge was “bold”—the litmus test word for “tea party approved.”
Bold in a reasonable way? The Pledge does not mention earmarks or entitlements, which is why conservatives, including Brit Hume on Fox News today, said the Pledge is “not serious.” Matthew Dowd, a former Bush strategist featured as a guest on This Week, gave the Pledge the ultimate smack-down declaring it will have no effect on the election--rendering it meaningless boilerplate. And so it is.
Are the pundits right? Where do you come down?
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Comments :
Sep '10
Re: Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
I'm with Brit Hume. The Pledge is LAME. They could have summed it up in one paragraph, but it drones on for nine pages or something. It is time for the Old Guard Repubs to bow out. Boehner and McConnell are part of the Go-Along-to-Get-Along crowd, and we are sick of it. Get someone with some steel "equipment" in those positions. No use in taking over the House if it is the Same Ole Same Ole, WE compromise with THEM. How about We WIN, They LOSE?
Jun '10
Re: Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
This year, Republicans could pledge to buy everything on their family grocery list, and that would be enough.
May '10
Re: Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
I pledge to shave every couple of days. If I remember to. Seems like the Pledge is plenty enough to work on for the next couple of years. And earmarks are a total red herring. As a percentage of spending, they're miniscule. My greatest worry about President McCain was that his fiscal conservatism would consist of getting rid of those darned earmarks, while Rome continued to burn.
Amanpour's still there? Bring back Tapper! Jeez louise.
Sorry to hear you went postal at work. Hopefully there were only flesh wounds.
Aug '10
Re: Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
This is a brilliant response:
"When Amanpour questioned McConnell on... the extreme views and rhetoric of Angel and O’Donnell, McConnell shot back, “What most Americans think is extreme is …. what’s been happening [in Washington] for the last year and a half…"
What we conservatives and Tea Partiers have is moral certainty that we represent the spirit of America and its Founders, and are on the side of the God who gave us "...rights...to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..."
This election is a referendum on America's legitimacy as a nation. If one does not believe in God, as true 'progressives' do not, then our founding documents are meaningless crinkly parchment, America is just another nation like any in the U.N., and it has no right to exist as an individual nation.
The Pledge is just right, for now. Nobody can accuse it for being extreme, the only card the Democrats have. It's not perfect or complete, but it doesn't have to be, now.
As a former Democrat/Leftist, I can say with certainty that they've never had the kind of passion for action and principled unity that we have today.
Jul '10
Re: Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
Memo to Boehner;
It is not What you overspend on that angers the Tea Party.
It is THAT you overspend.
Figure it out!
Jul '10
Re: Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
River: This is a brilliant response:
"When Amanpour questioned McConnell on... the extreme views and rhetoric of Angel and O’Donnell, McConnell shot back, “What most Americans think is extreme is …. what’s been happening [in Washington] for the last year and a half…"
My disappointment is that he still doesn't exhibit that he get's it.
"So let me get this straight Christiane, you consider the Declaration of Independance and the Constitution of the United States to be an Extremist document?"
Or how about, "Christiane, if supporting the Declaration of Independance, and the Constitution of the United States is an Extreme Position, then I will have to plead guilty to being Extreme."
Either of those would have been a brilliant comback, and an exhibition that he gets what the Tea Party is about.
Edited on Sep 26, 2010 at 11:13amJul '10
Re: Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
No doubt. The drastically underappreciated Kevin Williamson, who increasingly seems like an adult in a roomful of children weighed in the other day.
http://www.nationalreview.com/exchequer/247575/about-pledge
May '10
Re: Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
Boehner has repeatedly embarrassed himself over the past couple weeks. His concessions to Democrats at the very beginning of negotiations on taxation (and on another issue which I can't recall) suggest he is the wrong person to lead the GOP.
The Pledge is weak. It says what the GOP would like to do if they controlled both houses and didn't face a veto. And it's too reserved. Ramesh Ponnuru summed up the GOP's plan nicely in the title of his National Review article, "To Level a Mountain With a Shovel."
We should not take politicians seriously when their plans talk about so much money saved "by 2020" or over similar timespans. Politics is a game of tug-of-war. We tug today. Democrats tug tomorrow. Nobody has a clue what our politics will be like a decade from now, nor what events will divert our attention from our normal goals. Republicans need to emphasize short-term goals, which are more believeable. At least some of the Pledge fits that description.
Edited on Sep 26, 2010 at 11:32amSep '10
Re: Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
First, I have a solution to those in the Republican Establishment who worry about being a monosyllabic party. I can stretch that into two syllables - HELL NO!
Second, I have a question: If Republicans do win back the house this November, will they really vote in Boehner as the Speaker? In my humble opinion, to do so would be a mistake and the cause of much dissatisfaction with the Tea Party activists. Is there any possibility that they will choose someone else?
Re: Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
Standfast:
Second, I have a question: If Republicans do win back the house this November, will they really vote in Boehner as the Speaker? In my humble opinion, to do so would be a mistake and the cause of much dissatisfaction with the Tea Party activists. Is there any possibility that they will choose someone else? · Sep 26 at 2:05pm
Who do you recommend Standfast?
Sep '10
Re: Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
I really don't know the politics of the House that much. I like Paul Ryan and Michelle Bachmann, but I don't really know if they have the kind of support among other House members to unseat Boehner or not. If the Republicans have 50 plus new members after the election, wouldn't that be a huge enough voting block that could get rid of the old leadership and bring in some fresh blood?
May '10
Re: Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
Well, there's Cantor, but I can't see him engineering a coup without good reason, and such a reason doesn't seem to be evident. Just vague hand-waving about "the old guard" but nothing specific.
Aug '10
Re: Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
Regarding the issue of compromise in general, this reminds me of what I once heard regarding abduction. A victim's best chances for escape are at the outset. Trying to buy time for a better opportunity usually does not pay off. Compliance only leads to the perpetrator's gaining greater and greater control, and this most likely will lead to rape and/or murder. Not bad advice in the political realm either.
May '10
Re: Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
I agree, David. Republicans must set the tone for the next two years as soon as they're seated. If they're not bold in the beginning, it will be harder to rally the votes later.
And a collective action early on would send a message of hope to voters. It will be another two years under Obama's veto, so Republican voters' patience will be tested.
Sep '10
Re: Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
Most of what they can accomplish in the next two years if they have slim majorities and a Democratic President is going to be largely symbolic. I think they should proceed aggressively and let the chips fall where they may, but, I don't expect a whole lot of concrete change in the short run. At this point, a little gridlock would be greatly appreciated. I heard somewhere last week that instead of the party of no, maybe they should be the party of stop. I like that. As for the pledge itself, I don;t believe it was targeted at the tea party or the GOP base. I think it is milquetoast center right to appeal to the great middle.
May '10
Re: Sunday News Shows: The GOP and the Tea Party
They should follow the Christie strategy: Keep your powder dry until you're in office and have a clear target. The Pledge is enough to say "We have a plan and it goes in this general direction." If it is all that is ever attempted, the Rs will be joining the Ds on the political trash heap.