05.17.08
More On The GOP’s Troubles
This one today from the AAS, As Republicans search for answers, more territory is in play, has more on the problems facing the GOP in 2008. And a few humorous parts like the beginning.
The day after Democrats added a Mississippi House seat to their growing congressional majority this week, House Republicans billed their latest package of policy proposals as “change you deserve.”
It didn’t take long for Democrats to point out that the slogan is already in use: It’s part of a marketing campaign for Effexor, an antidepressant.
Read more about what a joke the new GOP slogan is here. The article is also about the fact that two GOP congressman in Texas and one US Senator are possibly in trouble because of the GOP’s “brand” issues.
“I’m going to be working hard,” said U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, who faces a challenge from lawyer Larry Joe Doherty in November.
McCaul is one of two Texas Republicans in the House, along with Rep. John Culberson from Houston, who remain favored to win re-election but whom Washington Democrats could target for defeat if they start to smell blood.
[...]
Cornyn faces his first re-election test this year in the form of Democratic state Rep. Rick Noriega from Houston. At the end of March, Cornyn had a 26-to-1 lead in campaign cash, and Republicans haven’t lost a statewide race in Texas since 1994. But his is another race where Democrats from outside Texas could get involved if they sense they’re on the verge of a huge national victory.
Nationally, Democrats hold a 21-point lead over Republicans as the party viewed as best equipped to handle the nation’s problems, their largest margin since 1993, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released this week.
Be sure and check out Larry Joe Doherty (McCaul’s opponent) and Michael Skelly (Culberson’s opponent), and of course Rick Noriega. Rep. Culberson had some trouble this week in the house when he couldn’t back up an attack he was making. But what is the GOP plan to fix their problem? Well other than blaming the other party, as espoused by Rep. Lamar Smith, which isn’t working, they think this will lead them back to the majority.
The repackaged agenda that Republicans rolled out this week included plans to toughen penalties for sex offenders who use social networking Internet sites, offer tax credits to help employees purchase health insurance and allow private-sector employees to choose compensatory time instead of extra pay for working overtime.
Targeting sex offenders, using My Space, and a weak, non-fix for health care. Not much of a plan. Cal Jillson wraps it up.
But the mantle of change is a tough one for Republicans to grab. Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, said he does not think voters will punish Democrats for failing to deliver the change they promised in 2006. Rather, he predicted they will blame Republicans for blocking it and sticking too close to Bush.
“Voters do want change, but what they want is change away from George W. Bush and what they remember as the Republican majority in Congress,” Jillson said. “I think what’s dawning on Republicans now is that the punishment of 2006 was just a foretaste.”
Well put. The change they want doesn’t involve the GOP in the lead. If Texas is two years behind the national trend, then the GOP is in deep trouble in Texas in 2008.