Is The GOP Afraid To Govern?

[babylonsister]

Just how pathetic is this?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_06/024238.php

June 14, 2010

IS THE GOP AFRAID TO GOVERN?.... In April, NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) was speculating about his expectations for the midterm elections. With Republican hopes sky-high, Sessions said anything less than a GOP takeover of the House is worth "a warm bucket of spit."

The message has changed quite a bit since April.

Last month, NRCC Recruitment Chair Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said that some leading Republicans have told him privately that they want to make gains -- but not enough to actually get a majority. This attitude is apparently more widespread than I'd expected.

Republicans have been engaging in some premature drape-measuring for a few months in anticipation of winning back control of the House of Representatives. Some top GOP aides privately admit that they got ahead of themselves.

Turns out, not all Republicans are rooting for their own to win the House.

"I want Republicans to make massive gains but I want them to fall one vote short of taking the House," said Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary to President George W. Bush. "I want to see more evidence that Republicans are ready to govern. I want to see more substance, particularly on what spending they will cut."

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican who has been tasked with recruiting candidates by House Minority Leader John Boehner, confirmed that this view is held by numerous party operatives and leaders, though none in Congress.

There are apparently a variety of factors driving this motivation -- including the notion that President Obama would be more likely to win a second term if he ran against a GOP House -- but the core concern seems to be that governing next year will be hard, and their proposed cuts might spark a backlash, so Republicans might as well let Dems worry about doing the heavy lifting.

DNC spokesperson Hari Sevugan said fear of holding the House is a sign that "Republicans aren't interested producing solutions to America's problems."

I think this truth was already apparent, but I suppose it's helpful to have another reminder.
—Steve Benen

[niceypoo]

1. They want to gum up the works and let corporations to steal money

They have never given a rats ass about governing, at least since Reagan.

[left coaster]

3. Exactly! Thank you! nt

[polichick]

16. So true - they are corporate enablers and not much else...

Their guns, God and gays thing is mainly to scare enough people into voting for them so that they can enable corporations.

[DrToast]

2. Why not? They're afraid of everything else...

Gay people
Minorities
Immigrants

etc.

[Jennicut]

4. They want Dems to handle the problems and possibly, handle the blame.

[great white snark]

5. So true

And all the while not contributing one single vote for any kind of progress. They like the mess, it's great campaign fodder for them.

[emulatorloo]

6. And they want to sabotage stuff so they can then call Obama "Carter-esque"

and berate the "Democrat Controlled Congress".

[babylonsister]

7. Or, they just want to flat out blame the Dems. chickenshits, the lot of them. nt

[OHdem10]

8. They made the Mess and they know it is going to take time to clean

it up. They really do not know how to clean it up.(The
Sorry Situation in which they left the country.)

They know their policies will make things worse. However,
after all they have implied to the Tea Party, they do not
want to be in the position of having to follow through.

They would have to cut Medicare, privatize SS (Tim Ryan Plan)
the list goes on. It is easier to throw stones at the Democrats.

Should they win, the Tea Party will hold their feet to the
fire. This could be a permanent hit on the Republican Party.

If the Teabaggers permit them to slide the Tea Baggers will
lose all their credibility.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

9. NO BALLS

[TheKentuckian]

10. Nah, they don't believe in governance. They do believe in wielding power and

and may not feel they will be able to do so with impunity without losing potential power going forward so some probably want more damage done to the Democratic brand before they can safely do business as usual without risking significant risk of blowback.

[Fearless]

11. Well they don't want to sit on the grenade that is our economy...

And come to think if it the Dems seem to be trying to give it away... Soooo... who's surprised really?

[lsewpershad]

12. Nope

Waiting for someone else to clean up their mess. They will have to wiat for a very long long time after that.

[Cha]

13. All they have are lies, hate, and ignorance..

you mean some of them think that isn't enough with the corporatemediawhores in your pocket?

[KingFlorez]

14. That sounds like the forming of an excuse for a poor electoral performance

I can see them pushing the meme that they let the Democrats win as part of some long-term strategy. Then again, they don't want to actually have to do any work and the majority party in Congress has to have an agenda, so perhaps they are afraid. It's probably a combination of both.

[tsuki]

15. Republicons don't govern, they rule. nt

[JoeyT]

17. I don't think they're really afraid to govern.

They're just really really really bad at it.

[depakid]

18. My bet is that they buy into the theory (most recent posted here in a WSJ piece)

that a takeover of the House would bolster Obama's chances for reelection in 2012.

It's an interesting argument that many dismissed out of hand- when they probably shouldn't have.