by Mark Silva
Republicans got "a thumpin''' in the last midterm elections, George W. Bush once famously said.
Now Republicans are plotting "a thumpin''' of their own in the next midterms - and they're drawing on the game-plan of the Democratic architect of the last "thumpin:''' Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who was a congressman from Chicago at the time and ran his party's successful campaign for control of the House.
California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, chief recruiter for the Republicans' House campaigns, says he wants his party to pick its candidates based less on ideology and more on their prospects for winning, Bloomberg News reports. He is seeking candidates who are ethnically diverse, female, less partisan "and even supportive of abortion rights'' - though at the moment, this is a drawing board scenario.
"Have you read 'The Thumpin'?" asks McCarthy, citing the book about Emanuel's brass-knuckles approach to winning control of the House for Democrats in 2006 - it was penned by then-Tribune writer Naftali Bendavid.
"This isn't original thought,'' McCarthy says of the notion of picking winners.
In 2006, Emanuel recruited "anti-abortion, pro-gun candidates such as Brad Ellsworth, 50, a sheriff in Indiana, and Heath Shuler, 37, a former NFL quarterback, in North Carolina,'' Bloomberg's Heidi Przybyla writes. "The premise: identify candidates whose views best mirror those of their districts' constituents rather than Democratic Party orthodoxy.''
So McCarthy is trying to recruit John McKinney, a Republican state senator from Connecticut. On his Web site, McKinney describes himself as a fiscally conservative, socially moderate centrist. He has said he is considering a run for the U.S. House, though he hasn't made a formal announcement. His spokesman, Brett Cody, says McKinney supports abortion rights.
McCarthy calls this sense of pragmatism essential to rebuilding his party, which lost control of Congress and the White House in the past two election cycles.
We're at 178" seats in the House out of 435, he tells Bloomberg. "You get beyond the majority and people can worry about what they want to purify."
The argument rankles some Republicans, Bloomberg notes: "Standing for something is better than standing for nothing," says consultant Eddie Mahe. "There's that age-old saying, 'The reason moderates don't accomplish much is they don't believe in anything enough to fight for."
Comments
Here are some of those Republican "values/principles" that are going to keep them in minority for years to come:
• Invasion of privacy when it pleases them
• Constant campaigns of fear to keep the masses controllable
• Free enterprise that benefits the top 1% at the detriment of everyone else
• Religious fringe/narrow minded philosophies (climate change a myth, creationism not)
• Wars based primarily on corporate interests and fed to us as patriotic necessity
The Republican party has veered off into Gattaca-ville. They believe their platform promotes freedom and individuality but their too blind to see the truth - situations like Teri Schaivo, phone-tapping, torture approval methods and pre-emptive wars have, until the last 10 years, been a fringe mentality. Thanks to George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and their Nazi-like followers this kind of thinking about what a democracy is has been pushed into the mainstream. Granted, much of it was pushed through the gauze of fear (mushroom clouds, alert levels, enemies within), but thank God America finally came to their senses.
And that brings us to Cheney. His recent statements prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Republican party has NEVER had any intention of working with the rest of us. They maintained their fringe mentality and always intended to shove it down our throats whether we liked it or not. Lets face it, if we DIDN'T like it, we were branded as traitors. As long as we did, we would cheer for the team and become blindly complacent to corruption (Halliburton), laziness (Katrina) and a lack of oversight and enforcement of laws (mortgage industry) that has undone our reputation and the world's economy.
Posted by: Mick Hendrix | May 14, 2009 4:33 PM
I'm loving this moment. Pretty soon it will only be Rush, Beck and Palin in the lounge at the local Applebee's in Alabama rousing the GOPer base of about 20 teabaggers.
The party of Limbaugh (GOP) did this to themselves and now all they lack is a crying towel as they tearfully wave goodbye to the few remaining Reagan Democrats. They primaried out nearly all of their moderates and can't win national election with their extremist base. Good riddance.
It will take decades to undo all the damage they've done to themselves.
Posted by: InUtero | May 14, 2009 5:20 PM
Breaking News: John McCain's 97 year old Mother has been thrown out of the Republican Party by Grand Poohba Rush Limbaugh.
Yep, throwing out every moderate is areally going to ensure a thumpin'
Posted by: Nick | May 14, 2009 5:52 PM
To further their cause in 2010, the Republicans have revealed their strategy: Religious bigotry.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hWmxJgmN9ad_kg9v9rzwOMqmaxdgD9867B180
Posted by: Ben | May 14, 2009 6:10 PM
Replicans may make a dent in the Dem majorities next year.
So, the big pieces of legislation need to get done this year, including the immigration bill.
This is the golden year, believe it or not.
It doesn't get any better than this.
Posted by: ornery | May 14, 2009 11:59 PM
What is the GOP going to offer the American people?? They stand for nothingness except lies, hypocrisy, bigotry, and intolerance. The UnitedStates is in the condition its in because of them. They have no leadership or direction or ideas. They are vile and foul smelling - 'bug eyes' McConnell, John Boner, Sarah Palin, Michael Steele, the list goes on and no and on.
Posted by: Doug R. | May 15, 2009 8:30 AM
The DEMOCRATS lower standards, bring MORE government into people's lives, restricts freedoms, wants people to PAY MORE TAXES (people want? to pay taxes, it's patriotic-tell that to Geithner and Sebelius and Daschle), bash religions, WANTS MORE GOVERNMENT in people's lives.
Democrats spend, spend, spend and have put this country into debt for decades and decades and decades.
If government can't handle Social Security and Medicare-they tell us it's going bankrupt...just imagine what happens when government intervenes in healthcare...a disaster, just a disaster.
The government will be telling you what procedures you can and can't have based on protocols they developed.
Keep democrats out of your healthcare. And keep democrats out of office.
They want to play daddy and mommy and tell you what to eat, how much electricity to use, where your children should go to school (while they have their kids in private schools), what procedures doctors are allowed to perform, what medicine you can take, how much money you can earn, how much taxes you have to pay.
Vote out democrats. They are evil.
Posted by: Marl | May 15, 2009 11:01 AM
yes indeed...as soon as the republican party is done throwing out all the moderates, there will be a thumping.
Posted by: bill r. | May 15, 2009 12:33 PM