GOP Goal: To Bring Down Approval Numbers

[jillian]

Bummer they don't want to fix the mess they made. But it does explain why the wingnuts have been so desperately spewing:

Down Approval Numbers” For Dems
GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry, a key player in helping craft the Republican message, has offered an unusually blunt description of the Republican strategy right now.

McHenry’s description is buried in this new article from National Journal (sub. only):

“We will lose on legislation. But we will win the message war every day, and every week, until November 2010,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., an outspoken conservative who has participated on the GOP message teams. “Our goal is to bring down approval numbers for [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and for House Democrats. That will take repetition. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”

McHenry’s spokesperson, Brock McCleary, tells me his boss is standing by the quote.

McHenry’s description of his party’s goal — to “bring down approval numbers” for Nancy Pelosi and House Dems — is being much talked about today among Congressional Dems. It’s likely that Dems will grab on to the quote today to bolster their charge that Congressional Republicans aren’t interested in playing a constructive role in governing and see their hope for political revival in the eventual failure of the Democratic majority’s policies.

GOP Rep: “Our Goal Is To Bring Down Approval Numbers” For Dems | The Plum Line

 

[DiamondDave]

Personally I think it was a poor statement and stance to have

The goal should be to show that as conservatives they will not support these shit policies whatsoever.. and that when they fail, that they would have the track record of being against these stupid things all along

Approval numbers don't mean shit.. and why this guy would focus on that is beyond me

 

[elvis]

obama's numbers will decline. it will just take a while.

 

[jillian]

Personally I think it was a poor statement and stance to have

The goal should be to show that as conservatives they will not support these shit policies whatsoever.. and that when they fail, that they would have the track record of being against these stupid things all along

Approval numbers don't mean shit.. and why this guy would focus on that is beyond me

They are focused on approval numbers because that is what speaks to the 2010 midterm elections. They don't care about this country....

and they may not support Obama's policies, but they haven't offered any alternatives aside from the ones that led to this mess in the first place.

The GOP isn't conservative... they are reactionaries and have been for at least the last ten to twelve years, if not longer.

 

[DiamondDave]

Personally I think it was a poor statement and stance to have

The goal should be to show that as conservatives they will not support these shit policies whatsoever.. and that when they fail, that they would have the track record of being against these stupid things all along

Approval numbers don't mean shit.. and why this guy would focus on that is beyond me

They are focused on approval numbers because that is what speaks to the 2010 midterm elections. They don't care about this country....

and they may not support Obama's policies, but they haven't offered any alternatives aside from the ones that led to this mess in the first place.

The GOP isn't conservative... they are reactionaries and have been for at least the last ten to twelve years, if not longer.

Give me a break jill.. the DEMs are only worried about that shit too... they are not concerned about the country... as evidenced by what they are trying to pass... it is about control

Alternatives have been offered... legit ones... but as stated, the DEMs want power and bigger government controls... and ones like you buy into it hook, line and sinker... and you refuse to look at and acknowledge the many things that HELPED us to be where we are economically... and you refuse to admit that #1 that it is not all government's fault and #2 that more government meddling and power is not the answer

 

[editec]

Personally I think it was a poor statement and stance to have

The goal should be to show that as conservatives they will not support these shit policies whatsoever.. and that when they fail, that they would have the track record of being against these stupid things all along

Approval numbers don't mean shit.. and why this guy would focus on that is beyond me

Because he's a more a party partisan, than an american patriot, of course.

All that matters to these partisans is the next election.

What happens to America or Americans is merely of collatoral interest to partisans.

 

[auditor0007]

Bummer they don't want to fix the mess they made. But it does explain why the wingnuts have been so desperately spewing:

Down Approval Numbers” For Dems
GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry, a key player in helping craft the Republican message, has offered an unusually blunt description of the Republican strategy right now.

McHenry’s description is buried in this new article from National Journal (sub. only):

“We will lose on legislation. But we will win the message war every day, and every week, until November 2010,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., an outspoken conservative who has participated on the GOP message teams. “Our goal is to bring down approval numbers for [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and for House Democrats. That will take repetition. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”

McHenry’s spokesperson, Brock McCleary, tells me his boss is standing by the quote.

McHenry’s description of his party’s goal — to “bring down approval numbers” for Nancy Pelosi and House Dems — is being much talked about today among Congressional Dems. It’s likely that Dems will grab on to the quote today to bolster their charge that Congressional Republicans aren’t interested in playing a constructive role in governing and see their hope for political revival in the eventual failure of the Democratic majority’s policies.

GOP Rep: “Our Goal Is To Bring Down Approval Numbers” For Dems | The Plum Line

Is that similar to the Dems focusing on Rush Limbaugh to divert people's attention from the policies they are trying to enact?

 

[jillian]

Give me a break jill.. the DEMs are only worried about that shit too... they are not concerned about the country... as evidenced by what they are trying to pass... it is about control

Alternatives have been offered... legit ones... but as stated, the DEMs want power and bigger government controls... and ones like you buy into it hook, line and sinker... and you refuse to look at and acknowledge the many things that HELPED us to be where we are economically... and you refuse to admit that #1 that it is not all government's fault and #2 that more government meddling and power is not the answer

don't shoot the messenger....

as far as I can tell, they've offered nothing beyond what screwed everything up for the last eight years. even people like pat buchanan acknowledge that.

I don't believe it's "government's fault"... I do believe that it is largely (though not solely) the fault of the incompetents who ran the government for the last eight years.

 

[Ravi]

Yes, what solution have they offered DD? Cut taxes is about the only one I've heard.

 

[jillian]

and let GM and citibank die....

cause that worked so well with Lehman Bros.

 

[toomuchtime_]

Personally I think it was a poor statement and stance to have

The goal should be to show that as conservatives they will not support these shit policies whatsoever.. and that when they fail, that they would have the track record of being against these stupid things all along

Approval numbers don't mean shit.. and why this guy would focus on that is beyond me

They are focused on approval numbers because that is what speaks to the 2010 midterm elections. They don't care about this country....

and they may not support Obama's policies, but they haven't offered any alternatives aside from the ones that led to this mess in the first place.

The GOP isn't conservative... they are reactionaries and have been for at least the last ten to twelve years, if not longer.

Actually, the Republicans have offered fresh approaches to the financial crisis and it is the Democrats who appear to be bogged down in ideological flag waving.

Last fall, as the Democrats panicked at the news of the financial crisis and climbed over one another to pile on Paulson's TARP bandwagon, the House Republicans said it was an expensive bandaid that wouldn't even begin to solve the underlying problem of the collapsed market for debt backed securities, and suggested that instead of spending hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars to try to recapitalize the banks, the government should offer to sell insurance to the banks on a portion of the long term value of these securities. the insured value less the cost of the insurance premium would establish a firm base price for the security so that a market for them could be revived and that would allow the mark to market price rise to a fair valuation of the long term value of the security. This would have made the debt backed securities liquid and raised the banks' reserves without spending one dollar of taxpayer money. In the worst case, the government might have to buy some of these securities at the insured price, but this was what TARP was proposing to do anyway, and in the Republican plan, this cost to taxpayers would have been partially or wholly offset by the insurance premiums the banks would have paid.

This is precisely the policy the Treasury and Fed have subsequently applied to reviving the market for short term securities that provide much of the cash flow on which businesses depend for their day to day operating expenses, and the only criticism leveled against the House Republican plan was that it wouldn't solve the financial crisis as quickly as TARP would. So why did the House Democrats refused to even hold hearings on this plan? Because there was no way Pelosi and the House Democrats would allow the financial crisis to be solved by Republican ideas. The Democrats preferred to commit taxpayers to trillions of dollars of new debt and to allow the recession to run longer and deeper than to allow the Republican ideas to get credit for solving the financial crisis.

 

[editec]

Bummer they don't want to fix the mess they made. But it does explain why the wingnuts have been so desperately spewing:

Down Approval Numbers” For Dems
GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry, a key player in helping craft the Republican message, has offered an unusually blunt description of the Republican strategy right now.

McHenry’s description is buried in this new article from National Journal (sub. only):

“We will lose on legislation. But we will win the message war every day, and every week, until November 2010,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., an outspoken conservative who has participated on the GOP message teams. “Our goal is to bring down approval numbers for [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and for House Democrats. That will take repetition. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”

McHenry’s spokesperson, Brock McCleary, tells me his boss is standing by the quote.

McHenry’s description of his party’s goal — to “bring down approval numbers” for Nancy Pelosi and House Dems — is being much talked about today among Congressional Dems. It’s likely that Dems will grab on to the quote today to bolster their charge that Congressional Republicans aren’t interested in playing a constructive role in governing and see their hope for political revival in the eventual failure of the Democratic majority’s policies.

GOP Rep: “Our Goal Is To Bring Down Approval Numbers” For Dems | The Plum Line

Is that similar to the Dems focusing on Rush Limbaugh to divert people's attention from the policies they are trying to enact?

Probably...assuming that they were smart enough to have planned that.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

Like the Dem's goal wasn't bad approval numbers for Booooosh. Remember Pelosi? "Why should we have a plan? Our plan is to stop him (Bush)"

You only just now discovered this? You should be feeling refreshed with at least their honesty, this has been going on since the 80s and both parties are guilty of it.

 

[Sinatra]

The Republican Party has lost a clear unified message - but not conservatives.

As for the Democrats, the infighting amongst them has increased tenfold in recent weeks. Waging a message war between the two is common politics - for better or worse, so to point to one example as a negative while ignoring the repeated past examples by the other side negates your premise to silly partisan ranting.

Just as conservatives are fighting to re-establish dominance of the Republican brand, so too are leftists and the more moderate Democrats fighting among themselves for party control. And beyond that, you have the continued power struggle between the Pelosi-Reid bastion vs the Obama White House, and beyond that, the struggle between Pelosi and Reid themselves.

If Republicans can return to a legitimate message of conservatism, they will gain Congressional seats in 2010. If not -they will continue to be stuck in the political mud spinning their collective wheels as the Democrats continue to wobble between the left and the middle.

washingtonpost.com

 

[DiamondDave]

Yes, what solution have they offered DD? Cut taxes is about the only one I've heard.

Have GM and others restructure via bankruptcy (bankruptcy does not mean they will be going away... but fixing a problem situation)

I am not calling for tax cuts... never have.... the only thing you DO see me call for is EQUAL % taxation for every US citizen and corporation, with an elimination of loopholes and the complex tax system

Address real needs and real infrastructure with any government money that is being spent.. roads, etc... not research into pig stink, not building go-kart parks and other various things that the government has NO business putting our money into

REDUCE GOVERNMENT SPENDING

Money is best served in the hands of the people who spend it... not in bureaucratic red tape, endless layers of government programs with huge amounts of $$$ wasted in middle layers.. money in the hands of the people and not government projects for power grabs

Repeal laws/government practices that force banks to give out high risk loans to people who have no chance to pay them off

Lead by example and actually don't spend more than the government takes in.. (an no phony baloney crapola like Clinton tried to pull with hiding it in intergovernmental spending)

Look into the necessary laws to discourage a preference of foreign labor and foreign products... seriously look at changing the structure of tariffs

And finally... realize that with or without huge government intervention, the economy will turn around... even with Obama's destructive efforts, our economy will turn around.. even if we did nothing the economy would turn around... stop pretending that the government is the only way out of this and putting the cape of fear on the American public to pass a radical agenda

 

[xsited1]

...

“We will lose on legislation. But we will win the message war every day, and every week, until November 2010,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., an outspoken conservative who has participated on the GOP message teams. “Our goal is to bring down approval numbers for [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and for House Democrats. That will take repetition. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”

McHenry’s spokesperson, Brock McCleary, tells me his boss is standing by the quote.

...

It's all they have left. They'll lose on legislation because the Democrats outnumber the Republicans. However, if they had done a good job in the first place, their vote would matter.

 

[Xenophon]

Bummer they don't want to fix the mess they made. But it does explain why the wingnuts have been so desperately spewing:

Down Approval Numbers” For Dems
GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry, a key player in helping craft the Republican message, has offered an unusually blunt description of the Republican strategy right now.

McHenry’s description is buried in this new article from National Journal (sub. only):

“We will lose on legislation. But we will win the message war every day, and every week, until November 2010,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., an outspoken conservative who has participated on the GOP message teams. “Our goal is to bring down approval numbers for [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and for House Democrats. That will take repetition. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”

McHenry’s spokesperson, Brock McCleary, tells me his boss is standing by the quote.

McHenry’s description of his party’s goal — to “bring down approval numbers” for Nancy Pelosi and House Dems — is being much talked about today among Congressional Dems. It’s likely that Dems will grab on to the quote today to bolster their charge that Congressional Republicans aren’t interested in playing a constructive role in governing and see their hope for political revival in the eventual failure of the Democratic majority’s policies.

GOP Rep: “Our Goal Is To Bring Down Approval Numbers” For Dems | The Plum Line

Democrats have total control in the house, if their numbers decline it can only be blaimed on themselves, not anyone else.

 

[Ravi]

Sorry, Dave...I can't take you seriously when you say to repeal a law that forces banks to lend money. Such a law doesn't exist.

 

[editec]

Give me a break jill.. the DEMs are only worried about that shit too... they are not concerned about the country... as evidenced by what they are trying to pass... it is about control

Alternatives have been offered... legit ones... but as stated, the DEMs want power and bigger government controls... and ones like you buy into it hook, line and sinker... and you refuse to look at and acknowledge the many things that HELPED us to be where we are economically... and you refuse to admit that #1 that it is not all government's fault and #2 that more government meddling and power is not the answer

don't shoot the messenger....

as far as I can tell, they've offered nothing beyond what screwed everything up for the last eight years. even people like pat buchanan acknowledge that.

I don't believe it's "government's fault"... I do believe that it is largely (though not solely) the fault of the incompetents who ran the government for the last eight years.

Pat Buchannan is one of the most astute observers of our society that is still on TV.

Like you Jill, I used to think the man was a goosestepping brownshirt.

Then I started reading his books.

He's not.

He is, however, an overt and unapologetic supporter of Western culture and a nationalistic American.

That is often interpeted as racist especially by political competitors seeking to prevent his POV from becoming understood.

It is VERY EASY to parce out a sentence or paragraph from a complex issue which is nuanced, and make your target sound like something other than he really is.

That is, what I believe the Republicans did to Pat when he was running for POTUS.

Since he was questioning the sense of our unqulified support for Isreal, he set himself up to be easily mischaracterized as a NAZI.

I don't think he's a NAZI at ALL.

I don't think he's an anitSemite, either.

Not based on my reading of his books thus far, at least.

 

[editec]

Like the Dem's goal wasn't bad approval numbers for Booooosh.

Yes, that's a fair comparison, I quite agree.

Remember Pelosi? "Why should we have a plan? Our plan is to stop him (Bush)"

I don't remember it, but I don't doubt it.

You only just now discovered this? You should be feeling refreshed with at least their honesty, this has been going on since the 80s and both parties are guilty of it.

True enough.

It's far easier to manipulate the public if you simplify the debate down to things which not very well informed people can easily misunderstand.