Over at the Arena today, moderator Fred Barbash asks:
How should Republicans vote on the stimulus bill today and why? Have House Dems mishandled this by cutting the Republicans out?
My answer had several points to make, which may seem obvious to us (and to many of my Arena colleagues, who commented similarly), but which have not seemed to sink in yet with others.
Your question is better phrased with an addition: Have House Republicans marginalized themselves into ineffectiveness? Because moderate Republicans in the House have lost, there are mostly ideological conservatives left, who either cannot or will not reasonably negotiate because it would mean being primaried by Club for Growth or some other even more conservative group.
House Republicans in their view have a choice: vote for a successful bill that credits Democrats, or vote for an unsuccessful bill that will be used against them down the road. That means that there is no reason for cooperation from House Republicans. However, the American people will have little patience for politics as usual, and the impetus is to act. House Republicans are therefore caught between Scylla and Charybdis.
The expectation that House Republicans will act in the nation's best interest is a shaky one at best (there will be better luck in the Senate.) And politically, as long as the face of Republicanism is Eric Cantor and Rush Limbaugh, they are going to take a pounding at the polls (both opinion polls and the kind that count votes.) This is not going to help the Republican party avoid marginalization, though it should play well on talk radio. But I suspect that it will take an election cycle or two for both the core Republican base and the media to get these kinds of numbers to sink in:
CONGRESSIONAL RATINGS: DEMOCRATS SEEN AS DOING A BETTER JOB THAN REPUBLICANS
A Majority of Voters Want Action, Regardless of who is in Power
"It is clear that voters are not in the mood for partisan posturing," commented Brent McGoldrick, Vice President of FD. "Given the challenges facing the country and the wave of high approval ratings President Obama is currently riding, individual Republicans and Democrats in Congress would do well to find common ground with the President where they can."
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Just Five Red States Left?
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