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Friday, May 16, 2008
Gloomy in America
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Peggy Noonan in the WSJ, on the glum outlook for Republicans:
“If they had pushed away for serious reasons, they could have separated the party’s fortunes from the president’s. This would have left a painfully broken party, but they wouldn’t be left with a ruined ‘brand,’ as they all say, speaking the language of marketing. And they speak that language because they are marketers, not thinkers. Not serious about policy. Not serious about ideas. And not serious about leadership, only followership.”
Her piece almost makes me feel sad about all this.
Honest, we tried to warn ‘em…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After losing three consecutive off-year elections in strongly GOP districts, congressional Republicans are really beginning to panic. They sense an impending November disaster that could put the party in the minority for decades, and like New Orleans before Katrina, they don’t know what to do about it.
Rep. Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican and former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told his GOP colleagues in a 20-page private memo that “the Republican brand is in the trash can. I’ve often observed that if we were a dog food, they would take us off the shelf.”
“Members (of Congress) and pundits waiting for Democrats to fumble the ball so that soft Republicans and independents will snap back to the GOP fail to understand the deep-seated antipathy toward the president, the war, gas prices, the economy, foreclosures and, in some areas, the underlying cultural differences that continue to brand our party,” Davis wrote.
Davis, by the way, has decided to evacuate before the hurricane hits. He’s retiring.
I agree fully with President Bush….
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Asked which baseball player he would pick first if starting a new franchise, the former Texas Rangers president said:
“I like (Chase) Utley from the Philadelphia Phillies. He’s a middle infielder, which is always - you know, they say strength up the middle. There’s nothing better than having a good person up the middle that can hit.”
I’d love to have Utley on my fantasy baseball team, but my brother stole him. That’s OK though — my team is still in first place. Thought you’d want to know.
Credit where it’s due…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I see on Political Insider that five Georgia Republicans — U.S. Reps. Paul Broun, Nathan Deal, John Linder, Tom Price and Lynn Westmoreland — voted against the $289 billion farm bill. As the Aussies would say, “good onya.”
Farm bills are a scandal, and this one’s worst than most. The farm lobby is a millionaire’s cabal, with sugar states, cotton states, corn states and others dominating the ag committees and protecting each other’s sweetheart deals from outside attack. Political Insider’s take on the farm bill
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