The GOP’s bad ideas

24 September 2010 |permalink | email article

Republicans unveiled their “Pledge to America” Thursday, suggesting it will be their agenda for governing if they retake the House of Representatives in November – an attempted replay of the “Contract with America” the GOP put forth when it recaptured control of the House in 1994. It’s largely a retread of that document, updated with George W. Bush-era ideas: repealing Obamacare, canceling unspent stimulus money, and extending all the Bush tax cuts.

Pat Buchanan, the conservative icon, labeled it a flop, while Tea Partiers groused it skirted specifics like Social Security and Medicare. Ezra Klein, the Washington Post’s economic and domestic policy guru, called it “an idea,” “an inspiration” and “a belief.” And the GOP wants to govern.

Field Poll: Brown, Whitman Dead Heat

The Democratic attorney general and the billionaire businesswoman are in tie despite her spending somewhere in the range of $60 million in advertising alone to cripple the former governor’s late starting and under funded campaign. To boot, her favorability rating has remained static since late spring.

Whitman’s campaign must be pleased that in a blue state where Democrats hold a 2.3 million voter edge over Republicans she remains very competitive. Females are evenly divided at 41 percent each. Poll director Mark DiCamillo noted Whitman is “negating the Democratic advantage” among female voters who have voted for Democrats by double-digit margins over the past 20 years.

It’s now clear that both candidates are also dead even – each at 38 percent each – in their appeal to independent voters, who make up 1 in 5 state voters, DeCamillo added. But 24 percent of those voters have yet to decide whom they will support.

Brown, first elected governor when he was 36, is campaigning for a third term 27 years after he left office. Now 72 he must hit the refresh button and reintroduce himself as a populist offering a new generation of voters experienced leadership. He’s using an old playbook and needs an upgrade forthwith!

“Obama’s Wars”

Bob Woodward’s new book, to be released on Monday, lays bare internal divisions and vigorous debate over strategy in Afghanistan. My take is a reluctant President Obama got gamed by military commanders over the duration of the campaign, notably how to drawn down forces come next July. In an October 2009 Afghanistan strategy meeting with Defense Secretary Gates and Secretary of State Clinton Obama said: “I’m not doing 10 years…I’m not doing long-term nation-building. I am not spending a trillion dollars” – a comment which should be memorialized in stone. 

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