2.14.2006
Bush Flickers Out, Republicans Face Mass Hibernation (Observer.com)
By Chris Lehmann
History and polling are two things the Bush administration professes to scorn. But as the 2006 elections speed toward us, both appear to be overtaking the Republican Party, and the Republicans are hardly in position to take on more bad news.
Just before last week’s vote designating John A. Boehner as House Majority Leader, the Club for Growth—one of the Hill’s biggest low-tax, pro-business political-action committees—released an opinion survey covering 20 key House races.
The survey supplies an advance view of what it could take for Democrats to turn around their present 30-vote deficit in the House. Fourteen of the races involve Republican incumbents facing tough re-election fights, five are open seats, and one is an open district—the one formerly belonging to the stunningly corrupt, indicted and since-departed House member Randy (Duke) Cunningham.
Now President Bush’s terse verdict on the political past—“History. We don’t know. We’ll all be dead”—is looking just a little too vivid for G.O.P. candidates and consultants trying to avoid becoming history themselves.
(More ... NYO - News Story 2) ¶ 19:58
History and polling are two things the Bush administration professes to scorn. But as the 2006 elections speed toward us, both appear to be overtaking the Republican Party, and the Republicans are hardly in position to take on more bad news.
Just before last week’s vote designating John A. Boehner as House Majority Leader, the Club for Growth—one of the Hill’s biggest low-tax, pro-business political-action committees—released an opinion survey covering 20 key House races.
The survey supplies an advance view of what it could take for Democrats to turn around their present 30-vote deficit in the House. Fourteen of the races involve Republican incumbents facing tough re-election fights, five are open seats, and one is an open district—the one formerly belonging to the stunningly corrupt, indicted and since-departed House member Randy (Duke) Cunningham.
Now President Bush’s terse verdict on the political past—“History. We don’t know. We’ll all be dead”—is looking just a little too vivid for G.O.P. candidates and consultants trying to avoid becoming history themselves.
(More ... NYO - News Story 2) ¶ 19:58
