Are we better off than 8 years ago?
Paulie Brading
It was a bold gamble that ultimately failed yesterday when the House Republicans used their tired strategy of accenting divisions along party lines, complaining that the Democrats were trying to stifle their voices. In the end after time wasting squabbling, one Republican voted to adopt the same rules that are always adopted. I give credit to R- Bruce Hanna for stating he felt it was important to get past the dispute and start taking up policy issues.
The real issue is the Oregon Republican Party, like the National Republican Party is cracking up. Under their watch, the size of government increased, they ran up the largest national deficit (don't forget the cost of the war) ever and steadfastly gave tax cuts to the wealthy. Their party of radical ideas, exclusion, fiscal mismanagement and ineffectiveness has given every voter in Oregon a reason to look elsewhere.
Perhaps R- Bruce Hanna figured out that the Republicans have to start over with different appeals, agendas and a mix of different concerns. Perhaps he realizes the Republican Party has been changed forever by the events of the last eight years.
Vance Day, head of the Oregon Republican Party, took a cheap shot at the Speaker of the House yesterday, playing right along with the House Republican's political theatre. In the end, neither strategy worked. The reason their strategy didn't work is because they no longer have credibility. Bush's long record of incompetence has eroded every Republican's argument that they are the party that can be trusted.
If the Oregon House Republicans continue to encourage increased partisanship and diviseness it will only reinforce voters who believe those very actions are the cause of the Republican Party failures.
2008 will be a pivotal election. I'll be at the Jackson County Super Tuesday Party enjoying being a small part of the pivot.
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10:06 a.m.
Feb 5, '08
The real issue is the Oregon Republican Party, like the National Republican Party is cracking up. Under their watch, the size of government increased, they ran up the largest national deficit (don't forget the cost of the war) ever and steadfastly gave tax cuts to the wealthy.
Funny thing Paulie, I just finished a Glenn Greenwald article on Salon, pointing out how badly the National Dems have misread the voters' will in the '06 election. The proof being that right after the election, congressional Dems had a much higher approval rating than the Repubs, but that lead has steadily dwindled as the voters have watched the Dems pander and triangulate. HYere's the pullquote on that one:
But this is where the real lesson is to be found. The approval rating for Democrats in Congress has plummeted steadily since the American electorate gave them control of Congress in early 2007. Early on, ratings for Congressional Democrats were consistently near 50% as Americans had high hopes for their willingness to change the course of the country and place real limits on the deeply unpopular Republican policies. But as Congressional Democrats became more and more characterized by capitulation and an unwillingness to stand up to Republicans, their approval numbers steadily dropped to its current mark, just one point away from their lowest approval rating of the last 14 months.
Oregon Dem legislative leadership has taken the opposite approach, and has actually passed legislation useful to Oregon voters.
They will be rewarded barring any huge blunders in the special session. I just wish that Chuck and Hil and Diane and Harry had a couple of staffers that had at a minimum the ability to interperet the public mood that is on a par with that of the average staffer of Chip Shields, Dave Hunt, Jeff Merkley, and the rest of our Oregon kids.
Or maybe if they just took a minimal stab at behaving like progressives, which seems to be what the nation and Oregon want.
Feb 5, '08
Oregon Republicans are in much worse shape than the national Republican party. Even in a very down year for them, it's not hard to see how their presidential candidate might end up being elected. In Congress, they still control the movement of legislation, if not the agenda itself.
At the state level, however, there's virtually NO chance that they will elect anyone to a statewide office this year. Oregon R influence continues to decline steadily, if not dramatically.
Feb 5, '08
What I find personally amusing is that every now and then you'll see stories in The Big O which essentially amount to the Oregon GOP wondering out loud how they could make themselves more appealing to voters.
I recall distinctly not so long ago either Mannix or Saxton saying how sad it was that more Republicans weren't getting electing to Oregon's Big Three (Gov, SecStat, Treas) and wondering what the GOP could do about it.
But it's wasn't a sort of "mercy, we were wrong about not looking out for the regular-Joe Oregon citizen," it was more like "you just don't get that you should vote for us. How can we make you wake up and start voting R?"
Which is typical of the run of state Republicans over the last 20-odd years; smug, out of touch, and loaded with contempt for anyone who doesn't see things the way they do.
The last decent Oregon Republican was Atiyeh. They'd boot McCall out on his rear.
12:27 p.m.
Feb 5, '08
Agreed. As Paulie points out, it's gotta be one of the driving motives behind the RPO's repeated attacks on Speaker Merkley. Although it's good to see that at least Rep. Hanna doesn't appear to see it as a useful strategy.
What's disheartening to me is seeing the odd "progressive" defending Vance Day's attacks as legit.
12:58 p.m.
Feb 5, '08
The House Republicans are a mess and they know it. The few times I was down there last session they were always scrambling, pulling tricks like getting enough members to leave the floor so there wasn't a quorum. It was disgusting to watch.
I have to admit that having had a few friends killed or seriously injured due to car crashes, I'd personally felt the video was in bad taste. That's just me, as I know others (both Merkley and Novick supporters) didn't feel the same way. Some of the people I've talked with who did dislike the video said they would have felt differently had the driver not been cited.
1:16 p.m.
Feb 5, '08
Having had a few friends of my own killed in car crashes I can empathize, Jenni. But at the same time "tragedy" is the soul of comedy, as many famous comedians have stated over the years.
1:29 p.m.
Feb 5, '08
Kevin:
True. I guess I just didn't get the laugh out of it that I was supposed to - reminded me of some of the SNL skits that just don't go as planned.
Normally I don't read the paper as we don't buy it and I hate the Oregon Live web site, but yesterday we were up at Timberline having lunch and the paper was there at the table. I was reading the Metro section and saw the story on the candidates' online ads and how Vince Day was making a big deal out of Merkley's ad.
I partially understood some of his concern (since like I said I found joking about it to be in bad taste), but felt that they were making a bigger deal out of it than it was. It was just a little humor coming from the people involved in the accident which didn't hurt anyone. There are much bigger things to deal with, like policy and issue differences.
But then again, when their candidate can't decide what his stance on the issue actually is (and that it actually means voting for or against something when it comes to the floor), I'm not surprised they want to focus on a humorous web ad rather than the substance of the race.
1:48 p.m.
Feb 5, '08
Well said, Jenni.
Personally, I think Paulie gets to the heart of it as well as any commentary I've seen yet.
3:05 p.m.
Feb 5, '08
My gosh Kevin, I'm blushing. Thanks.
3:48 p.m.
Feb 5, '08