Republicans worry about attacking Obama too aggressively

[ProSense]

The Morning Plum: Republicans worry about attacking Obama too aggressively

By Greg Sargent

Ever since Beltway scandal-mania broke out, Republicans have struggled over how openly to acknowledge that pursuing the various scandals is all about weakening President Obama. This has created some comically contradictory messaging...Darrell Issa recently insisted that the scandals are not ”about President Obama,” claiming Republicans are “not accusing the president” of anything yet. At the same time, though, Mitch McConnell has released a web video tying Obama himself directly to Nixon, and multiple Republicans keep blaming the scandals on an alleged “culture of intimidation” that flows directly from the top.

The contradiction highlights what appears to be genuine worry among Republicans about overreaching in their efforts to use these scandals to attack the President, risking a voter backlash similar to the one Republican suffered in the 1998 midterms.

But don’t take my word for it. In a must-read in the New York Times today, Republican officials confirm this to be the case. They warn the GOP against attacking Obama too directly, given his high favorability ratings, and openly worry about a rerun of the 1990s:

“I don’t think I’d personalize it,” said John Linder, the former congressman from Georgia who ran the National Republican Congressional Committee during the late 1990s while Newt Gingrich and House Republicans were preparing an impeachment case against President Bill Clinton. Mr. Linder said he fought and lost a battle with Mr. Gingrich over their strategy in the 1998 midterm elections, which Mr. Gingrich thought should be focused on assailing Mr. Clinton’s character.

“I didn’t want to talk about Clinton at all,” Mr. Linder recalled, saying the same logic should apply today. “Obama was not in the Justice Department. Obama was not working in the I.R.S.” His advice? “Don’t overreach,” he said.

In the fall of 1998, Republicans poured tens of millions of dollars into a television ad campaign with slogans like “Honesty does matter,” a thinly veiled reference to Mr. Clinton’s duplicity about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. They lost big that year, and it marked the first time since 1822 that the party that held the White House gained seats in the House of Representatives during a second term.

And look at what former Senator Olympia Snowe has to say:

“They have to have the ability to understand that the American people want more than just negativity about President Obama,” said Olympia J. Snowe, the Republican former senator from Maine, who has just written a book on bridging the country’s partisan divide. “If you can’t make that important pivot to what Republicans stand for and how they’ve gotten the message, I think there will be even more damage to the Republican Party.”

The problem, of course, is that Republicans are also committed to pursuing these scandals — and attacking Obama directly over them — as part of a deliberate strategy to whip up the base for 2014. They are tethered to a midterm strategy centered on attacking Obamacare implementation problems and hyping Beltway scandals in order to create a sinister narrative of Obama/Dem Big Government Overreach. Yet as Snowe notes, focusing only on “negativity about President Obama” is getting in the way of the GOP’s need to develop an affirmative agenda of its own.

- more -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/05/31/the-morning-plum-republicans-worry-about-attacking-obama-too-aggressively/

Poll: Huge Majority Says Economy Should Trump Congressional Investigations
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022921185

Obama’s poll numbers hold up despite the storm of scandal
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022921349

Howard Dean: Republicans "doing everything they can to make sure Congress goes Democratic in 2014"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022790812

[BenzoDia]

1. I have a crazy idea. They should try leadership instead!

The only people who are receptive to the personal attacks is their already rabid fan base.

[mnmoderatedem]

2. NOW they're coming to that realization?

that's a little like Tammy Faye Bakker wondering if she maybe goes a little too heavy on the makeup...

[liberal N proud]

3. Their obstructionism has worn thin with the public.

[Jennicut]

4. The Repubs won't stop themselves, it's all they have done since 2009.

Just this morning Boehner said Obama was picking a fight over student loans because he wanted to take attention away from "his scandals". As if student loans rising mean nothing to the economy.

[ProSense]

5. No, they won't.

"Just this morning Boehner said Obama was picking a fight over student loans because he wanted to take attention away from 'his scandals'. As if student loans rising mean nothing to the economy."

Here's a piece on the student loan issue and Boehner's whining:

Student loans reclaim center stage
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022926688

[Jennicut]

8. Thank you. Boehner and the Repubs are the one's trying to avoid the issues

important to regular people. He should ask Scott Rasmussen why he has his daily tracking poll at 52% approval for President Obama. People care more about their everyday issues like trying to make a living. Not about so called hyped up scandals that really didn't involve the President. I remember paying off my student loans from the 90's. My kids are still very young but I know this will eventually effect them when they go to college.

[Arugula Latte]

6. They've got nothin'. They are pathetic worms who are a disgrace to this nation.

[kysrsoze]

7. Really? Why do I not believe that? Dildo Issa will continue to issue subpoena after subpoena.

This is only the start. The opinoins of people like Snowe, who bailed out of the Senate, are irrelevant. Rancid Penis is positively giddy every time he talks about it.