Republicans worry about attacking Obama too aggressively

[babylonsister]

The Morning Plum: Republicans worry about attacking Obama too aggressively

By Greg Sargent, Published: May 31, 2013


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.

House GOP investigations chief 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.”

more...

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

[riqster]

1. If what they've BEEN doing hasn't been aggressive,

Then one shudders at how Reeps define the term.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

4. That's along the lines of what I was thinking

They thrown everything AND the kitchen sink at him since he was elected in 2008. And now they're "worried" about being too "aggressive"?

[LonePirate]

2. It's too bad Snowe didn't practice some of what she's preaching when she was in the Senate.

She was pretty much a partisan hack like the rest of the radicals in her caucus.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

5. Yeah

I get tired of the "praise" that gets heaped on her and other fake "moderate Republicans" (see Susan Collins also) that the media chooses to hoist up as shining examples of bipartisanship for making a few bipartisan-y statements once in a while even though they turn right around and fall in line with Mitch McConnell and John Boehner when the times comes to actually demonstrate bipartisanship by voting across party lines and/or at least refusing to be obstructionist. She really has no credibility when it comes to talking about "bipartisanship". I'm also tired of the whole "both sides do it" false equivalency that people like her peddle.

[msongs]

3. he might get angry and stop appointing republicans to top government jobs lol nt

[DearAbby]

6. They are worried?

They have attacked Obama calling him everything but an American. He is the big bad wolf...problem is, America looks at Obama and they don't see this big bad wolf, the see a nice decent guy, they like him. GOP look like a bunch of old fools screaming at an empty chair...insane.

[Zoeisright]

7. Those asshats crossed the line years ago.

They're all ignorant, violent traitors.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. I guess if they are too aggressive Obama might stop appointing them to high offices?

So far, the worse they get the more of them he appoints, praises, supports and promotes.

[DFW]

9. That's like Hitler worrying about having attacked Poland "too aggressively." n/t

[otohara]

10. Throwing The Impeachment Word Around

for these so called "scandals" won't get them any new voters in their outreach to Hispanics, AA's....reasonable people.