Republican Reboot?
Maybe state Republicans will now reboot and seek ways to recapture key voting areas outside Philly. Or not.
Republican Reboot?
John Baer, Daily News Political Columnist
(A brief discussion twixt Baer & Baer’s editor, a.k.a. BE)
BE: So, Pennsylvania Republicans must be pretty distraught and looking for ways to change their ways.
JB: You’d think so. They lost the presidency, a shot at a Senate seat and all three state row offices.
BE: But they’re not distraught?
JB: Well, no. They still control both chambers of the Legislature and the governor’s office.
BE: Yeah but surely Tuesday’s results bode ill for the GOP future. Surely they're looking to revamp their direction and policies to recapture the Philly burbs again. Surely they're rethinking hard-line positions on budget cuts, immigration, voter ID, the female vote, guns, gays...
JB: Uh, actually, no. What they're doing is blaming Philadelphia.
BE: Oh?
JB: Yep. Wednesday, House GOP Speaker Sam Smith said he was told 90% of city precincts turned out 90% of their votes, and that is "questionable." When asked if he was suggesting fraud he said, "Maybe a good investigative reporter could track some of that down."
BE: But city turnout was about 60%.
JB: I'm just telling you was he said he was told. And, trust me, other GOPers are saying similar things less publicly, and a little more graphically.
BE: But they also lost Bucks, Montco and Delaware counties. Shouldn't they be rethinking stuff?
JB: They already have. It's called voter ID and redistricting. Both issues got tied up in court this time but GOP thinking put them in play and GOPers say they'll be in place come next election: new district lines more favorable to Republicans, and a new ID law to help keep down that "questionable" Philly vote.
BE: So their reboot already has happened. Pretty good planning.
JB: And clever, to boot.
Comments (45)
- Romney adopted core Republican policies and that's why he lost. The election results make it pretty clear that there was a significant difference between the two. Pander to the far right? That's today's Republican party. They've purged all of the moderates from the party. Spector is a perfect example. Toomey is a do nothing Senator who has zero influence or power. No Republican candidate can win the nomination if they have moderate policies. This is what Republicans did to their own party.
jfar is a great example of the stupidty of Republicans. Comparing the results in MA with a national election. MA is comparable to the rest of the nation?— MikeP - Voter ID w/b here to stay folks. Amazing that anyone thinks this is a bad idea...unless you've got something to hide. The mere fact that I walked into my polling place, said, "I'm Bob Smith & live at such & such an address" & there's NO verification, well, it sounds 'stupider' every time I think about it. This is America, 2012 folks, how does anyone NOT have an ID? (unless you have something to hide).— Openyoureyesfolks
- We'll see about the Voter Id voter suppression law. It will be dealt with at the national level. It's a stupid idea because there is no voter fraud associated with impersonating another voter. And they have your signature in the log and you need to sign. It's 100% effective. In any event, the voter supression effort was a very effective get out the vote issue for Democrats. Every year there will be more minorities who find the voter supression effort offensive voting. The impact of voter id will be worse everytime it is in place. What state did voter id supress the vote? None. It totally backfired. — MikeP
- Politics has gone from an Enlightenment-era intellectual exercise to a Machiavellian-era exercise of brutish thuggery.
@Seed1 - Be happy. Your America hating group of thugs beat the GOP's America hating group of thugs.— plumb_stupid - — kitkat1911
Oh, you mean the guy who thinks social safety nets should be replaced by charities. Great idea, unless you spend anytime studying something called history. Just take a gander at what it was like for the poor before safety nets. Two things either occurred: the poor would struggle and starve, or the poor rose up and killed the rich. Well, if that's what you think is best. You have all our permissions to move to the dozens of countries all over the world who have just such policies in place.
yahzooman
That would be absolutely true if that 90 percent voter turnout wasn't a complete fabrication. 60 percent is actually pretty standard, and actually lower than in 2008. I got an idea, why doesn't the GOP take a long look in the mirror, instead of trying to pull the same nonsense and hoping it works. Here's the hard reality of it. If the GOP continues business as usual, they will see their house majority slashed in two years, and they sure won't see the white house for a long long time. The sensible people are tired of it, and they let you know Tuesday. Time's yours GOP.
— Hemingway - IN this election you had the cool parent versus the responsible parent. The responsible parent makes you eat vegtables, work out, do your homework and have personal responsibility. The cool parent let's you do whatever you want, with little or no consequences. Obama ran a better campaign and was fueled by a natural catastrophie. The best thing that can happen to the Republican party is to let him run on his current course(Reid said today they'll raise debt ceiling 2.5 TRILLION dollars to 19 TRILLION).
At the end of the day this will have little effect on the so called 1%'ers...they have tax planning, deferred comp and trust set up for their children. The people of the middle class are going to get crushed as unemployment spikes(and it will spike), Obamacare surcharges get levied on many things(3.8% when you sell your house, 3.8 additionally to CG, Divs, etc...middle class owns stocks and bonds as well)and at some point a significant cut in social programs.— scottyk - @DeltaV - you should do a little research before making an ignorant comment about "obamaphones":
"The Lifeline program originated in 1984, during the administration of Ronald Reagan; it was expanded in 1996, during the administration of Bill Clinton; and its first cellular provider service (SafeLink Wireless) was launched by TracFone in 2008, during the administration of George W. Bush. All of these milestones were passed prior to the advent of the Obama administration."
Reference: http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/cellphone.asp
— phillyboy1961 - I'm perfectly aware of the origin of the phone.
I'd bet you a week's salary, though, that a large majority of those who receive them think (and have been told by their handlers) they come directly from Obama.— DeltaV - so your argument is that Obama created the program but that people may give him credit for the program? Thats your big complaint? Do you have the same ire for corporate welfare recipients like the defense industry? — Yakov
- Seed stated that Republicans try to control their constituents. I replied that Democrats do the same thing, and are even lied to about the real source of various policies (such as the 'free' phone).
Yes, I do have ire for corporate welfare as well. I work in defense; I know for a fact that there is a ton of room for improvement. Take a look at the F35 program, for example; the cost is out of control, and a large part of the responsibility for that lies with the government continually changing and asking for unrealizable requirements.
Still, defense is a minor part of the budget: 100% of the defense budget could be eliminated, and the country would still run a deficit. At least the defense industry employs skilled Americans.— DeltaV - Defense is "minor"? are you serious? Its the largest part of the discretionary budget. Americans are so poorly informed and that fact explains why a guy like Romney can attack Obama on the deficit while proposing to enlarge it with tax cuts and military spending. Only in america. We spend like $800b a year on defense and you say that's on the margins. Let me guess, you believe that "most" of our money goes to food stamps and welfare. Compare the numbers and let me know what you find. Every other part of the discretionary budget is dwarfed by defense spending. The rest of the money goes to debt, medicare, medicaid and social security. actually if you eliminated defense you would be pretty close to eliminating the deficit. — Yakov
- You say it yourself: "if you eliminated defense you would be pretty close" but not eliminated completely. The defense budget is dwarfed by entitlement spending. And national defense is one of the few things that the government is constitutionally required to fund.
And don't quote Romney at me. I didn't like him either. I would cut everything (including defense) an equal percentage until we got to a sustainable budget.— DeltaV - what you said was that defense was a minor part of the spending equation. Its a MAJOR part. The deficit cannot be tackled without tax increases, if you say otherwise you don't care about the deficit. Balancing the budget without tax increases is impossible. As long as money can be borrowed cheaply there is no incentive for the government to really get serious about realistic tax rates. The government isnt constitutionally obligated to repair roads either but I think most would agree its a good thing to maintain and build roads. Society in 2012 is just slightly more complicated than 1787. Hey, back then they didnt think it was a good idea for women to vote or blacks to get paid to work the fields. The good old days, I know. — Yakov
- The Democrats are the welfare and entitlement party failed miserably. Keep on lying. Welfare makes up 50% or more of income for 1.7% of americans. 8% of americans receive some type of government assistance. The majority of americans on welfare are white. Obama received 50% plus of votes. That means millions and millions of hard working, middle class white people voted for Obama. They rejected core Republican policies. They rejected the Republican war on women. And they rejected the racism and bigotry. — MikeP
Popular Posts
About this blog
John Baer has been covering politics and government for the Daily News since 1987. The National Journal in 2002 called Baer one of the country's top 10 political journalists outside Washington, saying Baer has, "the ability to take the skin off a politician without making it hurt too much." E-mail John at baerj@phillynews.com.
John is the author of the book "On The Front Lines of Pennsylvania Politics: Twenty-Five Years of Keystone Reporting" (The History Press, 2012). Reach John at baerj@phillynews.com.
John Baer
Daily News Political Columnist
John is the author of the book "On The Front Lines of Pennsylvania Politics: Twenty-Five Years of Keystone Reporting" (The History Press, 2012). Reach John at baerj@phillynews.com.
Classifieds:
Site Services:
Partners: