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Henninger: Who Speaks for the GOP?
Wall Street Journal ^ | 12/13/2012 | Daniel Henninger

Posted on 12/13/2012 12:19:47 PM PST by Servant of the Cross

Republicans are failing to define their party's purpose during the fiscal-cliff talks.

After the presidential election, the biggest question out there is: What should the Republican Party stand for? The fiscal cliff, no matter the result, was an instant opportunity to elevate the party's basic beliefs. Instead the GOP is disappearing beneath waves of Beltway process.

John Boehner and Mitch McConnell have worked hard to keep their thumbs stuck in the dam of rising tax rates. Still, the fiscal cliff is looking more each day like an inside-the-Beltway CYA operation. Does anyone in the country beyond the halls of Congress and media specialists have any idea what these people are doing?

The Republicans' rote rationale for this sorry state is four words: We have no leverage. We lost the presidential vote. We only control the House. By law, the Bush tax rates will rise for everyone Jan. 1. The default strategy is: Survive. Give Barack Obama some version of the soak-the-rich revenue-raising he ran on, get past the cliff and regroup in 2013. Not a very happy New Year, but that's the best we can get.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: gop; henninger; spokesperson
"The GOP needs a person of stature and credibility to provide the public with a clear sense of the Republican purpose, no matter the negotiation's outcome. If people start talking about that person and the presidency, so be it. A cliff is no place to look shy, timid or lost."
1 posted on 12/13/2012 12:19:52 PM PST by Servant of the Cross
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To: Servant of the Cross

It’s certainly easier to identify who it SHOULDN’T be -Boehner and McConnell are at the top of that list.


2 posted on 12/13/2012 12:23:16 PM PST by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: Servant of the Cross

To the establishment, that was Mitt Romney, yet Romney was a liberal democrat.


3 posted on 12/13/2012 12:32:27 PM PST by ansel12 (A.Coulter2005(truncated)Romney will never recover from his Court's create of a right to gay marriage)
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To: Servant of the Cross
Who speaks for the GOP?

Liberal democrats do, through their media lackeys.

4 posted on 12/13/2012 12:37:12 PM PST by TADSLOS (No need to watch the movie "Idiocracy". We're living it.)
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To: TADSLOS

GOP = Pwnd.


5 posted on 12/13/2012 12:38:07 PM PST by TADSLOS (No need to watch the movie "Idiocracy". We're living it.)
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To: TADSLOS

There was someone speaking for the GOP and they got to him.

Rupert Murdoch. The only reason that scandal happened was to shut up Fox News and any media outlet even thinking of reporting negativeloy about Obama.

And it worked.


6 posted on 12/13/2012 12:40:44 PM PST by EQAndyBuzz (You cant bring something to its knees that refuses to stand on its own)
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To: Servant of the Cross

At the moment, no nationally recognized spokesman for a conservative version of the Republican party exists. They were shelled and scattered widely by the formidible Romney campaign machine, which ran rough-shod over the T.E.A. party faction and the more reserved voices, then could not close the deal when it came time for a REAL election.

I was much in favor of Herman Cain (still am), but a scurrious rumor about his relationship with a woman from the north suburbs of Chicago (alleged, not proven in ANY way) was enough to drive him from the campaign. This attack was mounted by the mastermind of dirty tricks in the Current Regime now in the White Hut, David Axelrod, the king of sleaze and the genius behind the “opposition research” team that has enlisted the likes of larry flynt, lowlife publisher of hustler magazine, who believes his own parodies. The stereotypes really came to life and were shown in great exaggeration, for the benefit of low-information voters (as Rush Limbaugh likes to characterize them).

Governor Chris Christie sure ain’t one of us.

The possibility is, that by 2016, the Bush name shall have lost enough of its tarnish, that Jeb Bush COULD be a serious player, but perhaps Marco Rubio, one of Jeb’s proteges, could be persuaded to move toward that goal, using Jeb as a resource and ally.

And of course, there is Paul Ryan, that even though he was on the losing Romney ticket, was always to the right of Romney, and kept the fires alive wherever he appeared.


7 posted on 12/13/2012 12:41:13 PM PST by alloysteel (Bronco Bama - the cowboy who whooped up and widened the stampede.)
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To: TADSLOS

Thats the truth.


8 posted on 12/13/2012 12:44:19 PM PST by tennmountainman
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To: Servant of the Cross
The Republicans' rote rationale for this sorry state is four words: We have no leverage.

Prevarication. The Fiscal Cliff was designed by Boehner and voted for by his Republicans in order to remove the debt problem as a campaign issue. So rather than run on the debt bomb, Romney ran a campaign on skittles and unicorns and lost.

If they have no leverage, it's because they willingly gave it away in August.

9 posted on 12/13/2012 2:30:46 PM PST by slowhandluke (It's hard to be cynical enough in this age.)
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To: slowhandluke
If they have no leverage, it's because they willingly gave it away in August.

Sadly all too true.

10 posted on 12/13/2012 2:36:55 PM PST by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: Servant of the Cross
Where's Paul Ryan? Or is he now considered a "loser."

The Dems make heroes of their candidates who lose elections. For them, losing just proves injustice. I guess we banish ours. Now, in the case of Dole and McCain that might be sensible.

Ryan, on the other hand, should be out there shouting. That he isn't perplexes and somewhat worries me.

11 posted on 12/13/2012 5:30:32 PM PST by BfloGuy (Workers and consumers are, of course, identical.)
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To: Servant of the Cross

The GoP does not have an American personality and ideology anymore. The GOP used to stand up for and abide by American constitutional ideology and from that, we won economic freedom arguments. Now they are soulless globalists who are afraid to be and sound free and American.


12 posted on 12/14/2012 9:23:31 AM PST by SaraJohnson
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