Posted on 01/24/2014 7:06:54 PM PST by SoFloFreeper
Election Day is almost nine months off. But right now Republicans seem almost certain to hold the House of Representatives and are likely to take the Senate. Which raises the inevitable question: How might the GOP seize defeat from the jaws of victory?
Two occasions stand out, two obvious obstacles ahead that could lead to disastrous Republican stumbles...
...conservative activists should give up their fond hopes of a debt ceiling bonanza and more or less let the hike go through unscathed (they can still vote against it, of course)....conservatives...should aggressively advance freestanding legislative proposals, to repeal and delay parts of Obamacare, for instance, and they’ll be better off with a clean debate on such legislation free of the specter of default...
...Boehner should make his own concession: He should announce that he will not bring any immigration legislation to the floor this session. If there’s one thing that could blow up GOP chances for a good 2014, it would be an explosive debate over immigration in the House. The only sure way to avoid such a debate is not to let anything onto the floor in the first place. Once even an innocuous-sounding measure gets passed, then the pressure to go to conference with the loathed Senate bill will be great. And whatever ultimately were to happen, activists would spend months worrying about and agitating against a betrayal by the leadership, business interests would spend months urging such a betrayal, and Republicans would be consumed by infighting and recriminations on an issue that does them no short-term political good. Bringing immigration to the floor insures a circular GOP firing squad, instead of a nicely lined-up one shooting together and in unison at Obamacare and other horrors of big government liberalism...
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
They need to stop raising the debt ceiling, it has become a huge joke that they pretend to be fiscal OR moral conservatives
Cut spending, secure the Border (or Die).
Are some of the Establishment Republicans finally waking up to the fact if Immigration/Amnesty is passed, they will NEVER win another election?
Amnesty is the big one. Once given it can’t be taken back.
How come the Demonuts did not do Amnesty when they controlled the house ,senate and white house ? They just saved it so they could screw over the GOP like they do with everything else and the GOP fall for it every single time .
Kristol may be disliked on FR but his ideas in this article are very well thought out.
Neither can unsustainable debt.
He’s a RINO, but he has his moments. He took Charles Lame to the mat when he attacked the Tea Party last year, exposing the fact that Rove was the reason we didn’t take the senate. I was glad for that.
Amnesty will destroy America. It must be stopped at all costs.
Sure, when it’s party over conservatism.
>> he makes some good points....
He’s half right. Yes... do NOT bring up ANY immigration legislation! (Unless it’s for a thirty foot high wall.)
But he’s dead wrong on the debt. A significant number of Americans understand that our endless borrowing and spending won’t end well. Hold the administration’s feet to the fire! But don’t do stupid stuff like passing a resolution to pay the federal trough-suckers anyhow. The public UNDERSTANDS that the reason for cutting spending is to cut the government gibsmedats off at the knees.
And amnesty will drive up debt faster than anything and it still can’t be taken back.
Does anyone really think the GOP higher ups are listening? They are gutless, have no clue and don’t really care so long as they remain in power. We are at the apex of the 200 year cycle. Unless something changes, it is downhill from here, and very quickly with leftists in power.
Ditch Kristol. (along with Mitch)
So why the false dilemma between the two?
He is 100% right, and he is a neocon.,
Starting a GOP civil war now with Dems on the sidelines calling them racists with a amnesty bill hurt the GOP in 2006, and would hurt them now. It would be a gift to Dems which is why they are easing up on their demands.
This is very polarizing issue for GOP and generally a uniting one for Dems.
Even if some blacks are against amnesty they would just blame GOP for it, not Obama.
Everything the GOP-e does is a gift to the Dems. They may as well call themselves what they are, which is the Democratic Party.
I think the RINOs want to destroy America, at only a slightly slower pace than the rats. They are complicit with rats, and they know it. That is another reason, among many, why they are called the stupid party. I despise RINOs as much as rats. They are the same to me.
Heritage estimates an amnesty will cost $6.3 trillion and that assumes there are only 12 million lawbreakers.
Wrong. Any bill can be turned into a Trojan Horse for the Dems in the Senate, even a border security bill. The border security bill now being considered in the House Homeland Security committee is a disaster. I don't trust Chairman McCaul for a minute. It is a trap.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.