Kathianne
11-02-2010, 05:20 AM
but suggesting the Republicans will choose the wrong answer:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_exclusive/20101102/pl_yblog_exclusive/analysis-will-a-republican-congress-follow-tea-party-ideas-or-move-to-the-center/print
Analysis: Will a Republican Congress follow Tea Party ideas or move to the center?
By Slate slate Tue Nov 2, 2:12 am ET
By Jacob Weisberg
Slate
In the likely event that Republicans capture control of one or both houses of Congress next week, the new leaders will face a strategic question. Should they pursue the agenda of the Tea Party movement that brought them to power? Or should they try to mollify their party's base with gestures and symbols, without taking its radical ideology too seriously? While they'll never discuss this problem honestly, indications point in the latter direction. That is, the GOP's congressional leadership will feint right while legislating closer to the center.
The choice is between a Ronald Reagan strategy and a Newt Gingrich strategy. Reagan, who first rode a new conservative movement to the presidency in 1980, was a master of the right fake. After one brief and disastrous attempt to reduce Social Security spending in 1981, Reagan never seriously challenged federal spending again. But Reagan sounded so convincing in his rhetorical flights that most conservatives and liberals walk around today thinking that he cut government. Reagan was just as slippery with the religious right, embracing them while wasting little political capital on issues like abortion or school prayer. President George W. Bush followed this same model, humoring the base while letting government expand...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_exclusive/20101102/pl_yblog_exclusive/analysis-will-a-republican-congress-follow-tea-party-ideas-or-move-to-the-center/print
Analysis: Will a Republican Congress follow Tea Party ideas or move to the center?
By Slate slate Tue Nov 2, 2:12 am ET
By Jacob Weisberg
Slate
In the likely event that Republicans capture control of one or both houses of Congress next week, the new leaders will face a strategic question. Should they pursue the agenda of the Tea Party movement that brought them to power? Or should they try to mollify their party's base with gestures and symbols, without taking its radical ideology too seriously? While they'll never discuss this problem honestly, indications point in the latter direction. That is, the GOP's congressional leadership will feint right while legislating closer to the center.
The choice is between a Ronald Reagan strategy and a Newt Gingrich strategy. Reagan, who first rode a new conservative movement to the presidency in 1980, was a master of the right fake. After one brief and disastrous attempt to reduce Social Security spending in 1981, Reagan never seriously challenged federal spending again. But Reagan sounded so convincing in his rhetorical flights that most conservatives and liberals walk around today thinking that he cut government. Reagan was just as slippery with the religious right, embracing them while wasting little political capital on issues like abortion or school prayer. President George W. Bush followed this same model, humoring the base while letting government expand...