OPINION
Defeat likely to send party further to the right, ensuring future losses
New York Times Nov 11, 08 9:30 CST
(Newser)
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A battle between reformers and traditionalists for the soul of the GOP lies in the party's immediate future, David Brooks writes in the New York Times —and the reformers don't stand a chance. The conservative old guard, with Rush Limbaugh as its loudest mouthpiece and Sarah Palin as its heroine, has a lock on Republican institutions that it will take more losses to loosen, Brooks writes.
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Missourian weary of cajoling an unwilling Republican membership
CQPolitics Nov 6, 08 12:08 PM CST
(Newser)
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House Minority Whip Roy Blunt is giving up his place in the Republican leadership, CQPolitics reports. Blunt, who’s held the post since 2002, said today he’s weary of “asking members to do something they don’t want to do.” He endorsed his deputy, Eric Cantor, as his replacement, and denied rumors that Cantor had threatened to run against him for the post.
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Nearly 60 seats are
at risk in elections, internal list says
Politico Oct 24, 08 8:17 CDT
(Newser)
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A memo passed around to House Republicans describes a looming catastrophe for the caucus in November, reports Politico. Written by a GOP consultant, the document describes as many as 58 Republican-held seats at risk, with 11 already written off and 34 in serious danger. Just a handful of Democratic seats are described as possible pick-ups for the Republicans.
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UPDATED
Reps who switched vote already spinning change for constituents
Los Angeles Times Oct 3, 08 3:00 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Less than 2 hours after the House passed the $700 billion bailout bill, President Bush signed it this afternoon. With a stroke of a pen, he set in motion $110 million in tax cuts and sent the legislators on both sides of the 263-171 vote home to explain themselves to their constituents just over a month before Election Day, the Los Angeles Times reports.
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BREAKING
Washington Post Oct 3, 08 12:49 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The House passed the revised $700 billion buyout plan this afternoon, 263-171, raising hopes that the economy will be able to fend off a recession, reports the Washington Post. After 5 days of arm-twisting, 26 Republicans switched their no votes; a total of 91 joined 172 Democrats in backing the legislation today. Within minutes, President Bush said he'll sign it as soon as Congress gets it to him.
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Efforts to sway votes
move into overdrive
as second effort looms
Washington Post Oct 3, 08 1:50 CDT
(Newser)
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Leaders and lobbyists are scrambling to marshal support for the revamped bailout bill before it returns to the House at midday today, the Washington Post reports. Democratic and GOP chiefs believe they can sway enough votes to swing it—although only a few have switched so far. Some Republicans who backed it the first time around are considering nixing it this time, annoyed by the tacked-on special-interest tax breaks.
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New bill will cost even more
Chicago Tribune Oct 2, 08 9:22 CDT
(Newser)
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By resoundingly passing its version of the bailout bill, the Senate has ratcheted up the pressure on House leaders to go along with the plan, the Swamp reports. “We’re going to fix the problem this week,” promised Mitch McConnell. The new bill more than doubles the FDIC insurance cap and eliminates the Alternative Minimum Tax, provisions expected to be a hit with House Republicans.
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OPINION
Its decade of decline shows the risks of inaction: Kristof
New York Times Oct 2, 08 8:27 CDT
(Newser)
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Watching the House vote down the bailout package this week, Nicholas Kristof recalled a bad memory: Japanese politicians doing the same thing during the financial crisis of the 1990s. The New York Times columnist, who was then based in Tokyo, watched as a desire to punish "corrupt, profligate, and unsympathetic" bankers ushered in a decade-long decline, from which Japan has still not fully recovered.
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Politico Oct 1, 08 3:31 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The Senate version of the bailout bill has ballooned to more than 400 pages as legislators flesh out details in hopes of gaining passage as soon as tonight, Politico reports. The marquee measure boosts FDIC coverage of individual accounts from $100,000 to $250,000, with numerous lower-profile provisions intended to speed passage and increase pressure on the House to get moving.
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OPINION
American leadership
is 'scarcer than credit,' writes Brooks
New York Times Sep 30, 08 12:00 PM CDT
(Newser)
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When FDR became president, writes David Brooks, his first priority was to give Americans faith in their leadership, to show that someone was running the show. Now that the US is facing the greatest financial crisis since the Depression, today's political leaders "have failed utterly and catastrophically to project any sense of authority, to give the world any reason to believe that this country is being governed."
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Minority leader is unable to deliver GOP votes on bailout
Politico Sep 30, 08 8:56 CDT
(Newser)
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House Republican leader John Boehner was one of the biggest losers in yesterday's rout of the Wall Street bailout bill; his inability to deliver his party’s votes reveals the weakness of his position in the caucus, reports Politico. Boehner was unable to switch votes by leaning on wavering members, as his predecessors could. “You can’t break their arms, you can’t put your whole relationship on the line,” the minority leader told reporters after the vote.
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UPDATED
Discontent on both sides moved House to kill bailout
Washington Post Sep 29, 08 3:12 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The efforts of Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner were not enough to quell a revolt within their parties that killed the financial bailout bill today. The bipartisan opposition to the bill reflected in the 228-205 vote—95 Democrats and 133 Republicans dissented—reflects liberal representatives’ unease with rescuing highly paid executives and the GOP’s displeasure with a decidedly non-free-market solution, the Washington Post reports.
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