How confident is Boehner this morning?

May 4, 2008

On Wednesday, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) tried to give his Republican caucus a major-league pep-talk — complete with a PowerPoint presentation — emphasizing his perspective on why the GOP can gain seats in November. At the Republicans’ weekly conference meeting, Boehner’s presentation was called, “Why We Can Win.”

Reporting on the gathering, Roll Call noted that Boehner & Co. see a favorable landscape, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.

Boehner also stressed that despite having to defend 29 GOP-held seats because of retirements or resignations, Republicans are largely fighting on their own turf. He pointed to the fact that 21 Democratic freshmen in the House hold districts carried by President Bush in 2004 and that Republican incumbents are battle-tested and know how to win.

“We’re fighting this battle on ground that we’ve had,” Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) told reporters after the Conference meeting, adding that the presidential dynamic this year is better than any recent presidential election in terms of “its potential to impact what’s happening on the rest of the ticket.”

Boehner also said that the protracted fight for the Democratic presidential nomination between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) will hurt Democrats in the long run and that Obama, viewed as the frontrunner, will be an asset to Republicans.

“By November, it will be clear that Obama’s appeal is limited to arugula-eating college professors, hard-core liberal Democrats and the residents of Nancy Pelosi’s Congressional District,” according to Boehner’s presentation.

I mention this, of course, because Boehner’s vision has been tested twice now in two months, first in Illinois’ 14th, and then yesterday in Louisiana’s 6th. Republicans were “fighting on their own turf,” just as Boehner wanted. They nationalized the race, emphasizing Obama and Pelosi, just as Boehner wanted.

Given that Republicans have gone 0-for-2 so far, I can only hope they stick to the current strategy. Don’t change a thing, boys, it’s working like a charm.

Alex Koppelman obtained a copy of Boehner’s PowerPoint presentation, which is a pretty interesting read, if only to get a sense of the Republicans’ misguided optimism.

This is disgusting. What fight? What happened to doing what is right for the country? These bastards have got to be taken down, forever.

  • It’s amusing that they talk about the failings of the Dem led congress when they were the ones doing the obstructing.

    Is Boner going to cry fake tears again? Or was the fake tanner that got in his eyes?

  • After reading The Sobbing Child’s PowerPoint presentation, it is abundantly clear that he has adopted the “futile last show of strength” reserved for such people as those left aboard RMS Titanic as they realized there were no longer any lifeboats left. The Sobbing Child has to be in a bad mood, as he oversees his precious culture of corruption riding into the sunset….

  • Two more things not mentioned here. The Republicans also have quite a few freshman congressmen, all in strongly Republican districts. And in 2006 there were another 30-40 races that the Republicans won but by less than 2%. I don’t see any evidence of a resurgence in popularity.

  • I am so happy that Cazayoux won. The GOP was using this race as a test to see how effective it is to tie Obama and Wright to Cazayoux, and it failed.

  • So this is the kool-aid dispenser in action. It’s impossible not to notice that the Republican campaign message is a focus of two things: steal Democratic messages and beat their usual dead horses of taxes and supporting the troops.

    It’s strikingly ironic to see Boehner trumpeting that Repubs should “make the case that you are the change (the voters) are seeking” What horseshit. The Republicans can’t see that what voters are looking for is a change away from Republican rule and an end the BS spouted by folks like Boehner. On slide 17, what Boehner is espousing is to save this nation from Republican policies.

    To point just how full of crap Boehner is, he says that Dems are getting no money from the American middle class, yet Barack Obama’s support has been from precisely the technologically-adept, college-educated voters that make up today’s shrinking middle class.

    But most hilariously, we see a new bombshell lobbed in the food-culture wars from the right — add arugula to the list of hated liberal foods that already includes tofu, granola and lattes. Let the culture wars continue!

  • Keep this PP presentation handy. It’ll be the standard for talking points in the months to come.

    “Dems bad! Taxes! Healthcare! Cut and run! Obama is the most liberal EVARRR!!!”

  • “We take Care of Ourselves and Our Colleagues”.

    “I will hold you accountable to the team”.

    Enough said?

  • These guys still think its 1988 and Obama-arugula-San Francisco attacks are going to work like a charm, just like they did against Dukakis. The Clintons think the same thing.

    They’re wrong. These guys, including the Clintons, are still fighting the same old stupid fights and they are going to lose. Americans are sick of it, and I’m not talking only about a few star struck college kids. These guys are reading the tea leaves all wrong.

  • You wish it was arugula that will be thrown. Our press keeps the lid on most of Obama’s failings but they will make great ads for the GOP. Go to:
    http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23643866-5013948,00.html
    And if you’re wondering why an Australian newspaper can publish an article like this when our own press dances around anything negative about Obama, I was also wondering. The love affair will come to an end for the November election and the only damage done to Obama will be what he himself created.

  • I’m very happy to see the GOP is sticking with such a famous alcoholic. Only a drunk of such biblical proportions would make a retarded comment such as “Obama’s appeal is limited to arugula-eating college professors….”
    Why does Boehner hate God? Why is he trying to demonize people who partake in the bounty of our Lord? Why is he calling God a Volvo driving, latte-drinking elitist? Again, why does he have such contempt and hatred for The Lord Jesus Christ? I will pray for him.

  • The “We’ll Fix a Broken Washington” is really the most amusing slide, considering that they’re responsible for most of the listed problems. I think even “low-information voters” are capable of remembering that they were in charge of all the branches of government and didn’t “fix” any of that.

  • I’m confused as to the point he was making on the Freshmen Dem Congressmen in districts Bush won in 2004. Is that a good thing? It seems to me that if Dems won in districts Bush won two years earlier that this is a bad thing, because it shows that Republican districts turned Democratic. And it’s also bad to fight on turf that you once held, as again, it shows that you lost turf.

    Were I to choose between defending turf that I recently conquered or trying to take over turf I recently lost, I’d go for defending the turf I conquered. Particularly if the reason I conquered it was a complete shift in the battlefield. But I’m all for them cheerleading themselves into submission rather than figuring out a new strategy, so I guess I shouldn’t complain.

  • Even his facts and polls are pure propaganda, especially the “America is middle conservative” which has long ago been debunked. American middle is liberal progressive and these guys are so far right they fell off the scale. When was the last time Bohner was “in the streets”? According to him his party has done no wrong at all and will continue to do exactly what they’ve been doing. We need to make sure every republican goes down because their only concern is power and not the country.

    Their approach will be the same as ever…don’t talk issues and policies. Disappear all disaster and focus on gossip and personality based garbage like lapel pins, preachers, and the pledge of allegiance or school prayer. No democrat is manly enough and just want to raise taxes.

    I would pay a tax to end republican obstructionism now. I trust government more than I trust Exxon, KBR, or Blackwater. Government is supposed to represent my interests and is the only thing big enough to tackle these “Economic royalists” ( or is it elitists now). If Obama is the most liberal member of the senate then we’ve got a long way to go as liberals. I guess he’s as liberal as he can be and get anything done in this senate. Here’s liberal: corporate reform, nationalize the oil industry, and health care making it not for profit(by expanding Medicare and Medicaid) …that’s a start. Make the privatization of our intelligence and security operations illegal. I could go on all day with answers the robber barons will not allow to be discussed.

    You can finish “boo-hoo-hoo when are we gonna …blch…grp…stand up and take ’em on..brrp” Boehner by threatening to take away his scotch in the morning. He wouldn’t be able to stop shaking long enough to sign his name. Why doesn’t congress have drug and alcohol screening…these guys are voting on our laws for god’s sake and we don’t insist they remain sober and drug free. Crying at inappropriate moments is a dead give away along with slurring your words Boehner.

  • Mandalay, #13…nice piece of right-wing journalism you posted there.

    I love the psychological video of the really icky black people from the African elections near the top of the page, and then the question of whether Obama is a Muslim, followed by the picture of the little boy Hussein just below that.

    I mean, really, let’s not even be subtle about it. It’s about as subtle as a nuclear bomb.

    It, and you, are a joke. But do keep the amusement coming. That was pretty funny.

  • He pointed to the fact that 21 Democratic freshmen in the House hold districts carried by President Bush in 2004…

    Oh yeah – and how many of those districts were STOLEN so that chimpy could win a second term? He did not win that election – it was election fraud.

    Maybe bonehead was kept out of the loop – you have to compartmentalize crimes like this, but some insiders know that he is talking trash cuz chimpy did not actually win all of those districts.

  • They are Like Lies!
    Rethuglians will win because their followers like being lied to on the issues and they believe the lies. Bush lied to them and then destroyed the country and the world, now McSame is lying and they believe these lies as well. If you have not lost your job or home yet, McSame will soon need your sacrifice over the next eight years to maintain the century-long wars.

  • LINCOLN WAS WRONG: THE EASE OF FOOLING MOST OF THE PEOPLE MOST OF THE TIME
    Rethuglians will win because their followers like being fooled and lied to on the issues and they believe the lies. Bush lied to them and then destroyed the country and the world, now McSame is lying and they believe these lies as well. If you have not lost your job or home yet, McSame will soon need your sacrifice over the next eight years to maintain the century-long wars.

  • You’ve got to admire Boner for putting lipstick on that pig. Nice try Smokie. By the way, who was that young blonde I saw you with at the National Rupublican Club a couple weeks back? She was hot!!!

  • Slide 7 says Bush will work tirelessly to elect Republicans. By raising money. And slide 2 says Democrats are bad because they don’t get their money from “middle class Americans”. So I guess Bush is going to come to us to get the money?

    Oh please please please, send him out to meet us. I want to make a donation.

  • Boehner is telling House members to support the Main Street Republicans?

    the Club for Growth is going to bust a gut.

    • Comments are closed.