Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) did some appearances together in South Carolina yesterday, and were about half right about their party’s troubles.
With the war in Iraq, higher energy costs and breakneck government spending, the GOP faces a tough round of congressional elections in 2006 unless things change, two key Republican senators warned during a campaign appearance.
“I think if this were not an odd-numbered year, we would have great difficulties,” said U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona. […]
The party must show “progress in Iraq, we need a comprehensive energy package and we need to stop this profligate spending,” he warned.
Some of this, I can agree with. If the Republicans demonstrated an ability to plan for a better future in Iraq, I’m sure Americans would feel a lot better. If the GOP had the capacity to craft a comprehensive energy package, the party would no doubt benefit.
But the details here aren’t encouraging for McCain’s strategy for success. The White House has no strategy for Iraq (and the GOP Congress doesn’t seem anxious to push them for one too hard) and they just passed what they insisted was a comprehensive energy package, which turned out to be a bad joke.
And then there’s “profligate spending.” Before the party can move forward on the issue, they’ll have to decide what in the world that means.
For example, congressional Republicans passed a $286 billion highway bill and refused to scale it back. This, they said, was responsible governing. Almost simultaneously, those same Republicans were willing to pass $50 billion in spending cuts, including cuts to food stamps, low-income health care, and child care assistance. This, too, the GOP insisted, was responsible fiscal management.
I mention this because all of the various GOP factions seem to believe that the Republican Party can flourish again if only they can prove to voters that they’re fiscally responsible and keeping spending “under control.” I’m just not convinced they understand what this means.
“If we really want to do well in 2006, we need to have fiscal discipline like Republicans campaigned on,” [Graham] said. “We have lost our way as a party. Our base is deflated and taxpayers don’t see any difference between us and the Democrats.”
Graham, among others, apparently thinks there’s some great hunger among the electorate for sweeping spending cuts. There isn’t. Just a couple of months ago, after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, Gallup asked Americans about how to address the nation’s fiscal problems. It wasn’t even close.
* Cut spending for war in Iraq — 54%
* Raise taxes — 17%
* Increase federal budget deficit — 15%
* Cut spending for domestic programs — 6%
Graham and McCain are right that their party is in trouble, but if they’re convinced they can appeal to voters on a “we’ll slash spending” platform, they’re likely to be very disappointed.