‘They stole our ideas’

February 5, 2007

Rep. Scott Garrett’s (R-N.J.) office, hoping to get a better sense of the House GOP caucus’ mood and perspective, conducted a wide-ranging, seven-page survey last month, the results of which were presented at the annual GOP retreat last week. Roll Call obtained a copy of the original survey, which ended up shedding some interesting light on congressional Republicans’ capacity for self-pity.

When asked what Democrats were credited for doing right, [Chief of Staff Michelle Presson] said, “They stole our ideas, they ran as Republicans.”

Now, the November elections have come and gone; lawmakers are focused almost exclusively on legislating at this point; and there’s no real need to re-litigate why Republicans got trounced. But to insist that Dems “stole” GOP ideas, and that somehow Dems “ran as Republicans,” suggests the GOP caucus really didn’t learn much from their embarrassing campaign cycle.

Which ideas, exactly, did Democrats “steal”? The minimum wage increase? Funding for stem-cell research? Cutting interest rates for student loans? Opposing the war in Iraq? If these were Republican ideas, Dems might have had some trouble in 2006. Fortunately, the GOP went into the cycle without any ideas for Dems to steal in the first place.

As for Dems running as Republicans, Presson should probably feel a little embarrassed by such transparent nonsense. For the better part of 2006, the GOP insisted that Dems were running crazed, radical leftists who’d destroy America. Now, in retrospect, those same militant libs were successful because voters thought they were Republicans?

Frankly, this was all thoroughly debunked months ago. The vast majority of House Democratic nominees were pro-choice progressives running on anti-war, anti-Bush themes. They won — and in the first time in the modern era, Republicans didn’t beat a single Democratic incumbent in any congressional race anywhere.

Scott Garrett’s intra-party poll found that 80% of House Republicans believe the party can retake the majority in 2008. I’m skeptical of that, but if they’re going to give it a shot, they’re going to have to stop whining and start facing reality.

They say shit like that to make themselves feel better. They can then say well the Democrats learned from us, elect us and you get the original and not the ceap imitation copy. It saves them from really looking in the mirror, becuase if they believe that what Democrats won with in November is really Republican, then they can continue on with their tired old yammering.

  • Scott Garrett used to be my Congressman.

    He is in an extremely safe district and only won by about 10%.

    It is a pity that gerrymandering allows radicals like to be elected.

  • Tink’s not dead! If we really really really really really believe she’ll come back to us! Come back, Tink! Come back!

    “Magical thinking”: what passes for mental activity among Republicans.

  • “They stole our ideas, they ran as Republicans.”- Michelle Presson

    Why are liberals so much better at making political comedy? They have much better material to work with. The jokes, they just write themselves.

  • Good, then Garrett should be voting with us on almost everything.

    Someone remind me seriously, what were republican’s running on anyways. They were running against ideas. They are like a girlfriend I once had, she made me make all the plans, then whined the whole time about my crappy plans.

    I am extremely confident that we will be running Congress and the White house in two years. I think the only thing that could really stop us is an large attack here or somewhere else. Other then that, people are on our side and the few R’s left have done nothing but whine and obstruct the D’s and average America might not know the details, they see it and they are tired of it.

  • Uh huh. That’s why so many Democrats are being indicted/sent to jail/chased out of town for stalking teenagers.

    Actually it is heartening to know the opposition is as brain dead as I suspected. It is disheartening to know people keep electing these schmucks.

  • It’s typical GOP – always look to blame someone or something else rather than engage in actual self-examination and actually admit that they migh be (sometimes) wrong. Maybe they’re going to need another Goldwater moment and some time in the Wilderness before it sinks in.

  • ***I think the only thing that could really stop us is an large attack here or somewhere else.
    ————————–ScottW

    Ain’t gonna happen, Scott. If there Is another attack, I’m going to start grabbing ReThugs by the throat, and throw their whiny, no-good hides through the front door of the nearest recruiting center. It’s time they fought their own blasted war.

    Send ’em up to the front!

  • These guys are in denial. They quite doing their job and backed the worst President in an ever increasing series of blunders. The American people tossed them out.

    The Republican Rubberstamp Congress has been downsized to the Republican Roadblocks. They’ll all get voted out in the next cycle if they don’t start doing their job – provide the proper checks and balances to our government.

  • Scott Garrett’s intra-party poll found that 80% of House Republicans believe the party can retake the majority in 2008. — CB

    Only if they run as Democrats 🙂

  • “They stole our ideas, they ran as Republicans.”

    Doubtless the Republicans had been saving up their best ideas for the previous six years, perhaps waiting for a surge of some kind, when the Democrats came in and stole their thunder. You can see this in the broad, bipartisan support of all the Democratic ideas now before Congress.

  • I think Presson’s right. Because Republican’s didn’t really have any ideas. They only had attitude. They talked tough and didn’t back down. And in that regard, the Democrats did steal their only ideas. And fortunately for us, they were able to do so whlie also keeping their old ideas. And that’s exactly what I’ve been wanting for years.

  • As CB implies, I don’t suppose anyone followed up to ask what specific ideas they stole.

    I love that most of these jackasses evidently still lack the first clue as to why the country so thoroughly rejected them last year. The longer that lasts, the better our chances of keeping and growing the majority.

  • Democrats talked about fiscal sanity, things like Paygo. Remember when a balanced budget and spending restraint were Republican ideas?

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