{"id":5240,"date":"2005-09-13T09:53:09","date_gmt":"2005-09-13T13:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/5240.html"},"modified":"2005-09-13T09:53:09","modified_gmt":"2005-09-13T13:53:09","slug":"never-let-em-see-you-sweat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/never-let-em-see-you-sweat\/","title":{"rendered":"Never let ’em see you sweat"},"content":{"rendered":"

This must be a tense time for Republicans in DC. The party is faltering in polls, the head of their party (the president) is loosing support quickly nationwide, there’s little hope of passing right-wing agenda items (estate tax repeal) anytime soon, and Dems are poised to make gains in next year’s midterm elections.<\/p>\n

Still, it’s a shame to see a guy fall apart like this<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC)] began the interview lashing out at his counterpart, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), who heads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and has attacked Republicans for their ties to GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was indicted last month by a Florida grand jury. […]<\/p>\n

“I’m tired of having Rahm calling up you guys” to discuss allegations of wrongdoing by Republicans, said Reynolds, calling Emanuel “Mr. Righteous.”<\/p>\n

Reynolds added, “While he wants to play this game, he’s got exposure. If the Democratic leadership thinks the Republican leadership will be silent on ethics, the Democrats got another thing coming. … I intend to have the NRCC come back.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First, this is silly on its face. Dems are too<\/i> interested in ethics? We’re overly anxious to defeat Republicans who lack integrity? Somehow I don’t see this as a persuasive campaign pitch.<\/p>\n

Second, when you’re a campaign committee chair, you’re not supposed to let the other side know they’re getting to you. Reynolds seems to have forgotten about this. His little outburst prompted Emanuel to respond, “I feel for Tom. He’s got a tough reelection again. He’s got a horrible political environment. More of his colleagues are seeking other office or talking about retirement. More races are in play. He’s under a lot of pressure. I have nothing but empathy for him. My recommendation: work out. It helps you deal with stress.” Ouch.<\/p>\n

Third, as Dems have emphasized the GOP’s ethical problems (DeLay, Ney, Abramoff, etc.) this year, Republicans have huffed and puffed about starting what they call an “ethics war<\/a>.” But there’s been no follow-through, in large part because it’s a “war” they’re likely to lose. Not only does it hurt the majority party when Congress grinds to a halt amid partisan bickering, but if ethics becomes the center point of the 2006 cycle, Dems will be thrilled.<\/p>\n

No wonder Reynolds is so stressed out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This must be a tense time for Republicans in DC. The party is faltering in polls, the head of their party (the president) is loosing support quickly nationwide, there’s little hope of passing right-wing agenda items (estate tax repeal) anytime soon, and Dems are poised to make gains in next year’s midterm elections. Still, it’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}