Is The GOP Starting to Rebuild?

03/14/2007

Paul Munnis


Congress is slowly but surely reining in the excesses and the illegal behavior of a run-away GOP Administration in Washington.

As they say out West – “We are getting a saddle on that mustang.”

The GOP knows it too. As party stalwarts look around them they see a broken and disabled GOP without strong leaders, with no strong candidates, and they are facing further losses in the House and Senate in the 2008 elections if they don’t start to rebuild their Party and do it pretty darn soon.

We think that yesterday the Senate leadership reached a pragmatic political moment and resolved to rebuild their Party for the future.

The signs and signals are small but they are being watched carefully. Here are some of the markers that we are seeing:

The GOP Senate caucus met and they decided to stop their grid-lock tactics in the Senate. Those tactics are only hurting them and costing them votes at home at a time when they need to gain seats not lose them.

The House GOP Caucused and decided to permit a more lucid debate and discussion of proper controls for proceeding in Iraq.

Gonzales is under pressure to resign and GOP voices are joining in the call for his removal from office.

Many GOP moderates are rejecting a call for the pardon of Scooter Libby.

We hear GOP people calling for the resignation of VP Dick Chaney in private although in public they are mum.

Perhaps even more important than these markers will be the resurgence of GOP Moderates determined to regain control of their Party. They have formed the PAC’s needed to do this and to oppose the neo-cons. They are seizing the moment of political opportunity as the neo-cons are split, splintered, frayed, and are at each others throats. To cast a new movement that can polish off and write off the neo-cons the GOP moderates only need to create a better deal for Republicans. That shouldn’t be too hard to do and a big part of the way to do it is to for moderate Republicans to join with moderate Democrats and return to governing from the center.Something big like a joint effort between Democrats and Republicans to create an outstanding health care system for America could be the catalyst for honest rebuilding.

If they do that then Washington will get a spring cleaning and an airing out that could be a well developed effort before the summer recess and Congress returns to their home towns and Districts for parades, speeches, bean suppers, county fairs, and bragging rights.

This is a major moment in time for the GOP to act to survive. If they don’t then they will become a part of the history of politics past in America.

So how will we know if the moderates are successful?

If Gonzales is booted with Moderate GOP backing, if Dick Chaney is called on the carpet over the Halliburton scandal and is then forced to resign by Democrats and Republicans alike, if controls are put over war and war costs, and if fiscal sanity is restored, then that can only be done cooperatively and with bi-partisan effort. That will be the signal that America is back on track. If foreign policy redesign also happens in a way that promotes a positive American image abroad then it will be proof positive. If both Party's force Bush to resign and an interim president to be appointed then it will be a total success.

Let’s see where America heads. I am hopeful that we will rebuild and resume our proper place in history. We can do it if we try.

Posted by Staff
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