Pollster warns the GOP: Don’t count on the six-year itch
At their first political conference meeting of the 113th Congress, held at Republican National Committee headquarters a stone’s throw from the Capitol, National Republican Congressional Committee Vice Chairman Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia and top GOP pollster Neil Newhouse told members to be on guard for Obama’s campaign machine.
Westmoreland warned that just because the Obama for America campaign has relaunched as Organizing for Action and Obama is not eligible for re-election does not mean he will not be present on the political scene.
“His attention has gone from getting himself elected to keeping the majority in the Senate and winning the majority in the House,” Westmoreland said in an interview, paraphrasing his remarks. “They need to be prepared for him being involved, because he made it quite clear at their retreat that he wanted his last two years to be like his first two years and that means, of course, having Pelosi as the speaker.”
Blowback
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The Republican Party’s fate is in its own hands. When they opposed Obama in the first 2 years of his Presidency and embraced the Tea Party(most of them anyway), they were rewarded at the polls in 2010. If they’re viewed as complicit in implementing Obama’s agenda and go out of their way to p-ss all over the conservative base this time around(i.e. amnesty!), then yes, the six-year itch may not come to pass.
Doughboy on February 14, 2013 at 10:33 AM
So I guess we again need Sarah Palin to get involved and prove her King Maker credentials. The Willard benchwarming supporters[?] will not like that one bit.
The real problem STILL lays with apathetic Americans who REFUSE to do any thing to correct America’s problems. That remains chrystal clear, so for the few who have decided that the time to stop being bench warmers has arrived, you should begin here IF you are REALLY WORRIED about being screwed. Then, IF you agree with Brent Bozell’s summation AND you sill have that fire in your belly, you need to start looking for the closest TEA Party group to your location and go to one of their meetings. The winners of elections owe allegiance only to those who worked to get the votes for them, no matter how close the margin of victory.
It is SO EASY to get involved today, more so than when I searched out my local chapter of the GOP over a decade ago. I had realized that if I weren’t willing to get involved then I deserved the worst the corrupt-o-crats could deliver. That is why I am AGAIN going to the MIGOP Convention as THE elected delegate from my township [for the fourth time], which is being held later this month. I can promise you that the politicians there will be made MOST UNCOMFORTABLE when I confront them and there will be absolutely no doubt in their minds as to whose ass they will have to kiss [as Allahpundit so colorfully puts it].
NEVER FORGET! America ALWAYS gets the government it DESERVES, and whiners win nothing!
DannoJyd on February 14, 2013 at 10:51 AM
I pretty much expect the latter to happen given how the Republicans have behaved since Romney’s defeat. Get ready for a shellacking in 2014 as an increasingly depressed base stays at home.
Doomberg on February 14, 2013 at 10:51 AM
Huh? Has Westmoreland even bothered to learn what 0bama has been up to lately? The ‘community organizing’ guy is making the case for the NEXT Historic TEAnami!
DannoJyd on February 14, 2013 at 10:57 AM
Given what’s coming for the economy and the currency, I can’t imagine why the republicans (let alone any intelligent possible potential candidate) would want to be anywhere near this hot mess.
trigon on February 14, 2013 at 10:59 AM
All this bellyachin for nothing. The GOP will win, and win big in ’14. The overreach by the dems on gun control and climate change will ensure that result.
tommy71 on February 14, 2013 at 11:02 AM
If the House goes Dem, Katie Bar The Door…it is all over. Kiss America goodbye for good.
NJ Red on February 14, 2013 at 11:12 AM
“Don’t count on the accuracy of the vote count”
Mr. Ghost in the Machine
Mimzey on February 14, 2013 at 11:13 AM
Meh. Congratulations to Miss Cupp, who will soon be a Mrs. (Yes, I’m dying inside.
)
But yeah, the Republicans are in big trouble no matter how you slice it.
Seth Halpern on February 14, 2013 at 11:22 AM
There are few, if any, “swing” House districts anymore. OFA can’t gin up enough Democrat votes in Congressman Skeeter McPheeter’s rural Texas district to worry him all that much.
In 2014, all the babies born in 2009 to illegal immigrant parents turn 5. The birth plummet since 2010 suggests there aren’t any younger siblings for those 2009 babies coming. My admittedly anecdotal evidence suggests that many of those families become ineligible for TANF, and don’t bother to go through a legal process to re-qualify. They just leave the country.
Minorities in Presidential years vote out of tribal loyalty. Unless the Democrats manage to run a minority in every district they hope to win without Republicans being able to do the same, it isn’t happening.
And most of all—yes, there may or may not be a six-year itch, but 2008 was an unusually good Democrat year, and there are a lot of Democrat seats won in 2008 in districts and states that otherwise don’t tend to vote for Democrats on that level.
Sekhmet on February 14, 2013 at 11:44 AM
As long as Republicans stick to the issues of the day and the left wing crazy of the Dems, they will win big in 2014.
The last thing they need to do is regress to worrying about pacifying pouty socons. That’s the gift to Obama that just keeps on giving.
Moesart on February 14, 2013 at 12:15 PM
It is this attitude that gave us a loss in 2012. Obamacare was a major overeach and yet we nominated Obamacarelite. I am sure that in 2016 Repubs will nominate a “moderate who can win” like Christie who likes gun control and climate change. Never underestimate this party’s stupidity.
melle1228 on February 14, 2013 at 1:08 PM
I’ve been saying this too. The Republicans don’t seem to understand that there is now a permanent campaign. Its a propaganda war, and we’re vastly, hilariously, outgunned. The Republicans have to understand that there will be no respite. They have to campaign while they work.
They need to start framing the debate for 2014 now.
They need to be aggressively targeting Dems now.
And they need to be in all 50 states!
Every office must be contested, from dog catcher to president. No dem must be allowed to run unopposed!
Iblis on February 14, 2013 at 1:35 PM