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Rick Wilson

Disruption and the path back to power

It doesn’t matter what the nuance of the drone policy question is, or whether you have issues with the Pauls. (He’s mostly right, and I do.) What mattered was that instead of waiting for permission, Paul took action.

He broke the tired cadence of Washington’s dance and got inside the OODA loop of the political culture. He got Barack Obama and Eric Holder to cave the next morning. A member on our side told me, “I didn’t love it, until I figured out how much Reid and Durbin hated it.”

A lot of the Senate class of 2010 gets it. A lot of new House members get it. They know that the old rules went something like this: “Stay quiet and you’ll get your appropriations.” “Play on the team and in 15 years you’ll be Chairman of the Toilet Seats Standards Committee.” “Be a good boy and you’ll go on the sweet CODELS.”

Those rules built a culture that wasn’t working against Obama, the Democrats and their Amen-chorus in the media. They built a culture that was too cautious, too timid and too hidebound…a culture that then wonders why it fails to win political battles and the support of the public.

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“I didn’t love it, until I figured out how much Reid and Durbin hated it.”

Well, that too. Mostly I was just ticked by a real filibuster.

Count to 10 on March 12, 2013 at 8:13 PM

And the leadership will be sure to stab them in the back for doing it too (4 Repubs off of their committees, McCain and Graham cutting Rand off at the knees)

cptacek on March 12, 2013 at 8:20 PM

This is why Rand Paul’s filibuster play resonated with Republicans (and beyond) so strongly last week. Candidates who disrupt Washington’s expected narrative form are viewed with horror by the tripartite D.C. establishment of Republicans, Democrats and the media .. .but the public craves it.

70,000 people tweeting the #StandWithRand hashtag per hour wasn’t a coincidence. It was engagement. Americans riveted to C-SPAN for 13.5 hours wasn’t an aberration: it was an affirmation that real politics, raw and tough, is great television.

The old guard hated Paul taking the floor, arguing passionately for something bigger than today’s budget fight or for some tenth-decimal change in policy. They tut-tutted Rubio throwing down hip-hop knowledge. You could hear the old bulls grinding their teeth as Lee and Cruz and others had the temerity to challenge the President on the Constitutional exercise of his powers.

When Mark Kirk delivered the apple to Paul, and when Cruz started reading Tweets on the floor, the cultural linkup with Mr. Smith Goes To Washington was complete, much to the chagrin of the Quisling Caucus who were sharing dinner with the Main Enemy during the height of the filibuster.

Plus, primary Ms. Lindsey!!!

Schadenfreude on March 12, 2013 at 8:20 PM

I think one of the interesting points that Rick Wilson touches on here is that it’s the Class of 2010 (and 2012) AS A WHOLE that ‘gets it’, not just the supposed “super-conservative” ones. Mark Kirk gets a rap as a RINO around here, but he was on board from the jump and would no doubt have been up there speaking if not for his unfortunate stroke. Rubio is ‘establishment’, so to speak, but he was there providing support at the beginning and the end. Pat Toomey is trying to walk a major tightrope in Pennsylvania but he showed up because he GETS IT.

You know what? For all we b*tch about the GOP in Washington…the kids are alright.

Esoteric on March 12, 2013 at 8:33 PM

They built a culture that was too cautious, too timid and too hidebound … a culture that then wonders why it fails to win political battles and the support of the public.

This assumes ‘they’ have the same goals. ‘They’ don’t. The controllers aren’t cautious, they are determined. They want a lot of things the base does not want.

New people are getting elected who don’t go with the program.

The poor show doesn’t have to do with twitter. It has to do with agenda. The game is being played ugly, because there is too big a chasm between top and bottom for there to be compromise. Go with the program, and the big boys may still gerrymander you out of the next election. The primary is where they go for blood, fearing inside threats the most

entagor on March 13, 2013 at 12:25 AM