SHINING A LIGHT ON ‘A PRETTY GAUZY AGENDA’…. “Meet the Press” aired an interesting discussion yesterday between the four campaign committee chairmen — the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate campaign committees — with host David Gregory raising an increasingly important question.
It’s clear what the GOP will say “no” to — everything Dems want — but what will they say “yes” to? The responses were important.
Gregory started with NRCC Chair Pete Sessions (R) of Texas, asking what his party would do with a majority. Sessions danced around for a while, talking about the “need to live within our own means.” Gregory said it sounded like “a pretty gauzy agenda,” and tried again, asking for specifics, and wondering “what painful choices are Republicans prepared to make.”
Sessions hemmed and hawed, saying something about entitlement spending and the need to “empower the free enterprise system.” Gregory kept asking for some kind of details, and Sessions kept refusing.
The host eventually gave up, and asked NRSC Chairman Jeff Cornyn (R) of Texas if he could offer any specifics. Cornyn said something about waiting for the debt commission to say something.
“But wait a minute,” Gregory replied. “Conservatives need a Democratic president’s debt commission to figure out what it is they need to cut?” Apparently so; Cornyn didn’t have an answer.
This continues to be a problem for the Republican Party. They want power, but don’t want to tell anyone why until after they have it. Given the spectacular failures of the last attempts at Republican governing, the GOP is effectively urging voters to take a leap of faith — give power back to those who screwed up last time, and hope that their well hidden agenda doesn’t prove to be too radical and dangerous.
