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T H E T E R R Y R E P O R T 2012
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Facts first, logic always, truth before everything
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Here is the TerryReport commentary on the payroll tax mess made before the deal was cut. Bottom line: the tea pot Republicans in the House got themselves into a serious mess.
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I have breaking news: this is not a dispute between Democrats and Republicans, nor Obama and the Republicans. It is actually between Republicans and Republicans, most of them in the House, but some of them in the Senate. This has now been “officially” confirmed by the minority leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnel, who called on the House Republicans to pass the bill as it passed the Senate, with a proviso that a conference committee will be named to work out a longer term solution.
The basic problem is the nitwits... (WAIT!, stop the presses, I don't want to call them that.) What I mean to say is the guys and gals in the House who think they represent the tea pot faction believe they were sent to Washington on a mission. The problem is, they haven't decided on what the mission is. Every time someone mentions the word "compromise" they run off the House floor and wretch. They have been searching for their big moment when they can stand down the world, their own Tarhir Square, if you will, so they picked the payroll tax legislation.
The fundamental problem for the Republicans, and it is really a big one that could rip the party to shreds, is no one knows how real or how lasting the tea pot movement might be. This is because, 1, it is so new and, 2, it was ginned up by billionaire's money and backroom political operatives, like former Texas congressman Dick Armey. The new Republicans in Congress want to believe it is BIG, as in huge. It helped sweep them into office. One of the things they keep saying is they weren’t sent to Washington for business as usual, but there is no doubt that a major segment of the public is fed up with their form of confrontation on what otherwise would be routine matters.
So, what we are waiting for is the tea potters to get the message from the voters that they are dead meat if they keep going the way they are going. The vintage of what they will have to drink is being pounded out somewhere near where the grapes of wrath are stored. When it arrives, in the form of a message from the public, they will run for their lives.
Doug Terry, 12.22.11
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From a Wall Street Journal editorial:
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"Republicans have also achieved the small miracle of letting Mr. Obama position himself as an election-year tax cutter...”
“Republicans would do best to cut their losses and find a way to extend the payroll holiday quickly.”
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From Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University as published by cnn.com
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The actions of House Republicans are opening the party up to the dual charges of extremism and obstructionism, charges that are likely campaign themes for next fall.
Democrats will try to depict Republicans as the party of Barry Goldwater rather than of Ronald Reagan. Goldwater was the Arizona senator who ran against President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and was overwhelmingly defeated because voters concluded he was too far right to be in charge of the country. Although a vote for a Republican for president isn't the same as a vote for the House Republicans, their actions go a long way in defining what the party is about and how it will conduct business in Washington.
Republican candidate Newt Gingrich should be most sensitive to the costs of these events. He and the Republicans won control of Congress in 1994, but the following years were tough politically.
Even though President Bill Clinton was on the ropes and it seemed that Republicans were on their way to controlling the White House, the fortunes of the GOP went south. When House Republicans were unwilling to cut a deal on the budget in 1995 and 1996, the public turned against them.
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