Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Government Gone Wild

That's House minority leader John Boehner's assessment of the state of the nation, anyway. He issued a statement to FOX News' FOX Forum blog with the following comments: 
As Americans become more incensed with government run amok in Washington, they are becoming more eager for a credible, energized alternative.
Hmm.  Is that why President Obama has a +4 to +8 approval index rating?

Michigan's own Mike Rogers has been tapped to lead the "GOP State Solutions" project with Devine Nunes (R-CA), in which
House Republicans will work with reform-minded GOP governors and state legislators to fight Washington bureaucracy and inefficiency.
[Irony alert: ten-term Congressman Boehner is enlisting representatives like Mike Rogers (now in his fifth term and former deputy whip), Roy Blunt (former GOP Whip; in the House since 1997),  Eric Cantor (Republican Whip and five-term member), and Mike Pence (first elected in 2000 and former chair of the Republican Study Committee) to fight "Washington bureaucracy and inefficiency."]

Reform-minded GOP governors may not like bureaucracy or inefficiency (really, who does?) but they sure do appreciate the hundreds of millions that will be coming their way... 

Conservative Republican governors like Bobby Jindal (Louisiana), Rick Perry (Texas) and Jim Gibbons (Nevada) woke up, smelled the economic coffee and took funds that they had previously refused.  Even SC Governor Mark Sanford -- the last GOP holdout against the stimulus package -- met the deadline to accept federal dollars.  
Democrats have controlled the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives for three months now, and from their actions, a discomforting narrative has emerged. 
Disregard the comparative time frames (three months vs. eight years).  The really discomforting narrative for GOP leaders is Rasmussen's latest generic congressional ballot showing Dems with a fairly consistent lead.
With the exception of two weeks ago, Democratic support has been between 40% and 42% in every weekly generic ballot poll conducted in 2009. Also, with the exception of two weeks ago, Republican support has been in the 37% to 39% every week since the beginning of February.
Sorry, Mr. Boehner.  Your party controlled the White House and Congress for the better part of a decade, deregulated the financial industry and flipped the economy from a surplus to a record-breaking deficit -- the public isn't buying your new story of credibility and reform.

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