GLOOMY OLD PARTY
BARNES, FRED
GLOOMY OLD PARTY by Fred Barnes NO ISSUES, NO LEADERS, NO GUTS—other than these shortcomings, the Republican party is in great shape. Gallows humor is now rife in the GOP "Every day at the RNC...
...With Nicholson as chairman, "we have done more things well than poorly," declared Arizona GOP chairman Mike Hellon...
...Gingrich was last in a line of Republicans—Goldwater, Nixon, Reagan, and Bush—who could command the party...
...If it goes on much longer, we may not be able to repair the damage," says Connecticut GOP chairman Chris DePino...
...If anyone's looking for us to excite the [conservative] base, it's not there...
...Issues...
...Last year, "they simply would not listen...
...In 1998, they didn't...
...Unfortunately, there's no evidence they've figured out how...
...Even the two Republicans who gave the GOP response to the State of the Union address seemed embarrassed by the Senate trial, declining to discuss it or even utter the dread word "impeachment...
...Sure, his motives are bad...
...So what should House Republicans do...
...What else...
...We're going to be sending the Senate a lot of junk," says a GOP official...
...Hardly a ringing endorsement...
...The biggest complaint I hear is a lack of cohesive message," he continued, but "that wasn't Jim Nicholson's fault...
...They're persuaded (by polls) that moderate and independent voters have been turned off by Republicans, particularly by their pursuit of Clinton...
...Since the impeachment of President Clinton, the party has dipped 10-plus points in the polls...
...Well, they're listening now...
...And, flip-flopping with abandon, he's swiped other GOP issues as well...
...He's for increasing military spending...
...Where is Newt Gingrich when Republicans need him...
...Let's vote on it and move on...
...Lott is a dealmaker...
...House Speaker Dennis Hastert is a den mother...
...Members of the Republican National Committee blame congressional Republicans for concentrating on what's unpopular—trying to oust Clinton—while ignoring what really matters—an attractive agenda...
...He thinks missile defense is necessary...
...Nicholson said Republicans must seek an across-the-board cut of "at least" 10 percent...
...He's now for lifting the earnings limit for Social Security recipients...
...Except tax cuts...
...Republicans on Capitol Hill blame Clinton for their declining popularity...
...Indeed, they've grown anxious about having put him on trial in the senate for perjury and obstruction of justice...
...But there's always that gallows humor to fall back on...
...Republicans will have to deal with it...
...Jay Leno noted Clinton's approval rating jumped to 76 percent after his State of the Union address...
...It's a party that doesn't know how to function without a single leader to rally around," says Vin Weber, the former GOP House member...
...Then, the House passed a tax cut, only to have Senate Republicans kill it...
...Gallows humor is now rife in the GOP "Every day at the RNC feels like an eternity," joked Jim Nicholson after he was reelected Republican national chairman last week...
...As he left the House chamber after the president's State of the Union address, Senate majority leader Trent Lott muttered: "That's got to be the worst I've heard...
...This is the real problem for Republicans...
...They grouse that Clinton is the great issue thief, but so what...
...Hellon said it was the fault of House and Senate Republicans...
...All the same, that brings us to the three major shortcomings paralyzing the Republican party...
...RNC members are apoplectic about the trial...
...He's talking about damage to the Republican party, not to Clinton...
...Unlike impeachment, this is an issue that unites Republicans...
...Guts...
...One member of the RNC has his own variation...
...Nicholson is a nice man, but he's hardly able to dictate an agenda to congressional Republicans...
...Now there isn't one, and that's demoralizing everyone...
...Republicans will have to weather that...
...Clinton backs conservative positions solely for the purpose of preventing Republicans from using them against him and, in 2000, against Al Gore...
...They believe that if these voters aren't mollified, they'll lose the House in 2000...
...They figure they'll be better off compromising with Clinton instead of fighting with him...
...Clinton's success in remaining popular while impeached has left them downcast...
...He's even for conservative goals in education...
...If Clinton has oral sex two more times, he'll be above 90 percent...
...But the point is he's left Republicans with little to call their own...
...Fred Barnes is executive editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...Jennifer Dunn referred delicately to "the president's situation" and insisted there's no constitutional crisis in Washington...
...Some days it's tough just to get to the bathroom...
...The Republican malaise was evident in the speeches supporting Nicholson's reelection at the RNC meeting on January 22...
...They should be thrilled that Clinton is forced to loot the conservative agenda...
...Sounds bad...
...But the president's shameless-ness is a given...
...This is significant...
...So 1999 is not going to be pretty for Republicans: Clinton off the hook, congressional Republicans cowed, no presidential nominee in sight...
...The fellow laughed grimly at his own joke...
...Rather than competing on an equal footing with Clinton, these Republicans are merely the president's foils...
...The question is whether Republicans in 1999 have the courage of their convictions...
...Republicans don't have many at the moment...
...Republicans could up the ante on other issues, sending Clinton a hike in defense spending of $50 billion instead of $10 billion or a bill that voucherizes federal funds for special education...
...It will then be up to Senate Republicans to repair any bad deals they make with Clinton and the Democrats...
...The answer is no...
...It's not helping us with the public," says John Ryder, the national committeeman from Tennessee...
...This is the first time Clinton has gone up in the polls without committing adultery first...
...A Clinton veto would only give these issues more visibility...
...Unfortunately, the party won't have a real leader until its presidential nominee is crowned in August 2000...
...House Republicans are all but ready to throw in the towel...
...Not I. But that's what he's done...
...For all his faults, Gingrich was a visionary and a fighter...
...Leaders...
...Does the man have no shame...
...Who'd have guessed a few years ago that he would favor using a budget surplus largely to make the Social Security system solvent...
...Depending on who's nominated, it may not then either...
...If they do, Clinton is bound to accuse them of robbing funds from Social Security and jeopardizing the system...
Vol. 4 • February 1999 • No. 19
