Boehner, Bush play cheerleaders to a glum GOP

I found these stories last week through Carpetbagger Report, and I've been meaning to comment on how they relate to the current GOP moral at this time. First some quick background information. Republicans have been hopeful in winning two House seats through special elections--the first in the Illinois 14th Congressional district, previously held by former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. Democrat Bill Foster defeated Republican James D. Oberweis in the 14th District by six points. The second special election was held in Louisiana's 6th Congressional district, with Democratic State Rep. Don Cazayoux narrowly beating Republican publisher Woody Jenkins, 49-46 percent. Both districts were strong Republican territories, with the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spending at least $1.3 million in the Illinois 14th District and around $436,000 on independent expenditures in the Louisiana 6th District. Both Republican strongholds were lost to the Democrats. The GOP is also facing another Democratic challenge with Republican Greg Davis is fighting against Democrat Travis Childers in a May 13 special election for Mississippi's 1st Congressional seat, a seat vacated by GOP appointee Roger Wicker after Trent Lott resigned. So the Republican Party is facing some serious election defeats in supposedly safe districts. It is no wonder the GOP is feeling glum.

Enter stage right, the new GOP Cheerleaders--House Minority Leader John Boehner and President George W. Bush! On April 30, 2008, Boehner unveiled a fall election strategy to Republican colleagues at the Capitol Hill Club, complete with a Powerpoint presentation entitled "Why We Can Win." You can view the Powerpoint presentation here via Slate's Alex Koppelman:

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Looking at Boehner's slides here, it is fascinating at how Boehner presents a combination of outright lies, propaganda, and some very wacked-out ideas on the upcoming November election. Boehner claimed that Democrats "have a significant financial advantage, funded by trial lawyers and labor unions, NOT by middle-class Americans." It is a rather strange combination of both lies and propaganda, considering that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's huge fundraising machine relies on large numbers of Americans giving small donations, $100 or less, through the internet. "Without the strength of House Republicans and the President's veto pen," Boehner said, "House Democrats would have achieved a record Obama would be proud of." Boehner said that Democrats will "surrender to al-Qaeda, with our soldiers unfunded and unarmed," and create huge expansions of government-run health care, domestic spending, and "job-killing bureaucratic mandates." Of course, a majority of Americans support some type of government-guaranteed health insurance. The phrase of Democrats surrendering to al Qaeda is a complete lie and a GOP propaganda talking point. And while Boehner rails against the Democrats on domestic spending, he refuses to admit the huge waste of a half trillion dollars spent in the Bush administration's war in Iraq. Boehner also railed against the Democratic congressional leadership for doing nothing "about rising energy & gas prices," "to make health care more affordable," to "securing our borders," to "reform entitlements," or "to congrol government spending." Again, Boehner lied in his presentation, knowing that the Republican Party has been obstructing everything through Congress with filibusters. Boehner stated that GOP presidential nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain "has strong appeal to independents and Democrats," while Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are "creating enemies in their own party." Of course, the best line Boehner makes in his Powerpoint presentation is this:

By November, it will be clear that Obama's appeal is limited to arugula-eating college professors, hard-core liberal Democrats, and the residents of Nancy Pelosi's Congressional District.

I don't what to say about this wacked-out Boehner quote.

Boehner's little presentation was really a "rah rah" challenge to regain the spirit and fight of Republican congressmen facing an American public that overwhelmingly feels the country is on the wrong track, disapproves of President Bush's job performance, is opposed to the Bush administration's war in Iraq, and believes that the U.S. economy is heading into a recession. No amount of Powerpoint slides or "rah rah" cheerleading is going to help the Republicans if the American people blame these disasters on Bush and the GOP.

The second story I saw was also through both Carpetbagger and Crooks and Liars, where dejected Republicans are offered a trip to the White House. From a May 7, 2008 Politico.com story, titled GOP leaders warn of election disaster:

House Republicans will hold a rally with President Bush on Wednesday morning, with all 199 members invited to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to show solidarity with the president, according to GOP sources.

I'm wondering what will be said at this GOP love-fest between House Republicans and King George The Deciderer--will Boehner bring his Powerpoint presentation? What amazes me here is that these 199 Republicans are attending this White House rally at a time when a majority of Americans both disapprove of President Bush's job approval ratings and believe that the country is on the wrong track--and still these 199 Republicans are aligning themselves to this weakened president. And of course, George W. Bush will be there with his own "rah rah" cheerleading megaphone:

George W. Bush as a cheerleader at Andover

What kind of Kool-Aid are these Republicans drinking?

Then again, I seriously wonder if Georgie's megaphone or Boehner's Powerpoint presentation can even lift up the GOP's spirits. Continuing with the Politico.com story:

Shellshocked House Republicans got warnings from leaders past and present Tuesday: Your party’s message isn’t good enough to prevent disaster in November, and neither is the NRCC’s money.

The double shot of bad news had one veteran Republican House member worrying aloud that the party’s electoral woes — brought into sharp focus by Woody Jenkins’ loss to Don Cazayoux in Louisiana on Saturday — have the House Republican Conference splitting apart in “everybody for himself” mode.

“There is an attitude that, ‘I better watch out for myself, because nobody else is going to do it,’” the member said. “There are all these different factions out there, everyone is sniping at each other, and we have no real plan. We have a lot of people fighting to be the captain of the lifeboat instead of everybody pulling together.”

In a piece published in Human Events, the Republicans’ onetime captain, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, warned his old colleagues that they face “real disaster” on Election Day unless they move immediately to “chart a bold course of real reform” for the country.

And in a closed-door session at the Capitol, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told members that the NRCC doesn’t have enough cash to “save them” in November if they don’t raise enough money or run strong campaigns themselves.

Although a top House Republican brushed aside Gingrich’s broadside as “hype from a has-been who desperately wants to be a player but can’t anymore,” the harsh words from Cole were harder to ignore.

“It was a pretty stern line that he took with us,” said one House Republican.

Cole, on the defensive in the wake of special election losses in Louisiana and Illinois, pointed his finger Tuesday at his Republican colleagues, telling them that they had been too stingy in helping fund party efforts. He also complained that the Republicans ran weak candidates in both Louisiana and Illinois — a charge Cole made despite the fact that, as NRCC chairman, he could have played a major role in choosing the party’s candidates if he hadn’t made the decision to stay out of GOP primaries.

In his meeting with members, Cole distributed a document showing that even former Republican political guru Karl Rove had badmouthed Jenkins, according to GOP sources. It’s not clear whether Cole meant it as a criticism of Rove or of Jenkins.

There is a lot of bad news coming out of the GOP in this Politico story. First you have the GOP being shocked by the losses in the two special election races. You've got NRCC Chairman Cole telling Republican representatives that they are on their own with raising money for re-election, since the NRCC doesn't have enough cash to "save them." And considering the amount of money the NRCC poured into the two special election races, I'm not surprised that Cole is pulling back from dumping even more money into potentially losing races. Then you have Newt Gingrich flapping his mouth about how the GOP is facing a "real disaster," while Newt is offering himself as a new savior to the Republican Party, where he will be happy to “chart a bold course of real reform” for the Party. Come on now--did you really expect the GOP to chart this bold new course without Newt at the helm? That is just obvious Newt here. Of course the real kicker in this shellshocked Republican Party is Karl Rove's badmouthing Republican Woody Jenkins after his loss in the Louisiana special election. If this is even true, then we've got some infighting taking place within the GOP over who is to blame for these latest disasters. Even Cole gets into this infighting with his distributing a document on this Rove-Jenkins spat during the closed-door meeting with GOP representatives.

If the disparity and glumness is this bad in the Republican Party, they are going to need more than Powerpoint slides, White House rallies, or even spiked Kool-Aid.