1) Pointing out Democrat's past sex scandals. Why won't this work? Because those scandals did not involve the Democratic leadership covering up or ignoring what their colleagues were doing...and the American people are not so stupid as to not realize that fact. Only people who'd throw their hat in with the GOP even if turned out to be the front party for alien invaders from Mars are going to buy into this, and it's not their votes you're worried about.
2) Trying to link gays to pedophilia, and concocting some bizarre gay conspiracy (via Kevin Drum) among House members. First of all, that's absurd. Secondly, as Kevin points out:
To the Christian right base, the idea that the Republican party has been infiltrated by a gay mafia will do nothing but disgust them, keeping them away from the polls in droves. To everyone else, watching the the GOP resurrect its tried-and-true gay-bashing formula to divert attention from its own failings will seem revolting. There's literally no one who will react well to this.
Except those who'd vote for the GOP even if it was the front party for...well, you get the idea.
3) Running around throwing each other under the bus isn't working either. In about one day the story shot from being about what Foley was up to, to what the House leaders knew about it. And it's stayed on that ever since, because they can't seem to agree on what they told each other when, or when who knew what, nor can they seem to agree not to turn on each other for the sake of their party.
Here's what has the only chance of working: purge whoever had any involvement in this, whether they really deserve it or not, from Hastert to lowly staffers, and invite the DOJ, FBI, CIA, NSA and God only knows who else to investigate this from top to bottom, thoroughly and immediately.
Guess which course of action they won't follow?
2 comments:
I agree completely. I think this snowballed only because their first instinct was to dismiss the problem and lie about what they knew when; if they had been direct and upfront from the beginning, and acted to determine fully what's been going on, they would minimize or perhaps erase the damage being done to them in the polls.
Being that they're Republicans though, have a zeal for secrecy and bipartisanship, and are interested more in winning the mid-terms than in handling this problem, they seem incapable of taking that course of action. Ironically enough, their efforts at self-preservation are only hurting them further.
I have to point out that the fact that their first move was to lie is not an endorsement of the Republican party. I think being voted out would teach them to be more morally accountable.
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