DC
On Thu, Feb 5, 2009 at 10:12 AM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> [Man, this is depressing. The executive branch is now run by a bunch of
> tepid Dems, hot to compromise with a bunch of uncompromising loons. I guess
> this is what imperial decline looks like.]
>
> <
> http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2009/02/sessions_gop_in.php
> >
>
> Sessions: GOP Insurgency "May Be Required"
> February 5, 2009 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (28) |
>
> Frustrated by a lack of bipartisan outreach from House Democratic leaders,
> Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the National Republican Congressional
> Committee, said House Republicans -- who voted unanimously last week against
> the economic plan pushed by President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
> -- will pitch a "positive, loyal opposition" to the proposal. The group, he
> added, should also "understand insurgency" in implementing efforts to offer
> alternatives.
>
> "Insurgency, we understand perhaps a little bit more because of the
> Taliban," Sessions said during a meeting yesterday with Hotline editors.
> "And that is that they went about systematically understanding how to
> disrupt and change a person's entire processes. And these Taliban -- I'm not
> trying to say the Republican Party is the Taliban. No, that's not what we're
> saying. I'm saying an example of how you go about [sic] is to change a
> person from their messaging to their operations to their frontline message.
> And we need to understand that insurgency may be required when the other
> side, the House leadership, does not follow the same commands, which we
> entered the game with."
>
> That agreement, as Sessions described it, involved a promise from Pelosi to
> preside over an "open, honest, ethical Congress." Obama, Sessions added, has
> pledged to diminish the political rhetoric in Washington and work in a
> bipartisan fashion.
>
> "If they do not give us those options or opportunities then we will then
> become insurgency of a nature to where we do those things that are necessary
> to making sure the American public knows what we think the correct answer
> is," Sessions said during the 60-minute interview. "So we either work
> together, or we're going to find a way to get our message out."
>
> When pressed to clarify, Sessions said he was not comparing the House
> Republican caucus to the Taliban, the Muslim fundamentalist group.
>
> "I simply said one can see that there's a model out there for insurgency,"
> Sessions said before being interrupted by an aide. The staffer said Sessions
> was trying to convey that the Republicans need to start thinking about how
> to act strategically from their perch in the minority.
>
> Sessions' answer followed a question about the most effective strategy for
> Republicans in the lead up to the 2010 midterms. A Hotline editor asked if
> Republicans would have more leverage on the campaign trail by supporting the
> new president or posing, as Sessions suggested, as a "loyal opposition"
> working to hold back an onslaught of liberal Democratic policies.
>
> Sessions and his staff said Democrats have shoved the bill through Congress
> without hearings or mark-ups, and they blamed Pelosi, not Obama, who has met
> with them, for the Republicans' unwillingness to back the economic stimulus
> bill.
>
> "I think insurgency is a mindset and an attitude that we're going to have
> to search for and find ways to get our message out and to be prepared to see
> things for what they are, rather than trying to do something about them,"
> Sessions said. "I think what's happened is that the line was drawn in the
> sand" by Pelosi.
>
> Sessions said the GOP's 178 members stand by their votes against the bill.
>
> "I don't think any one of our members today feels like they would take back
> that vote," he said. "... There's no remorse."
>
> Asked to assess the political landscape for the midterms, Sessions
> suggested that the NRCC will back the best candidates in each district -- as
> opposed to targeting support to specific contests, as the group has done
> previously. He noted that Democrats hold seats in 83 districts that
> President Bush won in 2000 or 2004, showing that the GOP has opportunities,
> despite the party's losses in the last two cycles.
>
> Sessions said he believes Republicans can take back the House.
>
> "We believe our job is to aim to win the majority," Sessions said. "I've
> never aimed to come in second place."
>
> (JENNIFER SKALKA)
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