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Title: GOP contemplates embracing tea-partiers
Source:
The Hill
URL Source: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news ... g-tea-partiers-2009-04-16.html
Published: Apr 16, 2009
Author: Reid Wilson
Post Date: 2009-04-16 23:25:43 by Rotara
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Keywords: None
Views: 1426
Comments: 116
GOP contemplates embracing tea-partiers Republicans are contemplating how to involve thousands of anti-tax protesters in rebuilding their fractured party a day after nationwide tax-day tea parties drew widespread attention. "We should embrace them," House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Hill on Thursday. "These are Americans who believe that their government, at all levels, are going in the wrong direction and they're tired of it." "This party has always been based on movements of individuals," McCarthy said. "People are frustrated, and the one thing you see with the tea parties is that they're not being organized by elected officials." Though President Obama maintains sky-high approval ratings, several Republicans suggested the anger they witnessed may be the beginnings of a re-energized base capable of propelling their party back into contention. South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, the Republican who has clashed more with the administration than just about any other public official, said he foresees a "genuine voter backlash, and there's probably a lot more to come with that." Most party leaders and strategists say it is not a matter of whether to involve the so-called tea-partiers, but how best to harness the new anger for political gain. Some go so far as to suggest the protests are signs that the GOP has finally found the vehicle it needs to get back to the majority. "This is very cathartic for the conservative movement," said veteran party strategist Craig Shirley, who has penned a biography of former President Reagan. "It means the movement is becoming re-Reaganized. It's becoming a populist movement again." "The Republican base was shrinking and depressed after the past two elections. Having activists organized on the ground and online is something the party should want," added Doug Heye, a GOP strategist. "The challenge now is how to positively channel that energy into electoral gains in the off-year and midterm elections." "Barack Obama created a populist movement right in front of our eyes," said Katon Dawson, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party. "Now that populist movement he created has thrown a question mark up." Said Dawson of the protesters he saw Wednesday: "It is part of the Republican movement. You see some libertarian faces there, and the Republican Party has got to practice the politics of addition, not subtraction." Still, the question of where the movement goes from here remains up in the air, with few evincing any urge to do anything to stand in protesters' way and with all insisting the events were organized independent of any national coordinating effort. "We want to help in any way we can, but this is not us doing it," McCarthy said. "We'll see," Boehner said when asked the direction in which the tea parties are headed. "But clearly they're responding to a lot of what we've had to say in Washington over the past couple of months." Though some in the GOP see protesters as distracting from a uniform message for a party struggling to define itself as something other than naysayers, others suggest the intensity of the tea party protests will rob party leaders in Washington of the option of ignoring them. "The flow of power has shifted. It's moving downward, not upward," Shirley said. "These people are in charge, not [new Republican National Committee Chairman] Michael Steele." Asked whether Republicans should embrace the protesters, Shirley said simply: "I don't think they have any choice." "Will they find a place? I think so, but a lot of it will depend on us and our candidates. We're going to have to sell ourselves to them," said Saul Anuzis, the former Michigan Republican Party chairman who attended a tea party in Lansing. "We may be the default place for them to go, because the alternative, the Democrats, is so bad," Anuzis said. "It's by no means a slam-dunk." Poster Comment: Posted: 04/16/09 02:27 PM [ET]
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 8.
#6. To: Rotara (#0)
The GOP can embrace this with their lips:
Don't tell foley or craig that !
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#8. To: Critter (#6)
Replies to Comment # 8.