How do we explain the House Republicans' behavior on the stimulus package vote? Their behavior is irrational. Or rational. One of the two. Well, it depends on what we consider rational.
Woefully outnumbered in a legislature in which the simple majority dominates, the logical course of action for the House GOP would seem to involve cutting the best possible deal with realistic expectations.
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The Democrats have an 80-seat majority. When the GOP threatens to hold its breath until it gets what it wants the inevitable response is "OK, good luck with that." There is absolutely no incentive for a majority that large to negotiate with assholes. If the minority feels like behaving, i.e. recognizing that they can't dictate the outcome with 188 seats out of 435 and making a few demands, it is worthwhile for the majority to logroll and make a few concessions to build goodwill for future conflicts. But if the GOP expects to get its way by pitching hissy fits they are simply going to get bypassed. Hence they are irrational.
They might be rational, though, depending on how rational you consider the Gingrich Plan.
The Gingrich Plan originated circa 1986, an era in which the GOP was not only the minority but had been the minority for decades. The party's strategy was to play along and take what they could get from the majority.
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Newt, an unknown at the time, disagreed. He urged the party to oppose the Democrats tooth-and-nail on nearly every issue and eventually the public would be persuaded by the inherent correctness of the Republican alternative. Because of the Republican takeover of 1994 the Gingrich Plan was widely hailed as a success.
It might be a good minority strategy, but it's really a dice roll.
Their logic today is that getting a few concessions is not that valuable because it gets them a share of ownership in case of failure.
By having voted against the bailout in unison it is owned by the Democrats entirely. So they are essentially making a huge gamble that the stimulus legislation is going to fail. They're rolling the dice that it will be a big disaster and they can beam smug we-told-you-so smiles to a voting public that will come begging for the GOP alternative. In short, if the GOP:
Of those four options they obviously chose the correct one. "Correct" in terms of their own interests. Note, however, that they chose an option that involves them rooting really hard for America and the world to spiral into a Depression unlike anything we've seen in 100 years. You know, just like they hope really hard for a terrorist attack so that they can wring out a few more votes.
America First!tm That's the GOP. Every single time.
Kulkuri says:
I like option three. For the Democratic Party to succeed all they have to do is to listen to the Repukes and then do the opposite.
BK says:
But Ed, didn't the GOP actually get two concessions from the Dems via Obama's calls to include substantial tax cuts and remove the family planning provisions??
Seems to me the GOP got the Dems to pass a bill that looked better (albeit not a whole lot better in their view) and they still get to pose for holy pictures by voting against it…
Ed says:
The tax relief was always part of the plan. If they altered the provisions to appease Republicans I must have missed that.
Good point on the family planning stuff, although I think the reason it was removed had less to do with the GOP hissy fit than with the fact that a lot of Democrats thought it was stupid too. I think that was removed with an eye toward getting 60 in the Senate. The FP stuff wouldn't fly with Democrats like Nelson and Lieberman.
Mike says:
Just 3 out of 178 House Republicans voted for the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. I assume they are going to keep this up through 2010.
From 538:
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Case in point: a bill yesterday to delay the transition to digital TV. This measure was approved unanimously by the Senate; every Senate Republican gave it the green light. But 155 out of 178 House Republicans voted against it, which resulted in the measure's defeat since a two-thirds majority would have been required for passage under the House's suspension of the rules.
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