The Arizona Republic has a report today about how Tea-Publicans have convinced themselves that running against “that Black man in the White House” is their best ticket to success in 2014. GOP rivals use Obama as weapon in primary:
Invoking Obama’s name and likeness has become a favorite tool to attack opponents in Republican primaries. Even when they are races for offices that have no contact with the highest office in the land.
Campaigns competing in races for the Legislature, the Corporation Commission and governor — and the independent expenditures supporting them — are all employing the tactic in mailers, campaign signs, TV commercials and endless debate rhetoric.
The rationale behind the strategy is clear: With Obama’s approval ratings hovering in the low 40 percent range, linking your opponent — no matter how tenuously — to an unpopular president might make you look better by contrast.
“It’s classic negative campaigning with often not even a shred of truth, and the anti-Obama fever is so strong in some circles that it’s poison,” state Sen. Bob Worsley said.
The Tea-Publicans are in thrall to the idea of suing the president, if not impeaching him, because “that Black man in the White House” is a secret Muslim Marxist Kenyan who is an illegitimate president. (A landslide of American voters rejected the GOP’s “legitimate” nominee John McCain and Willard “Mittens” Romney in 2008 and 20012, but screw the voters! Those damn socialist Democrats were all in on the conspiracy, dontcha know?)
The Tea-Publicans are the only Americans who feel this way. Greg Sargent reports on a new McClatchy poll today in the Morning Plum which shows that the Tea-Publicans who live in the closed conservative information feedback loop of the conservative media entertainment complex are increasingly isolated on the fringe of American society.
A new McClatchy-Marist poll finds that the lawsuit may help Dems [to offset that hideous “midterm drop-off problem” Dems face]. Aaron Blake finds a gem in the poll — the lawsuit motivates Dem voters more than GOP ones:
Americans say 58 percent to 34 percent that the GOP should not sue Obama, and moderates agree 67-22. Moderates also say by a 50-25 margin that the lawsuit makes them more likely to back Democrats in 2014.
What’s even worse for Republicans when it comes to both impeachment and the lawsuit is that they don’t even have the effect you might think on the GOP base. They do, however, motivate liberals … on the lawsuit matter, liberals are 9 points more motivated to back Democrats (72 percent) than conservatives are to back Republicans (63 percent).
The poll also finds that 88 percent of Democrats say the lawsuit would make them more likely to vote for their side, while 78 percent of Republicans say the same. What’s more, only tea party-aligned Republicans support the lawsuit, while even non-tea party Republicans tilt against it. So this effort may scratch the hard-right GOP base’s impeachment itch, but it could end up motivating Democrats more.
Aaron Blake for the Post’s “The Fix” column referenced by Sargent writes, The GOP needs impeachment to go away — along with its lawsuit against Obama:
Republicans are in a hurry to stop talking about impeachment — so much so that even Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who usually lines up with the most conservative Republicans on pretty much anything, is trying to change the subject.
And a new poll shows precisely why: It’s because it’s killing the GOP among swing voters.
The McClatchy-Marist College poll shows political moderates oppose the impeachment of Obama 79 percent to 15 percent. That’s a stunning margin. And not only that, if the House GOP did initiate impeachment proceedings, moderates say it would turn them off so much that they would be pulled toward the Democrats. By 49-27, moderates say impeachment would make them more likely to vote Democratic than Republican in 2014.
But it’s not just impeachment. As we’ve noted before, the House GOP’s lawsuit against Obama’s use of executive orders is turning out to be a political loser too. In fact, it’s not much more popular than impeachment.
Americans say 58 percent to 34 percent that the GOP should not sue Obama, and moderates agree 67-22. Moderates also say by a 50-25 margin that the lawsuit makes them more likely to back Democrats in 2014.
What’s even worse for Republicans when it comes to both impeachment and the lawsuit is that they don’t even have the effect you might think on the GOP base. They do, however, motivate liberals. While just 60 percent of conservatives say impeachment would make them more apt to vote Republican (i.e. more enthusiastic), 74 percent of liberals say it would make them more enthusiastic to cast ballots for Democrats. And on the lawsuit matter, liberals are 9 points more motivated to back Democrats (72 percent) than conservatives are to back Republicans (63 percent).
On both issues, about one in five conservatives say such overreach would make them more likely to back a Democrat.
Neither is a major subplot of the 2014 election just yet, [but] many back-bench Republicans and even some national GOP figures have expressed some level of support, keeping the story alive.
The GOP has to pursue this lawsuit and impeachment strategy because Anti-Obama hatred is the only thing which motivates its Tea-Publican base voters. It’s all they’ve got. And they committed to pursue it.
The Tea-Publican “grassroots” are devoted adherents of hate radio and FAUX News, and right-wing internet conspiracy web sites. The RNC does not control the GOP, it is the unelected and unaccountable GOPropagandists of the conservative media entertainment complex who control the GOP. And their agenda is to destroy Barack Obama.
When President Obama announces what he intends to do about immigration through executive orders, no matter how minor or inconsequential, GOP leaders will not be able to control the contagion of Anti-Obama hatred spread by the Mighty Wurlitzer of the right-wing noise machine among Tea-Publicans.
At that point the American people, in particular the “Rising American Electorate” who vote Democratic but fail to show up in midterm elections, will have to rise up in righteous indignation and turn out to vote en masse like this is a presidential year — something they should be doing in every election anyway.
It is not just their hatred for the President that will destroy the Get Obama Party,although that is primary. It is also,their thirty plus year war of economic genocide on the middle class,right to work laws that destroy a persons ability to find a secure job,and their being on the opposite side of every single issue favored by those they are supposed to represent.The Republicans,do and always have assumed that voters are naive,forgetful,gullible apathetic,and downright stupid,and are incapable of knowing what we want and need. In fact,they count on us continuing to vote against our own interests,believe their lies,and elect them. It is the only way they can win.