The GOP should remember that it pays to be "economical with the actualité"!

For the benefit of my American readers, and also you dozy, forgetful Brits, er, like me, actually, it was that rascal, the late Alan Clarke MP, who coined the phrase when he admitted at a trial that he had been "economical with the actualité" whilst answering parliamentary questions.  In that he was by no means the first and certainly not the last!  I was reminded of the expression by the plight of the Republican party 'over there' who are fighting like rats in a sack over the budget deal struck with the Democrats.

The main man responsible for what the 'Tea Party' activists have categorised as outright treachery is Congressman Paul Ryan.  The problem highlights the deep divide between what I would call the ideologues and the pragmatists.  Before my e-pal, JK, starts riffling back through my archives to find the very many times I have demanded that politicians show a basic grounding in an ideology, let me repeat my liking for, as I call it, 'authenticity'.  That is, that the man or woman politician concerned has some well-worked out beliefs based on  a coherent philosophy - be it of the Left or the Right.  To know that is, as they say, to know where they are coming from!

However, idealism must connect and grapple with the real world even if its pristine condition is sullied.  The howls of outrage aimed at Congressman Paul Ryan, a conservative, by the purists - I almost wrote 'Puritans'! - in the 'Tea Party' movement because he cut a deal with the Democrats over the budget simply serves to indicate their political naïveté.  As Roger Simon emphasises at PJ Media, the first, last and forever aim of Republicans at this particular moment is not to bring the Federal government to a shut down by refusing to pass the budget but to do everything they can to win the Senate next year!  It is when a party is in power that ideological purity can be argued over because at that time it is important.  When in opposition you do the almost impossible, that is, grit your teeth and swallow at the same time!  In other words, you pass the budget, or Obamacare, or whatever, after getting as many favours as you can but make it clear, over and over again, to the American electorate that these measures are Democrat measures, they own them and they should hang round their necks like one of those burning 'necklaces' so beloved of mobs everywhere.

American voters, like voters almost everywhere, will not vote for a visibly divided, warring party and if the Republicans do not take the Senate back next year they will be nowhere in the 2016 elections.

Comments

[Michael Adams]

Ryan in the House, cooked up a deal with Patty Murray in the Senate. Ryan is known for heavy-duty smartitude, and Murray is dense enough that she creates a gravity field that can draw things out of black holes. This combination is useful in trying to figure out: What are they up to this time?

The US has suffered for eighty years from the lack of an effective Conservative opposition. The Demagogue Party has the media and, now, the schools and universities in their pockets. They succeed in turning a reduction in the amount of increase in a budget item into TAKING FOOD OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF POOR CHILDREN. While plenty of Republicans have sold us out, and let the Demagogues bribe us without own money, there have been a good and plenty who just could not think strategically. They got played, every blasted time. We have an ineffective opposition because we have insufficient people who could think strategically.

Ronald Reagan succeeded, at least some of the time, because he out played the media. The TEA parties worked, for a while, because they were events that the media could not ignore. Eventually, the media converted them in the minds of people, average IQ only one hundred, remember,that they were violent and racist. However, the TEA parties did work, until that point.

Now, young Mr.Ryan may very well have suckered the Demagogues into a kind of trap. Can it be that God has answered prayer? Has He, at long last, sent us a strategist?

[JK]

... you can but make it clear, over and over again, to the American electorate that these measures are Democrat measures ...!

But David! Just above you've "designed"

The main man responsible for what the 'Tea Party' activists have categorised as outright treachery is Congressman Paul Ryan.

[Michael Adams]

I have another comment, stuck in spam, but I'll add this, Ryan is thinking strategically. For all of 2014, the political discourse in this country will be Obamacare, and nothing but. In eight years, if we have succeeded in taking back the congress and undoing a lot of the socialist omentum around our political institutions, Paul Ryan will have plenty of good garlands on his head. In the mean time, he can be the scapegoat for this "vile compromise", which even Ted Cruz is denouncing, although, we suspect, rather disingenuously, because he also knows how this will play out. Likewise, my Gal Sarah. She's no dummy, and she knows politics ain't bean bag. She has defeated the Alaska oil sheiks, and they are truly an oily bunch. She has to know what's up. It is so convenient for her and Ted to denounce this, AND Obamacare, and segue into more denunciation of O'care, as we approach the election. Yes! Sometimes, the good guys win.

[JK]

http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/could-the-budget-deal-fail/

[David Duff]

And your point is, JK . . . ?

In opposition you should oppose vigorously but not to the point where you force a shut-down of the government because always you should have your eye on the next election and as the people will hate you if you upset the applecart then the answer is simple - don't do it! The opposition to the 'Obamacare' bill was vigorous and every single Republican voted against it so now it is a Democrat policy, they own it and we'll see what the people think of it next year.

I don't know that much about Ryan but he *seems* to be a convinced but *practical* conservative intent on winnin gpower not making futile gestures!

[David Duff]

Michael, fear not, your trusty guardian will always rescue you from the dreaded spam box! (Quite why TypePad takes against you is beyond me - or them!)

Anyway, to your main point, yes, it is essential that the Republicans achieve two main aims, first, to win and hold the Congress - not easy over two forthcoming elections, and second, to win the presidency. It will not be easy against 'Team Clinton' and what a pity that 'Fauxcahontas' Warren has withdrawn! The Republican choice for presidential candidate will be crucial.

[Michael Adams]

My great-aunt Eva didn't like me either. I finally learned, after fifty years, that it was because, when I was one year old, I said her nose was "heavy." It really was pretty big, and I was tactless, but a half-century's long time to hold a grudge against a one-year-old.

[dearieme]

Oi, Duffers, if you wish to continue your series on the state of the States, consider this.

http://filmingcops.com/corrupt-government-chemist-tampered-with-40000-cases-locking-countless-innocent-americans-in-prison/

(H/T Seth's Blog)

[David Duff]

Good grief, Charlie Brown, or, 'DM', I meant to say! But didn't we have a similar case 'over here' recently in which a forensic scientist was found out to be either incompetent or bent? Also, I will add that I very much doubt whether the majority of those 'innocents' who fell foul of this wretched women were actually 'innocent' even if now, quite rightly, their conviction is dismissed.

[JK]

Now, young Mr.Ryan may very well have suckered the Demagogues into a kind of trap. Can it be that God has answered prayer? Has He, at long last, sent us a strategist?

Michael?

Guess who said (Sept. 29, 2008) "Madam Speaker, this bill offends my principles. But I'm gonna vote for this bill -- in order to preserve my principles."

Authentiity aside, when "strategy" is mentioned in the context of a career politician, strategy is basically a synonym for "expediency."

http://dailybail.com/home/busted-watch-tarp-republican-paul-ryan-begging-congress-to-v.html