House GOP Target Freshmen Democrats

GOP House Whip and noted Jeeeeewwwww Eric Cantor has a team of Republicans who are baiting Democrats on the floor during debates in the hopes of getting some of them to say or do something stupid.

Peril awaits any first-term lawmaker who ventures to the House floor unprepared for a duel, but Ohio Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy had a particularly rough go of it the other day.

Kilroy took the floor to support an amendment to a popular public-service bill — only to face an ambush from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who hit her hard for her vote on an unrelated American International Group measure.

It wasn’t an accident.

Foxx is part of a team of Republican members that House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has put together to create embarrassing, YouTube-worthy moments for vulnerable Democratic freshmen.

Cantor’s floor staff has created a photo album to help identify the 42 most vulnerable Democrats. The aides send daily e-mails to the members of the attack team and alert lawmakers when these targeted members are speaking on the floor. They even draft quick scripts to help focus the questioning.

The tactic seems to be working.

Heh.

It's a bit of political theater and it isn't going to work forever, in fact Democrats have already caught on and are fighting back. Still it's good to see Republicans thinking out of the box and aggressively.

These tactics are reminiscent of Newt's Special Order speeches from the '90s where he would rail against Democrats and challenge them to fight back but they never did because the House was empty. At the time CSPAN cameras were only allowed to show the member who had the floor so viewers and news stories didn't see he was basically alone.

I know pining for the old days of Newt or Reagan isn't going to win anything back but it's good to see the current GOP minority looking to Gingrich and not Bob Michel as their model.

Now to craft a policy platform....

(via The Corner)

posted by DrewM. at 02:26 PM

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