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Streetcar Line
New, McGood Strategery for Conservatives
How to legislate and communicate for the imminent battles.
Very quickly and very decisively, congressional Republicans/conservatives should adopt a new strategy for legislating and communicating, one that specifically involves buying a full half-hour of national TV time the night before Barack Obama’s State of the Union (SOTU) address.
The fundamentals of the strategy should be these: 1) clear, straightforward messages; 2) legislating in easily understandable, smaller chunks rather than huge “omnibus”-style bills; 3) highlighting specifics that make the conservative case a populist one; 4) producing key legislation in a way timed for maximum public exposure but without frightening brinksmanship; 5) be creative/entrepreneurial in promoting conservative principles; and 6) of crucial importance, become adept at using real-life examples, rather than broad generalities, to explain the deleterious effects of leftist policies and the beneficial effects of conservative ones.
Every effort should be made to set a different agenda than the deliberate inculcation of crises pushed by Obama; every opportunity should be taken to put Obama on the defense, on issues not of his own choosing.
Obama’s biggest weaknesses right now are Obamacare and its new taxes, his crony capitalist tax breaks, and his refusal to accept even the most obvious of savings from federal largesse. Even if he wants to focus on the debt ceiling, conservatives instead should focus on the unpopular specifics of Obamacare. Make him own, and politically suffer for, his expensive, snake-oil prescription for rationing health care.
With those considerations foremost in mind, here are steps Republicans should quickly take in the next couple of months, with the half-hour TV buy (about which, stay tuned) highlighting the offensive just four weeks from now.
First, the very first bill the House should pass, within 120 hours of reconvening, should repeal the medical device tax from Obamacare. It will easily pass the House; in the Senate, with 18 Democrats on record wanting to repeal it, there must be a way — through enlisting both the full attention of conservative media and elements of the “establishment media” as well — to shame Harry Reid into a vote on repeal. (If not, the obvious alternative is to make him and Obama suffer politically for refusing to allow one.)
Second, on the day after that, the House ought to pass a repeal of two other Obamacare taxes that just took effect on Jan. 1: the Flex Account tax that especially hurts special-needs children and the limit on medical itemized deductions.
Third, on the same day as these other ObamaCare taxes are repealed, pass a separate bill “paying for” the forgone revenue of all three Obamacare taxes by eliminating the “active financing exception” that helps allow General Electric to escape paying any corporate income taxes. This king of all special-interest tax breaks was forced into the “Fiscal Cliff” deal at the insistence of the White House, which has been mutually whoring around with and/or pimping GE’s leaders for years.
This bill will emphasize a new “meme” in American politics: the “corrupt corporate cronyism” of Barack Obama. (More on this, soon.)
Fourth (as discussed in a column and blog post I wrote last week), quickly pass a bill exempting defense spending from sequestration — and accompany this bill, too, with a major press offensive. This isn’t likely to actually succeed in sparing defense (although it will set a marker for later in restoring at least some of the cuts while still meeting some moderately lower “budget caps” overall for defense), if only because Obama is so shameless and has such disdain for the military. But it will provide cover for all Republicans, including defense hawks, to stand firm in doing absolutely nothing else with regard to the sequester. If Congress does nothing, the automatic savings from the sequester will take effect no matter how much Obama screams — and those savings will help mitigate the national debt damage, save long-term taxpayer money, and provide political leverage for conservatives in other budget fights to come. And most voters can be made to realize, when the smoke clears, that none of those cuts harmed their own lives one iota, which will bolster conservative credibility for even larger budget battles to come.
Before moving on, let’s recap: So far, with this plan, conservatives can put the focus back on Obamacare, already unpopular, and specifically on its potentially most unpopular provisions. Suddenly, Obama again becomes the bad guy. To further that all-too-true impression, conservatives will have focused attention on Obama’s corrupt corporate cronyism. Also, so far, we’ve unified defense hawks and younger budget cutters behind a “let the sequester happen” stance. If defense is exempted from the sequester as a result of these efforts, budget caps can still be used later to find Pentagon savings; if it is not exempted, public pressure will likely suffice to force a restoration of some of the meat-cleavered military needs.
Okay, to continue….
Fifth, prepare, as an all-purpose “offset” bill or series of distinct bills (in other words, to offer in exchange for other tax cuts, or as a way to provide the “revenue” Obama demands), for the repeal of each one of the most egregious special-interest loopholes and tax breaks that Obama snuck into the Fiscal Cliff bill. Make Obama defend the Hollywood tax credit. Make him defend the bird-killing wind-energy credit. Make him defend other energy tax-credit boondoggles (while focusing attention on Solyndra and other embarrassments). It is not a conservative habit, but an Obamite one, to curry favor with special corporate interests.
Sixth, prepare a series of real-life anecdotes about the harms caused by Obama’s policies. This will, of course, take research to find the real people who fill the bill. The research will be worth the effort. Most Americans, paying only slight attention to the details of all these budget fights, almost immediate filter out the usual Republican talking points about “protecting small business owners,” “helping employers,” and the like. But human-interest stories, if told concisely and/or with verve, work.
For instance, imagine John and Sally McGood. While Obama was giving special breaks to GE and to Hollywood, he was trying, and is still trying, to raise their income taxes directly by $7,200 — and, in other ways, doing even worse to them. John and Sally own a family pharmacy, competing in their small town with the big national chains. Their business runs on a revolving loan from a bank increasingly regulated by Obamite appointees (which makes them skittish about continuing the loan going forward). The McGoods do pay themselves salaries commensurate with other ordinary pharmacists at the big chains — but their big “profits,” which also get reported as income because they are a “C” corporation, exist on paper only. Their business “earned” $450,000 last year, but almost every penny of that is funneled back into the pharmacy and into the revolving loan fund. So when Obama wants to raise their taxes by $7,200, he is directly taking away their ability to hire a part-time clerk to allow them time for… their special needs child.
About the Author
Quin Hillyer is a senior editor of The American Spectator and a senior fellow at the Center for Individual Freedom. Follow him on Twitter @QuinHillyer.
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Aristocat| 1.15.13 @ 6:26AM
1) House vote (again) to repeal Obamacare. Follow up by cutting off funding for it.
2) Vote to forbid Obama from issuing executive orders on gun control.
3) Vote to forbid Obama from raising the debt limit without congressional approval.
4) Pass a balanced budget amendment.
5) Pass a Republican budget and force the Senate to pass a budget for the first time in three years.
That's a start.
Maxwell| 1.15.13 @ 8:33AM
Aristocat, I'd vote for that however, to do that would require a set of......stones. Something along the lines of Tray Gowdy & maybe Cruz of Texas. Notice no one is from the liberal North East? That is why this Yankee will have to relocate, South.
Cobalt| 1.15.13 @ 8:59AM
"NY Times: Obama Plans 19 Executive Orders on Gun Control"
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfro...../id/471370
Ed Meese said Obama could be impeached over this. Right, when cows fly.
Appleby| 1.15.13 @ 7:09AM
Stop worrying so much about whether people like them, and get on with the business at hand. It is not necessary to be liked. It is necessary when the Last Trumpet sounds, to be found doing the work for which you were hired.
Alan| 1.15.13 @ 8:02AM
Most Repubs and all of the marxist/socialists have one thing in common, the hatred of conservatives.
The left needs to keep some repubs around to blame things on, and that same group of repubs is more than happy to have careers as useful idiots to be blamed for everything and stand there and take it.
SCMike| 1.15.13 @ 7:30AM
So the president wants an increase in the debt limit but does not want to bargain. Unfortunately, his party does not control the House, the party controlling the House has not been shy about what it wants in return for increasing the debt ceiling: a path to lower deficits. They would also like to return to the constitutional path of having an annual budget passed by both legislative bodies that comprise the Congress and signed by the president. Outrageous demands, no?
No. For the past three years the current administration has incurred annual deficits in excess of $1T per year. How about the House passing a Ryanesque FY14 budget that includes a debt-ceiling increase congruent with that budget? The budget might also address the remainder of FY13 that’s not already been passed into law by a continuing resolution or other irregular provision. The House would end up with an estimate of the deficit for the remainder of FY13 along with the estimated deficit for the FY14 to arrive at a total budget deficit by the end of FY 14. That total estimated budget deficit over the rest of FY13 and the Ryanesque FY14 budget would be the amount by which the debt ceiling should be increased.
JimH| 1.15.13 @ 8:01AM
All are good ideas. When you do not have the strength for direct confrontation use guerilla tactics and subject your opponent to a death of a thousand cuts. Now that we know what is in the bill, make them defend each bit individually. The trick with this is to be able to get these measures past Reid and on to the Senate floor. The tax reform measures will also require the GOP establishment to abandon its ‘me too’ support of Crony Corporate tax policies. They need to show that they are pro market, not pro business.
KennesawJack| 1.15.13 @ 8:01AM
Quin, all good and valid ideas. Problem is, in order for this to happen one must assume the Republicans in Congress have the political courage to act, a dangerous assumption indeed.
Von Mises Jr| 1.15.13 @ 8:02AM
The problem Quinn is that you don't get the picture. The GOP Establishment is in on the Sting. They cut a "Fiscal Cliff" deal that funded all these things without even being challenged in public or making an issue of the tax breaks for GE, green energy and farm subsidies. http://www.aim.org/video/pat-c.....orruption/
Ben "Foster Brooks" Bernanke expanded the M2 from $3T to $9T in 5 years and QE3 & QE4 pumps $85B per month into monetizing the debt. Fannie and Freddie owe the taxpayers about $200B and may need $300B in 2013. Real U6 unemployment is about 15% and companies are shedding jobs.
And you want the liberal right wing of the Democrat Party to stand up to the socialist left wing of the Democrat Party?
I hope some readers’ wake the hell up for their own good since thinking like this leads to collapse. All men for themselves.
Russel| 1.15.13 @ 9:16AM
We've reached the tipping point Von . Where all in congress , whatever their leanings , will show their true colors . Today we read a new member from Texas has promised impeachment if the wanna-be dictator moves to further disregard the Constitution . Nothing else matters at this point . This move should have been made in his third year . NOTHING ELSE MATTERS now . It's time to remove the little phony troublemaker before he ruins this country . I'm up to here with " how to get around him " or some such BS . Strategy on how to get rid of him is all that matters .
Von Mises Jr| 1.15.13 @ 11:01AM
Think of your family and friends first, and pray often. It is going to get ugly before it can get better.
Cuba is coming back from communism with double the GDP of the US while they privatize government functions and have large reductions in government labor force.
I suspect the good people of Texas such as my friend Tommy Frisco and others will stand tall until we get there with the reserves. Many of my friends are moving or have moved to SC where I would be proud as hell to have Nikki Haley as my Governor.
Russel| 1.15.13 @ 2:07PM
Here in Wyo . , everyone owns weapons and have little patience now with what the little Marxist twerp and his little dog are trying to do to the right to keep and bear arms . They may have snuck socilalized medicine under the wire , but this is a huge red flag . We won't have the patience to wait like Cuba did . They want war , they'll get it .
Abdullah| 1.15.13 @ 3:43PM
Von, my old buddy, E-7, stationed in Germany, sent me a message - his unit has been approached last week by some Pentagon buggers, asking if they would like to relocate in-state and be ready to go door-to-door confiscating firearms. I trust him, but would like to hear if anybody else got the message.
sickofit5| 1.15.13 @ 10:02AM
"Every effort should be made to set a different agenda than the deliberate inculcation of crises pushed by Obama; every opportunity should be taken to put Obama on the defense, on issues not of his own choosing." I read this and began bleeding profusely from every orafice. Quin baby, it's been five years and they still haven't figured it out. Also, I'm not sure if you mean "real" conservatives or Republicans. Real conservatives are not running things. THE republicans are idiots. I believe they really don't want to win. You say the obvious, which has been said by most of us in fly over country for the last four years.
Pecos Pete| 1.15.13 @ 10:25AM
Quin: Good article. Thank you. Let's hope there are enough people in Congress to use some, or all, of what you have recommended.
ansonheath| 1.15.13 @ 12:55PM
Quin, you are asking the GOP to do something that their leadership doesn't even recognize as a basic necessity, much less how to do it. They have proven time and time again - it's not even a second language to them - it simply doesn't compute!
Sadly, the GOP will (or is already destroyed) destroy itself and the country, before a new generation will emerge to get the job done, probably long after we're gone.
Joe D.| 1.15.13 @ 1:15PM
Quinn, you are right on target. And we should continue to do this with the true every time he tries to waist money or increase our taxes. Every time he waist our money on trips and Golf should be made a point as well.
Ronsch| 1.15.13 @ 1:33PM
Quin,
It would work except for a couple of things that the Low-Information/No-Information voters hear. To wit:
Conservatives: Any facts presented become "blah, blah, blah" after the first sentence.
NerObama: "free phones, free stuff, white old guys are rich and evil, make them pay their fair share."
Now, which do you think the chuckleheads we would need to vote in the 2014 mid-terms to set things right are they going to hear?
Simon Templar| 1.15.13 @ 2:22PM
We do not have to convince them all, just some of them and the idea is to create doubt and put the blame where it belongs when the proverbial crap does hit the fan. Conservatives have to be seen as warning the public and concerned about their welfare. Your points are well taken, however. There are millions of Americans who are not just stupid low-information but actually have not heard anything but media propaganda and cover up and do watch the news and tune in. These people should be our concern as well as the conservative voting block not motivated enough to vote and decided to sit on its ass and did not come out to vote. They should include Pat Cadelle and others in these TV presentations, this would force the media to not ignore the issues facing the nation.
Simon Templar| 1.15.13 @ 2:12PM
They should buy 1 hour every 3 months and put together the conservative response and a documentary like presentation exposing his lies, his waste, the consequences of his actions, and his true agenda with verifiable pictorial examples of clips of him admitting it in his own words and proof of these consequences. Perhaps these low information voters might just get some more useful information.
mike 3/505| 1.15.13 @ 3:30PM
Mr H,
Whenever you use language like "offset," or "pay for tax cut," you buy into the liberal meme that revenue is controlled only by tax rates. That's using the left's language. We need to force the language our way. Rest of the article is good.
Regards,
Mike
cicero| 1.15.13 @ 4:23PM
Quinn - your article 5. Do you really think anything was "snuck" in to that bill? Are the Republicans in congress so afraid of losing their positions that they will sign theeir names to bills without having at least their staffs read the contents? Simple answer - while they may do anything to keep their seats, they know what they are signing.
If in fact, they did not know of alll the pork they signed for, it is time to throw all of them out, and bring in another political party. If this nation is to remain free, it has to remain economically strong. This is not the way to do that. If the Repubs want to remain the party representing the conservative portion of this country, they will have to stop the spending, refuse funding for what they know is harrmful legislation (remember what the Dems did to lose the Viet Nam peace - they defunded it), and tell the American people the truth.
CHAUSSURES FEMME AIR MAX LTD | 1.16.13 @ 4:02AM
brinksmanship; 5) be creative/entrepreneurial in promoting conservative principles; and 6) of crucial importance, become adept at using real-life examples, rather than broad generalities, to explain the deleterious effects of leftist policies and the beneficial effects of conservative ones.